Ai Star: Thank you very much, I aim to please.

Forte was the one who said the line, "Are you sure the fortune's accurate?" Yes, he says it through Netto. No, this will not be explained immediately. However, please note that Netto's bond with Forte is stronger than the one with Rockman, so Forte has more options available when using the bond. This includes their ability to Full Synchro, something that Netto can't do yet with Rockman.

Sadly for Netto, the robot dog had to be returned to the store it escaped from. But Dekao still has the mouse hunter that Netto also likes.

It's to be noted that Netto can speak a variety of languages because her grandpa taught her, which is why she knows a curse in Creamland's language. How many languages does she know? That will never be specified.

I don't own Rockman EXE.

Trap

Netto happily hummed as she skated towards school, occasionally twirling around for fun. The past few days have been peaceful, no WWW in sight. Nor was she caught up in anything serious. Which meant that she had plenty of time to work more on one of her hobbies.

"Good morning, Netto-kun!" Meiru came up to Netto on her scooter. Taking a look at what was perched on Netto's shoulder, she slowly added. "You know pets aren't allowed at school…right?"

Netto blinked before realizing that Meiru was talking about the yellow bird on her shoulder. The one that's currently nuzzling against her head and cooing lovingly. "Oh, Ikazuchi's not a pet. Here, want to pet it?" Raising her arm up so it was parallel to the ground, she let the bird hop its way to her wrist, fluttering its wings every once in a while to keep itself steady. "Be nice, Ikazuchi."

Ikazuchi chirped indignantly, but obediently lowered its head. Meiru gently patted it, a look of confusion crossing her face as she did so. "It's metal?"

"Yup!" Netto nodded as Ikazuchi flew back to her shoulder. "I made it myself. I did say that I like robotics, right?"

"You did." Meiru confirmed. "But why are you bringing it to school?"

Netto laughed. "I didn't. Ikazuchi followed me. I found out when we were halfway to school, so I decided to bring it along the rest of the way." Taking her backpack off and unzipping it, she told Ikazuchi. "Since you're not even supposed to be coming with me, you need to get in here and stay quiet. Go into sleep mode or shut down if you want. Oh, and try not to ruin anything."

The bird cooed sadly, then tried to give her a look. Which didn't work very well, since its face can't express itself that well.

Netto failed to contain her smile, and Forte's amusement made itself known. "Ikazuchi." Slowly, Ikazuchi shuffled over and hopped into the backpack, emitting a low, drawn out beep to indicate that it was going into sleep mode.

Zipping the backpack closed, Netto gave Meiru a sheepish grin. "Sorry about that. Ikazuchi's only a few days old."

Meiru shook her head. "No, it's fine. It's amazing that you can build something like that."

Netto blushed. "Uh, thank you?" Her voice rose until it ended in a squeak.

Meru giggled. "By the way," She added, changing the subject, "Have you heard about the new transfer student?"

Netto raised an eyebrow. It's only been a week or two since she got here. "No. Does Akihara High School usually have this many transfer students?"

"No." Meiru denied. "You two are probably the most we've had for the past few years. I've overheard that this new transfer student's supposed to be the daughter of Gabcom's president."

"Gabcom?" That caught Forte's attention, and he sent her a quick summary in case she didn't remember. "You mean that video game company?"

Meiru didn't get a chance to respond, because that was when Dekao came up and greeted her. Netto turned her eyes back to the front, and blinked when she saw a limo pull up to the school.

'Did that happen before?'

'No. Must be the transfer student.' There was an irritated feeling as they watched a small girl come out from the limo and walk to the school's entrance on a red carpet. 'And a spoiled rich brat too. Great.'

Netto snorted in amusement.

"I'd like to introduce you to a new classmate." Mariko-sensei announced after she wrote the name of the transfer student on the board. "From now on she'll be attending our class." Netto sighed. How lucky that the new student is in the same class as her.

The transfer student calmly introduced herself. "My name's Ayanokouji Yaito."

'She didn't stutter like I did.' Netto whined. She got a soft 'poke' for that.

'You hardly had any interaction with other humans outside of business.'

Netto pouted a bit, turning her attention back to class. '…Wait, when did we start watching a video about the transfer student?'

'About four seconds ago.'

'And…why is it an hour long?'

'She's probably the type who likes to show off.'

Forte was right about that. In math class, Yaito wrote down an incredibly long equation that wasn't even in the lesson. In foreign languages class she used a bunch of adjectives in an already long sentence that was probably better off without them.

Netto sighed, writing down the sentence that they were supposed to be translating into Amerope's language down onto a sheet of paper, then wrote down the translation. After a moment, she decided to write the sentence down in other languages. And then, when she was finished with that, Netto started doodling Ikazuchi.

The lunch bell rang just as Netto finished the details of one of Ikazuchi's wings. She slipped the paper into her backpack, not expecting to look at it again anytime soon. After the standard "Thanks for the meal", Netto started her lunch.

"What's the matter, Yaito-chan?" She heard the teacher ask. "Are you feeling sick?"

"No, Sensei." Yaito answered back. There was the sound of someone snapping their fingers. The classroom door opened and waiters came in with a serving cart.

'Were they just waiting outside for Yaito-chan's signal?' Netto couldn't help but wonder as she, along with the rest of the class, watched what was happening at Yaito's desk. 'And do people really put strawberry milk in wine bottles?'

'They must not have waited long, since that steak is still warm.' The delicious smell that the steak gave off only served to irritate Forte more. 'Finish your lunch, Net.'

'Foru, of course I will. I like food.' There was silence for a while as Netto ate, then. 'By the way, did Grandpa reply back yet after I told him I was going to school?'

Forte briefly skimmed through Netto's email accounts, both her business account and the private one that she only shared with Grandpa. 'He's alright with you going as long as you don't accidentally tell someone your last name. He also wants you to visit during winter vacation.'

'Isn't that around the time that the rumored tournament's going to start?' Having finished her lunch, Netto was now, to anyone looking, staring off into space.

'It seems so.' Forte said after comparing dates. 'Perhaps he has something to say that relates to the tournament?'

'Mmh, maybe.'

'Oh, and there's a new email in your business account. It's about one of your newest projects.'

'Really?' Netto can't help but let the excitement flow through their link. 'What does it say?'

"Hey, Netto-kun." Dekao came up to her desk after the bell rang for the end of school. "Wanna go see Yaito-chan's house together?"

"Huh?" Netto blinked. Oh, right. Meiru had her piano lesson today. "Oh, sure."

'Are you sure about this?'

'We're just going to see her house. It'll be fine.'

And that's how the two of them, plus an out of sleep mode Ikazuchi, ended up right outside the Ayanokouji house.

Netto whistled appreciatively. "It's just like the head of Gabcom to have such a big and impressive garden." She looked at the iron bars that would prevent potential thieves to enter. "And an iron fence too!"

"But where's the entrance? This place is so big I can't see it." Dekao grumbled, looking around. Apparently on the way to the house, Dekao had decided to actually visit Yaito instead of his previous plan. "Oh, Netto-kun. Over there!" He ran over to a hole in the fence. "We can get in through here!"

Netto hesitated. "Shouldn't we…you know, go through the front gate?" It's still daylight out too. Not a good time to be sneaking through a hole in the wall.

"It'll be fine." Dekao tried to assure her. "We're Yaito-chan's classmates, after all."

Which only served to worry Netto more. "Wouldn't that be more of a reason to enter properly?" Because this is a rich person's place, and no one can sneak in a place like that without proper preparation. Otherwise bad things would happen. Because of stupid traps that rich people have. Ikazuchi squawked in agreement.

Clearly displeased with Netto's answer, Dekao scowled. "If you're too scared, then I'll just go by myself."

And he proceeded to climb through the hole and disappear into the garden before Netto could protest.

Netto gaped before deciding that cursing in several different languages was a good idea. "He's going to die in there!" She groaned. "If I had the right equipment I could get in easily!"

'But you are not doing that right now.'

"But I'm not doing that right now!" Netto stopped, looked at the mechanical bird on her shoulder, and a plan began to form in her head. "Ikazuchi, can you get in and check on Dekao-kun?"

Ikazuchi cooed in a questioning tone.

"Yes, I'll reward you. Now go on, please." The bird took off, flying into the garden, and stopped to hover by a tree trunk. "Found something already?"

Forte connected to the camera in Ikazuchi's right eye and pulled up the live feed on-screen. Netto blinked, now looking through Forte's eyes as they watched Ikazuchi shift over until a section of the tree trunk had a slight glare to it.

'That's a…!'

'Security camera.' Forte confirmed, then sent Ikazuchi a command to find Dekao.

Ikazuchi's camera shifted, scanning the ground until it spotted a human with a heat signal that matched Dekao's. Resting in one of the trees, it took in the rest of its surroundings. Alarms began blaring throughout the garden.

'Oh, great. We couldn't find Dekao-kun before he tripped the alarms.'

'Hold on, this is getting amusing.' They watched as lawnmowers chased Dekao into a tennis court.

Netto pulled her laptop out of her backpack and opened it. 'Well, yeah it is. Keep me updated?'

'Of course.'

Netto nodded, connecting Rockman's PET to the laptop. "Rockman, can you connect to the video feed from Ikazuchi's left eye?"

'He's in a cage now.'

"Sure, Netto-kun." Rockman agreed sleepily, pulling up a window that showed Dekao yelling while gripping the cage bars. Rockman stared at the feed, then turned to Netto with an expression of confusion. "What happened?"

Netto sat down cross-legged on the ground, setting the laptop on her lap. "Dekao-kun didn't listen to me when I said to go in the proper way, and now he's stuck in a cage in Yaito-chan's garden. Can you turn the microphone and speakers on for Ikazuchi?"

Rockman easily did it. "What are you going to do?"

Netto smiled. "First, I'm going to…Ikazuchi, can you hear me? Please look up if you can."

The camera focused onto the blue sky.

"Okay. Next, can you fly down to where Dekao-kun is?"

There was a soft thump as Ikazuchi landed on the grass, close enough that Dekao would be able to hear Netto through the speakers. "Dekao-kun, can you hear me?"

"Netto-kun?" Dekao looked around. "Where are you? I can't see you."

"I'm where you left me." There was a hint of annoyance in her voice. "You should be able to see Ikazuchi, though."

"Oh, I see it!" Dekao lowered himself to Ikazuchi's eye level. "I'm sorry I didn't listen to you. Please help me get out!"

"There's only so much I can do with just Ikazuchi, you know." Netto sighed. "Maybe there's a plug-in port nearby that you can use to ask the security guards to let you go."

Dekao managed to find one and plugged Gutsman in. Soon, the ground opened up from under him and he fell through.

Netto rubbed her eyes, making sure that Dekao really did disappear from Ikazuchi's sight. "Where did he go?" Rockman shrugged, then looked up at something above Netto that wasn't there a moment ago.

"Netto-kun, above you!" Netto immediately moved over a few feet to the right, then looked at Dekao, who had fallen through a tube that had been above her.

She turned her attention back to her laptop. "Ikazuchi, you can come back now."

Ikazuchi responded with an excited squawk.

Netto hardly paid attention in class the next day as the teacher talked about security holes and firewalls.

'This is boring.' She complained to Forte. 'I already know all this.'

'You know from experience. Others might not know about this.'

As soon as the bell rang, Netto left for home, Ikazuchi, yet again, perched on her shoulder. Such a smart self-learning A.I. program, figuring out how to sneak into her backpack while she wasn't paying attention. Netto stopped at a red light, and patiently waited for the light to turn blue.

"…It's been more than five minutes, what's going on?" Netto grumbled, looking at all the traffic lights in the area. To her surprise, all the lights were red. 'Rockman, can you find out what's wrong with the traffic lights?'

'Yeah, just plug me into that traffic light over there.' Netto did just that and watched Rockman as he traveled to the Traffic Control Center.

Rockman arrived at his destination in a burst of light. Looking around the area confirmed that the cause was a virus attack, he noticed a prone figure lying motionlessly on the data platform.

It didn't take long for him to realize who that was. "Glyde!" He knelt down to check the other navi's status. Glyde's hit points weren't too low yet, so that was a relief. "Glyde, hang in there."

"Rockman..." Glyde struggled to lift himself up. "…Watch out for the ball…"

"The ball?" Rockman asked, not noticing the shadow coming down on them.

"Above you!" Netto screamed. They barely dodged in time. "Hold on until I get there!"

"Right!" Disconnecting and stuffing the PET into its holster, Netto turned to Ikazuchi.

"Quick, the shortest route to the Traffic Control Center!" Ikazuchi chirped, spread its wings, and flew off. Netto followed close behind.

She was going down a small hill when she noticed Yaito standing on the roof of a car. "Ikazuchi, wait a minute!" Netto told the bird, then turned to Yaito. "Yaito-chan!"

Yaito looked over. "Netto-kun?"

Netto cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled. "What are you doing over there? Are you alright?"

Yaito seemed to blush and her lips moved. Netto heard nothing. "What did you say? I can't read lips, you know!" Huh, now that's something else she could learn. "And Rockman and Glyde are in trouble at the Traffic Control Center!"

"Netto-kun!" Yaito called out, sounding like she was about to cry. She jumped across the car roofs and into Netto's arms. "I need the toilet!"

"…Oh." Netto turned to face away from the other girl. "Hurry up and get on my back, then."

Once Yaito was holding onto Netto, who wisely chose not to mention how heavy Yaito was, Ikazuchi continued on.

"Hurry up!" Yaito whined.

"I know, I know!" Netto tried to build up speed while not crashing into anything.

'Netto-kun, Glyde said the nearest toilet is in the traffic control center!'

'So where I'm already going, then. Got it.'

Arriving at the center, Ikazuchi had opened up the automatic doors. Netto skated on through, ignoring the guard that tried to stop them. She dropped Yaito off at the bathroom, receiving a hurried thank you, and bolted to the nearest plug-in port, where Ikazuchi was. She connected the PET, and upon seeing the attack heading for Rockman and Glyde, slotted in a Barrier chip. It activated just in time.

"Thank you, Netto-kun!" Rockman called out.

Netto grinned, another chip ready in her hand. "Sorry it took me this long."

Rockman shook his head, smiling. "No, it's alright."

"Okay then, let's go!" At Rockman's affirmative nod, she continued. "Battle chip, sword, slot in!"

Left arm forming into a pale blue blade, Rockman broke into a run. The opponent sent out several clones to try to stop him.

Netto couldn't help but gasp softly. "A navi with cloning abilities." She whispered in awe, and heard Forte chuckling in the back of her mind.

Rockman easily took care of the clones, and the enemy navi managed to plug out before Rockman could damage them.

"You did it, Rockman!" Netto praised, then flinched when she heard a thud. She looked in the direction of the noise, only seeing a woman who dropped her PET and was now clutching at her leg in pain.

'…She looks kind of familiar?'

'Perhaps…'

"Netto-kun..." Netto turned. Yaito was walking towards her, looking down at her dress. "Thank you." She raised a hand up.

Netto smiled and took her hand. She paused. "You…washed your hands, right?"

Yaito's face became as red as a tomato. "Netto, you idiot!"

The next morning, Meiru knocked on the door of the Hikari household. A minute passed before the door was opened by Netto's mother.

Haruka looked surprised to see Meiru there. "Ah, you are…?"

"I'm Sakurai Meiru, Hikari-san." Meiru introduced herself. "I came to see Netto-kun. Is she here?"

"No, I'm afraid she had left just a few minutes ago." Haruka sighed, looking back into the house. "I'm worried about her, with those WWW incidents. Especially since she forgot to bring Rockman with her."

"What?" Meiru was stunned. Operators rarely go anywhere without their navi these days, and with the possibility of WWW causing trouble at any moment, being without a navi made humans defenseless against virus attacls. "Has she said anything about where she went?"

"She did mention the harbor…will you go give Rockman to her?" At Meiru's answering nod, Haruka disappeared inside the house, and returned a few moments later to hand Meiru Rockman's PET. "Take care now."

"I will. Thank you, Hikari-san." Unfolding her scooter, Meiru set off for the harbor.

The harbor wasn't terribly big, but it wasn't small either. Meiru wandered around, holding both Roll's and Rockman's PETs in her hands.

"Netto-kun was just doing homework," Rockman explained. "When she suddenly panicked and said that she was going to be late."

"Late for what?" Roll asked.

Rockman shrugged. "I don't know. She just grabbed Ikazuchi and took off without me."

"Maybe she was meeting someone in secret?" Meiru suggested, remembering scenarios like that in her romance novels. "Like some kind of forbidden love."

The two navis stared at her.

"Meiru-chan, these days, almost all relationships are acceptable." Roll pointed out. "Netto-kun wouldn't have had to hide it."

"And why would she bring Ikazuchi along with her?" Rockman added. "Not to mention that I've been with her almost ever since she came to Japan, and she's never shown that kind of interest to anyone."

Meiru lightly chewed on her lip in thought. "Maybe Ikazuchi has some sort of important data that Netto-kun needs to pass on to someone else? Like Net Police?"

"If it was the Net Police, Netto-kun would have brought me along."

"Maybe…" Roll's voice had a tint of mischief to it. "She's working for WWW."

They all laughed at the idea.

"As if!" Meiru giggled. "She already beat them three times!" She looked up. "Oh, there she is!"

Netto was scrolling down the street, Ikazuchi perched on her shoulder. They were both facing away from Meiru, so they didn't seem to notice her.

"Let's follow her." Meiru said. No one protested much.

They managed to stay on Netto's trail until she went inside a restroom. Meiru waited near it for Netto to come out. One minute became five, and five minutes became ten. There was still no sign of Netto.

"What's taking her so long?" Meiru grumbled.

"We should go see if anything's wrong." Roll suggested.

Meiru nodded, putting Rockman's PET into her holster and entering the restroom, bumping into a girl with a blue hat in the process. There was an open window on the far end of the room.

Meiru clicked her tongue. "How did Netto-kun know we were following her?"

Approximately twenty minutes ago, Netto had felt a chill at the back of her neck. Someone was following her. Ignoring Rockman's attempts to contact her, she took a right turn and snuck a peek at whoever was following her. She looked away after a second, unable to tell who it was. Forte had watched with her, however, and he has the ability to look at his memories like they were pictures or videos.

Soon, he showed her the memory as she sat down on a bench to rest. Netto glanced at each face, zeroing in on a familiar one.

'Meiru-chan was the one following me?'

'She's holding two PETs.' Forte pointed out. 'If one belonged to her navi, the other one would be Rockman.'

It…made sense. Meiru probably followed her to try to give her Rockman's PET. 'Not yet. I still haven't transported the item yet.'

'There's a restroom not too far from here.'

'…? Oh! Good idea!' Netto exclaimed when she remembered the contents of her backpack. She stood back up and walked casually towards said restroom, locking herself in a stall once she got there.

Unzipping her backpack, she dug around for her spare clothes. The long black pants went on first, over her shorts. Next she took off her vest and replaced it with a purple hooded jacket, zipping it all the way up. Then, she took out a plastic bag and wore the blonde wig that was within it. Stuffing the plastic bag back into her backpack, she pulled out a blue baseball cap.

Exiting the stall and opening the window, she urged Ikazuchi to leave and meet her at the meeting place. She then went over to the mirror, checking to see that her brown hair was tucked underneath the wig. Satisfied with the result, she set the hat on top of her head, then left, bumping into Meiru in the process.

Once she made it to the meeting place, next to a ship heading for Amerope, she waited around for Ikazuchi to show up. Which he did, after five minutes.

"Now, Ikazuchi." Netto said quietly. "Remember to hide yourself when you sneak on. Make sure there's sunlight so you don't run out of power. Once you get to Amerope, go to the coordinates I gave you. That's where your new owner is. Be nice, and don't get destroyed, okay?"

Ikazuchi chirped in agreement, then flew off to the ship. Netto smiled, walking off to the nearest restroom to change again. It's time to go find Meiru now.

Ikazuchi means thunder. Guess who it's going to meet?

Netto managed to pay for flights and hotels because she makes a living selling robots she builds. It's a good system for her, since she gets to test out ideas and keep on improving. She specializes in animal and insect-shaped robots, though humanoid robots are possible if she has the right materials.

It is common sense for Netto that big property belonging to rich people=lots of troublesome traps. How does she know? You'll find out later in the story. Maybe. Actually, you probably will.

There is a reason why the WWW navis/members look familiar to Netto. No, it's not because she might be in WWW. Saying this right now, Netto is not in WWW.

It is my headcanon (or is it canon? Not sure) that Meiru, and probably Yaito as well, loves romance novels. It explains their reaction to Saloma and Daisuke meeting in the Quickman episode, and Mariko-sensei staring off into the distance in the Sharkman vs Rockman episode.

Ikazuchi is a yellow bird model that can fly. Like all of Netto's other creations, it has a self-learning A.I. with little to none restrictions. However, it can usually only do what its owner tells it to do. It is a GPS, has cameras in both eyes, a speaker in its beak, and microphone in both ears. It can plug in with one of its talons, like the bug from the video game episode. There's a plug in port on its right side, which is usually covered by the wing.

Ikazuchi will make another appearance at some point.

I have no idea what the timeline of the anime is like so the N1 Grand Prix will be held during winter vacation so students can compete.