Welcome to Gaia! :: View User's Journal | Gaia Journals

Fifth Chapter:

Sabata lay in his makeshift bed, his PET next to him. He could hear Django’s slight snoring even though the device was in silent mode. Though he didn’t want to admit it, he missed the boy being right next to him, fighting along side with him, and fighting against him in casual spars. The pale moonlight from the balcony door illuminated the room just a little bit. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sleep, but it wouldn’t be from a combination of Netto’s and Django’s snores, a few crickets from outside, and the occasional car passing by. He was still Dark Boy and Moon Beauty (As much as he didn’t like being called the latter). He was trained at night, away from direct rays from the sun. He was basically nocturnal. He would be groggy and moody in the morning.

As Netto ran downstairs, he was slightly surprised to see Sabata, face on the table with a cup of coffee not too far away.

“Wake up!” He said, shaking his guest’s shoulder.

“Oh god, I’m still here, aren’t I?”

“We’re going to be late for school!”

Sabata let out a loud groan.

“Go on ahead of me, I am not feeling well.”

Netto scowled at him before running out of the door with a piece of toast.

“Niichan, what’s wrong?” Django asked. Sabata opened a bloodshot eye to see his PET on the table. That Hikari-boy must have taken it down.

“I feel something coming up…”

“…You didn’t sleep last night, did you?”

“I never do.”

“Niichan…”

“Django, it’s nothing to worry about.”

“…Niichan…”

“I said I’ll be fine.”

“I know. But did you know you’re really late for school?”

Groaning, Sabata chugged his coffee down and cringed from the instant heat and bitterness. He placed the cooling cup in the sink before using his Zero-Shift to quickly get to the door and out of the house. He continued to use Zero-shift, not caring as he literally passed through people; he was late for school and would be sweeping floors if he did not get there any sooner. Suddenly, right as his energy reserve ran low, he fell out of Zero-shift mode and bumped into a woman. Her wavy blue locks shook as they both recovered from the temporary shock. Sabata helped her up, noting how odd it was that she was wearing something much like that Asuka Tenshi.

“Sorry.” He mumbled.

“It’s quite alright.” The woman said, smiling. “Oh, do you go to Akihara Elementary?”

“Uh… Yeah…”

“Good, good! Can you please show me to the office? I came here to register my little Andromeda but I barely know my way around this little city.”

“I’m new myself, but I think I know where it is.”

“Great! I’m Nuvoloso Rosette by the way.”

“Soltone Sabata…”

“Pleasure to meet you!”
School had been passed by rather quickly for Sabata. Luckily for him, Rosette Nuvoloso had actually gone up with him to his classroom to prove that he had taken her to the office. Ruki and Izumi had ended up in detention again. Since he was not required anywhere, he sat lazily in the hallway, threatening to shoot any fangirl who dare hug him with the Gun Del Hell. After a while, Netto, Meiru, Ruki, Roy, and Izumi emerged from the classroom.

“You know, there is going to be new tournament rules concerning two navis battling two navis at the same time.” Ruki said. “There’s going to be a demonstration at the Internet City. We can go to Sci Labs or Marine Harbor. The latter reopened after much construction.”

“Sounds great!” Netto exclaimed.

“Alright, let’s go then.”

After the long train ride and a frilly, pink parasol later, the six casually strolled into the Marine Harbor. They quickly paraded to the café where they found plug in ports around a large screen.

“Is there anymore room to plug in?”

Sabata turned around to see the same girl Yuuichirou had been talking to, minus the lab coat.

“Don’t you work at the laboratories?” Ruki asked.

“Oh no, I’m just an intern.” The girl replied. “Well, more like coffee girl… My name is Midoriishi Malik.”

“Malik is such a common name.” Sabata commented. “We even know of a navi named .”

“Is that so? Well, I guess you can call me Mali to not get me confused with your little digital friend… And that I don’t get confused myself. I tend to confuse myself a lot.” Mali chuckled insecurely before putting her head down. “…So is there still room to plug in?”

Netto nodded, quickly moving to the side for the intern to plug into the console. A blue haired navi with a purple star between blue eyes appeared. Her torso was covered in a violet piece that ended at the end of her pelvis in the front and extended like a trench coat in the back. Her raw body suit was a dark red hue. Orange clasps below her elbows and knees kept purple sleeves to her. Her hands and feet were bright tangerine, as well as a scarf wrapped around her neck. Two maroon ribbons waved behind her head from above her navi symbols.

“How do you do?” The navi greeted. “I am . Nice to meet you!”

“Nice to meet you too.” Rockman said politely. “I’m ”

“I’m Roll.”

“My name is Hori.”

“Naito.”

“I’m called Glitch!”

“Solar Boy Django.”

“So, you are the infamous Django-san?” Halberd said. “Malikku loves you more than Sabata-san. Though, she loves to pair you to up.”

“…You’re that crazy author on Fanfiction dot net, aren’t you?” Sabata muttered under his breath.

“…You go to Fanfiction dot net?” Mali muttered back, staring at the Dark Boy strangely.

“…Crazy b***h.”

“…Intolerable b*****d.”

“Creepy chick.”

“Moon Beauty.”

As Sabata hung his head in defeat and Mali dancing in victory, another navi ran up to the group. He post striking resemblance to Halberd, only that his head ribbons, scarf, clasps, hands, and feet were purple, and his body suit was black. Where most of Halberd’s armor was purple, the new navi’s were blue. Between his plum eyes was an azure crescent moon.

“Hey Mace-Niisan!” Halberd shouted, waving her hand around. On a screen, a brunette appeared.

“Malik, where the hell are you?” She demanded, gold eyes flashing quite angrily.

“Sorry Ruri, but Kero had me go on a coffee-demo-run.” Mali said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. “Speaking of the demo…”

“You’re hopeless, you know?”

“I know! It’s just…”

“Fine… where are you?”

“The reopened sector of Marine Harbor. You know, the old café where I used to wait for the ferry.”

“I understand. Oh yes, Diana might come later.”

“Nurse school?”

“Science labs. Aide is learning how to make vaccines.”

“Is she going to stay with us?”

“No, but…”

“Ah, tell me later.”

“…”

The girl disappeared from the screen, leaving the others in wonder.

“Who was that?” Meiru questioned.

“Ah, my best friend, Hiwatari Ruri!” Mali exclaimed. “Well, my best friend in Japan. And that’s her navi, ”

“Are they twin navis?” Ruki asked, a bit too excited for her own good.

“Yeah! Ruri’s brother Silas programmed them when he was learning at IPC. He’s made several modifications since then.”

For a moment, an awkward silence gripped the group.

“So, do you know what the new battle system is like?” Netto brought up.

“Oh yeah, as an intern-slash-coffee girl, I’ve been told the basics.” Mali shrugged. “It’s only for tournaments or other organized battles. You don’t need to use it, seeing as it needs two navis on each team. Kero told me to find two pairs of suckers to do the demo for us, since we’re in the ‘official’ business and could be acting.”

“Well, Meiru-chan and I can do it!” the boy chirped.

“No, Netto-kun!” Halberd and Mace are twin navis, so Naito and Hori should fight them!” Ruki declared.

Mali smiled at them, putting a hand on both the boy’s and the girl’s shoulders.

“Why don’t you four do it?” She suggested. “After all, I only need four, and I think Ruri won’t even come at all.”

“But you’re…”

“I told you, I need to find two pairs. If I were to volunteer, I’d only find one pair and a partner.”

“What about Ruri-san?” Roy piped up. The older girl huffed, placing her hands on her hips.

“Well, she can ki—“

A loud noise from her PET beeped, Halberd looking up at the screen sharply.

“Er… be back up!”

“Malikku, you really need to control your language.” The navi sighed. Sabata zoned out, sitting down on a nearby chair. A coffee with a layer of foam sitting at the top was placed in front of him while the scraping of chair feet against tile and a soft “whump!” informed him that someone just sat next to him. Crimson orbs swirled up to stare at the girl who had embarrassed him, and herself, earlier.

“They gave me a free coffee.” She said kindly. “I suppose since I come here often to order coffee, I must be addicted to it! But I rather dislike it. It’s much too strong for me. There’s also the fact that one of my friends spilled it on my backpack and ruined my homework.”

“How old are you?” Sabata asked, looking at Mali with a new curiosity.

“Fifteen by this country’s standards, fourteen back in Amerope.”

“Are you still learning Japanese?”

“Yeah, you noticed how my sentences are at a much slower pace and are more polite than the native’s?”

“You constantly look at your PET as well…”

“Ha… So, why the sudden interest in my life?”

“You’re quite intriguing.” Sabata confessed, blowing the foam away in order to even see the murky brown liquid in his cup. “I mean, you have the most queer habits and ideas. You seem to believe that I find my brother sexually attractive.”

Mali gave out a hearty laugh, trying her best to suppress her mirth and failing.

“It’s mostly because people are sad little creatures who want to see their own ideal life. You have yet to see those who pair themselves up with characters such as yourself, portraying them in such a way I never thought was possible.”

“That doesn’t explain why you want me to rape Django or something.”

The purple haired boy nearly paused, thankful that this conversation was in English where practically no one around the participants would be able to understand much.

“I’m just a weird person.” Mali snickered. “I want to pursue a career in astronomy, yet I ended up transferring to a place where research in technology is more prominent. I suppose I could have gone to Shaaro, but like hell will I ever learn the language there. My parents were from Choina, therefore Japanese is more familiar to me.”

“But why want to study the stars? They’re just huge flaming gas balls…”

“I’ve never really seen too many stars while growing up. Even today, I can hardly see any due to all the lights around. I want to know what else is out there. I want to know who else is thinking the same exact thing on some other planet, orbiting some other star in some other galaxy. Don’t give me the will of the galaxy crap ever, either. Even the fans were annoyed by that.

“But maybe that’s why I want to study the cosmos even more. I want to know if there are other beings, if there is such thing as undead in other places. Even after the Dr. Regal and Duo fiasco a few weeks back, I can’t help but wonder and want.”

“You’re insane, woman.”

“Takes one to know one.”

“You’re a such a little brat.” Sabata finally concluded.

“Ameropean brat, thank you!” Mali exclaimed, somewhat proud of the fact that she was quite obnoxious and disrespectful. As she sat back down to sip her tea, a great number of people shuffled out of the subway.

“Uh, Malik?” A voice asked. Sabata looked up to see the same girl from the screen chat. She appeared much older wearing a beige sweater and a black skirt that extended down to her knees. Behind her were two strangers, a boy about his own age and a girl who looked no older than Sumire back in San Miguel. Both had dark blue hair, though the boy had a blond lightning streak down the middle. He wore black hoodie over a navy turtleneck and khaki jeans while the little girl was clad in a school uniform. The boy looked at Mali with amusement.

“Are you looking for poor little suckers that you can watch make out with each other?” he asked her.

“Es-tee-eff-you…” she muttered, letting her head fall to the table. She quickly got up and dragged the older girl by the arm, whispering quite loudly to her.

“What’s the big deal?” the girl asked her silently.

“You KNOW how much I hate him.” Mali hissed. “And Silas… Don’t you think he’d get a bit angry with this too?”

“Silas knows.” The girl simply said at normal volume. “He is unhappy, but they are family after all.”

There were a few muttered curses that Sabata chose to ignore.

“So, Mali, are you going to tell your friend that she came all this way for nothing?” He brought up. Mali froze, scratching the back of her head while laughing nervously.

“Malik.” The older girl said with slight malice in her voice. “What did you do this time?”

“Well, I sort of offeredsomeotherkidstodothedemobecausetheywerefightingoverit.” She quickly replied.

The girl blinked.

“Well, if you stopped a fight, then it’s okay.”

“Huh?”

“Of course, your punishment is staying with these two until I get back from class.”

“WHAT! Ruuuriiiiii!”

Netto blinked as he heard Mali whine to her older friend.

“You must be Mali’s friend.” Meiru observed. The woman looked at the kids and smiled.

“Yes, I am Hiwatari Ruri.” She introduced. “I’m actually relieved that Malik found other kids to bother. I still have classes today.”

“I’m Hikari Netto!” Netto greeted. “This is Sakurai Meiru, Chang Ruki, Chang Roy, Aoki Izumi, and Soltone Sabata!”

“Sabata? As in the character from Boktai that Malik is obsessed with?” Ruri questioned, staring at the Dark Boy. He only looked at her with crimson eyes and nodded.

“Yes, sadly.” He murmured.

“Well, I have to go now.” Ruri announced. “It was a pleasure to meet you all.” She bowed respectfully and turned once the Akihara Elementary students returned a bow. Mali sat down at the table, quite depressed.

“Don’t worry, I know what it’s like to hang around friends of family and family of friends.” Sabata sympathized.

“Really?”

“Django makes odd friends.”

“Ah. Of course.”

“So, who are the family of friends or friends of family?” Sabata finally asked. Mali scowled immediately.

“Nuvoloso Orion and Andromeda.” She finally growled. “Family of friends.”

“Thought so… Nuvoloso, eh? I met Nuvoloso Rosette, but she seemed a bit too young to be a mother.”

“She is though.”

“Any particular reason for disliking this family?”

“Just Orion, and I’d rather not talk about it.”

After another round of introductions, the boy, Orion swiftly plugged in a dog like navi by the name of .

“Demonstration begins in thirty minutes,” Mali announced lethargically. “Both pairs, please follow Halberd until you reach a blue and red door. From there, go with your teammate into the same door as each other, but not as your opponent. If there is any argument over which door which team enters, flip a coin or something.” Once she was done speaking, she sat down at her table and let her head drop to the cool metal surface. Occasionally, she would lift her head up an inch or so and let it fall once again. Sabata almost felt pity for her.

Naito and Hori proceeded through the blue door, leaving the red door for Rockman and Roll. Halberd led the rest of the group, consisting of Django, Glitch, Mace, and Canis to the bleachers.

“Hey there!” A bird navi cried out, flying towards them. It landed on Django’s head, peering down at him. Django glanced upwards, staring at it for a while.

“Um… Who are you…?” He questioned uncertainly.

“I’m Crystal , Rosemary’s navi!” The bird answered cheerfully. Django had to think back for a while before smiling.

“Oh yeah!” He exclaimed. “She was the one who clung to Niichan!”

Crystal Wing quickly made a “nest” out of Django’s hair, content with the built-in heat. In the middle of the stadium, Halberd and the green Toadman stood on a flying platform.

“Hello Internet City Arena!” Halberd announced, pausing during the waves of cheers and applause. “Today we are revealing a new tournament battle system! Keep in mind that it is option for friendly battles, but some competitions will be using it, so watch carefully! Now to explain some of the rules is the lovely reporter, Midorikawa Kero-san!”

The brunette’s face appeared on a screen, eyes flashing with excitement.

“Hello everyone!” She greeted, pausing for another wave of cheers and declarations of love. “Today we introduce the brand new battling style! The regular tournament mode limits a navi to nine squares each! The new system, the Double Battle mode, still has nine spaces to move per navi, but introduces a whole new plane!”

The black ground of the stadium faded away into four large squares, red and blue, in a checkered pattern, each divided into nine separate spaces. Hori and Naito appeared in the center of the blue squares while Rockman and Roll materialized in the red. The navis were positioned to face clockwise. A small beep was heard from Mali’s PET and she grudgingly stalked over to another terminal, plugged into it, turning on the camera funtion. She quickly brightened.

“Notice how they’re facing one opponent?” She commented. “To switch, press the ‘select’ button on your PET! Please switch!”

Naito now faced Rockman, Rockman faced Hori, Hori turned to Roll, and Roll switched to Naito.

“Each navi has his or her own custom bar, depending on speed. When a navi uses area steal, or even panel steal, his or her partner can cross over. Counter chips, such as Jealousy and the anti series, will affect both navis.”

Halberd’s floating panel came down to the center.

“When I go up, the battle starts!” she declared. “Three, two, one, GO!”

However, before she could rise, a navi in the stands gave a loud screech and caused Halberd to tumble over and fall off. The arena reverted to a green battle-royal field.

“Fortissimo!” Django gasped. But another navi leaped out of his seat in the bleachers and landed on the field. He seemed to be a custom navi with spikes on his shoulder. He gave a loud shriek again, shattering glass in both the real world and the Internet. Sabata’s coffee mug cracked, spilling the brown fluid all over the table. His crimson orbs widened as he watched his precious elixir of life drip out of its container and onto the floor.

“Alright Django.” he growled. “Kick his a**.”

The Solar Boy sighed and leaped down with Crystal Wing still in his hair. The blue bird cried out and grabbed onto his shoulders and flapped so he wouldn’t be Solar Limbs when he landed. Rockman fired at the vampiric navi with the Rock Buster, but the pink shots only bounced off of a dark aura. Suddenly, the vampire rushed at him, claws ready to tear the azure navi in half. Luckily, the three female navis threw him off with a combination of default attacks. The vampire retaliated, swiping at Hori before she could draw out her chakrams. A vocal attack sent Roll and Naito into the wall before they could do anything else.

“Roll!” Rockman cried. “Hori! Naito!”

The blue navi stood up to feel the prickling sensation on the back of his neck. He had not noticed the vampire navi sneak up behind him while he was preoccupied with his friends’ safety. The navi grabbed him by the neck, lifting him off the ground and turning him around. Those fangs looked awfully sharp from close up and even more so as the mouth opened up to take a bite…

“Rockman!”

At the last moment, Django pushed Rockman out of the way, successfully ripping him out of the vampire’s grip, but placing his own neck in fang’s range. Stunned, Rockman turned around slowly, nearly choking as he watched blood drip from Django’s hand. Solar Boy Django had been bitten.

“Django-kun…”

For a moment, everything was silent.

“Wait.” Mali said, breaking the silence. “Why is everyone so worried? Don’t tell me they never got to the part where Ringo…”

Django let shot up, smashing into the navi’s face.

“How annoying,” he muttered, “to be bitten twice.”

The boy sidestepped and raised his hand into the air. With a blow of violet energy, he transformed into something monstrous. His skin morphed into a sickly shade of blue and long claws extended from his fingers. His hair waved upwards, a dark shade of auburn. His headband slid down over his eyes, giving the white part the appearance of demon eyes. The ends of his scarf lifted up into crimson wings. He had become a vampire.

“But…”

“He…”

“Was bitten by Father…”

“In Zokutai! I thought you guys would have played it! I was in Amerope when I did!”

Black Django chuckled menacingly. Almost immediately, he changed into a wolf and pounced on the attacking navi, piercing through the thick armor and drained energy. Once he withdrew, he kicked off of the navi and spun into a kick. He grabbed onto his arm and ripped it off, throwing the appendage aside. The data flow spilled from the wound and disappeared a few seconds afterwards. Before Black Django could thrust his arm through the vampire navi, spindles of electricity surrounded him, separating the two in separate cages.

“Elec cage!”

Glitch fell to the floor, frowning at Black Django.

“Out of control!” He scolded.

“Yeah, well he bit me first!” Black Django snarled, thrashing about in his prison.

“Let’s not play the blame game!”

“Yeah, we need this navi for science!”

A giant syringe shot out in front of Black Django through the bars of the cage. It was attached to the arm of a turquoise navi with blinding neon green hair. A nurse cap sat on top of her hair, holding the emblem of two snakes curling around a cross. The same pattern was on her dress while only one snake decorated each of her boots.

“Aide!” Halberd cried.

“Is Diana…”

“Sorry Malik-chan!” Aide interrupted. “Diana hasn’t arrived yet, but she told me to wait over here for a while.” She turned to the vampire navi. “Interesting… His data’s almost completely rewritten.”

“The science labs are probably going to want to bring him back for study.” Rockman observed. “But it’s getting late and the science programs might not get here soon.”

“That won’t be a problem!” Aide exclaimed. “Snake Wraps!”

From her left arm, the bulky armor opened and two white snakes flew out. Glitch released the Elec Cages and allowed the two snakes to bind themselves around the vampire navi, using their own fangs to hook on securely.

“I’ll wait for them to come. My operator’s plane doesn’t come in a while, so I can wait here!”

“I guess I have no other choice than to wait with you.” Mali sighed. “Eh Mace, it seems Ruri is calling you back. I also have unfinished homework to do.” She picked up her messenger bag and threw it to another table. “You guys can…”

Before she could finish her sentence, the Akihara Elementary attendees fled.

“…Leave if you want…”
“Bulbman, WATCH OUT!”

The small navi squealed and jumped out of the way as Malik crashed into the wall.

“How was the demonstration?” Bulbman awkwardly asked as his friend recovered.

“Better than expected.” She answered. “She’s getting much better at acting though. And she even had Netto and the others demonstrate!”

“That’s awesome!”

“He was also there too…”

“Did they see you?”

“No. I highly doubt they’d recognize me now.”

“She’s pretty smart though.”

“Analytically, yes, but she lacks common sense and can hardly put two and two together. Besides, MY acting has improved as well!”

“You’re acting?”

“Oh, haha, VERY funny. If only I hadn’t have listened to…”
“The will of the galaxy!”

Fortissimo looked up, staring at Pianissimo.

“What?” He blurted out.

“The will of the galaxy demands we work with them!” She hissed.

“Them?” he echoed.

“Yes, them.”

“…I don’t quite follow.”

“Fool!” Pianissimo growled, smacking Fortissimo on the back of his head. “The galaxy navis! We have to work with the galaxy navis!”

“Why!”

“The will of the galaxy!”

“The will of the galaxy my digital a**!”

“Then the will of the galaxy will delete your ‘digital a**.’”

“Master!”

Immediately, both navis fell into a bow.

“You will work with the galaxy navis.”

“But why?”

“Do you dare question me?”

“Master, no!”

“You will release Bar and Spiral and they can go find Ellipse. Irregular has already broken free. The four can then unseal S-Zero. And if you dare defy the will of the galaxy…”

“We understand, sir.”

“Good. Now I must see if we’ve collected enough…”

-Omake #1-

Drunken Navis

Netto found that introducing his friends to the navi Malik was not an easy task. He had chosen a bad day to do it; apparently, it was her drinking days. And he thought navis couldn’t drink alcohol…

“Net booze!”

Rockman and Django winced as Malik rolled in from a large keg.

“We shouldn’t! Our operators are too young!” Roll protested.

“No worries, Papa always let me drink some wine at his parties.” Yaito cheered.

“But those are special occasions!” Hori exclaimed. “And this is free drinking!”

“If it concerns you so much.” Naito interrupted. “The kids can have fizzy drinks if they want to join us.”

“You should have been Ruki’s navi.” Roy quietly said.

“Net booze! Net booze!”

Everyone gathered at Netto’s house, getting introductions done while opening several bottles of various sodas.

“Let’s begin!”

After the first round, Gutsman was the first to pass out. Because burly men always have low tolerance for alcohol.

“Oh yeah, some of these drinks have a special instant-knocker or something.” Malik murmured.

Right after that, Bulbman had unfortunately drank too much at one time and knocked himself out from the fizz in his nose.

“Oh dear, these won’t delete a navi, will they?” Glyde asked as he served more drinks.

“Nah, just programmed to simulate drunkenness.”

By the fourth round, Hori staggered off to sing off tune in a sealed off area of Malik’s network. At six, Glitch had chosen the spiked drink and fell over drunk. Three rounds later, Roll began to sputter and joined Hori in her karaoke. After that, Rockman quit, feeling quite queasy and ready to throw up. If navis could throw up. Naito managed to survive quite a few rounds, but soon found herself victim of overdrinking.

“Alright, it’s just you and me.” Malik growled, glaring at Django.

Several rounds passed and neither side even wavered. It was getting late; by then most of the kids had gone home. By eleven, only Netto and Sabata were at the former’s home, cleaning up.

“Malik, Django, it’s getting really late.” Sabata announced bluntly.

“Dun matter! Can’t stop ‘til one is the winner!” The female navi declared. And promptly passed out.

“Say Django, you usually suck at drinking games.”

“I know, Niichan.”

“What’s different this time?”

“It’s NET BOOZE.”

“So?”

“It’s for navis.”

“And?”

“I’m not a navi. The stuff doesn’t even reach my mouth.”

“You sneaky little b*****d.”

“That makes you one too.”

Sabata laughed for the first time in a while.

-

I promise I'll start on the sixth chapter.