Title: "Infecten – stage 5 – Maturation 7/?"

Author: Nemesi.

Fandom: (MMBN)

Genre: Romance. Humour.

Word Count:2575.

Characters/Pairings: Blues/Rockman; Netto, Enzan, Axl mainly. Others mentioned.

Rating: PG-13.

Disclaimer: , its characters, places and themes belong to Capcom, Shogakukan, ShoPro, TV Tokio, etc.. No copyright infringement is intended.

Warnings: Shounen-ai. Un-betaed. Navi-preg (and I claim ownership on this idea). OC. Some language.

A/N: In this stage, the disease fully develops into a chronic condition.

Summary: Two Navis out of the three who'd been kidnapped have already woken up. Let's go see how the remaining one faired, shall we?

Two Navis out of the three who'd been kidnapped have already woken up. Let's go see how the remaining one faired, shall we?

Axl was floating on the verge of consciousness, suspended in that limbo between sleep and waking moments. He was only vaguely aware of his surroundings – he knew he was laying on a hard surface in a dimly lit place, but that was just about it. His ears buzzed, and he felt cold; so much so, that he almost couldn't feel the tips of his fingers and toes, and his nose seemed all but gone from his face.

Paying attention not to move, ere he jolted something inside himself, Axl ran a quick diagnostic of his systems, like Yuuichiro-Ojiichan had taught him to do. Luckily, there was nothing wrong with him. Only his audio-systems had apparently clammed down on their own, probably to block out some huge noise or another during his fall.

Tampering with his acoustic sensors, he became aware of a raw taking place somewhere in the vicinity.

"…I don't give a shit!" someone yelled. "You take him away right now!"

"If you would just listen…" a second voice answered; and it was the voice of Axl's mysterious rescuer, malicious and cruel and warm, familiar and odd at once, as though it was a voice Axl knew, knew very well, but something was distorting it beyond recognition.

"I bloody hell aren't going to listen! Some nerve you've got! You barge in my territory like you own it, drop this kid on my doorstep and pretend I do – what? Babysit him? Like I give a damn! Get lost now, before I make you!"

Axl, bewildered by the harsh language being used, was also amazed at the levels of familiarity this other voice could reach. Inconspicuously, he tried opening his eyes – just a crack – and shifted his gaze around.

His sight was blurry, due to fact that his eyes were still mostly closed, but Axl could make out a blur of yellow-decked purple not too far to his right. It was gesturing wildly and hissing like a cat at an unmovable blur of burgundy red and grey and violet, which was also considerably taller than the other one. Axl wished he could see them better, but didn't dare open his eyes any more.

"If you," began Axl's rescuer, the red-and-grey blur, "kept quiet long enough to actually listen to me…"

There was a screech like a psychotic cat with PMS.

"I'll give you 'keep quiet'!"

"…you'll find out it is in your own interest to protect the child. Whom, for the records, was awakened by your rather cheap imitation of a banshee."

Both blurs turned towards him – the purple one sharply and angrily, the other with a dignity befitting of a royal — and Axl squeezed his eyes closed as tight as he could, gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and went ramrod stiff.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…oh please," the purple blur snorted. "As if that wasn't a dead give away that you're awake."

Axl broke into a cold sweat as he realized he'd been discovered, but gave no indication that he was awake or listening.

All was silent for a moment, then fingers came a pinched Axl's nose shut. Axl held his breath (for the sake of this story, Navis do breathe) but a sudden sharp poke on the side caused him to leap off the cold, hard something he was lying upon, to the equally cold and hard floor below. Picking himself up to a seated position, Axl half-pouted, half-scowled at the meanies towering above him.

Well, pout and scowl were his intended actions. In all truth, the moment he managed to get a clear view of them, his jaw dropped open so violently in shock, it almost dislocated itself.

The purple blur – which turned out to be a purple Navi – stood above him, hands on his hips, red cat-like eyes glowing. The other blur – also a Navi, burgundy and considerably taller, as mentioned before – flanked him, arms hanging limply at his sides in an idle, but highly impressive pose.

"Shut that mouth you," spat the purple Navi.

Axl obeyed on reflex, gaining himself an impressed eyebrow-hoist.

"Well, he's well-trained, at least. Who would the pest be?"

"You mean he doesn't look familiar?" inquired the burgundy Navi.

The purple one narrowed his eyes, then recoiled suddenly, wheezing in surprise.

"What the—those eyes! Those are Rockman's eyes! The hell—?"

At that point in time, Axl recovered enough sense to ask:

"Daddy? Papa?"

With the most adorable, most confused frown ever.

The purple Navi went still. Then his cheek began to twitch, violently. To this day, we aren't sure if it was an allergic reaction to the cute-cute-cute vibes coming from Axl, or to the idea of being a "daddy" or a "papa".

Dipping his head, the burgundy Navi pulled back his lips in a feral smile, revealing vampiric, glowing-white fangs.

"Not quite right, young one. Let me introduce us. I am the one who was once called Dark Blues. This fiendish creature here was born to the name of Dark Soul Rockman. As for our relation with the original Rockman and Blues, we are their – ah – better parts, as far as I'm concerned."

Axl took them both in with a long look, those dark twins of their parents, and blinked.

"Ah. Ok!" Totally unfazed, bless him. Then, brightly: "So you do know Daddy and Papa! That's good! I'm not supposed to talk to strangers, you know, because Enzan-Ojichan says strangers could steal me away, but I don't think I could be stolen, because things are stolen, but Navis aren't things, they are people, and people don't get stolen, they get kidnapped, but if you know Daddy and Papa then you aren't strangers, and if you aren't strangers then it's all right for me to talk to you but — oh! but I haven't introduced myself yet, have I? Then I am the one who's a stranger to you, and you're not supposed to talk to strangers either, are you? So I must tell you my name, and my name is Axl! Nice to meet'cha!" Sticking his hand out for a shake.

Dark Soul Rockman twitched, and glanced at the other Darkloid in mild disgust. When he turned back around, he found that Axl had dropped his hand and was leaning towards him, eyes huge and unblinking, like a curious little howl.

"You aren't my Papa. But you look juuuuuuuuuuust like him." Solemnly, enunciating it like it was a sentence, and of the utmost importance, too.

Dark Soul Rockman twitched once more.

"Netto-Ojichan also looks like Papa," Axl added. "I mean, kinda, it's all in the eyes anyway, and the height, and he says they look alike because they're brothers, and it's because they're brothers that I get to call Netto-Ojichan Netto-Ojichan, and if you look like Papa, and you—" pointing at Dark Blues, now. "—like Daddy, does that mean you are my Ojichan, too?"

Dark Soul Rockman, not surprisingly, twitched yet again.

"No, because, I was looking for a cousin, you know, but Obachan says I can get it only from an "uncle", but a blood-related uncle, and I don't have many of those, actually just one, which'd be Netto-Ojichan, but if you are a…"

…guess who twitched at this point?

"Cousins? Uncles?" Dark Soul Rockman exploded, throwing his arms in the air. "What's this kid… mental?"

"No, I'm Axl!"

"ARGH!"

Dark Blues crossed his arms, arranging himself in an even haughtier stance.

"I am afraid "uncles" is not the term I'd use to refer to the two of us, little one."

"…no?" Doing his number where the cat-ears on his helmet flattened themselves down and his bottom lip jugged out.

"NO!" Confirmed Dark Soul Rockman. "If you truly have to know we are…"

"…your second set of parents." Dark Blues finished for him. "You do have our DNA, after all."

Immediately, Axl released a squeal, clapping his hands together in delight. Two Papas and two Daddies? All for him? Oh, yes, yes, yes, YES! That had to be his lucky day! He though, clapping still.

Dark Soul Rockman's reaction was a tad less enthusiastic. He swivelled towards Dark Blues, and gaped at him in shock for the whole of a minute. Then, snapping his mouth shut, he straightened and jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

"You. Me. Explanations. Now."

And, turning on his heels, he marched a little away and stood waiting for Dark Blues, arms crossed and tapping his feet imperiously.

Dark Blues bowed at the waist towards Axl (who bowed right back, the polite little thing) and glided over to Dark Soul Rockman.

The two talked in hushed whispers for a while – of what , we all know: Navi pregnancies, Rockman and Blues being an item, their abduction, and last but not least, they reflected on the shocking, but undeniable fact that, if Axl was the son of their Originals, he really was an half son to the two of them.

As soon as those words were uttered, Dark Soul Rockman reached out to swap Dark Blues's hand away from himself (it wasn't even doing anything fishy, that poor hand; it had just happened to move as Dark Blues illustrated his point).

The Kagemusha sidestepped him, with the ease that comes from being subjected to such attacks every hour of the day. Dark Soul Rockman growled and re-crossed his arms across his chest, frowning, not pouting (Rockman pouted, and Rockman he was not), regaining his dignity with the ease that comes, in turn, from seeing his attempts at abuse fail every hour of the day.

"So the grinning fool fell in love with the shining knight and had the pup. Which concerns me how, you grey-haired leech?" he took a step towards Axl, who still waited in his squatted position on the floor, legs on either side of him and head tilted, like a puppy. "Unless you're giving him up to me to be deleted – that'd be one hell of a nice gift. I bet his loss would make Rockman suffer. Really much."

Obligatory explanation – Dark Soul Rockman didn't really like the original Rockman. Okay, understatement of the century – he didn't like him at all. Okay, okay, he loathed him. There.

However, being Rockman's Darkloid persona sort of put a dampen to his plans to hurt his nemesis. He was, to put it simply, Rockman's shadow. And shadows can't exist, if there is nothing there to cast them, do they? As things stood, if Dark Soul Rockman deleted Rockman, he might then develop a bug that would lead him to a slow and painful demise.

How frustrating.

Dark Soul Rockman distinctly thought that there should be people who got paid to separate Originals from their Darkloid personas and made sure the latter could delete the former without consequences.

Dark Blues waited for his companion to stop pacing, then came over and grabbed his elbow, earning himself a cat-like hiss.

"We must protect the child, not harm him."

"Protect?" Dark Soul Rockman jerked himself free as though burned. He very much resembled a cat at that moment: back arched, all ruffled and hissing, red eyes burning like coals.

No one – no one, could touch him without his express, written, trice signed and lawyer-approved permission.

No.

One.

Especially not the red-visored leech. Whenever it happened, something inside him twisted and pulled painfully; and while Dark Soul Rockman did like pain on a general basic, his own was the only exception.

"…whyever would I want to protect Rockman's son, of all things?" He snarled, once his breathing had evened out.

"For a number or reasons, you hellish catboy. The main of which being that our counterparts are being held hostage in Kyuraweil Keep."

Dark Soul Rockman sobered suddenly, switching into business-like mode in the blink of an eye.

Almost a year before, an unknown power had retrieved their data from the Graveyard, the realm where the remains of all deleted Navis were stored, and imbued them with new life. It hadn't been an act of kindness, though – stored in a floating castle by the name of Kyuraweil Keep, the two Darkloids had been used as guinea pigs for a number of experiments.

Luckily, Dark Blues and Dark Soul Rockman had each ten times as much power as most of the slimy sentries that guarded Kyuraweil, and managed to escape shortly after their capture. However, that didn't mean they made it out unharmed.

Weak, furious, they went to lick their wounds in the depths of the Uranet (that dark, taboo server that stands underneath the normal network), forced together by circumstance more than will.

If we want to be honest, there wasn't any love lost between them. They acted as though they despised one another, using cutting remarks and physical violence in their everyday dealings. Yet, they were constantly together, one the shadow of the other, biding their time, watching, waiting for the perfect chance to upturn Kyuraweil and take their revenge.

On one side, Dark Soul Rockman really didn't want to help his Original, even if it'd save his own life in the end. On the other, he knew that if the four of them managed to get inside Kyuraweil, blow it up would be as easy as stealing a child's candy.

…sweet revenge is sweet.

"I'm in," Dark Soul Rockman said, summoning his buster. "What's the plan?"

Dark Blues smirked approvingly at him.

"I knew you would see reason, in the end."

Dark Soul Rockman graced him with another snarl, then turned towards Axl. The child was looking expectantly at them, one arm trusted in the air like a schoolboy seeking the teacher's attention, and bouncing a little on the spot.

"…what?"

"What do I call you? I mean, Ojichan is nice, but it'd get confusing to call you just "Ojichan", 'cause I've got many Ojichan already, like Netto-Ojichan and Enzan-Ojichan and Glyde-Ojichan and Meijin-Ojichan; besides, Dark-Soul-Rockman-Ojichan is a little too long, especially if I needed you to come quickly, and then Dark Blues Ojichan said that you were called like that, which means those aren't your names anymore, and you've got new ones now, which I want to know, so when we go back to Papa and Daddy -" notice the no-argument, no-funny-business tone, "-I know what to call you."

Dark Soul Rockman twitched for the umpteenth time, obviously affected (and not pleasantly) by the kid's personality. Dark Blues laughed, a sound that was cruel but also eerily pleasant, like silver and crystal wind chimes.

"Why, but isn't he smart? He got it from my side of the family, no doubt."

Dark Soul Rockman elbowed him in the stomach. Or tried to, seeing that Dark Blues easily sidestepped the blow, as was their routine.

"Call me Kuro," he answered in a curt, clipped tone. "The leech here goes by the name of Kage."

Axl brightened.

"Black and Shadow! Is that 'cause you're like Daddy and Papa but darker? 'cause if you blackened Papa's outfit, or saw Daddy in the shadows, they'd look just like you!"

…lucky for Axl that Kage was that quick. Or else, he'd be struggling with a hopping mad Kuro, right now. The purple Darkloid really didn't appreciate it, when his similarity with Rockman was remarked so blatantly upon.

Oh, well. Looks like the three were in for an interesting… err… unknown amount of time.

- Scene 7 cleared.

NOW LOADING…

…so, how many of you were expecting THAT twist? :D

I apologize to those who were expecting to see Forte here, but I love these two Darkloids too much not to use them. Besides, their presence makes more than sense, seeing what's going to happen in the chapters to come, while Forte's own would've been… hard to explain, at least for this Stage. ^^;;

If you want to see a sketch of Kuro and Kage, you can find it at this URL: .

It wasn't made for this story, and even if Kuro has obviously no qualms about touching/being touched by Kage in this sketch, I figured it'd be nice to provide the right visual! :D