A small warning before we begin. In this stage, the story retains most of its general goofiness and silliness. However, therewill be serious scenes, as well. There'll be battles, small traces of drama scattered through, and touches of angst have been added here and there, in order to make our ride more interesting. ;))

There's also going to be someone using a…uhm… rather colourful language… later on. You'll see. XD;;;

Title: "Infecten – stage 5 – Maturation 1/?"

Author: Nemesi.

Fandom: (MMBN)

Genre: Romance. Humour.

Word Count:.

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.

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

A/N 2: The original Infecten took place in the anime timeframe (right after the Gospel Arc). But as I worked on Stages, I began to add in a few elements from the videogames and the manga storylines (for example: Serenade is mentioned in Stage 4; Wily is listed as one of the possible threats because he's seen as a bigger/more dangerous villain than in the anime, etc.). More of such elements will be added in the chapters to come – for example, Netto and Rockman ARE twins, like they are in the games; and I might have Blues equip the Z-saber or the Muramasa sword like he did in the manga.

Besides, a peculiarity of the Rockman anime/videogame series is that in each there are references to the others - in fact, our own very Axl is the Exe-fication (is that even a word?) of a character from the Rockman X series. (by the way, you can see our dear , cuddling with Daddy Blues and Papa Rock at the following url:). For this stage (onward) I plan to incorporate a few more "foreign" elements from other Rockman series, such as the X and the Zero.

Wish me luck? :3

Summary: Life for them was running smooth, and the Cyberworld was at peace. Axl was growing up happily with his family, and… oh! But… are those dark clouds I see gathering on the horizon…?

Enzan woke up the first time because his coffee mug, slipping from his sleep-relaxed fingers, collided with the floor with a resounding "thud".

He surveyed the mug through bleary eyes, fought to keep his eyelids up long enough to check it hadn't been damaged by the fall, then fell back asleep.

The second time Enzan woke up, it was because Sakurai Maaya, his secretary, was calling him through the intercom, informing him discreetly that 'you have a guest, sir'. Enzan didn't even dignify it with a response, he was so sleepy.

Third time he was woken was, as they call it, the charm. Meaning it was the time he woke up once and for all. The door to his office was slammed open, all the lights were turned on all at once, and footsteps clattered ominously towards him.

"Oh, for the love of all that's… ENZAN!"

And here Enzan found himself hauled by his feet by an enraged someone, who gave him a few shakes for good measure.

"I THOUGHT you promised you'd slack off a little?"

"…what?"

Enzan's brain, being still a little fuzzy at the edges with sleep, had absolutely no idea what this spiky-aired, orange-vested, blue-bandanaed blurry shape before him was talking about. Aforementioned shape puffed out its cheeks in the most adorable – err, threatening way it knew how, and poked Enzan repeatedly in the chest (his other hand remained fisted around Enzan's shirt, basically being the only thing that kept him on his feet).

"I'm talking about the amount of work you've been shouldering, Enzan! Amount that you'd promised to reduce, so that you could enjoy the wide world outside, you know, the one with people and all?"

Enzan rubbed his face and hid a huge yawn behind his palm, being way too polite do it in anyone's face, be they a blurry shape or not.

"I had an emergency…"

"And that makes it, like, the tenth this week?"

The shape was positively fuming by now. Enzan regained coherency enough to glare at it… however, the effect was far from threatening. It was either because Enzan was fresh from sleep, or because he hadn't had time to build up his usual wall of cool detachment yet, but he looked more… adorable than anything. Kittenish, if you will. The shape fought down a grin, overcame it but barely, and glared back at Enzan very very hard.

Actually, the glare helped Enzan regain some of his scattered sense. Just an ounce or so, mind you. But enough to recognize who he was dealing with (Hikari Netto), what must've happened (he'd spent the night working, and then fallen asleep at his desk AGAIN, forgetting one of those stupid dates—err meetings Netto insisted they had); and last but not least to boost his glare and form coherent words to go with it.

"Just… exactly what are you doing here, Hikari?"

"Making sure you don't kill yourself with overwork." True. Ever since Axl was born, Netto had been fighting valiantly to keep Enzan from the perils of work. He also made sure to kidnap Enzan from his office every now and then, so that Axl could have some quality time with both his Ojichan. "And why are we back to "Hikari" anyway? You know my name's Netto."

"I'm going to withhold the use of your first name until you stop being a pest."

"Hikari it will be then, because I'm nowhere near done pestering you. When was the last time you had something other than coffee for lunch, mh?"

Even as Netto poked him insistently on his protruding ribs, Enzan gave the matter some serious – and I mean serious - thought. His eyebrows furrowed, his mouth tightened. Once he'd located his answer, two tings happened: his eyebrows climbed up his forehead and went to lodge somewhere under his fringe, and his mouth dropped open.

"I think… three days ago?"

Netto's cry of dismay was followed by a brief hug, and then Enzan found himself being dragged out of his office by his arm. In-between a stumble and a trip, he tried to voice some protests. "Tried" being the keyword, since most of his efforts were cut off before they left his mouth.

"IPC needs me, I can't just up and leave…"

"So much good you'll do to IPC if you keel over and die of hunger."

"That would only happen if I was starving myself. Which isn't the case."

"Like hell it isn't. And I bet you aren't stressed, either."

"Stress? What is this thing you speak of?"

"Ah-ah. So not funny, Enzan. You need to work on your sense of humour. Maaya-san?" Netto called as soon as he rounded the corner, and Enzan's secretary's desk loomed into view. "Enzan will be taking his lunch break, now."

At precisely 9:45 in the morning. Totally unfazed, the girl looked up from her work, eyes tinkling with barely-restrained mirth, and countered Enzan's baffled gaze with a cheery wave.

"Of course, Netto-kun. Should we expect him back anytime soon?"

"…mhhhhhhhhh… no. Actually, don't expect to see him before tomorrow."

"What? NETTO! I need to-"

"Hush you. You so have no voice in the matter. Can I count on you for a cover story, Maaya-san?"

The girl tapped her index finger against her lips, then nodded. Please take a moment to notice that her hair was a bright pink. That's all. Thank you for your cooperation. You can now turn back towards the still gaping Enzan, and the steely-eyed Netto.

"How about this?" Maaya began. "The President had to leave because of… err… pressing matters involving his Net-saviour duties, and won't be back until tomorrow."

"Sounds good."

"Very well, then. I'll see you two tomorrow. Oh! And take good care of him for us, will you?"

"You bet, Maaya-san."

And then Netto speeded up and was out of the building before Enzan could do anything about it.

"…curry."

Enzan couldn't have sounded any more deadpan even if he'd tried.

Netto recoiled defensively in himself. Pouting dangerously, he waved the spatula at Enzan, causing a rain of sauce to fall his way. Thanks to his Navi-like reflexes, Enzan dodged, and his clothes were saved. Netto's own clothes had never been at risk, because he was wearing his mother's pink apron over them.

"Well, excuse me if I can't do fancy French cuisine."

"…you kidnapped me, dragged me across the city all the way to your house, and made curry?"

"You should be thankful I was willing to do all that!"

"I am. I guess. Grateful, I mean."

"And the least you could do is than—what?"

Netto made a show worth of an Oscar or two of his shock. Enzan countered it performing an Academy Award eyeroll.

"In some ways I don't understand myself I am grateful for your concern. It's your forceful ways I cannot really digest."

Netto's pout reappeared on his lips.

"Well, you try dealing with you with any other method than force."

There was a quirk of Enzan's lips - not a smirk, not a smile, but definitely something – and a warm sparkle appeared in his blue eyes, making Netto smile.

It immediately crumpled when Enzan spoke again, though.

"I'll keep that in mind, Hikari."

"Oh, by the… my name's NETTO!"

And the spatula went round again, and again it rained sauce on the table.

Enzan countered by dipping his fingertips in his glass, and flicking water at Netto. That, Netto knew, meant war.

Which is why the boys were suddenly rolling across the floor, clutching at each other's shirts, exchanging blows and laughing like maniacs as they spread curry all across each other's face.

Unbeknownst to them, a small audience had gathered to watch them flinging food and random kitchen tools across the now wrecked room.

"…why do they always do that, Papa?" asked a small voice from the monitor hanging opposite the table.

"Fight, you mean? It's… well… their way to… well, it's simply their way to interact with one another, I guess," 'Papa' answered.

"Precisely," added a third voice.

"…and they're flinging food at one another… why?" voice-one remarked.

"Err… just because?"

"It's… a way to show affection," the third voice again, the matter-of-factly one. "One entirely human, fortunately."

"Exactly as your father said."

"Oh." Voice one, who was none other than our little Axl, mulled over the response for a while more. Then more, then more, and more, face scrunched up in thought and with his tongue peeking out from between his lips, until the metaphorical bulb appeared over his digital head. "…they're flirting!"

"YES!"

"…no."

"Aww, c'mon, Blues. You know they ARE."

"While I won't deny there's a certain chemistry between our Net-Ops, I don't think it is of the romantic kind. Besides, I refuse to classify food wars as flirting." There was a short pause, then Blues pointed a finger at the boys. "However, that can fall into the category of flirting."

And indeed, Netto had pinned Enzan to the floor, and was busy tasting curry from the other boy's cheek. Rockman laughed.

"No, that's just Netto-kun being starved, and realizing what little curry is left is spread all across Enzan-kun's face. No flirting to be found in there."

Blues made a noncommittal sound in the back of his throat. Axl pulled a confused face.

"Are they, or aren't they flirting?"

"No."

"Yes."

And please notice that Rockman, who's said yes before, was the one to say no now; while Blues, who'd been sceptical the first time around, was now acquiescent.

Confused, Axl cuddled – make it half-glued himself to, half-climbed on, half-clung to his Papa. (And yes, I'm aware we've got a spare "half"). Reaching out, he caught a fistful of his Daddy's hair, then brought the hand back to chest and squeezed. Satisfied that he was now firmly latched to both his parents Axl turned, watching as his human Ojichan smeared curry all over each other's faces.

The relationship between Netto and Enzan was an odd one. One moment, they looked like brothers. The next, they were enemies. The following, they looked like the were flirting. A brief period of being rivals (who tired to beat each other to a pulp every second or two), and then they were back to acting like twins, those of the telepathic kind, too.

Axl was still too young to understand the complexity of humans relationship; watching his Ojichan interact almost sent him reeling in confusion. For Axl, people could be either married or sweethearts — like his parents and grandparents – be someone else's friend, parent, sibling or child; and that was it. He had Ojichan everywhere for that very reason: for him, people didn't have to be related to him by blood to be his "uncles"; as long as the love was there, it was all right to bestow the title upon just about anyone.

Excuse me as I go all 'awwwww' about it.

"Can't they decide already?" Axl remarked after a while. "I want a cousin!"

"Cousin" was the Axl translation for playmate, or so it seemed. It wasn't clear who or what had put the idea of a cousin in his head; but he wouldn't stop asking for one. Upon asking Roll, he'd received a blush, a shriek, and a bear hug as an answer, but no cousin.

Glyde-Ojichan had paled several shades of grey, swayed dizzily for a moment, before murmuring a something about "not being quite ready", and bolting.

Asking Gutsman-Ojichan had provided Axl the funniest answer so far. Gutsman had blushed so hot he'd started to smoke from the ears; then he'd surged, flaying about those huge fists of his, destroying everything in sight. The funniest part had been his Papa popping up behind Gutsman-Ojichan from nowhere, bonking him on the head with a potted plant and sending him twitching on the floor… with a digital cactus sticking from the top of his head.

After the Gutsman fiasco, Axl's Grandfather, Yuuichiro, had promised the child to "make him one" (cousin, that is) as soon as he could; and was currently researching the matter of Navi pregnancies at the best of his abilities.

So far, no luck.

Axl had even resourced to ask Santa Claus for a cousin, but the big bearded human had yet to answer him. Maybe he didn't get digital mails, up there in North Pole? Or he just couldn't reach Axl because his PET had no chimney Santa could use?

The kid really had tried everything. He'd even offered Granma Haruka what little zenny he had, so that she could go and buy him a cousin at the Mall. Too bad it seemed the store was currently out of cousins, and had to restock them.

…no, Axl had no idea exactly what a cousin was. Why, you noticed?

He had just a vague idea that a cousin was a playmate, and that only someone related to him could grant him one. Which lead him to ask his grandparents and his two human Ojichan for one every chance he got.

Poor them.

And poor Axl, too! Let's wish him luck in his Quest for a Cousin, mh?

Meanwhile, Enzan and Netto were still at it. And they would have been "at it" for a long while too, hadn't a voice come from the hallway.

"…not that I don't enjoy seeing you here, Enzan. But I hope that curry will be wiped clean before you go."

Netto and Enzan scrambled immediately to attention, shoving and pulling each other even as they did, and turned as one towards the door. Haruka, Netto's mother, was coming inside, her minute frame literally festooned with bags.

"Hello boys. Would you mind giving me a hand…?" Cyclones couldn't have been any faster. Haruka was freed from the bags in 0.2 seconds, and the food was stacked away in approximately the same time. She smiled down at her little helpers. "Thank you."

"T'was nothing."

"Piece of cake, mom."

"Obachan!" squealed Axl, bouncing forth until he was all but flattened to the kitchen counter's screen, as though he could get through it and into the Real World if he pushed hard enough. "Welcome back! Did you buy me anything? A cousin? A toy? A chip? A cousin?"

"Axl!" chorused his parents, in warning/chiding tones. Axl turned towards them, eyes huge. His cheeks dimpled and coloured slightly when he grinned apologetically up at them.

"She promised she'd bring me something…!"

"And something I got you. But you won't get it until your Grandfather is back. It was he who suggested the gift, after all." Winking, Haruka went to collect the ingredients for a cake, while the boys spontaneously began to clean after themselves.

"So, how are things going, Enzan?" Haruka asked after a while, her tone low and very sweet. Ever since Axl's conception, Enzan had become an almost-constant guest in her house, and Haruka was growing steadily fonder of the dual-haired little loner.

Enzan shrugged, and Netto glared daggers and several other kinds of weapon at him.

"He's killing himself with work, that's how it's going."

Enzan darted him a withering glance.

"What do you expect me to do? Give up my position at IPC to please you?"

"Yes!"

That did throw Enzan off-guard. Haruka, however, merely chuckled.

"Now be reasonable Netto. Too many people depend on Enzan, and he wouldn't let them down, you know it." She shook her head, and the look on her face was part fondness and part sadness. "Besides, it must be hard for him to organize everything, now that Blues isn't living with him anymore."

Netto's face immediately switched from earnest to guilty. Enzan turned to look at Blues, and smiled.

"Speaking of which, is our small arrangement working fine?"

Axl beat everyone to the chase.

"Yes!" he squealed. "I LOVE living with both Daddy and Papa, Enzan-Ojichan! Thank you sooooooooooooo much!"

Enzan waved airily at the child, smiling fondly at him. Being a digital creature, Axl was bound to develop faster than a human boy or any other organic creature, but his growing rate seemed to be determined by the amount of data he gathered. Yuuichiro had advised to keep that data flow to a minimum, in order to keep Axl's growing rate slow and even. Which is why Enzan's adorable nephew still fell in the child category, even if three whole months have passed since we last saw him.

Now, the "arrangement" Enzan mentioned, and that allowed Axl to live with both his parents, was a simple enough thing. A PC had been set up at Sci-Lab to serve as Rockman, Blues and Axl's home. It was on 24/7 and password-restricted, so that no one other than Enzan, Netto, Yuuichiro and the three Navis could access it. Occasional guests were allowed, provided that one of the house-members accompanied them, or had given them a temporary key.

During the day, Rockman and Blues went "to work" with Enzan and Netto, and at night retired together in their PC-home, where Axl (and the appointed babysitter) waited eagerly for them, and the battling stories they'd bring. It wasn't often that Blues and Rockman were both out of the house (their schedule having been carefully planned by Yuuichiro himself) but when it happened, Roll, Gutsman and even Glyde were more than happy to keep an eye on "Kitty-Ears".

The arrangement allowed Axl the chance to interact with both his parents in a stable, loving environment. Netto himself seemed to profit from the whole thing, and spent more time over at Sci-Lab than he did at his own home.

But Enzan? He'd been virtually stripped of his most trusted advisor, best friend, stress-venting tool, body guard, personal agenda, favoured hobby, alarm clock, battling partner and confident. To compensate the loss, he'd thrown himself head-first into work. But like Netto loved to remind him every chance he got, if he kept working at those levels, he wouldn't have any black hair left on his head in a matter of weeks.

"Enzan…"

"It's all right, Netto. Children deserve to be with their parents."

Enzan tried to tell himself he'd successfully hidden the bitterness in his voice, but everyone present was affected by it. A chill came into the room, and Haruka had to fight down a shiver. She hastily dried her hands on her apron, and gingerly put her arms around Enzan. She squeezed once – knowing how uncomfortable the boy was with physical contact – and let go.

"The cake won't be ready for another hour or so…" she said, turning back to the stove. "Why don't you boys wait for it upstairs?" she said, and gently pushed them into the living room. "I'll call you once it's cooled down enough, all right?"

Axl gave a tinkling laugh.

"You won't need to call us, Obachan!"

"No?"

"No! Netto-Ojichan will smell the cake as soon as it's out of the oven! Won't you, Netto-Ojichan? Uh? Uh?"

Haruka giggled, even as Netto turned a shade darker about the cheeks and muttered something in his defence.

"True enough. Now go. Any good chef has her secrets, and you aren't going to discover mine."

And so saying Haruka ushered her boys – human and digital alike — out of her kitchen.

- Scene 1 cleared.

NOW LOADING…

Here we are! The first, overtly-long first chapter of Stage 5! I hope it was worth the wait! =D

I've got many – maybe too many – ideas for this one. Putting them down into a resemblance of order it's going to take loads of chappies… but I've got the feeling I'm going to enjoy it! X3

On a side note… Netto and Enzan. To quote Blues, "While I won't deny there's a certain chemistry between [them], I don't think it is of the romantic kind." This is to say, I don't think (think being the keyword) that Enzan and Netto will be a couple in this fic. They will, however, grow real close, as a kind of… side effect to everything that's happened and will happen. Unless you want to me to flat-out add that pairing? :o