"How many darkloids are there?" Lan exclaimed, his eyes wide as he looked at the screen of a sector in Sci-lab, almost completely overrun with viruses.
Famous sighed as he looked at the three young net savers there. "Four. And there were reports of a few more just outside the city limits."
Raika frowned- he knew that there were certainly more net savers in Netopia than just the two residential ones in Dentech City he had battled with before; it was bizarre to think otherwise. However, if the darkloids planned on coming out of the cyber world . . .
Dr. Hikari nodded. "You should hurry. We need all the help we can get." He did not have to point out that several net police navis were attempting to fight against the many viruses on the large screen.
"Go to different locations, for three of the darkloids," Famous ordered. "One of you should be enough for one darkloid. Other of our navis can take care of the rest unless you would be needed for them, also."
Raika nodded, and headed toward the direction that was indicated, opposite of both Chaud and Lan. The door that led to the room was jammed, but a quick jack-in of his navi quickly fixed it, and soon he was jacking in his navi (. . . his older brother . . .) into the cyber server.
It had already been announced that several of the security cameras, including for the area that he was in, were currently down. Of course, it mattered more that the darkloid and the other powerful enemies be defeated so that there would be a Sci-lab to protect in the first place.
The darkloid was currently smashing several pillars in glee. Raika frowned at the wanton destruction- and for not purpose other than to do it for pure pleasure, instead of an attempted cause or revenge of some sort. Some lone navis might do such type of actions, but others seemed to attempt to just survive, whether they were technically supposed to exist or not.
He flinched again as he remembered that Searchman and even himself were lone navis of a sort, then managed to somewhat force the thought away. Raika entered a few battle chips, and not too long after that, the darkloid, severely damaged, had logged out.
Another darkloid soon appeared- then another, both perhaps from outside of the lab, and Raika grimaced, seeing Searchman's struggles against both of the strong cyber beings. A few minutes later, his navi was nearly spent against a slightly damaged pillar. He huffed- there were certainly weaknesses that he had noticed within the darkloids' battle tactics, but he definitely did not want to endanger his navi any more than he had to.
Raika sent a wave of water against one darkloid, then followed up with a burst of lightning that surrounded the temporarily slightly wet enemy. That one logged out, then Raika focused on the other, which he had not been able to hit with the higher speed. Searchman was at least more recovered now, so he could fight head on if needed.
Raika sent a couple of chips that caused Searchman's attacks to follow the evasive navi- then the cyber being dodged underneath a beam just before it would hit him, and launched his axe at his opponent. Cringing, he watched as Searchman slammed against the floor. Just before the axe could do severe damage- the enemy had broken through several shields- Raika logged out his injured navi.
He was quite relieved to see Searchman pixelate onto his PET screen, even though his navi was on one knee, unable to stand. Raika was about to pull up his email to notify of the status, when Searchman painfully raised his head and spoke.
"Raika, I may not be able to continue the battle, but you can," he insisted.
Raika flinched, and not just since Searchman was suggesting that he do something that he utterly despised. Humans were not supposed to be trapped as navis, after all (even though Searchman had insisted multiple times before that he truly did not mind being a navi- most of the time- since he was used to it.) He did not like being enclosed in a cyber form, perhaps unable to ever escape to the proper form and the realm that he knew best and was known in.
But of course, there was also Searchman to think about, and Raika chided himself for immediately reacting to himself and his odd human emotions, not his injured navi
"You're much too damaged for such a thing," Raika countered angrily. Of course, he was not actually angered at Searchman, but at himself for allowing his navi to be in his current damaged state.
Searchman shook his head. "I do not need to enter any battle chips," he stated firmly, even with his weakened state. "You merely need to utilize your ability."
Raika inwardly sighed. Like Searchman, some custom navis were built with special abilities that were not default attacks. Some could be triggered by something, while others needed to charge, or even could be used immediately. He had not known that his practically useless ability could actually help with something after the virtual reality had ended, and he did not particularly want to use it currently, with his navi so injured.
"The attack may be quick, and Sci-lab is at stake if you do not," Searchman warned.
"Would it even work?"
His navi nodded. "It may."
Reluctantly, Raika also nodded. He had not been able to "jack" Searchman out into the human realm ever since they had been "in" the virtual reality, where strangely enough (or on purpose from the reality creators), his strange ability had been needed more than once. Of course, he could not waste any more time with debating about the non-existent past and the ones behind it.
Wishing that the odd round-about system for their realm transfers was much more direct, he quickly jacked in Searchman to a nearby portable cyber realm. He then opened up the menu for forms, selected human, then jacked his navi out again- but this time, Searchman came out as Peter Malenkov, his older brother that was about three inches taller than him.
As he had expected, Peter immediately collapsed due to the injuries he had sustained as a navi, but Raika caught and gently lowered him to the floor.
"I can sit well enough near the jack in portal," Peter explained.
Raika flinched a bit, but helped Peter lean against a wooden chair (that was thankful not one with wheels). The voice was also so similar to what he had heard in the virtual reality, and was almost eerie to hear the timbre again . . .
"Hand me both of the PETs," Peter said, raising his head while holding on to the armrest of the chair.
Raika nodded, still unconvinced of Peter's suggestion, but first gave him the familiar green-hued device, then pulled his own tan-colored one from his left pocket. He did notice that Peter carefully placed part of his hand over the conspicuous symbol that was very similar to Searchman's emblem. He also handed him the chip pack he wore, just in case. His older brother did not object, but merely took it and placed it in a pocket.
"I'll jack you in now," Peter said quickly.
Raika nodded, knowing that when he was jacked out, he would return back to the human realm without the indication on his device to be a navi also then. As always, the transfer was immediate. Raika flinched slightly, feeling that he had grown- though he had- in both memory and capacity. For a moment, he did not know how Peter had managed to be a navi for years to find out that he was "only" a human, after all. However, humans were definitely weak, but they had the definite advantage of being in control of the cyber world- and plus they had families. They were recognized as having the right to be there, while navis, powerful as they were, were mostly only workers for the humans that had created them.
Raika managed to force the strange thoughts from his mind. He did not really like the cyber world- a realm that was far from the one that he knew, and so enclosed. Navis generally could not get out of it, after all . . .
He turned around to the darkloid, who strangely seemed to just have been smashing pillars again, for some strange reason.
"Another navi?" the darkloid asked, surprised. "Are the humans so desperate now that they are pulling from the land-based gutter part of town instead of their elite forces?"
Raika ignored the insult, and focused. He could now see the enemy's speed, and how fast he could go. He could go faster, in a dash of multi-colored streaks, building up power as he went. Of course, generally it just worked for speed-based cyber beings, as this darkloid was. If his ability did something else, then he was quite unaware of it. His PET, though certainly merged with the other regular one, just as Searchman's lab-based one had been merged with the one from the military, certainly had not come with any instructions, even when they had both been in the virtual reality.
Raika saw the enemy rush toward him, almost in slow motion. He easily dodged, leaving the enemy partly blinded by the bright colors that would be only more visible to the enemy. Somehow, Peter also had always been fine vision-wise even during his attacks.
He summoned his default cyber sword- how he had wished multiple times that it was at least some type of rifle or other type of long-range weapon that he had become accustomed to with Searchman's attacks- and struck. The darkloid, still not quite knowing where he was yet, bellowed in pain as Raika struck again, then several more times.
He raised his sword again, crouching low behind a partially broken pillar so that the enemy would not see where he would strike next. The darkloid must had sensed that he would attack again, though, since he suddenly vanished. Disappointed, Raika stood, but was quite wary as he knew that the enemy had not logged out.
"I'll do cross fusion!"
Raika heard Peter's voice, and knew that the darkloid had appeared in Sci-lab. Naming what he was going to do would of course give the enemy more time to attack, but he also knew that Peter wanted to give him a chance to warn him that he was going to be jacked out as a navi, as his brother well knew that he did not like it, to say the least.
Raika nodded, and soon, he was standing in his own despised PET again, the enclosed room around him, never to become larger. Of course, it soon became worse as he lost all senses besides sight, hearing, and his general navi senses of data.
They were in cross fusion form, again. Peter would do the controlling- he again wondered how Searchman could like such a thing, but of course Raika knew that his navi trusted him, just like he had trusted Peter enough to do cross fusion in the first place. They could, and did. They might not win the battle, but Peter would attempt to defeat the enemy anyway. Navis were accustomed to so many things that would be so foreign to humans . . .
Raika wanted to be able to attack more and not place his brother in danger, but that was what cross fusion did- using the bond between a net op and navi, the chip made it so that the net op became the controller, with the navi as support, even less than the net op did during a generic battle. For whatever reason, that was how Dr. Hikari had designed the chip. Perhaps he had even imagined doing it himself one day with a navi, relishing in the chance of somewhat battling as a cyber being. Of course, the thought was contrary in itself. It did not matter how much the net op wanted to perform cross fusion. If the navi was unwilling, or they pair did not have enough of a synchro rate, no matter how much they had battled together before, then the chip simply would not work.
He did trust Peter, though. Peter was more than his brother, who he really did not remember, besides that he liked him even before meeting him as a navi. Peter had helped him all through the short years after being chosen to become a net op in the cyber battle division of the junior military. Peter was much wiser than him, and would always seem to know more, even though he was "just" a human. One did not throw away vast experiences of missions and training when switching realms, after all. Some things could always be applied in any realm, human or cyber.
In a flash of data, the darkloid struck at the strange human on the floor. Raika winced inwardly at Peter's pain-inflicted face as he slumped a bit more. A quick glance at the darkloid confirmed that he was then merely smirking at the strange cross fused human still sitting pathetically on the floor. Peter then managed to shakily sit up a bit more, and raised his right arm slightly, data beginning to form on it. Raika was then confused as he sensed not a program advance, but a mere small cannon type chip- and a lower level one, at that.
He did not question it, though, injured as his brother was. Surely Peter's intelligence would not have been lowered by his injuries and the transfer to the human world, even though all of his senses and strength had been vastly reduced to weak human stats.
Peter managed to shakily raise the thankfully light-weight cannon, and fired once. Raika saw the beam head straight toward not where Raika had been going to strike in the cyber realm, but another spot on his side. The beam hit straight on, and Raika was surprised as the navi yowled in pain, then vanished in another log out.
Peter lowered the cannon, his right arm shaking. "That was a spot that I could not reach before while battling in the network," he explained wearily. "I had sensed that it was a weak spot, but he needed to be more damaged in other places before that spot could do anything to him."
Raika was a bit confused, but understood some. "I should be jacked back in," Raika then stated, though he truly did not want to fight as a navi again. Plus, his brother had been even more injured by the darkloid's attack.
He was almost glad when Peter shook his head, slumping more against the chair a bit more, exhaustion on his face. "No, from what he could tell, he was too damaged to do anything more. He would have retreated."
Raika flinched as hurried footsteps sounded from nearby. He chided himself- as the one that was currently a navi, he should have heard them much before then, but he had been too focused on his immediate surroundings and Peter's weakened state.
Before Peter was able to de-cross fuse, the door was flung open to reveal Chaud, and what looked like a Sci-lab employee.
"There!" Chaud exclaimed. "I knew that the other darkloids would have been around here somewhere."
Raika flinched inwardly, as he had not thought of being accused as being an enemy, but Peter merely undid the cross fusion, the PET clattering the floor. Peter followed, crumpling to the tiled ground, his human strength spent.
"I do not sense anymore data in the room," Protoman thankfully announced, his calm voice in stark contrast to his net op's stunned face.
Chaud nodded, his features still baffled and ran over to the PET while the employee went to Peter. Raika was a bit miffed that the younger net saver did not seem to care as much about his brother than the strange navi that the net op had cross fused with. Then again, for all Chaud knew, he himself was a darkloid and the unfamiliar youth had managed to become enough of an ally with him, or had even used a dark synchro chip where somehow the human and net navi were not required to have a higher synchro rating.
Also, though Raika was glad to be "just" a navi again instead of in the cross fusion form, he definitely had not wanted to be caught. Part of himself was quite angered at Peter for having the idea of jacking him into the battle in the first place, but he definitely knew that Peter had not counted on the darkloid emerging into the human world before the battle in the network was complete.
He did not know how to explain who Peter was- his PET, at least, did not have any personal information on either the net op or even himself as the navi, and Raika, still wary of the new device, had not used the PET for sending any messages- not that he knew of anyone that he trusted to send them to.
With Peter definitely unconscious, he could only hope that no one would connect the strange human that looked more than a bit similar to Searchman, and the strange navi whose helmet covered all of his turquoise hair and a small mask for the lower part of his face, but still had the same blue eyes and face type, even with his taller frame and slightly deeper voice.
Raika wanted to duck underneath the frame where he would be visible to anyone looking at the PET- he wanted to do that quite very much- but knew that Peter was definitely visible to the two people in the room, and also Protoman- who knew Searchman better than Chaud, and possibly another navi if the Sci-lab employee had one. If Searchman had the risks, he would want them also . . . (Even though it seemed rather contrarious, though.)
Chaud picked up the PET, blocking Peter from his view. Raika frowned inwardly, but knew that he would most likely be scanned later, and Peter looked at. At least he knew that Sci-lab would not want to leave humans in a weakened position, enemy or not.
Chaud gazed his him suspiciously, while Raika attempted to keep his face neutral. Thankfully, he just then lowered the PET, but without letting go of it. He then placed Raika's synchro chip into one of his pockets. Frowning with slight dissatisfaction even though he had fully expected the chip to be taken, Raika then turned the PET's camera toward Peter. His brother was still prone on the ground, but still was definitely alive. He then saw the employee turn around to the younger net saver.
"This one's fine, but seems to be just weakened," the employee stated. "He'll have to rest here, of course, and his navi checked. I don't know how he got into Sci-lab."
"And got hold of a cross fusion chip," Chaud added.
Raika then flinched a but, then quickly cast out his weak mental powers toward Searchman's PET. Like Peter, he still could not do much with it, but at least he could turn off both the notifications and receiving service so that Peter would have less of a chance of being caught with Raika's PET, even with the chance that his belongings would be searched anyway.
Chaud then spoke again. "I wonder where Raika would be," he mused. "He was in this area. I would think that he would have seen whoever he is, and his navi."
As Raika had expected, Chaud then attempting to send a message toward his PET, but turned confused at the error message.
"Did he turn off his PET?" the employee asked, his face quizzical.
Chaud frowned, glancing at Peter still on the ground, his face again suspicious. "I don't know. I would hope it would be something like that instead of the PET being damaged, or maybe even worse. The darkloid in here was not the only one in the human realm."
The employee nodded. "Perhaps it is just fine," he stated smoothly, though his voice trembled ever so slightly. "There could be a viable reason for it. It could be that wherever Raika is, the message was temporarily blocked somehow. Meanwhile, we need to report about this person, whoever he is."
Chaud nodded, his face still troubled. Raika watched, a bit confused, even with his concern for Peter, and the horror of possibly being discovered. He did not know why the younger net saver was so concerned- he was just a unit to help in the mission, and not someone to be valued, especially in another country. Of course, he had been sent from another nation in the first place, but certainly he did not matter too much as a foreign net saver to local ones.
He then shoved the strange thoughts away. Why was he thinking about such trivialities, when both he and Peter could very well be caught? Of course, it would help much more if Peter were awake, and he could not hope that he would not be scanned before his older brother woke. He could attempt to delay the scan with his abilities, but he might cause more security that Peter would have to get through to retrieve him. He just hoped that Dr. Hikari would think that his helmet and mask was part of his original armor. Plus, he had to get his synchro chip back somehow (and without even Protoman noticing . . .)
Peter being captured- and still in Sci-lab- had also occurred more than once in the virtual reality. Then, the people had been confused at the strange net op that appeared sporadically, as his unknown navi. Raika had managed to appear back at himself at least eventually, but knew that then, he had been aided by a strange being that appeared as a young human girl. He did not know if the child was supposed to be a navi or human, or was a combination of both, or if he would even see her outside of the reality. For all he knew, her appearances were only meant to create a false hope that someone would help them in the same sort of circumstances that he and Peter were in now.
"Should we even give him his PET?" Raika heard Chaud ask worriedly from inside his PET.
The medical doctor shrugged slightly. "That is what Dr. Hikari had ordered. He did take the cross fusion chip, though. There are also several security navis in the cameras nearby just in case he does decide to jack in his navi somewhere, and he's not meant to remained alone. Plus, he's a youth. I don't know how much damage he could do by himself, even if he did somehow cross fuse."
Chaud shook his head, apparently not convinced. Raika supposed that, if he had not been a part of the situation, he knew that he would have at least partly agreed with the younger net saver. He had seen troublesome youth before, even much younger than him. He certainly wanted to be around Peter, though, or as least as much as he could as a navi, though. From the looks of the youth lying prone on the cot, he had not even woken up yet, even though several hours had passed.
The medical employee, different than the one that had carried Peter from the room he had battle in, placed the device gently on the table near the cot. "I would like an explanation, if he would give one," he chattered. "From what I heard, no sort of identification was discovered in his PET at all."
"None?" Chaud's voice was confused. "But's that's illegal. No one should have an unlabeled PET."
The employee shook his head. "I know that is generally the case, but I really don't want to instantly just judge him. I don't know why he does not have the information, but he certainly likes his navi, to say the least, to be able to cross fuse with him. The synchro chip was even the regular type, not a dark one."
"I still don't trust him," Chaud stated, his face stoic.
"I can understand that," the employee said. "Especially since he had a synchro chip that was discovered to definitely be one from Sci-lab in the first place, not to mention, somehow coming into here without being discovered. No one else in the lab knows him that I know of, either."
Chaud nodded, his eyes still warily on the PET. Raika was quite glad that the scientists had only perhaps a simple scan on him, and not one that had apparently revealed any sort information he wanted to withhold.
To his chagrin, Chaud remained in the room with the employee, eventually choosing to reside on a chair near the door. The employee looked at the unconscious youth from time to time, sometimes writing on a tablet in his pocket. Raika was glad that at least Lan had had to apparently attend something for his school, so he was not curiously- or suspiciously- there, also.
Raika frowned. An escape would be a bit more difficult than in the virtual reality due to the synchro chip being elsewhere than with Peter, but if it was within Sci-lab, then he might be able to discover the location, especially if it was in open sight somewhere and not in a closed drawer or otherwise. One positive thing about the cyber world was that unless something unusual had chanced to occur in the network, then the surroundings generally always had a good degree of visibility.
Raika closed his eyes, out of habit from the using the ability when he was in human form, and mentally began to search the lab. Even with his increased reflexes (somehow, he was always surprised that he was faster when he was a navi, and then much- much- slower as a mere human, and then condemning himself that he was too slow), he knew that he would never be at the speed as Searchman, even when his friend was using the same ability instead of his much faster natural Search capability.
A few minutes later, he finally discovered the chip on top of a counter in one of the lab rooms. He had expected it to be near Dr. Hikari, who was in a navi healing room with some other employees, but the chip was in a room that merely a few workers busily typed on computers. Raika nearly frowned that the valuable chip was in such a vulnerable place, but knew that most likely, no one truly expected Peter or anyone else to attempt to take it again.
Now that he knew where it was, he could easily check on the chip periodically to make sure that it stayed in the same place. Raika returned his attention to Peter, who was definitely just merely unconscious, with the same medical employee though, and more annoyingly, Chaud. Though he and Searchman had managed to fool Protoman in the virtual reality that the strange disturbances had utterly nothing to do with him and Peter, he was not sure if they could outside of it. Chaud's navi was not the type to usually miss things, especially as he was more watchful instead of social.
More than half an hour later, Peter's eyes finally opened. Raika watched carefully, even though the medical employee was already alert and standing. His brother's gaze was a bit unfocused for a few seconds, then he narrowed his eyes.
"How are you feeling?" the employee asked friendlily.
To Raika's relief, Peter merely ignored the question and closed his eyes. Raika hastily opened the note-taking program, quite embarrassed that he had not thought of it before then. If Peter saw it opening, though, he gave no typed comment.
My synchro chip is in room 304, Raika quickly typed. It is in one of the lab rooms. Only four lower-ranking employees are in there.
He watched as the buttons on the keyboard were pushed by themselves while Peter typed. Escape should not be too hard, then. Do not blame yourself.
Raika blinked a bit, somewhat confused, but also a bit relieved at the same time. Of course Searchman-Peter-sometimes he never knew what to think of him- would think to calm him if he thought that Raika needed it, even in the course of danger. He was a bit chagrined that he knew that he actually did require that for more rational thought, but Peter had known that it would help that time.
Raika attempted to focus. He and Peter had a mission- and a very important one, at that. They both had to stay undiscovered, and alive . . .
I'll take care of the synchro chip, he then typed. Peter, through his navi experiences, even though Raika was currently the navi, actually still knew more than Raika about security systems.
Of course.
He quickly closed the program, as he heard the medical employee asking what Peter's name was. Raika peered through the PET's camera, still seeing Peter laying down on the bed, but knew that was merely both a cover up and his navi friend resting ever so slightly for the upcoming haste.
Less than a minute later the lights in the room dimmed into darkness as the alarms for a "cyber invasion" sounded. In the sudden gloom of the room, Raika saw Peter sitting up, while the other two humans were blinking, attempting to adjust. Chaud pulled out his PET to most likely see what had occurred in any sort of message while Peter was already to the now unlocked door, Raika's PET in his pocket.
The employee, still squinting in the dim lighting, had finally noticed that his charge was not where he had left him.
"Hey, get back here!" the employee shouted, but ran into the door, which had appeared to have locked itself and would not budge unless a navi forced entry, or a tool was used to unjam it. He could not hope that Chaud would not severe hold it against his brother.
Raika grimaced as Peter ran in the dim hallway, passing a few confused employees, who perhaps thought that Peter was not of any significance for the situation. The running youth was not a darkloid, of course, and Raika knew that it was also lucky that not only some of the net savers that visited were youths, but also some the of staff's children sometimes came into the lab.
Raika mentally checked the nearest security camera, but saw that Peter had done a good job with it- with their small mental powers, they could do some things such as temporarily jam camera footage. He did not bother to check the others.
The chip was waiting in a small notch near a water fountain a few feet away. Peter swiftly grabbed it, and ran out of the lab. No one was near toward them- Raika knew that the "emergency" was supposedly on the other side of the lab. He could take that Peter was laboring a bit from not having fully recovered from the cyber world attacks, but his brother was certainly trying to attempt a quick pace.
They thankfully met no interference even after escaping out of the lab, Peter's speed only slowly slightly as Raika mentally searched for a near place where they could safely switch places. Finally, a few blocks away in a small phone booth with only a few civilians nearby, Peter, a bit breathless, ducked down in the small area and changed the settings on Raika's PET, then jacked him out.
Raika blinked, wincing at the severe change of mentality, but knew that somehow, the program took care of more of an unpleasant reaction that would occur, especially from a navi to a mere, slow-minded human. He could not think of that now, though.
Raika crouched down in the cramped quarters and accepted both PETs from Peter, then jacked in his brother (again, how he wished that they could do it for themselves in a much simpler, instead of having to rely on each other for it in the awkward round-about form). He then quickly changed the program to the navi form, and jacked out his navi to the PET.
"The transfer was successful," Searchman announced, his voice his usual lower tone as it was when he was in his cyber form.
Raika nodded, only slightly reassured at the sight of his navi. He was glad that at least the program would not be one that could be discovered on general searches, for some odd reason. Even the military scans had not located it. Somehow, if the virtual reality was correct, only those who knew what to look for would be able to find the hidden program.
A quick glance at his screen assured him that Searchman had already turned on the PET's communication system. Raika was glad for his navi's promptness, and swiftly attempted to prepare himself with a small story to tell Sci-lab for his absence. He hoped that they would believe it, with the darkloids having been in various locations and also his current reputation as a high-achieving net saver. Once again, he was aghast that he had managed to cause Searchman to be stunned so much in his human form that he had been found there, and unconscious, at that. The escape had been actually much easier than some they had "encountered" in the virtual reality, but of course he could not hope that it would always end up that way.
"Hopefully we will not need to do that sort of escape again," he muttered, standing up in the booth, still angered at himself.
"I would agree," Searchman stated quietly. "I relish only in escapes from actual missions, not ones for this type of danger."
He voice was stoic, as usual, but Raika could hear a bit of nervousness in the tone. Raika blinked, suddenly strangely wishing that Searchman remembered something from his younger years before being stolen. Of course, he did not either, but somehow, it almost seemed that the reason that they were both illegal was almost illogical since he, and especially Searchman, did not even recall the actual human Peter at all. That friendly youth that had been described by Chief Malenkov and his wife was much different than the older one that Searchman reluctantly turned into to help battle with Raika's navi form.
Raika sighed slightly, but knew that he needed to quickly return to Sci-lab. The "emergency" that Searchman had created would soon be discovered to be false, after all.