Rei did not take well to being looked down on. Was Heatman trying to purposefully provoke him, or did he genuinely have such little faith in his skills? If he had his real navi with him, he'd certainly prove him how wrong he was..!

"I don't think you quite understand", he said coldly and slammed his other hand on the table, "I'm plenty strong without them. All the skill I need, I have."

For a moment, he stared daggers at Heatman, before his expression and mannerisms relaxed again. Another wide smile to mask his feelings behind.
"Don't you ever wish to be... stronger? To attain more power? Just because I'm strong without a little boost, doesn't mean I don't crave to be more. The Dark Chips are but another tool, one that I've chosen to harness. It's a power that suits me."

He was quickly forgetting any reservations he'd had about telling the truth to this navi. If he was to pry and judge, he'd give him things as they are. No use sugarcoating it for someone who already disrespected you.

"Any more questions? You're quite the talker, is this an interrogation of some kind?"

+++

Celestra could almost sympathize with the navis sentiments, but the Net as she knew it was a place where anyone anytime could challenge you. And today he was an obstacle to her.

She took a long look at the navi, his form oddly familiar, as slowly the databases of her memory tried to find a name to match.

Swallowman! She'd never met him, but this was a navi she'd heard of in passing. He was easily identified from description alone. But something wasn't right... there was the familiar feeling of DarkAura, resonating off him.

"Execute! Ignite the spark!" she continued her 'operators' words.

She pounced at Swallowman again, initiating a fight more than anything. She wasn't familiar with Lans operating style, if he'd let her fight independently as Rei did or make her rely on chips more.

"Lets take care of this fast! We can't let him go Lan!"

Celestra grinned. They were about as resistant as she could have expected.

"I have just a select few words to relay from my operator to you"

When the swords aura came at her she leaped back, barely dodging the attack. Celestra was eager to make this a fight, but she had to remind herself this wasn't the time. Not yet atleast. She'd be free to do anything later. Anything for the vault.

"Consider this a warning. We know who you are, where you work.... so he'd appreciate it if you oblidged", Celestra kept circling them from a distance, but made no move to attack, "name the place. We can talk there. And who knows? If it goes well you might even get a reward"

Suddenly a Battle Chip was loaded to her. Dark Thunder. A purple, almost tinted black, aura appeared around her. Celestra's claws dug to the floor. She was eagerly taking in the dark energy, even as all of her systems screamed inside her in opposition to the further corruption. It was standard prodecure by now, never greater than the delight of absorbing a Dark Chip.

The thunder attack rolled forward towards Aon, but she wasn't expecting it to hit.

What mattered was that the bait was set. As soon as they had a deal she could take her leave. Everything would be settled later.

"You can forward the details by messaging a certain rose."

Stalling. Everything was stalling. It had been far too quiet lately for Rei, in the chatroom, with Nebula, with his own life.
It was making him restless, like the calm before the storm does, agitated and fidgety as he awaited for some kind of change. He was forcing himself to remain on edge, lest he'd let himself be consumed by the same false safety blinding everyone around him.
It was deep in one of those moods where he'd found himself messaging that accursed doctor again. He was running low on his Dark Chips, as sparing as he was with them, giving him a perfect excuse to seek some kind of distaction. Not to mention he his navi couldn't manage without them anymore. It was inconvenient, but the benefits of the dark power for them both were undeniable.

From the doctor he got just what he'd asked for. Rei's and Celestra's next target was decided. It would be the unicorn.
With some looks into the chatlogs and the chatrooms ever helpful portal feature, it wasn't difficult to figure out where to find them and create a plan based on that...
+++

"Celestra, if you'd be so kind as to fetch our guest"

After exiting the portal Rei had found himself somewhere in Kingland. Atleast, that's the country the architechture matched. He was currently trying to lay it low, standing by some buildings not too far from the Offical Center of the area, keeping an eye on his PET and his navis actions.

Celestra, meanwhile, was getting their little party started. Far too long out of action, this time they were going to make an impression. They were definetly getting that vault.

With no reason to be subtle about attempting to break into the institutions carefully guarded networks, she focused on doing any damage she could to raise the alarms. Her only goal was the attention of the security.

She didn't have to wait for long. Almost immediately a security navi appeared. Currently trying to claw through the firewall, Celestra pulled away her arm, some loose pixels falling from the shallow gash she'd left.

Standing ahead of her was an unicorn navi. She grinned, unable to believe her luck. It had to be them.

Or maybe it wasn't luck. Maybe they'd already figured out they were having visitors.

"AceBellerophon, I presume?"
Celestra stepped out of the shadows, slowly approaching them.

"I'm not here for a fight. I came here to talk"

"This is plenty fine for now. Money is no priority for me", Rei assured with a carefree smile.
He was quickly catching up with what Heatman was getting at - the navi thought he knew what was good for him better than he did himself. Rei despised being treated like that, as if he wasn't an adult fully aware of his deeds.

He worked hard to avoid the law and whoever else may be after him. Targeting only Undernet navis, never staying still in one place for too long, using cash whenever possible and going out of town to withdraw it. All of it was to sustain his lifestyle - and sure, maybe it wasn't worth all the effort, but he had his eyes on bigger prizes than making sure he could live an ordinary dull life.

"Then I shall make sure I won't be caught", a smirk spread to his face, a flicker of violet passed his eyes, "and if they try to catch me, I'll catch them first. I'll ensure they regret it. I don't fear some petty officers and their Navis."

If Heatman was to approach him as if he was some helpless coward, he'd simply have to assert some hard truths. A peacock will spread it's feathers to impress.

"Besides, technically I do possess a job", his voice was more nonchalant again. He rolled his head and then placed it against his hand. "But my humble employer doesn't reward me with wealth. What I gain from it is something much, much more elusive - Dark Chips"

+++

Even Celestra was surprised by how quick Lan was to accuse the strange navi of being an enemy. She turned her head back at Lan, giving him a puzzled look, then focused her eyes on the net wide in front of her again.
She grinned. Such paranoia would be far too easy to take advantage of. This kid just may turn out to be worth the extra effort.

"Roger that!"

She picked up her pace, trying to to locate the odd blur that had passed them by. There weren't many navis she knew of who could move like that, if this even was a navi she'd be familiar with, and none of them were to be taken lightly.

Suddenly Celestra caught a glimpse of something again. She immediately tried to jump at the blur, hoping to atleast make their opponent stay still.

Rei observed Heatman as he made his way through the Undernet, ready to pitch in if anything gave him trouble or he got lost along it's tricky roads.
Somehow, he felt like his usual navi knew the way well enough that he could trust them unsupervised on the Undernet, that he usually didn't have to put much effort into operating- but quickly that too began to feel like a false memory.
He didn't like how much his own head was messing with him today. He really had to get to the bottom of this as soon as possible.

His thoughts were cut short by Heatmans question. Rei was now forced to evaluate how much to reveal of his circumstances.

"The first, I think? You could say that I'm on my own right now", he was being as vague as possible about this, "don't get me wrong, I'm not poor, what savings I have just won't last me forever. It's simply a matter of having an income, you understand?"

+++

"That's okay. I already ran some quick scans and I'm fine, just some abnormal lag with retrieving older memory data. I'm certain I'll be good as new tomorrow after another boot up", Celestra tried to assure.

Left and three areas ahead. That shouldn't be an issue. Placing all four paws to the ground, she sprinted to a run, trying to head at full speed towards their destination.
Inconvenient, all of this was so inconvenient..! She didn't have the patience for such convoluted things! It'd take a all of her self control to not tear right into their enemy to vent some frustrations.

With Celestra's pace, it wasn't long until she reached the edge of the correct town. She ran through the run down networks, taking notice of the state of things along the way. Something about what she saw felt eerily familiar.

Once she had reached the portal connecting the two town she slowed down, switching to a steady walking pace.

"Well, boy. It's time to find Nebula and expose what they're plotting today", she tried to encourage Lan.

"Glad to work with you", Rei hummed.

Heatman had accepted the tasks put upon him with surprising ease. Obedient and loyal as NetNavis were expected to be, even to a human he didn't belong to. It was kind of pathetic really.

Rei reached to plug in Heatman to the Net.
On the cyberworlds side awaited a simple homepage, with some bare minimum customization to give it a more unique colorscheme. Hues of light red and rose gold adorned it's layout. Three short paths split from it's center, each ending at a WarpPad. Inbetween them was a single old Prog to keep things in order, shamelessly sleeping on duty.

"It's the leftmost warp pad, if you were wondering. Then go right to reach the Undernet"

Rei wasn't so stupid as to have a shortcut directly to the Undernet on his computer. It was a bit of a risk already to have the warp point so close to it, but convenience dictated his Navi had to have easy access there at all times.

+++

What welcomed Celestra on the Net was a network ominously empty. The comp space lacked any customization, only serving as a gateway for the wider net.

The real surprise was what was on the other side. After entering the warp pad, Celestra found herself somewhere very... off. A place she could only assume to be far off from their actual location.
Masking the IP of his PET, wasn't he? She'd heard of tricks like this, but never seen them for herself. What reason would a child have to resort to tactics more common among criminals? Something here wasn't right.

There was a more pressing issue however - she had no idea wich was the right way.

She turned to Lan, trying desperately to think of a way to say this without sounding suspicious.
"...I think I didn't boot up perfectly today. Could you remind me again wich way our town's network is from here?"

Already Rei felt like he'd made the right choise trusting his doubts. This NetNavi acted painfully nice. Could someone like this have allowed him into SoulNet again and again? Still lingering was the question of what his real Navi was like then, and he couldn't help being bothered by it.

Heatman, meanwhile, was confident with keeping the play going. He was ready to act the part of his navi for now.

"Just a moment- you suggest I go about my day as usual?"

Did this Navi possess no inch of curiosity? Something strange was going on, and already Rei felt the crave to solve such a mystery. But as he thought it through, Heatmans suggestion had a point. This way he could find out if everyone else thought this was normal too. And it'd either either weaken or strengthen Heatmans argument this isn't where he's supposed to be.

"Then again... of course. My schedule ~", he hummed, "it's no busy day by any means. Just a quick trip to the Undernet for you. You see, I'm in need of some cash again. And lucky for us, down at Undernet 4 is a HeelNavi who pays a decent sum for BugFrags. I'd like you to deliver him our current collection. After that, why not check the UnderBBS too? The shadier the job, the better it pays. Oh, and don't let petty things like 'law' hinder you. Scams won't be out of question either. Whatever is easy and works."

Rei went through his increasingly concerning list with a wide smile, morality not weighting him down the least. If Heatman was to be his Navi, then he'd better know what he was up for.

He then reached for an old, bulky, but surprisingly compact laptop on the corner of his desk.
"Oh, do you know how to get there once I plug you in? Worry not, there's a shortcut on my homepage that'll get you near the Undernet 1 entry point"

+++

Celestra was stumped. Talking clearly wasn't the way through this.

The door closed behind them with a loud thud. From what she could tell, he was nearing the lone window of the room. Hey- was he that desperate to act on his need to be a hero?!

Lan thankfully had something less reckless in mind. And his suggestion was just what she needed to form a plan. If they scouted the Net and found out what Nebula was doing, Lan would surely go after them. And if they could prove Nebula was up to something, she could probably get away with a bit of mischief to create that chance for them to get out. Perhaps it could still work out after all.

"Of course! Plug me in and we can tail them. It's a good idea to gather information before heading head first into danger", she assured him.

Rei tilted his head. Undeniably, Heatman had a point. Could his navi really have gotten swapped out at some point - and in a way where he wouldn't remember? In a way where his memories went along with it, too?
It sounded outlandish, and yet, the more Heatman spoke the more he felt his doubts affirmed.

"It's true, my memories are oddly hazy today. And you acted so unfamiliar with our routine, too..." he sighed.
He closed his eyes to consider his options. He didn't want to believe it. If Heatman hadn't been his Navi for the last year, then who..?

It was then that Rei got an idea for how to test Heatmans theory. He reached for the Battle Chips in his pocket to skim through his deck. Glaring through them was damning: ElecBlade, DarkSword, Barrier100, Anubis... none were chips optimized for a fire element Navi.

After some hesitation, Rei chose to believe Heatmans words. It felt wrong to, but he couldn't shake off how tilted things felt. Something wasn't adding up, and Heatmans claims were his only clue.

"I fear you may be on to something. Choosing to believe you, for now that is, mayhaps we should start with the basics. Like introductions! My name is Rei Tao. I hope my PET provides a pleasant hotel until things are corrected!"

+++

Celestras suggestion was immediately shot down by Lan. Perhaps fearing a syndicate like Nebula, these people were either cautious, or otherwise protective of the boy.
Still, she wanted to understand more of the situation she'd been whisked into. She had to know more about the Lan she now served to know where his weaknesses laid. And there was no easier test than danger.

When Lan opened the bedroom door, Celestra was eager to see more clues to his living situation. She peeked from the PETs corner, curious ears perked up as she tried to take a good look.
Multiple people she didn't recognize, idly wasting their time. None of them looked related.

Celestra carefully considered Lans words and enthusiasm to help, trying to deem what would be the best course of action next.

"It's true anyone could be in danger if Dr. Regals soldiers are in the vicinity..... and exactly because of it you're just sitting ducks if you all stay here", she contemplated, "are you sure none of them would join you? You just need to get one person to agree to come with you, that's all. Your friends understand the importance of prevention, right?"

She was merely hazarding a guess. She didn't know anything of this instance, or this Lan, or of how dangerous Nebula was here. Relying on one of the boys friends being more reckless or heroic like him was but an assumption. All she could do was gamble on the fickle human heart.

Rei practically froze upon hearing 'his' NetNavis baffling statement. He gave him a long, puzzled look, but didn't say a word. A doubt that had lingered in his heart all morning threatened to surface to his mind. For once, Rei was completely speechless.

He rushedly finished his breakfast in total silence.

He then finally spoke up: "Surely, you jest. You're the NetNavi registered to my PET, no? But... if you give me a moment, I'll give your silly doubts a thought". He flashed 'his' navi a bright smile and got up.

He walked across the room to grab some clothes from his closet for the day. A neat and coordinated outfit as always. The time it'd take for him to tackle the endless buttons of those clothes was sure to give him the time needed to think.

Was that navi being serious? But- Heatman had always been his navi, right? No other way did it feel 'right'. Heatman had to be lying, and yet...
Something felt strange, he couldn't deny that. But he couldn't remember things ever being otherwise- what could he remember at all? Recollections felt hazy, like a photograph altered but you're not quite sure how. Any attempt of recalling what his NetNavi should be like only gave him a headache, worsening with every question. It was like something didn't want him to remember the truth. He wasn't sure what to believe.

A while later Rei returned to his desk to better negotiate with Heatman. As if having drawn new found confidence from a set of clean clothes, he appeared more collected now.
He sat down on his chair with legs crossed, hands on his lap, firmly maintaining eye contact with Heatman.

"I may as well entertain your claim for a while. But what proof do you have? Either my memory betrays me, or you're pulling a miserable prank you'll dearly pay for"
Ah- was there some reason he wouldn't believe his navi would be honest with him-? Doubting him somehow felt natural. It'd always been strained inbetween them, hadn't it?

+++

Despite being something of a pawn to Nebula herself, Celestra couldn't deny Lans words.
"A real harbringer of bad news, aren't they...." she muttered.

As the boy prepared for the day, Celestra took the moment to assess the situation again. Curiosity and hunger motivated her decisions, encouraging her to entertain this act for a while longer. She had a hunch sticking around this boy could turn out worth a while. The priority of escaping this strange place was being quickly forgotten on behalf of the allure of misery to feast on.
She decided to take another look through the PETs user information while the boy wasn't looking.

'Owner: Lan Hikari'. Celestras eyes shrunk in shock.
Well, well, well.... even she had heard of that name and the reputation it carried. Looks like her hunch was right. This had to be a golden opportunity of some kind.

She quickly closed the window when she noticed the PET being lifted.

'The others?' She'd clearly have to assess for some background information to get on track of the boys- Lans- situation.
Of course, he was already rushing to solve problems that hadn't even happened yet. It tracked - the Lan she knew of was a pain in the ass for UnderNet navis like herself.

And what a bright opportunity to see what she could gain that heroism presented.

"Hn.... we could always go on a patrol to make sure we're safe. Now, nothing reckless of course. We'll just be taking a quick look", she suggested, "I don't want you endangering yourself either"

Celestra was taking a completely different kind of approach than she would with Rei. Different personalities, different lies that work to get into their hearts.

Rei reached for the small minifridge beside his desk. Living like this, his options for breakfast weren't exactly varied. A can of iced tea and a convenience store sandwich, that should get him through the day until noon.

Hearing Heatmans response, he placed down the sandwich, then placed both his hands on the desk to lean down. Now doubtful, he gave his navi a judgemental glance.
How did he suddenly not remember such simple things? His navi had quite the independent nature, right..?
For some reason, he immediately doubted that very memory. Where had he gotten that idea? From a dream? Maybe he hadn't slept as well as he thought.

"The HeelNavi at Undernet 4", Rei sat down and leaned against his chair, "he was willing to buy some BugFrags off our hands again. Don't you usually check around the Under BBS, too? Check for any requests that are easy money, or any fools easy to scam and whatnot. The usual."

He talked of petty crime with complete casualness as he began digging into his breakfast.

+++

Celestra followed the humans struggle to get up in silence. Not exactly a morning person, was he?

He also seemed to find nothing strange about the weird navi suddenly in his PET. What was up with that? She wasn't meant to be here, why wasn't he noticing that?!
The situation was becoming only more baffling.

While the boy dug through his clothes, Celestra got an excellent chance to better evalute her surroundings. A dimly lit, crammed room. In the background appeared to be what looked like multiple sleeping places. Footsteps could be heard outside. Something was giving her the impression of this kid not having exactly the best living conditions.

What really surprised her though was what the kid asked next. Nebula?
What an odd coincidence, it seemed in no instance could she escape that name. It also further confirmed to her that where-ever she was, it was no longer the same point in time and space.

"You better keep an eye open. I'm certain they're plotting something if they appear here."

She was brimming with curiosity to understand the situation here, but asking too many questions would only make her more suspicious. She could deduct something though - Nebula as she knew it was rotten. They would never be up to anything good.

What woke up Rei was a violently loud greeting from his PET. Startled, he practically jumped to sit up. Damnit, had he fallen back asleep after his alarm? How much was the clock?!

He scrambled for the small nightstand aside his bed, grabbing his PET to check. The clock wasn't even 8:50 yet.
"There is no need to be so loud first thing in the morning", he scolded.

And his navi- why did something about her- him- feel odd suddenly? His name was... Rei eyed the name displayed on the bottom of his PETs homepage. Heatman, of course. He must have been still groggy to forget something like that.

With his free hand he scrambled for another item on the nightstand - a cross necklace placed on top of the book he'd been reading. Routinely he placed it around his neck. Only then did he set down the PET to his lap to stretch his arms a little.

"Was there a particular reason to wake me up so ruthlessly? It's merely a fourteenish minutes past the alarm..."

Rei wasn't the type to waste time before getting up. He stood up, stretched his tired arms some more, and took his PET to his desk. With notebooks, library books and scattered about copies of documents, it was the one place in the room that held some sense of identity.

As far as Rei was concerned, nothing about today was out of the usual. His schedule shouldn't be exactly packed, and he could take his time with getting prepared for the day.

Still shaking off some latent sleepiness, Reis thoughts slowly cleared up to recount what needed to be done.
"I hope I need not to remind you of your your own errands down the Undernet today"

---

When Celestra next came online, it quickly registered to her this wasn't the PET she was familiar with. Just a few looks around her were enough to fill her with an odd sense of unfamiliarity.

Where was she - and how had she ended up here?

Trying to gain a better understanding of the situation, she tried to navigate towards the devices settings and technical specifics.
Something was very off. The model was atleast twenty years out of date.

It was clear Celestra had been separated from her human - wich was the least of her concerns. More urgently she wasn't willing to get stuck in someone elses PET.

Before Celestra could do any more inspecting, she was faced with the owner of the PET. A panicked child had suddenly picked up the device and began rambling about things completely foreign to her. His feelings of anxiety were overbearing, reverberating even to her digital space.

She did not know how to deal with children.

One of the boys words had stood out to her - Megaman. Wasn't that lad quite famous? She'd definetly heard of him. Even fought him at Nebula, hadn't she?

As Celestra tried to take in the situation, she had a realization. This had a chance of not being all bad. She licked her lips - an FMian at her core, who was she to refuse others fear when offered on a silver platter?

"Calm down", her voice was stern but calm, "you merely had a bad dream. You can worry about it's implications later, right? You've barely woken up from poor sleep, you're in no state to fear for your future... lets get up and focus on the day for now"
Her golden eyes faced him with confidence. She tried to get a better look at her temporary operator. Brown messy hair and a big brown eye that looked ready to cry. A mysterious bandage covering half of his face, implicating tragedy of some sort. And the boy didn't even look older than 13 at most. Oh, this would be a gold trove of suffering wouldn't it?

But trying to gain information would have to wait. She had to handle the situation at hand first if she hoped to gain any leverage.