Unwilling Partners Ch15

A/N: PEOPLE! Forgive Az for the lack of update till now, but between exhaustion, heat and busy days… well, I managed to finish the chapter only now. To compensate the slowness of the update, however, this chapter is DUN DUN DUN! 10 pages long! Happy reading!

Thanks to Silvera, who betaed this chapter for me!

ALSO! Unwilling Partners got another fanart! Azie is SO happeeee! Check the comment for the link!

Anyway, I do not own Rockman and anything coming from Capcom. I do own the plot idea, though. And the writing. Yep. Writing's mine. And the plot. Plot is mine too, like the concept of "Black Fury". Kindly refrain from stealing it.

Az.

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Being shoved several times down a corridor while being unable to walk properly because of some restraints wasn't the best way to start with his mission. More than once Enzan almost tripped and had to grab the nearest navi to prevent himself from falling face first on the ground. The only positive thing that came out of his predicament was that the guards escorting him, all low level and uncustomized navis, were relaxing and slowly diverting their attention from him to their comrades, talking about how easy was to control such a dangerous navi like the Black Fury.

"Here we are," one of them said as he opened a sturdy door and moved to the side, showing Enzan the small and bare room hidden behind it. "This'll be your room till either Paladin or Ninja are done talking with our leader."

Grabbing the one he believed to be Forte by the upper arm, the purple navi roughly shoved him into the room and watched as the disguised boy stumbled several feet before crashing to his knees, bound hands slamming onto the ground in front of him to stop his fall. "Have a nice stay," he said as he slammed the door close and locked it.

As soon as he was alone, and after checking that there were no cameras spying on him, Enzan sat up and took his PET out of the small pocket that has been sewn onto the rim of the cloak. "I can't believe they let their guard down so easily," he muttered as he turned the device on and watched as Blues appeared into the small screen. "But that comes to our advantage. Blues?"

The navi nodded and opened an encrypted channel with SciLabs. "Communications can't exceed more than one or two minutes, Enzan-sama," he said as he turned the holographic display on and opened a video call with whoever was currently keeping an eye on his situation. "The signal is weak, but I have successfully established contact with SciLabs."

Enzan watched as Meijin appeared on the video. The image was disturbed, with white noise interfering and a fuzzy sound in the background. "Ah, Enzan," the young scientist greeted while typing something on the keyboard in front of him. "I suppose they fell for our trick, didn't they?"

"They did," the boy replied in a low voice and a nod. "I can't believe such a sloppy organization is giving us so many troubles…"

"Enzan," Yuichiro spoke, appearing next to Meijin along with an older man behind his back. "Your priority is to locate Meiru and the others, but be on the lookout for anything that could help us stop these people. Also," here he paused and glanced at the person behind him with a worried expression. "Roughly an hour ago Forte left in direction of the lake. He's probably following you, so if you see him, tell him that doctor Cossack is back and would like to talk with him. But be prudent, this is something Forte will not like."

Understanding that it was best to warn the black navi before he went back to SciLabs and found a bad surprise waiting for him, Enzan nodded. He wasn't actually sure if he would be able to talk with Forte, or even have time for it if he found him, but having a furious navi on the loose was something everyone should try to avoid.

"I saw him near the shore," he said as he remembered the brief glimpse of the cloaked navi watching him from the shadows of the trees. "Not sure how he's going to get down here, but I have a feeling that I'll know soon enough. For now, I have to go. Time's almost up and guards could come back any moment."

With a brief nod and a good luck from Yuichiro and Meijin, Blues cut the video call and appeared on the hovering screen coming from the PET. "We should go, Enzan-sama," he said as he looked at the door that he could see past his operator's shoulder. "Security is still loose, but we shouldn't waste any more time."

Enzan nodded and stood up, walking towards the door and trying to listen to the sounds coming from the other side. So far, he couldn't hear anything, but that might be because of the tick metal, so he wasn't relying much on his hearing at the moment. "Cut the power of the emitters," he said gently as he opened the small control panel next to the door and moved aside several wires to locate the infrared port he knew was there. "We're getting out of here."

Blues nodded and, after giving a quick command that he had been given by doctor Hikari, he turned off the emitters on Enzan's back. Without Forte's powers to latch onto, the highly technological cuffs on his wrists and ankles deactivated and just slid off from his limbs, which the boy discarded to the ground with a shake.

When he was finally free of his restraints, Enzan pointed his PET at the panel's infrared port and sent his navi into the cyberspace of the small computer that regulated the access to the room he had been imprisoned within.

"No enemy in sight, Enzan-sama," Blues called as he looked around as soon as he appeared into the computer. "And there is no firewall either…"

Baffled at such a lacking security towards a dangerous navi like Forte, the white haired boy directed his navi to the core of the computer and watched as he made quick work in hacking the password locking the door. "Well, that was… easy…" Blues muttered to himself as he returned to his PET and heard the faint click of the lock opening.

Enzan cautiously opened the door by a crack and spied the corridor on the other side. "This is unbelievable…" he muttered as he stepped outside when he saw no one guarding his prison. "What are they doing, anyway? With navis as dangerous as Ninja and Paladin, you'd think that Dark Mu's organization would be much better…"

The boy then turned around and grabbed the door, closing it. Security might be sloppy, but even if a single guard walked past and saw an open door and an empty cell, his mission would become really hard to accomplish.

"Blues, keep track of our progress," Enzan whispered to his navi as he replaced the PET back into the pocked in the cloak to have free hands if he needed them. "And be ready to call SciLabs and have them deploy a Dimensional Area."

After receiving an affirmative reply from Blues, the boy started to retrace his steps by memory, taking turns where he needed and hiding from view when a lone guard walked past. More than once he was glad that he was wearing black when an occasional passerby looked in his direction, thinking that they had seen something, but shaking their heads when all they saw were shadows.

It went like that for a good half an hour, with him avoiding detection and enemies ignoring his escape, until red lights blinked on and off and a loud blaring filled the empty corridor just before a distant explosion shook the entire base.

"Looks like Forte has started his attack," Enzan commented to his navi as he discarded the finned helmet and the cloak and grabbed his PET with his left hand. Now that the black navi has made his presence known to everyone within the base, there was no need to be careful.

Still trying to avoid detection, the boy followed several of Dark Mu's navis through the corridors until he reached the sector where the explosion happened. Cold lake water was filling the floor, getting higher by the second, until Enzan found himself ankle deep in it when he reached the large room he had walked through upon arrival.

Taking shelter behind a column, the boy observed the situation. On the far side of the room, two of the three large doors leading to three separate submarine bays were open while the third, the one on the left, was closing to prevent more water from getting inside the base from the large hole in one of the walls.

The few humans that dared to be there were yelling orders left and right to Dark Mu's navis as Forte walked past the closing doors without a care in the world, his cloak swishing gently around him and face always hidden from view, and stopped in the middle of the room, silently observing his enemies.

"Blues," Enzan spoke as he lifted his PET up to look at his navi on the small screen. "Call SciLabs and have a Dimensional Area deployed."

As Blues nodded and set to work, the white haired boy looked back at the black navi standing calmly in the middle of the room, surrounded by dozens upon dozens of navis. He wasn't worried for him, after all Forte could take care of himself, but the base would crumble as soon as one of his heavy attacks hit the outer walls that kept the water out.

"The Dimensional Area is being deployed, Enzan-sama," Blues called from the PET as colors shifted from normal to psychedelic in a matter of seconds.

Now with a chance to fight back, Enzan unscrewed the navi emblem on his chest and took out his Synchro Chip. Momentarily thanking Netto's father for his creative thinking, he held up his PET and nodded to Blues before he inserted the chip into its rightful slot and initiated Cross Fusion with his navi.

Surrounded by a white-reddish light, the boy felt Blues's data envelop him, increasing his strength and speed to inhuman levels. When the transformation was complete and he was released from the protective temporary shield formed by the energy released by Cross Fusion's process, he dropped to the ground with a light thump.

Enzan-sama, the navi spoke into his operator's ears as he summoned his standard blade and charged towards the unsuspecting navis that were solely focused onto Forte. These are low level navis, but I suspect that the alarm is going to recall the ones called Paladin and Ninja.

Slashing at the navis that he met as he made his way towards Forte, Enzan's mouth twitched in a frown. "Then we have to take care of these as soon as possible," the boy replied as he jumped over a large enemy, cut his arm off and landed next to the unmoving black navi.

The aura that Forte was projecting was calm and somewhat uncaring about the situation they were in, but at the same time he was fully alert of the approaching enemies. His head turned, and Enzan felt like his hidden eyes were burning a hole into him. "Forte," he eventually greeted, shivering at the cold calmness that the black navi displayed. "Once this is over, we need to talk. It's… urgent."

For a moment the boy felt like Forte was going to ignore him, but then he saw him give a very small nod of understanding before turning his attention back to the ever growing crowd of enemy navis, springing into a vicious-looking sequence of slashes with his Dark Arm Blades.

He doesn't seem like he's entirely there, Blues commented as he and his operator spent a couple of seconds watching Forte effortlessly slash at every single navi that dared to attack him.

Enzan frowned, then parried a sword attack coming from his left and pushed the opposing navi away. "What makes you think that?" he asked as he sidestepped to the right to dodge a slash directed at his head and thrust his sword forwards, hitting his opponent right on the emblem. The device on the enemy's chest sparked as it was cut in half, then dropped to the ground as the navi exploded in a shower of blue data.

I'm… not entirely sure, Blues had to admit, his voice leaking confusion. It's a vibe I'm getting. He feels like Forte, but at the same time… he doesn't…

Momentarily ignoring his navi's words in favor of getting rid of more opponents, Enzan spent the next few minutes fighting and dodging swords and bullets until he found himself back to back with Forte. Casting a quick glance over his shoulder, he suddenly sensed something wrong as well.

The black navi seemed to be...confused…

"Odd," he muttered as his attention returned to a particularly insistent enemy. The navi in question wasn't strong, but he was nimble on his feet, rendering him a difficult target to take down. "Why would he be confused?"




"This way!" Meiru called as she splashed her way through the corridors towards the submarine bays and possibly freedom. Behind her, Roll was keeping her eyes open for anyone that could suddenly jump in front of them and harm her operator. "We're close!"

Panting and with frozen feet, Dekao followed the older girl through the corridors while Yaito, having taken refugee on top of one of Gutsman's shoulders, had Glyde direct them from her PET using the map they had grabbed earlier. "I can hear a lot of noise," she said as she held onto the large navi's head for support. "I think someone is battling over there… should we really go that direction?"

"Maybe it's the NetPolice," Meiru replied as she took a turn when Yaito's navi told her to. "There is nothing else I can think of. Who would come down here, anyway? Or get this place into a Dimensional Area?"

The large boy frowned as he followed the girl's lead and glanced at the psychedelic colors that the metallic walls had gained. "I don't know… maybe that black navi?" he paused and frowned, remembering how one of Dark Mu's underlings had blabbed about using them as hostages to capture the 'Black Fury'.

Yaito tapped a finger on Gutsman's head as she hummed in thought. "It could be," she replied eventually, ducking her head as they rushed past a lower section of the corridor. "They do seem to have a strong enmity between each other. If the black navi found the base, I think he would attack without hesitation…"

"Which means," Dekao continued, his frown morphing into a really worried expression. "He won't care if the base gets flooded!"

Feeling a sudden rush of panic, the large boy increased his speed and ran past Meiru and Roll, ignoring the shouts coming from his friends and his navi. He wasn't scared, but drowning in an underwater base was the last thing he wanted to do. After turning several more corners, barely following the hastily shouted directions from Glyde, he came to a door and smashed it open with a kick.

What he, and his friends, saw upon entering the large hall made them shiver in fear. The walls were marked with scratches, cut marks and burns while the floor was littered with unconscious or agonizing navis. There were also several broken Materializers floating in the ankle deep water as two figures gracefully danced around their enemies and slashed with their swords at any navi that came close enough. Sometimes they would simply cut a limb, but most of the time they seemed to aim at the emblem on their chests.

"It's Enzan!" Yaito suddenly exclaimed as she recognized the boy Cross Fused with his navi. He was currently wrestling with a navi two times his size, their hands locked into a pushing contest to see who was stronger, while the other figure was being attacked by at least a dozen of opponents.

Meiru observed how the cloaked figure, that she recognized to be the same black navi she had seen at SciLabs, easily dodged every single attack and jumped into the air, hovering above the group for a few seconds, collecting dark energy in his hands. After he had enough energy in his hands, he dived at the ground and blew everyone surrounding him into the air, either crippling them so much that they couldn't get back up or deleting them because their Materializers were pulverized.

"The name they gave him," Roll suddenly spoke as she observed how the black navi grabbed the device on the chest of one of his opponents with his right hand and crushed it without a second thought. "Black Fury… now I understand why…"

Meiru nodded and watched as Enzan took out the large navi with a Variable Sword and turned to help his companion, only to find that the black navi had already taken care of everyone else. She then took a hesitant step towards the two and cleared her throat, not wanting to be mistaken for an enemy and cut in half.

"Enzan," she called to the familiar boy in Cross Fusion with his navi. Her eyes then shifted to the black navi as he turned his head around to look at her with hidden eyes. He stared for a few seconds, then turned away and grabbed his cloak, which he had lost during the battle and was now floating in the ankle deep water. He seemed really displeased as he hoisted it up with his right hand…

"Sakurai!" Enzan's surprised call made the girl avert her eyes from the muttering Black Fury and watch as the official NetBattler rushed towards her, his sword morphing back into his hand. Although his eyes were hidden by Blues's trademark shades, he appeared relieved to see her and the others and a bit confused as he saw Roll and Gutsman waving at him.

"It's called a Materializer," Yaito explained as she foresaw the boy's question by just looking at him and taking one of the undamaged devices out of her small purse to show it to him. "You just point your PET to the infrared port on the back," she continued as she turned the device in her hand and used her index finger to indicate the small black square. "And your navi gets materialized in the real world."

"We're still tied to our PET, though," Roll picked up, her eyes glancing at the pink device her operator was holding in her hands. "So that our operators can support us in a battle."




He and Forte weren't sure how they had ended up there. All they could remember was that they had briefly woken up as they crashed through the wall of one of the submarine hangars before losing control once again as Dark Mu's navi flooded the large room like the water was doing. Now they were floating there, in the middle of a battlefield and with a cloak weighted down by cold water hanging around their shared body.

"So… that's how it happens…?" Netto asked in a whisper as he watched Enzan speak with his friends. He was glad that they were safe, but at the same time he was confused because he couldn't remember anything regarding the battle they had obviously just fought. "We lost control because I…"

Netto didn't know how to put that into words, but Forte understood perfectly. However, there was no time to delve into it as the scanner he came to rely on more than he would like to admit suddenly flared to life. No time for that! he exclaimed with urgency in his voice. Leeches!

Without even thinking about what to do, Netto flew to the side just before Ninja jumped out of his shadowy cover with a Leech in his right hand. The device was much smaller than the one used in the past, roughly the size of a shoebox, but as it brushed with his arm, both boy and navi felt that it was much more powerful.

"An improved version…" Netto muttered to himself as he flew up near the ceiling and locked eyes with Ninja. The navi was standing onto the flooded floor, casually holding the Leech into his hand and looking up at him with amused eyes.

"I knew that this operation was going to be a failure since the beginning," he spoke as he glanced at Enzan and the others standing to the side. "I told the emperor that the people and navis stationed here were… too low level and too stupid to carry on such an important task. Still, not everything is lost since you're here."

As he finished speaking, Paladin ran out of his cover, sword and shield at the ready, and jumped at the hovering navi near the ceiling. Netto was actually not so surprised by the ambush and used one of his energy blades to parry the enemy sword, his free hand grabbing the shield. "So," the boy said raising an eyebrow in amusement despite the dire situation he and Forte were in. "You decided to gang up on us?"

"I think Ninja told you this once," Paladin replied as he pushed Netto down towards the floor, landing on it with a splash and with swords still pushing against each other. The white navi was strong, but the boy at the moment wasn't putting all his strength on it. "Orders are orders, and as much as I am grateful to you to have given me a name, which I admit I like, we have to capture you and take you to our emperor."

"Is he the reason why we are locked in a Cross Fusion?" Netto asked as he ducked to dodge several throwing stars that Ninja had thrown at him. Without wasting any precious seconds, he rolled to the left and stood back up to avoid getting cut by Paladin's downwards slash. "What happened, anyway?"

The white navi smiled and charged forwards, his sword clashing with Netto's twin blades. "I would tell you," he said, actually being truthful. Paladin might be the enemy, but he seemed to respect him and Forte a lot, just like his comrade. "But Dark Mu's emperor doesn't want to let that particular secret out of the laboratory."

Feeling frustrated by the lack of answers, and feeling Forte's anger growing, Netto kicked his opponent away and ignored Enzan as he parried more throwing stars directed at his back. The two stood back to back for long seconds, one silently seething at Paladin while the other tried to gauge Ninja's real abilities.

"Forte," Enzan spoke, never taking his eyes away from the taller black navi standing in front of him and appearing like he didn't care about what he was doing. Opponents behaving like that were either stupid or really powerful, and Ninja didn't look to be part of the first category. "I'll cover your back."

Snapping out of his building anger, Netto turned his head around enough to watch as his friend charged his opponent almost recklessly. We don't need our back covered, Forte hissed in indignation as his host returned his attention back onto Paladin. We can take care of both of them on our own.

Netto chuckled and dodged another sword attack by stepping to the side, then thrust forwards with his left sword and did an upward slash with the right one. The first attack was deflected to the side by the enemy's blade while the second met the shield with a loud metallic clang. "Yeah, we could," he replied as he used Forte's superior strength to push Paladin backwards, towards one of the walls. "But it would be harder, and Ninja has a Leech… you know what happens when we get near an active one…"

Before Forte could reply with one of his biting remarks, however, Netto was forced to jump backwards as his opponent stepped to the side to disengage from his twin dark blades and try to attack his left flank with a diagonal slash. Fine, the black navi replied after his host landed back onto the ground with a loud splash. But he better not get in our way, kid.

The boy chuckled and rushed towards Paladin, his swords at the ready. "Don't worry," he replied as he started a fast-paced sword dance with his opponent and pushed him backwards with each attack, even managing to crack the shield with a powerful swipe. "He won't. Enzan knows his stuff."

When Paladin was forced to retreat to a safer distance, Netto turned his eyes to look at his friend. Enzan, when he saw that he was unable to hit Ninja using both swords and guns, resorted in at least keeping the enemy navi from reaching his real target by getting in the way. Past them, standing near the wall with their navis protecting them, Meiru and the others were silently observing the double fight and plotting amongst them, probably to sneak in an attack when Paladin or Ninja were too distracted to pay them any attention.

"Well, at least they are ok," Netto muttered to himself as he ducked to dodge his opponent's horizontal slash. "Now we just need to get rid of this insistent guy and go home."

My thoughts exactly, Forte replied, voice easily depicting his characteristic grin as he agreed with the last part of what his host had just said. This fight has lasted long enough.

Netto kicked the white navi on the side as strong as he was and watched as his opponent backtracked again, the armor where he had hit forming a halo of dematerializing data. The two then stared at each other in the eyes until Paladin lifted his sword and placed the flat side against his forehead.

"You have gotten much stronger than last time we met, kid," he said with a smile on his lips that neither Forte nor Netto could decipher. "If it wasn't for my programming, you would be the one I would follow, not Dark Mu's current leader. You deserve all my gratitude for naming me and all my respect for being so strong. Unfortunately…" here he sighed, lowered his sword and morphed his shield back into his hand, letting a Leech materialize into it. "I can't do anything but follow my creator's orders…"

Eyes widening at the device held by his opponent, Netto took a step backwards and bumped backs with Enzan a second time. "Damn…" he grunted out, voice too low to be heard by his friend. "Have they been playing around with us all the time?"

Kid, Forte grunted as he observed the white navi through his host's eyes while his proximity scanner kept tabs of Ninja lurking somewhere at their back. It's time we unleashed our true potential. I'm tired of you holding back just because your weak friends are around.

"I don't want to harm them," Netto replied, ignoring as Enzan briefly glanced at him after picking up his incomprehensible muttering. "I… I'm not going to blow up everything just because I can, Forte."

Do you want to get us caught again? the black navi hissed in anger at Netto's reluctance of using all the power that their merged form possessed.

"No," the boy replied before Forte could continue in his angry tirade. "Not if I have a say in it. But just because we currently possess so much power, it doesn't mean that the right way to use it is by letting it out in one go or throw it around hoping to hit the enemy…"

Curious as to what Netto was getting at, Forte silently watched as the boy started to collect energy in his hands. At first he thought that he was going to form a Darkness Overload, but then, as his host concentrated, he became slightly confused. I hope that what you're planning will work…

"I hope so, too," Netto replied as he imagined the shape of his next attack. If he could manipulate energy to form spheres and swords, maybe he could come up with other forms too. Sure, it would be harder than shaping his usual weapons, especially since he didn't had a clear image of what he was trying to come up with, but it was something that he was willing to try.

Locking his eyes with Paladin, and observing how the white navi had suddenly become wary of his machinations, he let his mouth stretch into a wide grin. "Well, here goes nothing…"

Twisting his body, he turned around and ducked under Enzan's arm to face Ninja. The taller black navi's eyes expressed great surprise as he watched his target stand in front of his comrade in arms and lift the hand holding the collection of dark energy into the air. For a moment nothing happened, but when Forte crouched down and slammed his hand onto the flooded floor, the ground shook just as dozens of giant columns with sharp pointed tips shot upwards, forcing Ninja to jump away to avoid getting stabbed.

He, however, was unable to save the Leech he was carrying as one of the pillars scraped at the arm he was carrying the device with. "An interesting way of using his energy," he said as he landed against the far wall and used it to jump away from harm and land next to his comrade. "He came up with his own version of the Wood Towers chip…"

Paladin glanced at his partner, then turned his eyes to the cloaked figure as he stood back up while the dark energy he had used to recreate the Wood Towers dispersed into the air in a blue shower of data. "I like him," he commented with a chuckle. "If he doesn't die after his Cross Fusion with Forte is cancelled, I want to keep him with Dark Mu. He's a good fighter."

"You talk like you want him to be your operator…" Ninja commented, watching as the boy roughly shoved his friend towards one of the two remaining submarine bays. "We're solo navis, we don't need an operator to help us in a fight."

Paladin shrugged, ignoring as everyone but their target rushed through the center door and disappeared from view. Orders were to capture, detain and bring back Netto and Forte, not his friends, so he didn't take interest in their escape. "True," he conceded, giving the remaining Leech to his partner and readied his sword. "But can you blame me? He named me, he's a good fighter and he deserves a place in Dark Mu. Maybe I'll force a Cross Fusion with him…"

Ninja took the offered device and sighed, understanding his comrade's way of thinking. "You are right, the kid is too good to let him go to waste. I just hope he will survive the cancellation of his current Cross Fusion."

Without adding further words, the two navis sprung to the attack. Paladin, who had both hands free, quickly locked his sword with those of Forte while Ninja lurked in the background in search of an opening to use the device on the boy and weaken him enough so they could immobilize him.




"Do you think he'll be alright?" Meiru asked as she tried to see the three fighting figures before she was forced down the hatch of the submarine. Despite being scared of the cloaked navi, she felt that he wasn't as bad as she had seen him before being kidnapped. "Two against one…"

Enzan, still Cross Fused with his navi, tugged the girl down and locked the hatch with ease. "I wouldn't worry about him, Sakurai," he replied with a frown. "Forte has been holding back until now. We're lucky he didn't blow the base up while we're still around."

While Roll took the pilot seat and let Glyde help her from within the computer, and while Gutsman and Dekao stood at the back of the small deck to observe the others, Meiru and Yaito watched as Enzan dropped down the ladder and landed onto the ground with a light thump.

"Then we should leave as soon as possible," the blond girl said, mouth frowning lightly. She could remember well how powerful the black navi's mere presence had felt. She might not be a NetBattler, but even she could distinguish a dangerous navi when she saw one.

"Still," Meiru continued as she followed the boy and the younger girl to the center of the deck and sat down onto one of the chairs, only glancing at the console in front of her and leaving her navi and Glyde to work out the controls and take them to safety. "Those two navis look powerful…"

Feeling the submarine lurch into movement and glancing at the large monitor to watch as the underwater doors opened, Enzan sat down onto the copilot's seat and relaxed. "They are," he replied with a light frown. "But I wouldn't underestimate Forte, Sakurai. He can take care of himself…"

Meiru frowned, but nodded in understanding. She wasn't sure why she was so worried about someone she didn't know, or why she had this feeling that she had met him before. "I suppose," she replied as she shoved the odd feeling to the back of her mind and let her attention focus on her materialized navi. A smile appeared on her lips. She had Cross Fused with Roll in the past, but this was much better.

"Blues," Enzan called as he took the controls and helped Roll in keeping the submarine on a steady course towards the edge of the Dimensional Area. "Call SciLabs, inform them that Sakurai and the others are safe and that I was unable to talk with Forte about doctor Cossack."

Yes, Enzan-sama.




They have left, Forte said as his host dodged another sword attack from Paladin before jumping over Ninja, who had tried to surprise him from the back with the Leech he was holding. Still, the device was close enough to make the boy cringe as he felt a good portion of his energy being sucked away. You can stop holding back.

Netto nodded and stopped in midair, looking down at his two opponents. "Then there is nothing left for us to do here," he said, feeling weary and hungry. "I want to go home and eat something… what would you like to eat? Curry?"

Whatever, Forte replied, disinterested. Just destroy them.

The boy chuckled and started to concentrate, mind slowly prodding at the mental wall that kept at bay all the energy that they possessed. Dark energy surrounded them and Netto curled into a fetal position for a fraction of a second before uncurling and throwing his arms and legs out, screaming and releasing all the energy he dared to use without risking getting too tired to return to SciLabs.

"Time to go," Ninja commented as he and Paladin left the base in a shower of blue data just before a huge explosion disintegrated half of the structure and crushed the other half.

After finding himself surrounded by cold water and floating debris, Netto looked up at the surface of the lake that he could see through the wall of the Dimensional Area. He spent a couple of seconds not moving from where he was, letting the currents carry him around. Then, with several bubbles escaping from his mouth, he bolted upwards and broke through the psychedelic wall with a thunderous sound, disappearing from view a fraction of a second later.