#in an AU where Netto has fallen into darkloid hands around stream 36

[tomahawk-swing]

Dingo was on edge. He glanced above his shoulder every ten seconds, and checked the street twice before he made a turn. He kept a firm hold on his delivery box, as if it might try to slip away from his grasp. As he looked down at his tomahawk, ready to throw it again for directions, Dingo couldn’t help letting his thoughts drift away.

He had to keep his guard up. His body already ached in too many places - not to mention, his pride was wounded too. 

Dingo knew that couldn’t keep this charade going forever. Every time he returned to the restaurant empty-handed, he could feel Maha’s patience grow thinner. Maha was the only one who still believed in him - Hinoken and the others surely believed that he just kept the curry for himself, and dumped the delivery boxes in a dumpster.

The first time, he had claimed to have fallen into the canal, and hit his face on a pillar underwater. The second time, he had gotten lost outside of town, and fought with a fight with a wild animal. The third, fourth, fifth times ... He had run out of excuses.

He couldn’t tell anyone who the real culprit was. Tomahawkman had agreed to stay silent, but Dingo doubted that he could trust his Navi with the truth much longer. If they couldn’t do something about Netto by themselves, they would have to let the adults know. Each of Dingo’s attempts had resulted in pathetic failure, and insult added to injuries. Netto’s punches had left bruises worse than any adult had ever inflicted him in a fight.

As Dingo looked down at the weapon in his hand, he spotted a long shadow rising behind him. Dingo swiftly turned on his heels, and brandished his tomahawk at his opponent. 

It wasn’t Netto. His aggressor was a tall, bald bloke, dressed in a black suit, and equipped with sunglasses. A second man stood behind him, equally intimidating.

“Are you Dingo-kun ?” The man questioned, his deep voice matching his looks. He didn’t seem impressed by the blade in the kid’s hands. “We are the NetPolice.”

Dingo stood motionless for a moment, his weapon still turned towards the man. The realization struck him after a few seconds - he was pointing a weapon at a police officer.

I’m gonna get arrested. Dingo thought to himself. He couldn’t get his arm to lower.

“Apologize now, Dingo !” Tomahawkman hissed from Dingo’s sweater pocket. It was already bad enough that Dingo carried that weapon on his person, but now he had almost attacked a policeman with it. 

Finally, Dingo found the strength to move his arm, all while ignoring his Navi’s words. He quickly tucked the tomahawk behind his back, and stared the man up and down. He looked like a secret agent right out of a spy movie.

“Y-yeah. That’s me.” Dingo stuttered. 

“Please come with us. Your presence is required at the NetPolice headquarters.”

Dingo spotted the second man tucking a piece of paper into his suit’s pocket - probably a picture of his face. Was it already too late ? Was Dingo getting arrested for a crime he didn’t even know he’d committed ?

He followed the two men back to their vehicle, trying to ignore the glances they were getting from the crowd. Two tall men dressed in black, and a young kid with a hood covering his face, clutching a delivery box to his chest ... Dingo wanted nothing more but to prove all these judging glances wrong, but he couldn’t risk making his situation even worse.

He climbed up at the back of the car, while the two men sat at the front, not even exchanging a glance. The silence weighed heavily on Dingo’s shoulders. He could already picture himself being shipped back to Ameroupa, and forbidden to return to Japan. What if he was thrown in jail for good, this time ?

“From now on, everything you will see and hear will be stricly confidential.” One of the men spoke. “As such, you must let your family know that you will be absent for the upcoming two days. You will not be able to go home tonight.” 

Dingo almost retorted that he had no such thing as a family, but the image of Maha popped up in his mind. For a second, his panic washed away. Surely, Maha could get him out of this mess ... No, he couldn’t rely on anyone right now. 

“Do you understand ?” The man insisted. “Officially, you have left for two days of vacation. You may give a single call to the authority figure of your choice. Now.”

It took Dingo a moment to figure out what the man meant. Was he going to jail after all ? Why just for two days ?

“Dingo, you should call Maha.” Tomahawkman’s voice tore Dingo from his thoughts. “We’ll ask questions later. Don’t get yourself in even more trouble ...”

For once, Dingo listened to his Navi’s advice. He initiated a call with Maha, aware that no matter what he said, the man would find it suspicious.

Maha picked up the call after just a few rings. His expression was never easy to read, but for once, Dingo could immediately see the concern in his boss’ eyes.

“Dingo ? Is everything all right ?” Maha questioned. If Dingo was calling to get himself out of trouble, it meant that he had already exhausted every other option. Dingo was usually too proud to ask for help.

“No, no, I’m alright ! I’m just calling ‘cause, uh ... I need some time off. Right now.” He glanced at the policemen, and thought that he should try and add more details. “It’s just for two days. Remember my friend Shanka ? She’s in town, and she wants to see other parts of Japan, like the mountains and stuff ... So imma take her around the place. I’m already in a taxi to meet up with her.” 

For a long moment, Maha remained perfectly silent. Dingo was a fool, but he wasn’t stupid - he could tell that Maha had bought none of his lies. For some reason, though, Maha eventually nodded.

“That is fine. I will call Hinoken in to replace you in the meantime.” Maha announced. “Have a nice vacation, Dingo.”

Maha ended the call, and Dingo could finally breathe again. 

“You’re a terrible liar.” Tomahawkman commented. “Shanka was here a couple weeks ago. They’ll never believe she came back all of a sudden-”

“I know !” Dingo hissed. He slammed his PET onto the car seat, screen down, to let Tomahawkman know that this conversation was over. He already felt enough guilt as it was.

By the time the car stopped again, Dingo had time to imagine all kinds of scenarios. He mostly wondered why he hadn’t been handcuffed yet. He was invited to climb out of the vehicle, and for a split second, he considered running away as fast as his legs would allow.

“Follow us.” The bald man announced, bringing Dingo’s focus back to reality. It was already too late to run.

Dingo followed the men into the police building. The group earned a few curious glances again, pushing Dingo to giving a tug at the brim of his hood. They climbed up a short series of stairs, and walked inside the elevator. Dingo took a deep breath, and fought a short outburst of claustrophobia. 

One of the men pushed the button to the highest floor. Dingo knew what it meant - they were going to meet with someone of importance. Surely, this wasn’t the way to the prison cells.

As glad as he was to get out of the elevator, Dingo found his nervousness skyrocketing again. He was led to an office door, and didn’t have time to try and decipher what the nameplate said. 

A round-faced man sat behind a large desk, right across the door. Behind him, a wall-wide window revealed the landscape below, and allowed light to pour inside the office. The man looked up from papers scattered across his desk, and had a kind smile for his visitors.

“Ah, you must be Dingo-kun. Thank you for taking him here, officers.” The man had a nod of gratitude. “You may dispose. I will take things over from here on.”

The two men gave a deep bow, their heads sinking below Dingo’s eyeline. He watched them make their exit and close the door behind them, leaving Dingo alone with the affable-looking man. 

“Please, take a seat.” The policeman gestured at the seats by his desk. “I hope that my subordinates did not scare you too much. They tend to take their job quite seriously ...”

“I wasn’t scared !” Dingo proclaimed. Shame immediately stung at his cheeks, and as he searched for an anchor, he realized that he had left his delivery box in the police car. With no other choice left, Dingo finally sat down.

“I am Commissioner Kifune, head of the NetPolice. It’s my pleasure to meet you, Dingo-kun.” The man had a warm smile. “I’m very glad that your village’s heritage could be taken back from its thieves, and returned to its rightful owners.”

Dingo blinked a few times. “Why do you know about this ?”

“I was alerted of the totem pole’s theft by the museum. The theft of an exhibition’s central piece is no trifle matter.” Kifune had a long glance for Dingo. “I’m afraid that for a moment, you were on our list of suspects, along with Neo WWW’s Yamashita Hidenosuke.”

“What ? I’d never team up with those guys !” Dingo protested. It was already the second time he yelled at the police chief, and it surely wouldn’t be the last. “I was only tryna take back my village’s pride !”

“Yes, of course. Your name was immediately cleared by Hikari Netto.” Kifune’s smile faltered. “Which brings us to the reason why you were brought here.”

Dingo’s anger faded in a second. He recalled his last encounters with Netto, and felt his face sting with a dull ache. His black eye still hadn’t faded.

“I suppose that his ... disappearance may have reached your ears already. You may also be familiar with the NetSavior initiative, in which Netto was taking part.” 

“Netto’s not disappeared. I saw him.” Dingo blurted out, unconsciously reaching for his sore face. “He’s just ... he’s gone crazy. It’s like all the goodness’ gone from him. Like he’s just causing evil for fun.”

“That is a correct guess.” Kifune replied. He watched Dingo’s eyes widen in shock, and went on : “The circumstances are still unclear, but it appears that Netto-kun has fallen into the hands of the Darkloids, and has been corrupted to join their ranks.”

"I’ve heard about those.” Tomahawkman spoke up, prompting Dingo to set his PET on the commissioner’s desk. “There’s a lot of rumors about them ‘round the Net. They’re kinda like Navis, except they’ve been corrupted with Dark something ... evil energy. I heard they were a big thing a moment ago, but everyone kinda forgot about them, with the Asteroids and whatnot ...”

“You are correct. Darkloids feed on the energy provided by DarkChips, which typically offer a Navi with a tremendous boost in strength, but leave their program badly corrupted. The Navi will lose sight of their moral compass, and even turn against their friends. We believe that Netto-kun was tricked into taking in some of that dark energy.”

“But Netto’s not a Navi !” Dingo protested. “How can he get corrupted by a Chip ?”

“With the use of CrossFusion, most likely. You have already seen it in action, haven’t you ?”

Dingo nodded. That explanation did nothing to make his insides stop squirming. “So that’s why everything about him felt so ... wrong. It wasn’t really Netto."

“Possibly.” Kifune agreed. “Unfortunately, his absence leaves a large dent in our defences. With its other two members stationed abroad, the NetSavior initiative no longer has a member in Japan. After discussing it with Dr. Hikari, and revewing a list of potential candidates, we wanted to offer you the position.”

Once again, Dingo found himself lacking words. His brain struggled to process the implications of Kifune’s offer.

“You want me to replace him.” Dingo repeated. “I’m gonna be in charge of protecting this whole city.” 

“You and your Navi both, if you accept. Given your prowess against the Neo WWW, you seemed to me like a very solid choice. If you were to accept, you will be trained to master CrossFusion under Dr. Hikari’s guidance. And if the opportunity were to present itself ... You would be called to help us capture Netto-kun.”

Dingo’s brains were about to explode. With CrossFusion, surely, he could stand a chance against Netto - even with the freakish strength and speed his former friend had displayed. With CrossFusion, he would have the strength to protect all the people he cared about. Everyone would have to take him seriously.

“I’ll do it.” Dingo stated. He didn’t need to consult Tomahawkman - he knew for sure that they share the same sentiment. “I’ll become a NetSavior.”

“Very well.” Kifune nodded. “To be perfectly honest, we had expected a positive reply, and have already prepared the terrain for your training. Arrangements have been made for you to spend the next two days at the Ministry of Science’s facilities. Given the circumstances, we will have to speed up your training, but you have the option to opt out at any moment.”

Dingo shook his head. He wasn’t going to give up halfway through - not when he was the only one who could rescue Netto. He could feel the weight of everyone’s expectations pushing down on his shoulders.

“I don’t mind. I ... “ Dingo glanced at his PET. “We can handle it.”

“Good. Very good.” Kifune nodded, obviously relieved. “May I take your PET ? I will grant you the NetSaviors’ authorizations right now.”

Dingo pushed his PET towards the commissioner, his heart pounding under his ribs. He already imagined himself clad in a cool armor, wielding Tomahawkman’s axe, and slashing through his enemies with his own hands.

He’d finally be able to pay Netto back for all the punches. 

“There. You’re good to go.” Kifune announced, and handed Dingo’s PET back to him. “My subordinates will drive you to the labs. Dr. Hikari is waiting for you there.”

Dingo pocketed his PET, and stood up from his chair. He took the hand that Kifune offered him, ahd shook it with vigor. His eyes met with the commissioner, letting Kifune read his determination.

“Thank you for your cooperation, Dingo-kun. And welcome to the NetPolice.”

“I won’t disappoint.” Dingo promised. He wouldn’t be ridiculed anymore. Dingo felt his skin itch at the thought that he was now part of the police, but he was only using this chance to accomplish his goals. They were his stepping stone.

With Tomahawkman’s strength added to his own, Dingo would protect the city, and prove his worth to everyone who doubted it.

And at long last, Netto would have to pay for all the curry he had stolen.