Essence of Humanity PG-13 *Stream* AA/An Finished

[Neko]

Here it is folks. My most recent attempt at a serious fic. COMPLEATELY AU. Seriously, this is about as AU as you can get without going into a plot that's not even in the EXE universe. So, those of you who have read Maki-chan will know what I plan to do with this fic. Everyone else, sit back and enjoy the ride.

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Rockman yawned and stretched and looked at the internal clock in his PET. It read 7:30, as he knew it would. He looked over to the bed and saw a large lump in the center of the bed, unmoving and unusually quiet. Rockman sighed; it was of course the start of every other day just like it. He’d yell at Netto-kun for ten minutes, Netto would hopefully wake up by then and if they were really lucky Netto would get to school on time. Of course, this was the ideal morning.

Rockman smiled at his brother whose head was completely submerged in the cotton of his sheets. He took in a deep breath to get ready to yell at Netto-kun but was stopped when someone put a hand over his mouth. “Don’t,” a voice hissed into his ear.

Rockman brought back his elbow in pure reflex and rammed his attacker in the stomach. The grip over his face weakened and he spun around to see, “Blues!”

Blues smiled with a small grimace. “You’ve gotten better,” he grunted.

“What was that for?” Rockman yelled.

Blues put a finger to his lips. “Quiet,” he said.

Rockman looked out to where Netto was still sleeping, then back at Blues. “Why?” he asked, unconsciously lowering the volume of his voice.

“Something has happened,” Blues said softly. “I have no idea what, but if you wake up Netto I can assure you, you won’t like it.”

“What do you mean?” Rockman hissed.

“When I woke up Enzan-sama this morning…” Blues started but was cut off by Netto stirring in his bed.

“Netto-kun?” Rockman asked, still not quite sure as to what was going on.

Blues shook his head furiously but Rockman somewhat tried to ignore him.

“Netto-kun?” he asked again.

Netto pushed vainly against the sheets that he was entwined in. /I…can’t…move…/ he said.

Rockman almost facefaulted, /Calm down and try to untwist yourself,/ Rockman said.

Netto tried and failed miserably, in the end he fell over the side of the bed with a loud thump and managed to get free of the sheets there. He came from the bed spread gasping for air. A very surprised Blues and a trying not to laugh Rockman looked down at him from his computer. Netto coughed nervously, “Hi Blues,” he said rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. “Did Enzan want me for something?”

Blues opened his mouth, then closed it, apparently in shock.

“Blues? Speechless?” Rockman chided, “Boy, this is a weird day.”

With that remark Blues seemed to snap out of whatever trance he was in. “Listen to me,” he said in a seriously voice that made Netto and Rockman snap to attention. “I have no idea what’s going on with you two, but the only way I can explain it is every human right now isn’t responding to anything.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Netto said crossly. He wasn’t exactly known for being a morning person.

“When I woke up this morning I called to Enzan-sama that he needed to get ready for work. He didn’t answer, or respond or anything. I thought maybe he was sick or something so I called his personal physician, he didn’t answer. I left my PET to go look for someone to answer to me but no one is answering me. Or any of the navi’s for that matter. All of the humans are just going around, doing their everyday chores but not talking or connecting to the net or anything. No one is responding,” Blues said.

Even though he said everything in a very calm voice, Rockman had never seen Blues so upset. He placed a hand on Blues’ shoulder and smiled; an action that seemed to put the red Navi at ease. “Don’t worry, we’ll find out what’s going on,” said Rockman. “I’m sure whatever it is, we can fix soon, right Netto-kun?”

Netto stared vacantly into space.

“Netto-kun!” Rockman yelled.

“What?” Netto asked.

Rockman breathed a sigh of relief, Netto had just zoned out. It was only 7:30 in the morning after all. “Wake up and get dressed, we’ve got to do something.”

Netto yawned and pulled his clothes out of his dresser. “All right,” he mumbled, only absorbing half of what Blues had said. Blues and Rockman talked quietly until Netto returned to his room more awake and willing to help. “So, where do we go first?” Netto asked.

“Net Saviors HQ,” Rockman said. “If there’s anything or anyone messing around with something it shouldn’t the equipment there should have picked up something.”

Netto nodded and picked up his PET and held it to the screen. Blues and Rockman both went inside and Netto went downstairs. There he saw his mom cooking as she always did that time of day but her expression was vacant, as if she didn’t see what she was doing. Netto looked at his mom but Blues said, “Everyone’s like that, you should just go on.”

Netto nodded and pulled on his shoes and grabbed his roller blades. He took one last peak at his mom and walked outside. Once outside Netto looked around in wonder. It was completely empty, not a soul was outside. There were no cars or people or anything to show it was supposed to be a busy Tuesday morning. The animals were busy, birds were singing, dogs were barking and the occasional squirrel ran from tree to tree. But other then that there was nothing. Netto’s first reaction was to shiver.

“Creepy,” said Rockman.

“That’s what I meant,” Blues said. “There is nothing going on.”

“So people are just staying in their houses doing whatever?” Rockman asked incredulously.

“That’s what it seems like,” Blues said.

“What could have done something like this?” Netto wondered out loud. He ran ahead and pulled on his rollerblades while gazing around. Everywhere he went it was the same thing. It was like a post apocalyptic world only everyone was still alive.

/Nice thought,/ Rockman said dryly.

/Well it is,/ Netto retorted. /Look at it, there’s nothing outside./

Netto continued to skate to the HQ while looking around. He saw movement inside but nothing more then that. Still it was good to know that no body disappeared. Now that would have been really creepy.

The large building loomed ahead of them and like every other business building it looked deserted. “Well, let’s see what’s going on,” Netto muttered and skated through the front doors.

“Netto-kun, you’re not supposed to skate in here!” Rockman said.

Netto ignored him and continued down the hall until he reached a small monitor station. He looked at the instruments and vaguely wondered which one would help them. He sighed and plugged the two navis into the computer. “Well?” he asked.

Blues pulled up several screens and began to scan them. “Nothing,” he said.

Rockman did the same but shook his head. “Sorry, I can’t find anything either.”

Netto looked at the computer and pulled up a few programs himself. He scanned them to see if a virus or a program was causing everyone to act like zombies. He got absolutely nothing. He sighed and shook his head. “Just what on earth is going on here?” he asked.

“I wish I could say,” Blues said. “I’d also like to know why you aren’t affected, Netto-san,” he added.

“Cause I’m just that awesome,” Netto said jokingly as he pulled up more programs to scan.

“Netto-kun,” Rockman sighed but a small smile played on his lips.

Blues remained as stone faced as ever and pulled up more programs. “I don’t understand,” he muttered. “If it’s not a virus or navi then what is it?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” a cold voice said behind them.

The three spun around to see a navi in the monitor behind them. Who knew how long he…she…it, had been there?

“Who are you?” Netto yelled.

It turned invisible eyes on Netto and it smirked. “My name is Lividity,” it gave a toothy grin and bowed mockingly. It was dressed in dark gray and black armor and it was wearing a long gray cape that covered most of its body when it had its arms to its sides.

“What did you do?” Blues said calmly, he knew with this particular navi that yelling and threats would get him nowhere.

“Well, I just played a little trick on your human counterparts. You see, it’s about time we navis rose up for ourselves and played our own games. The humans are one ones under control now,” it turned a visored eye on Netto and he shivered unconsciously. “Or at least I thought. Ah well, not all plans are perfect.”

“You did this?” Rockman asked in the same tone as Blues.

It opened its arms wide and gave a horrible grin. “Isn’t it beautiful?” it asked in a voice that sent shivers down all their spines. “A world for net navis! The humans knew this day was coming the second they gave an AI program free will and emotions.”

“What the hell do you want?” Netto yelled.

For all intents and purposes Lividity looked amused. “Well, if I told you that then this little set back wouldn’t be much fun now would it? You see, unlike most humans I’m a sporting person. I’ll give you a chance to survive, but rest assured you will loose.”

/Netto-kun, you have to get out of here now!/ Rockman yelled at his brother.

Netto looked around the room but the only way out was the way they came in. He saw the exit was right by the monitor that Lividity was in. “Prove your worth human,” it said nastily and shut the door.

Netto ran over to it and typed in the override key into the pad. It wouldn’t open and displayed and error message in instead.

“This is an airtight room,” Rockman said to Blues quietly. “We’ve got to open that door or Netto-kun will die!”

Blues nodded and hacked into the security program. He typed in the override manually but also got an error message.

Lividity looked at the chaos from its perch in the distance. “Now, now, no one will win like that,” it purred.

“Damn,” Netto said, starting to become light headed. “What can I do?”

/Netto-kun, I have an idea but it’s really risky,/ Rockman said.

/Whatever it is I’ll try it,/ Netto replied breathlessly.

/Remember when Papa said you might be able to exploit the link for things other then battle purposes?/

/Yeah, what of it?/ Netto asked.

/Why don’t you try to use the link to hack into the main program and override it?/

/Can I do that?/ Netto asked.

/Do you have a choice?/ Rockman replied.

Netto sighed and put his PET up to the lock. “I hope this works, Rockman,” he murmured and shut his eyes.

Rockman shut his eyes as well. The link was a two person tool and the only way Netto-kun was getting out of there was with his help. There were two tense moments then the light turned green and the doors opened with a woosh. Netto sat down and coughed for a minute then Blues said, “We need to get out of here before that Lividity person comes back.”

Netto stood up and nodded. Blues and Rockman went into his PET and he quickly got out of the building. Lividity watched the entire thing with a very amused look on its face. “Well, this is certainly going to be very interesting.”
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Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF. All my base are belong to you.

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[Yue-chan]

whoo! You started it, and what an interesting start it is. Caught one spelling/word error, which I told you about already. other than that, this looks awsome.
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"Life is like a video game; the final bosses always suck." -twinling

[Vanilla_Go_Rilla]

An interesting story. Starts out with Netto being his usual lazy morning self, and I can't help but smirk at his antics.

...Ahem.

Netto's standard morning ineptitude aside, this story makes a smooth transition from slightly comical to serious. Lividity seems like an interesting new villain, and the concept of a post-apocalyptic world sort of freaks me out.

Occasional minor typos now and then (when Lividity says "The humans are the one ones in control," and "...rest assured, you will loose"), but overall well-written. Looks to be as good as your other stories, and definitely an interesting read. I'm looking forward to more.
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Better to keep your mouth shut and make people wonder if you are stupid, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt.

[Shinnite]

A serious fic this time, eh? My area of expertise, so to speak. XD

Definitely alot of potential in this scenario (I *squee* with delight. Seriously.). And I can't wait to see how Blues and Netto react to eachother - especially since it's most likely going to be on an extended basis. Most people write Blues-Rock interaction, but I've yet to find much of Blues-Netto (the chapter in "Insolent Nekos" being an exception).

One thing I wasn't clear on was the reaction of the navi - Blues and Rockman are fine, yet it seems as those everyone else is affected by what the humans are. Or, maybe I'm just missing something. Dunno.

The transition from humorous to serious was very well done and, in my opinion, gave the chapter a greater impact. If a story starts incredibly serious, then everything else kind of blends in. By having things other than DEEPDARKDRAMA!! and angst, it lends a more realistic feel.

And, it might be my overactive imagination, but I can already picture a few twists. In a kind of "be careful what you wish for"-ish kinda way. Not quite sure to hope for a happy ending or not. XD Bitter-sweet might be nice, though.

[Midnight]

Oh my, you took my advice!

[Neko]

WAI~ You know how to spell it \o/

Okay, I'll fix that right away. (I can not believe word couldn't tell me how to spell that.)

And thanks for all your suppourt guys. I promise there is an explenation for why the humans are affected and not the navis and not Netto. And that has to do with the link.

Also, Netto will be interacting with alot of navis as I plan to pull in as many as I can without having too many characters. This fic will test my skills out to see if I can write the more serious facets of this series well.

(And yes, there will be a happy ending. If and only if because I can't write sad endings, its not in me.)
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Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF. All my base are belong to you.

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[Neko]

Netto looked around as he skated back outside. “Where do I go?” he asked, still visibly shaken up by what had just happened.

“Sci-Labs,” Blues and Rockman answered at the same time.

“Why there?” Netto asked while he changed direction.

“Because, Sci-Labs has a dimensional converter,” Rockman said. “We can use it as a shield to keep out Lividity and any other navi that it controls.”

“Are you sure it’s empty?” Netto asked.

“Has to be,” Blues said. “They clear out Sci-Labs every Monday night at midnight so they can run a virus scan on the whole premises.”

Netto sighed, “All right, let’s go see.” He skated down the main street and looked up. The lights still changed color and the cross and don’t walk signs were still in order but there were no cars or bikes or people to use them. “This is so creepy,” he said under his breath.

“I know Netto-kun, but maybe we can come up with a plan at Sci-Labs once we know Lividity can’t get to us,” Rockman said.

“Why are we running from Lividity anyway?” Netto asked.

“Lividity was strong,” Blues said. “I’m not sure if Rockman could feel it but that navi had something that gave off a very powerful aura.”

“I felt it,” Rockman said quietly.

“Okay, so Lividity is really strong,” Netto said. “But what good is running gonna do?” he asked as Sci-Labs loomed in the distance.

“We’re not running, we’re falling back to plan out a strategy,” Blues said tightly.

“Right,” Netto said as he skated into the empty building. He stopped in the massive reception hall and looked around, “Well?” he asked.

“Go find the Dimensional Converter control panel,” Rockman said.

Netto skated to the elevator, “That’s easy; it’s on the third floor.”
They all waited patiently as the elevator took them up. Netto’s brain immediately registered that normally there were four or five other people packed in there with him but today there was plenty elbow room. The small bell dinged and Netto skated out into the hall. He looked around and found the room Mejin had pointed out to him as the control room. He went over to it and tried to turn the door knob, it didn’t budge.

“Well?” Netto asked.

Rockman noted the electronic lock next to it. “It would appear you need a Sci-Labs ID card to get inside.”

“Right, any suggestions?”

“Can you do the same thing you did to get out of the room Lividity locked you in?” Blues asked.

Netto blinked, “Well… I guess,” he said hesitantly.

Rockman was also uncomfortable with the idea, “Think we can do it again?” he asked.

“Only one way to find out,” Netto said and placed his hand on the pad.

Rockman sighed and shut his eyes. They concentrated for a minute then the access light turned green and the door slid open. “We shouldn’t do that anymore,” Rockman said nervously.

“Right,” Netto agreed.

“Why are you two so worried about it?” Blues asked as Netto went into the room.

“Papa kinda told us not to use the Saito.bat unless we were in danger. He said he didn’t know what kinds of consequences it could have. So, we need to be careful,” Rockman explained.

Blues nodded and Netto skated over to the control panel. “So uhhh, how does this thing work again?” he asked.

“Netto-san, why don’t you plug me in?” Blues asked innocently.

“All right,” Netto said and held up his PET to the jack in port. Blues went into the computer and typed in the coordinates of the Sci-Lab building and nodded to Netto. Netto lifted up the cover to the red button and grinned, “I’ve always wanted to do this,” he said and pressed it.

The multi-hued dome covered the building they were in and Blues let out a sigh of relief. “Worried?” Rockman asked.

“Not very,” Blues said. “But it’s good to know we’re protected to some extent.”

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

Lividity watched the dome cover the Sci-Lab building from its monitor. It grinned and then laughed. “Well, isn’t that cute?” it asked.

A small child like navi nodded, “Yes it is Lividity-sama. How could they expect to get away from you?”

Lividity patted the child’s head. “False hope, Ribbon-chan, that’s all. Don’t worry, after I’m done toying with them we can crush them like they deserve.”

“We get to play, Lividity-sama?” she asked with a small glint of happiness in her luminescent green eyes.

“Yes, my dear. Since the first part of our plan went so smoothly then we might as well have a little fun before we finish it out,” Lividity said.

Ribbon spun around happily in her dark blue, long sleeved dress like navi outfit. It hovered just above her knees and underneath were light blue leggings. On her head was a pale grey helmet with a large bow on the top, the trail ends of the bow reached to the floor and as she spun they flew out to the side. She had dark grey, knee high boots and wrist high gloves to finish off her costume. Whenever she was happy she would twirl around to make her dress fan out and her ribbon wave. “Excited are we?” Lividity noted with amusement.

“Oh yes Lividity-sama, I can’t wait to play,” Ribbon said happily.

“You don’t have to wait much longer, my child,” Lividity said smirking. “Let them relax a little, then we’ll play.”

“Yes, Lividity-sama,” Ribbon nodded and ran into another room of the net fortress to play with something else until the time came.

Lividity noted the screen with another glance of amusement, “How intriguing,” it said and laughed.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

Blues and Rockman managed to find the gateway into the real world after searching for about ten minutes. They stepped though it and reappeared in the main hall of the main building. Rockman placed his hands to his mouth and called out, “Netto-kun!” to get his twin’s attention.

Netto heard the call and ran down to the first floor. He waved to the two navi’s from down the hall, “Hey!” he called back.

Rockman turned around and greeted Netto with a hug. Netto was surprised to say the least, “Hey!” he protested.

Rockman laughed and let Netto go. “I’ve always wanted to do that, Netto-kun.”

Netto gave him a small smile and they walked down the hall together. “Now what?” Netto asked.

“What do you mean ‘now what?’” Rockman asked. “Today didn’t have enough adventure for you?”

“Hm?” Netto linked his hands behind his head. “No, it’s not that. I mean, what do we do now as far as Lividity is concerned. If…” Netto paused trying to think of a suitable gender for the navi but none came to mind, “it is as strong as you think, then surely it knows we’re here.”

Blues nodded, “Most likely, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be on guard. We’ll just have to wait out here to see what happens. I’m going to try and contact Searchman to see if he knows anything that’s going on since he lives on a military base.”

“I hope Laika’s okay…” Netto said softly.

Rockman smiled for Netto’s sake, “I’m sure if Searchman hasn’t called us at this point that he’s probably fine.”

“Really?” Netto asked.

‘No,’ Rockman thought. “Maybe…” he said hopefully.

Netto got the subtext and sighed. “This sucks,” he declared.

“Glad we’ve cleared that up,” Rockman said with a small laugh.

Netto stuck his tongue out at his navi and the two boys laughed.

Blues rolled his eyes at their childish behavior but at least they could still laugh at a time like this. He got the feeling that it would be very important in the time ahead. “I’ll be right back,” he said.

“All right,” Netto replied and they watched Blues take a smaller hallway into an office.

“Netto-kun?” Rockman asked.

“Yeah?”

“Are you scared at all?”

Netto thought about it and sighed, “A little,” he admitted. “Are you?”

Rockman nodded, “Yeah, and I’m worried about Roll and Gutsman and Tomahawkman and everyone who lives around here. I mean, I’m worried about Meiru, Dekao and Dingo too, but their navis must be so worried to see them like that,” Rockman said softly.

Netto nodded, “I know what you mean, Rockman.”

Rockman smiled at Netto, “I have no idea what I would do if you were gone, Netto-kun.”

“You’d worry yourself sick, that’s what,” Netto pointed out.

“Very true,” Rockman admitted.

Blues came back from the office. “Well?” Netto asked.

Blues shook his head, “I couldn’t reach the base let alone his PET. Whatever this is, it would seem its world wide.”

Netto’s hands clenched into fists but he didn’t say anything. “Netto-kun,” Rockman said softly.

“It’s okay,” Netto said. “I mean, if it was just here then you’d think other people would come to see what’s wrong, right?” Netto asked.

Rockman nodded, “Yeah.”

They stood still for a minute not quite knowing what to do, but before anyone could say something about it a large red light flashed overhead. “What’s that?” Netto asked.

“Something is trying to breech the Dimensional Area,” Blues said.

They ran into the control room and looked at the monitor. “It’s a navi,” Netto said.

Blues looked at the data signature and his eyes widened behind his visor. “What?” Rockman asked.

“It’s Searchman,” Blues said softly.

“Are you sure?” Netto asked.

Rockman also glanced at the data signature, “It is!” he said. “Turn off the firewall,” he told Blues.

Blues nodded and he undid the firewall program just long enough for Searchman to pass. Then they all ran down the hallway into the area where Blues and Rockman had appeared before. There was a small shower of pixels and when the data flurry died away Searchman was lying there looking very beat up.

“Searchman!” Rockman gasped.

“What happened?” Blues asked him.

“The base,” Searchman said quietly. “The base was attacked, then…” he paused, his red eyes filled with remorse, “it came.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Second chapter! Hope you liked it. Much more confortable to write after "Into the Darkness" XDDDD
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Roses are #FF0000, violets are #0000FF. All my base are belong to you.

Avatar, credit Yakitate@devart

[Nazne]

I swear my heart went on overdrive at the last sentence. >__>;;; Have I ever told you how much I hate cliffhangers, Neko?

This is an interesting concept you've came up with, though. Forte had a good idea, but then again all he cares about is making things go boom. >> Actually controlling humans, though?

Have I ever told you how glad I am that you actually update regularly? XD

-BMA

[Kitty-Chan]

No kidding. If she didn't update regularly we'd all go completely bonkers.
Neko, this is great. This, A Different Beginning, & Little Predicaments are my favorites. I lurk until they are updated. -_-;
:D Yatta! I got my term paper done! ^_^ *dances around happily* I get to live after all!
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Need more Zero/X, Netto/Rock, Rock/Netto, Forte/Netto, & Blues/Netto. PLEASE!
Ano sa...could someone please make me a Zero/X, Blues/Netto, or Forte/Netto avatar/banner? I would greatly appreciate it...
Thanks for the avatar, Mandi!
People! We need more Blues/Netto & Forte/Netto on the net. Come on; help me out here! *gives everyone her Super-Adorable Irrisistable Sad Kitty Eyes(TM)*

[Midnight]

"It"? *strangles Neko*

You certainly know how to keep people on track with your work. I highly doubt anyone will stop reading after this chapter, which happened to be quite charged, especially at the end. This chapter looks like the population curve--it starts out slow, and suddenly explodes in the last paragraph.

You have a lot of momentum going here. Don't waste it.
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Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

Avatar by Spork. I very much appreciate it! <3

[Yue-chan]

*curses Neko* You and your cliffhangers! That was a really good chapter, Neko, and I want to know what 'it' is. Oh, you wait, I'm gonna so get you back for that cliffhanger. XP
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"Life is like a video game; the final bosses always suck." -twinling

[Neko]

“It?” Netto asked incredulously, “It what?”

“Netto-kun, hush,” Rockman said softly. “What happened?” he asked again.

Searchman sighed, “I woke up at 6 am like I always do. I tried to wake Laika-san up but he didn’t respond. I thought something had happened so I went into the main control unit computer to see if it was something detectible on radar. There were two navi’s there, one dressed in black and another one in grey and blue, the one in blue was small, about three years younger then Laika-san.

“The one in black was ridiculously strong. It… looked at the main control unit and it just disintegrated. The smaller one saw me and attacked with some kind of malleable data. She made it into various shapes and weapons at her will until the one in black was done destroying the computer. Then it turned around and attacked me with some kind of attack, I have no idea what kind of data it was though. It just seemed to,” Searchman’s face contorted into a grimace of pain, “melt through anything it touched. I managed to link out and scatter my trail to get away but I was still damaged,” he looked at his scarred armor. “Laika-san didn’t even answer my e-mail for help.”

Blues looked at Searchman with an almost pity like look. “Laika-san isn’t responsive, none of the humans are.” He looked up at Netto, “Except for Netto-san.”

Searchman eyed Netto with a pain filled gaze and then collapsed. “Searchman!” Rockman cried out and knelt quickly to support his friend.

“He’s gonna log out,” Netto said quickly. “Re-route his log out point to the main computer.”

Rockman nodded and changed the coordinates just as Searchman pixilated. “Well?” Rockman asked.

Netto sighed, “Papa has taught me a lot on how to fix navi’s in case you ever got hurt Rockman. But Searchman is a military navi; I have no idea what kind of codes the military uses in navi data.”

Blues looked at Netto, “You know how to fix navis?” he asked.

Netto nodded and started to walk to the room with the main computer in it.

“Because of our link if I ever get hurt badly enough that Netto-kun’s life is in danger it’s very important that Netto-kun is able to fix me so nothing happens,” Rockman explained. “Papa taught him a lot on how to fix and program data.”

Netto gave them a small smile, “Probably the only thing I like being taught. Sure beats math!” he said in a fake happy voice.

Blues and Rockman exchanged looks but didn’t say anything.

The trio continued down the empty halls of sci-lab until they reached the room that Searchman’s data had been deposited in. Netto went into the room and downloaded Searchman into the holographic tube he had seen Rockman in so many times before. He looked at the rather complicated controls and took in a nervous gulp of air.

Rockman smiled and patted Netto’s shoulder. “It’s all right; we’re not asking you to pull of a miracle here. Just make sure Searchman is okay.”

Netto smiled, “Right, I can do that!” he said with an air of confidence he didn’t feel. He opened the first program to tell him where exactly the damage was inflicted. Almost all of Searchman’s defense files were shown in red. A few executable files were shown in red but thankfully the main core of the program known as Searchman.exe was left completely unharmed. Netto let out a sigh of relief. “I can fix this,” he said with a little more confidence.

“Really?” Blues asked while looking at the screen. To him there was an awful lot of red being shown.

Netto shrugged and started to type on the computer, “Heh, nothing worse then what Rockman’s gotten.”

Rockman crossed his arms but continued to look at the screen instead of retorting. Netto worked on the executable files first as they were the most important. The first one he regenerated was the one that forced Searchman off line. He pressed the okay icon and it blinked in red several times before the file’s icon turned blue. There were a few tense moments before Searchman opened his eyes. “Searchman!” Rockman said happily.

Netto let out a huge breath of air that he didn’t even know he was holding. “Nervous?” Blues asked.

Netto gave him a small smile with an emotion Blues couldn’t identify, “I’m not exactly the programmer my father is. I know how to fix navi’s but that was an important file I just fixed, I was a little…” Netto paused, “scared,” he admitted.

Rockman gave him a broad grin that put him at ease. “Don’t worry Netto-kun, the hard part is over,” he said softly.

Netto nodded and started to type on the computer, slowly repairing all of the other files. It wasn’t too hard; Rockman certainly had been dealt worse extensive damage then that. He stopped a few times to remake a file because he didn’t know what type it was. His guess about the military using different file types was correct, but there weren’t many of them.

After about a half an hour Netto managed to fix everything to some degree. It wasn’t a fix up like his father could do, but Searchman could at least move and fight for himself. Searchman exited the glass holo tube without a word and appeared at the end of the hall.

Netto, Rockman and Blues went to go greet him. “Are you okay?” Rockman asked.

Searchman nodded and gave Netto a small smile, “Thanks Netto-san,” he said.

Netto nodded happily and smiled. “No problem,” he said easily.

/So you say,/ Rockman said giving his brother a side long glance.

/So it was a little… nerve-wracking…/ Netto admitted.

/I won’t tell anyone,/ Rockman said.

“Well, now what should we do?” Blues asked.

Netto yawned and stretched his arms over his head. “Well, I, unlike you guys need sleep and after today I think I’m ready to attempt a nap.”

“How can you think about sleep?” Blues asked.

Netto raised an eyebrow, “Easily,” Netto shrugged. “I’m tired; I have a horrible head ache and after staring at a computer screen for 45 minutes my eyes hurt. I’m still human you know,” he said with a small smile.

Rockman laughed and put an arm around Netto’s shoulders. “We know,” he said. “Don’t worry about it Netto-kun, it’s not like we can do much anyways.”

Blues and Searchman looked at one another and both realized Rockman was right. As far as doing anything besides keeping to themselves at the moment it wasn’t just possible. What where they gonna do, go find Lividity and attack?

Netto grabbed Rockman’s wrist in a sudden move that made him jump. “Rockman, I just remembered, there’s something I wanna show you in Papa’s lab!” he said excitedly and pulled Rockman towards the elevator.

“Okay,” Rockman said and followed Netto leaving Blues and Searchman alone in the hall. Not that they cared.

They went up three floors and walked right into Yuuichiro Hikari’s main lab. It was big and spacious but showed obvious signs of being lived and worked in for years. Netto walked over to a cabinet and pulled out an old photo album. “I just remembered about this thing a few minutes ago,” Netto said softly. “Papa showed it too me when I found out about you being Saito and all.” Netto thumbed through the pages and stopped about halfway through, “Look,” he said pointing at one picture.

Rockman knelt over Netto’s shoulder and looked at the picture. It showed a sleepy, year old Netto with his head in Saito’s lap. Saito had his hand on Netto’s head and was giving a big grin to the camera. The label underneath read “Netto and Saito 1 year.”

“Oh my god,” Rockman whispered touching the picture with trembling fingers.

Netto smiled, “Papa said this album is full of our first year but this one is my favorite,” he said while gazing at the picture.

Rockman giggled, “I can see why. It really captures your personality.”

Netto stuck his tongue out at him and Rockman pulled the book from Netto. He set it in his lap and started to thumb through the pages. “Heh, we were so cute,” Rockman said while looking at the pictures.

Netto leaned over Rockman’s shoulder and they both started pointing at different pictures, laughing and teasing one another.

Blues and Searchman stopped by once but didn’t intrude when they saw the two boys hovering over the picture album. Netto and Rockman didn’t even notice the navi’s appearance or disappearance.

Blues and Searchman walked down the long metallic halls of Sci-Labs together. “What do you think happened?” Searchman asked.

“To the humans? I have no idea. Lividity did it, but as for what it did…” Blues looked at the ceiling. “I have no idea.”

“Why isn’t Netto-san affected. He’s human after all,” Searchman mused.

Blues looked to the open door of Yuuichiro’s lab. “There could be many reasons for that. My guess is their link.”

“You mean the Saito.bat thing we found out about last month?” Searchman asked.

Blues nodded, “Netto-san has…” he paused, “times when he can do things other humans can’t. Today, he and Rockman hacked into a computer terminal and opened a fused lock without a PET or any other electrical device to help him. That isn’t something a normal human can do.”

Searchman turned his red eyes upward, “This just got a whole lot more complicated,” he said softly.

Blues nodded. “At least we seem to have some time to sit down and think about it.”

After an hour of talking they returned to Yuuichiro’s lab. They found Netto asleep on the sofa with his head in Rockman’s lap. Rockman had his hand on Netto’s head and was also asleep. Blues walked over, his curiosity getting the best of him. He found the picture album at Rockman’s feet and looked into it. On the left page was a picture that gave an eerie semblance to the scene before him.

He sighed and shut the book, placing it on Yuuichiro’s desk. He nodded at Searchman and they left the room making sure to shut off the lights. It was just the first day of many.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is unfortunately the last fic you'll get from me all weekend. I'm off to a camping/family reunion tomorrow /o/ See you on sunday night.
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[Yoshiman]

Wow, that really touched me Neko. But I am curious about Lividity being descibed as "it" while Ribbon is labeled as "she."
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Current story-Elemental Maiden

[Kitty-Chan]

Wai! Talk about only having more questions. Need...more!
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Need more Zero/X, Netto/Rock, Rock/Netto, Forte/Netto, & Blues/Netto. PLEASE!
Ano sa...could someone please make me a Zero/X, Blues/Netto, or Forte/Netto avatar/banner? I would greatly appreciate it...
Thanks for the avatar, Mandi!
People! We need more Blues/Netto & Forte/Netto on the net. Come on; help me out here! *gives everyone her Super-Adorable Irrisistable Sad Kitty Eyes(TM)*

[Nazne]

[Midnight]

Very nice. I've never seen anyone hypothesize exactly what the effects of the Saito.bat file is, but this does a good job of it.

Naz, you are right. The file links both Netto and Saito together, and reciprocates whatever happens to one onto the other. It is fairly accurate, and the flashback scene brought on by the photograph was quite cute and rather touching.
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[Neko]

Eh heh... whoops ^^;

Ah well, thakies for all the reviews.

Oh and Nazne, I'm a fairly slow story teller, ask Yue X3 I draw things out and progress the plot slowly so I can throw in small bits here or there that make it more my kinda writing. Like the fluff :3
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[Neko]

“Hey, Lividity-sama?” Ribbon asked quietly.

“Yes, Ribbon-chan?” Lividity purred.

“Can we go play now?”

Lividity looked at the screens showing it Sci-Labs, “Yes, we can go play.”

“Yay!” Ribbon jumped up and down in excitement.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

“Netto-kun…” Netto groaned as he heard Rockman’s voice reach his ears.

“Hm?” he asked sleepily.

“Get up,” Rockman said gently.

Netto half turned and buried himself deeper into Rockman’s arms. “I don’t wanna…” he said tiredly.

“Netto-kun,” Rockman sighed. “Come on, we need to figure out what happened here.”

Netto yawned and sat up. “But I’m tired,” he whined.

“Too bad,” Rockman teased. “Up.”

Netto yawned again and stood up. He stretched his hands over his head and linked them behind his neck. “What do we do today?” he asked.

“Let’s start with learning why the humans are acting the way they are,” Blues said from the doorway.

Netto turned a little to look at the red navi. He smiled and nodded, “Sounds good!” He walked out of the room and started to walk towards the main control room.

“How can he always be so happy?” Blues wondered out loud.

Rockman shrugged, “Why don’t you ask Netto-kun that?” he said to Blues and followed Netto’s path down the hall.

Blues stood there for a few seconds, then he followed Rockman without a word.

When Netto got into the main control room, Searchman was already there typing away on the equipment. “Good morning!” Netto said cheerfully.

Searchman nodded and continued to type.

Netto gave a small smile and walked over to another computer. Rockman came into the room and leaned on the chair that Netto was sitting in. “Any idea of what we’re looking for?” Netto asked him.

“Hmmm…” Rockman said thoughtfully, “Maybe some kind of signal or… radio wave… something that can brainwash billions of humans without leaving a trace…”

Netto looked at Rockman with an eyebrow raised, “That helps,” he said.

Rockman smiled, “Sorry Netto-kun, your guess is as good as mine.”

Netto sighed and opened a program on the computer screen. “Well, at least we don’t have to worry about someone coming in and telling us we can’t use the equipment.”

“Yeah, well, we seem to have quite a bit of time on our hands,” Rockman said.

Netto made a face, “I’d almost rather be in school.”

“Really?” Rockman gasped in fake surprise.

“I said ‘almost’ Rockman,” Netto pointed out.

Rockman laughed, “I know, I know.”

Blues and Searchman listened to the easy chatter as they all worked. It’s not that they didn’t want to join in on the conversation but there was no reason to. Netto and Rockman needed each other’s companionship to get through everyday life it seemed and so talking was probably one of the few ways that they could deal with what happened. Blues and Searchman were somewhat the opposite and preferred to work and generally just be alone.

After a few hours and nothing to show for it Netto got up and stretched. “Okay, I can’t sit here for much longer,” he said.

Rockman nodded, “We’ll try again soon.”

“Do you two want to take a break?” Netto asked Blues and Searchman.

They both shook their heads and Netto just shrugged, “Fine with me,” he said.

Netto and Rockman walked out of the room and disappeared down the hall.

“Working so hard is bad for your health,” a voice purred behind them.

Blues and Searchman spun around, “You!” they both yelled.

Lividity smirked, “Me, oh dear, what will you do?”

Blues summoned his default sword, and launched at Lividity without a word. Lividity smirked and flew at Blues in retaliation. “This should be fun,” it whispered just before they made contact.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

Netto and Rockman continued to walk down the hallway. “Think Blues and Searchman will ever talk?” Netto asked.

“Netto-kun, I think they’re upset, maybe they don’t want to talk,” Rockman said.

“If they’re upset then why are they just keeping it in? That doesn’t make any sense,” Netto said while giving his navi a sidelong glance.

“Netto-kun, I don’t know how they think but maybe for now, it’s just best to leave them alone.”

Netto nodded, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

They continued to walk along the empty hall perfectly content with the fact that they were near one another. Even Netto didn’t feel the need to talk, just a long walk and having time to think was what he needed. Unfortunately that wasn’t going to happen.

“Hello!” a cheerful voice said behind them.

Netto and Rockman both spun around to see a small girl with a huge ribbon on her helmet waving at them. “Who are you?” Rockman yelled.

“My name is Ribbon! Pleased to meet you,” she said and spun around, finishing off her introduction with a curtsy. “Want to play with me?”

Rockman stared at her, “Why?”

“Because I’m bored, I want to play,” she said in a whiny voice. “Please?”

/Netto-kun, something is off about her,/ Rockman said to Netto.

/I know that,/ Netto replied, /But what does she really want./

“Well?” she asked.

Rockman took a defensive stance in front of Netto. “What do you want?” he asked again.

Ribbon smiled and the entails of her ribbon started to flow outwards. “I want to play,” she said and her eyes glowed. Her ribbon started to deplete forming little pieces of junk data that floated in mid air. She stopped her ribbon from completely disappearing right when the ends of it reached the bow. Then she held up her hands and the pieces formed a thin sword that was almost as long as she was tall.

“Netto-kun!” Rockman yelled and shoved him out of the way.

Netto landed on the floor and Rockman dived in the other direction just as Ribbon came. She buried her sword hilt deep into wall behind them and smiled. “Oh this is fun.”

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

Blues and Lividity started to parry off one another’s blows. Blues was desperately trying to protect the only equipment that could help them find answers and Lividity was trying to destroy it. Blues pushed hard on the sword and sent Lividity flying across the room and out into the hall.

“You’re good,” Lividity said quietly.

“What did you do to the humans?” Blues asked.

“Nothing, they’re perfectly content living this way. A life set out for them, never changing, like following a program,” Lividity smiled.

Blues launched another attack that Lividity caught. But this time Searchman was behind them, he took a shot at Lividity’s back and it hit it right on target. Lividity smirked, “Was that supposed to hurt?” it asked and threw Blues into the far wall. “You are good, I’ll give you that. But you’re about twenty years to early to challenge me.”

Blues stood up and summoned his sword. “Please, don’t even try. I’m not going to continue this fight,” Lividity said.

Blues stayed in the offensive position he was in, “What do you want?”

“Well, I’m here for Ribbon really. The poor child was bored and wanted to play,” Lividity smirked.

“Ribbon?” Blues and Searchman both asked.

Lividity nodded, “Yes, and it also presents me with an opportunity to test your friends. I’ll let you know that Ribbon is just as strong as if not stronger then me. I’m curious to see if your friends can survive.”

Blues and Searchman looked at one another and without a word they disappeared.

Lividity smiled and vanished back into the net. “This is interesting,” it murmured.

~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~/~

Ribbon jumped and twirled in the air using her malleable data to keep Netto and Rockman separated. It was apparent to both that she was merely toying with them but much to the frustration of both, neither one could do anything about it.

“You two are funny!” she giggled.

“Rock-buster!” Rockman yelled and fired off a volley of magenta hued shots at the navi. When the smoke cleared both were shocked to see that the data she could change shape at her will had formed a protective shield around her.

“Cute!” she giggled. “Lividity-sama was right, this is fun!”

“You’re with Lividity?” Rockman yelled.

“Yeup! Lividity-sama let’s me play,” she smiled cheekily.

Searchman and Blues both turned the corner to see Ribbon standing on the rubble of what once was a wall and Netto and Rockman on either side of her. “You!” Searchman yelled.

“Awww, you again,” Ribbon pouted, “You were no fun.”

“She was the one you met at your base?” Blues asked.

Searchman nodded, “Yeah, be careful, she’s really strong.”

“No, really!” Netto yelled.

Ribbon smirked and sent a blade fashioned from her data at him. He managed to dodge but barely. “You’re quite interesting for a human,” Ribbon smiled. “I like you!” she giggled.

Netto blinked at the odd navi but Rockman took the temporary cease fire to jump in front of Netto. “Get away,” he hissed.

Ribbon stretched as if she had just finished playing a particularly long game of tag. “Well, that was really fun!” she cheered. The data swirling around her reformed the ends of her ribbons until they hovered just above the floor. “I’ll come back and play some time, bye!” she waved and disappeared.

Rockman lowered his buster and blinked in confusion. “What?”

“That was messed up,” Netto said incredulously.

Rockman nodded, “Yeah, I wonder what made her stop.”

“That doesn’t matter,” Blues said, “Right now we need to find out what happened.”

Everyone nodded and made their way back to the main room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ribbon = Every evil little 5-10 year old I've ever had to babysit. Feel my pain XD

Okay, so any thoughts? I'd love to hear them :3
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[Ganon]

I feel your pain believe you me I feel your pain!

Nice Chapter!
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I think so Brain....

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[Midnight]

Yep. Girls in the single-digit age are often quite a handful. Try handling three of them at once.

Anyway...this was nice. It seemed to be a tad dull, but, well, Ribbon seems to be that little energetic entity that never stops. Lividity's character doesn't seem so animated yet, but hopefully that will be answered in the coming chapters.

Another enjoyable read.
_________________
Today, these three players are after Big Bucks! But they'll have to avoid the Whammy, as they play the most exciting game of their lives! From Television City in Hollywood! It's time to 'Press Your Luck!'--Rod Roddy

The Kingdom of Loathing: An Adventurer is You! // I ♣ Seals

Avatar by Spork. I very much appreciate it! <3