Family Busting (MODLOCKED BY MEDIC)

"You... you were my mother's netop..? And he's Junior..?" Miyu said confused. "But... why... why didn't you come after me!?" she screamed, angry at Leon and her parents for abandoning her. "You just left me there, you didn't even try to save me!"

Leon shook his head. "No... we tried..." He looked pained as he began to recall the tale of that terrible day.

"When you and Junior were babies, you liked to explore the net. A little too much, in fact. Wes, your parents, and I all decided it would be in your safety's interest if we were to install a firewall and gateway, which would only allow Soulman and Ayumi to enter and exit our homepages, as well as leave with you two. So I set out to design such a program, and a couple weeks later I had finished the prototype. We tested it for another week, making sure it behaved as intended, and all seemed well.

A year or so later, the unthinkable happened. You and Junior somehow managed to break through. Looking back, it's probably due to the corruption you carry with you manifesting itself and breaking the lock. In any case, you and Junior were able to stumble out into the net.

By the time Soulman and Ayumi got back to the homepage, you two were long gone. Luckily, one of you had been eating animal crackers, and left a nice trail for them to follow. And so they did. They caught up to you two as you neared a locked hyperlink. They were at first relieved, until someone unlocked it and sprang out. It was some denizen of the Undernet who had been hired by an old enemy of ours to take Soulman and Ayumi out. So, being the coward he was, he kidnapped you two and fled through the link, not locking it so we were sure to follow.

They warped through, and were ambushed after chasing you and your kidnapper for a short distance. Ayumi and Soulman managed to take out the ambush, but not before taking a good amount of damage... and still having to face off with the leader, things didn't look good.

Instead of fight him face on, they decided to try to get you back and flee. So Soulman acted as bait while Ayumi tried to recover you two. She managed to get Junior, and as soon as Wes could he recalled him. That's when things took a turn for the worse.

After the bandit noticed his hostage was gone, he used a powerful attack and really let Soulman have it. He was so out of it after the attack all he could do was watch in a daze. Ayumi was the bandits next target, and although she was quick, he was quicker. Just as she was about to retrieve you so I could recall you... he... he killed her. He stabbed her straight through the chest with a powerful PA.

Soulman had just finished coming to and realized what had just happened. Already critical, he could barely move let alone put up a fight. He crawled towards you and Ayumi as she lay fading, and watched helplessly as the thief laughed at his triumph. That's when HE appeared from the shadows, congratulating the bandit on his job and saying it was over, to bring the kid and let your fallen parents remember the day. They turned and began to walk away...

Ayumi had other plans though. Determined to not let herself die in vain, and to not let the bandits get away with you, she used what strength she had left and fused herself permanently with Soulman. Soulman... he didn't want her to... but Ayumi wouldn't listen. She absorbed herself into Soulman, and recovered him enough so that he could battle a bit more. He made a last ditch charge to get you, having exhausted all our chips already, only to be beaten back by that damned man using chips we'd never seen before... Soulman lay on the ground again, both Ayumi's and his hearts aching as one as they couldn't save you..."

((Subject to minor alterations as Wes and I see fit.))

Junior remained silently, though he seemed to look away from everyone as much as he could, avoiding eye contact. Not that Wes blamed him. He realized that those events weren't memories he liked to think about.

Miyu gasped in disbelief. How could he know so much about me... It has to be a trick!

"Lies! All of it! You Neo-Requiem idiots don't have any respect for my family, do you!?" She slammed the hammer down again in between Junior's legs with angry tears and clench teeth. "Don't talk like you know them! You don't! My parents were fools for thinking that they could make a difference! Look where it got them! They're all dead. Even my brother..."

She angrily pulled up her right pant leg, revealing an ankle bracelet with in the shape of Soulman's navi symbol. She also revealed her navi symbol, a tattoo on the back of her leg that looked like a bunch of tendrils forming what looked like a hammer.

"This charm and this tattoo are all that remain of my family. Don't you dare insult me by trying to tell me that this cockroach is my brother."

Junior winced as the hammer came close to breaking not only his legs, but also close to smashing his crotch as well. The grip she had in him was uncomfortable, plus by holding him by the neck his movement was severally limited. However, he still attempted to take a swing at the girl as she criticized his parents, his fist coming close enough to her face that his charm brushed her nose. Realizing that in his current postion, she was out of his reach, he held his fist out in front of him angrily, "This can't be Miyu-chan! She'd never slander her own family! My parents gave everything to protect their children, so I won't let her call them foolish! And I won't let her criticize Requiem, my parents' legacy!"

Leon shook his head sadly. "Sorry Junior... I know you don't like recalling the past..."

He looked on, really not having anything else to say in this situation. He tried once again to jack out Celeste, to no avail. Damnit... that corruption is keeping me from jacking her out. What did she do to Celeste... He fiddled with his PET some more, trying to counter the dark liquid but to little avail...

Miyu looked over Junior's navi symbol and his hammer charm. That... that looks like dad and mom's symbols... She grabbed the hammer and absorbed it back into herself, quickly stepping on top of Junior and wrenching his arm so she could compare his charm with hers.

Lining them up to each other... they fit together to form one charm.

Miyu fell back onto her butt, breaking the complete charm back into the two pieces. She covered her mouth with both hands and gasped as if she just received either the best or worst news of her life. "It can't be..." she said in disbelief. "It's... it's really you, Junior..." She lowered her head towards the netscape, tears streaming down her face and landing on the floor. She lunged at Junior and threw her arms around him crying into his shoulder, her wings coming down around her sides almost as if to protect her from something.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't know... I thought you were-" she choked out, interrupted by sobs and gasps for breath. "And... that means..." she looked over to Celeste, who lay motionless on the ground, the dark markings covering more of her body with each passing moment. "I'm sorry..." she said, as she touched Celeste's forehead and brought back as much of the darkness as she could and stopping it's spread. "I can't do any more... but... you should be able ot jack her out at least..."

She turned and walked a bit away form Junior and Celeste. "I'm sorry Leon... I- I didn't know... I want to make it up to you and Junior somehow..."

That's when she spun around and looked quite seriously at Leon. "I know. I'll be your navi for now, until Celeste is recovered. Just tell me when you're ready to go, and I'll load myself into your PET..."

Junior sighed and used the arm that arm that his sister had not almost twisted off to return the hug, "There's the sweet Miyu-chan I used to know." He watched her heal his aunt and then stood up, his right arm hanging weakly at his side, "I've taken a bit too much damage to remain here much longer... Miyu-chan, when you transfer over to.... that PET, be sure to take Celeste-dono with you. That guy should be able to keep her stored away until a solution can be reached."

"Hey, Junior, I'm guessing you want to be the last one to leave, just in case something happens. I'm heading to the shop again so just return when you're finished, okay?" Wes said, finally venturing to speak. Junior nodded and then Wes took his leave.

Leon watched his PET monitor as Miyu stopped the infection from spreading, and many of the alarms went silent. "Thanks Miyu... I'm going to jack you both out now..." He uninstalled Celeste and installed Miyu, while compressing Celeste's data down as far as he could. Maybe if she's compressed and archived the infection wont spread as fast...

He Appeared on the net for a brief moment before the connection was severed. "I'm sorry for the hassle today Junior... hopefully next time we'll be able to get reacquainted with a bit less hassle... Good job today, though. You're really your father's son."Leon's blipped off the net as well, no traces left.

"I really am my father's son...? Who else would I be the son of? Or was he implying that I might be a girl?" Junior muttered, not sure what the hell that guy had just said, "Well, guess I better head out. I wonder if there's anything I can do to help Celeste-dono..." Junior then plugged out of the network.