Now it begins, now it starts

"Christ, those things are deadly. Looks like I was right about them bouncing, though." Trenn remarked. "Alright Soundman, now we're-" he began, only to be cut off by a Hyperactive Wiz zipping by and tapping a bunch of chip sends at random. "-pretty much hosed." He finished, head turning to shoot a look at Wiz-- who was acting rather smug near the far edge of the table.

"Wiz just flew across the controls, Soundman. You're going to have to try to keep yourself alive until I can refresh your chip cache and send you some chips in an order resembling strategy." Trenn said, glancing back towards Wiz again. "And why are you looking so smug-" he nearly asked, before Soundman butted in.

"Trenn, did you take a look at the chips he sent?" Soundman asked over the line.

"N...not really." Trenn relented, pulling up the 'recently sent' list. "Why, what did he... send..." He trailed off in mid sentence, face going blank at first, then slowly twisting into a grin. "This... could work!"

"Depending on how I use these it could, yes." Soundman says. "At either rate, a performer is expected to be showy sometimes, right Trenn?"

Trenn grinned. "Alright then, Soundman. I'll leave it up to you, you decide when to attack."

Trenn thought he heard an affirmative grunt from the other end of the line.

Guy imagined that his and Rachel's hair was blown back, and their faces illuminated orange, by the carnage on the screen, even though this was clearly not possible.

Titania and Oberon, of course, had no problem with routinely collecting rewards while their operators watched, dumbfounded.

"What?" Said Rachel, a little indignantly, to something that Oberon was saying, but then she fell silent, and killed her mic as she picked up her chip folder and turned to Trenn.

"Hey," she said, "If you need one, you can take one of our Subchips. Soundman's hit points are low."

Trenn nodded, grabbing one of the EnergyPacks. "Mm. I can pay you back for it later if you'd like, but for now I'll offer you my thanks." he said, slotting the Subchip in. "Here, Soundman. Take this."

"Ahh, thanks, Trenn." Came in through the PET's speakers. Trenn chuckled, then replayed the footage of Soundman crashing into the virus. He was so glad he had remembered to hit 'record'...

Rachel went through a few calculations with a determined look on her face. "With that," she said, "I have enough for upgrades. Guy, operate for me, please."

For someone who's only ever operated Navis that she has to micromanage completely, said Titania in a tone that expressed annoyance, She seems to forget that virus busting requires just as much focus as the Netbattles she claims to be an expert in.

Guy looked to the door, then looked sheepishly up at Trenn.

"Need help there, Guy?" Trenn chuckled, pulling his seat over towards the other side of the table. Wiz trodded along on the glass tabletop as well, taking up a position between the two operators where he could look at both PET screens.

"I wonder what's at that mountain, anyway... I've never seen anything like that on the networks before, I'll say that much." Trenn remarked, brushing a lock of hair out of his face. "I guess we'll find out when we get there, though."

"Y-yes," said Guy nervously, his fingers skimming apprehensively over the 24 chips at his disposal-- Rachel had taken some with her when she left, for some reason. "I've only operated Titania and Oberon once... I know how to do it, but..."

What came after the "But" was not spoken but acted. Guy started methodically taking out chips and examining them, trying to discern their usage from the pictures.

Trenn glanced over at the chips Guy was examining, as well as the ones laying scattered on the table. "It looks like she took the weaker ones, as well as the duplicates." Trenn noted. He tapped one of the chips Guy was holding. "This is an Areagrab. Some navis use them to move at super-speeds, but the more common usage for them is to simply teleport, bypassing the space in-between."

He looked over towards another chip, and picked it up. "A pulsar? Man, I've been meaning to get my hands on one of these. Lucky bastard." He chuckled, then set the chip back down.

There came a beeping from Trenn's PET, prompting him to pick it up and inspect it. "Aha! He accepted." Trenn said, pulling out a pair of unformatted chips from his pocket...

"Okay," said Guy, breathing slowly and deeply, his chest rising and falling as his fingers flitted unsteadily over the chip folder and the incredibly complicated PET. The thing was starting to show its age; a model probably five years old or more that had been upgraded time and time again to meet the needs of an increasingly expert Operator-- their uncle-- and then handed down to his less potent but technically knowledgeable nephews.

Guy muttered, "I can do this..." as he snapped the headset over his ears. "Hey," he said quietly into Rachel's mic- no, his mic. And his Navi. Both of his Navis. "It's Guy... Rachel went to buy upgrades. I'm operating you now. I'll do my best..."

"Well, this is new!" Soundman's voice rang out from both sets of PETs at once, creating a weird kind of feedback. Trenn turned his down a bit. "Very new." he added.

Melody seemed to agree. "Look at the size of it... I wonder what's inside?"

That, Trenn had an answer for. "If every single RPG and piece of fiction ever is to be believed?" He started the PET scanning the thing while he spoke. "We're not going to like the answer." Trenn looked over the readouts-- object HP values, make and simulated materials... then he noticed the data was largely incomplete.

"Ugh, I can't even get a readout of the entire thing with how big it is... Soundman, see if you can head a little closer." Trenn said, glancing at Guy after hearing Soundman's confirmation. "Bet you've never seen anything like this before, eh? Heh, don't feel too bad-- I haven't either." He said, smirking.

"I don't know anything about how to actually operate a Navi like this," muttered Guy. "When you saw me doing it earlier was maybe my... third time or something operating Titania and Oberon. Even with my old Navi, Rachel just... she's got something I don't."

He rubbed his forehead with one hand even as he reached for the chip folder with the other, making the unspoken statement that despite his lack of self-confidence, he knew his duty.

"Sorry, Titania and Oberon," he said, sounding more scared than anything.

"Relax, Guy." Trenn said, patting the Operator on the shoulder. "We haven't even found anything yet. It's one thing to be ready, but it is another entirely to jump at shadows. You will know when they need your help."

"Besides," he continued, "They're very much capable of handling themselves."

"Trenn is right. You don't have to take the whole burden yourself."

Guy breathed deep. "Thanks, everyone," he said, looking from his PET to Trenn. This was a really terrible way to learn how to operate a special Navi. Still, Titania and Oberon didn't heed Guy's help to dodge attacks. His role was to arm them. Maybe... with Trenn's help... this would work after all.

Guy ran a hand through his hair, closed that hand into a fist, and held it there as his eyes widened and his free hand hovered uneasily over his chip folder.

"Nrrrgh."

His eyes darted to the screen, then to the slots on his PET, then to his fingers reaching for the chips, then started to dart between these three points in no particular order, forming a sort of triangle of panic.

"Oh god oh god oh god oh god."

Neither Trenn nor Soundman could hear it, but the look on Guy's face probably meant Oberon was yelling at him, and he wasn't taking it well.

Trenn's look turned a little harsher at the appearance of the viruses around Soundman, Melody, and Oberon, and he chuckled. "I figured something like this would happen." Trenn said, tapping the icons for the Thunder2, LilBomb, and AirHockey1 chips, in that order. "We need to get one of those groups completely gone first off-- being flanked is not going to be pleasant. You should probably get some defense up before you go after them, though."

"Okay." came Soundman's simple reply through the line. Trenn heard his music begin to play, and leaned back, knowing he didn't need to do much else. He looked over towards Guy, who seemed to have gone pale. "Erm... Guy?" Trenn called softly, leaning over. "Are you alright...?" His hand slowly lowered down towards Guy's shoulder...

Guy flinched violently at the touch of Trenn's large, cold hand on his shoulder. "What do I use? Rachel's so fast with this and I just can't keep up..." His fingers skittered crazily around every object in front of him-- PET, chip folder, laptop-- without ever settling on something productive. Finally, with an almost audible click, his hands froze in place and he stood stock-still, taking a few deep breaths.

"Trenn," he said with measured breath, "Please help me out here."

"Would you believe me..." Trenn started, gingerly plucking the headset off of Guy's head, "...if I said that the best way for you to learn would be to start by watching?" A somber smile slid over Trenn's face as he slid the second PET across the table, pushing it gently into place next to his own, and his mind swam with the possibilities suddenly laid out before him. Trenn put on the headphones that he had snatched up from Guy, set the mic settings on both PETs to his liking, and addressed his two new, temporary 'partners'.

"Titania, Oberon, this is Trenn, do you read? I'm going to be running the show on this end until Rachel gets back, so hang tight, I'll send some chips your way. If you've got any requests for chips, tell me, I'll prioritize those in the order I send you stuff. Aside from those, I'll be sending you chips I think will help, along with suggestions. You're free to follow them or ignore them as you'd like." Trenn snatched two of Guy's chips off of the table as he updated T/O on the situation, shaking his head wistfully at how long it had been since he'd used manual chip entry. He slotted in the Sidebubble2 first, thumb deftly pushing it through the slot with a click, then immediately followed it up with the Elecsword.

"See if you guys can take out that second line of Totems with the Sidebubble... if you line it up right you should be able to take out the entire line in one shot." Trenn narrated, looking back towards Soundman's screen to make sure things were going well. They were. "As for the Elecsword, it can murder whatever you point it at as far as these viruses are concerned, so just go nuts."

Trenn pulled up the chip menu on Soundman's PET, looking over the chips, and remembered that he had already slotted in more than Soundman had used. "Soundman, did you catch all that?" He asked, glancing towards T&O's PET.

"Loud and clear, Trenn." The musical navi chimed in from the other end. "You won't have to worry too much about me or them staying alive, whichever of us you pay attention to, so don't feel too pressured, okay?" Soundman consoled Trenn, glancing over the battlefield inside the screen.

"Yeah, you're right. Thanks, Soundman." Trenn answered. "Now that that's done... see if you can finish off that Totem that's getting all blue in the face near you. You should be able to use this--" Trenn tapped the icon for the Icewave, which downloaded itself to Soundman, "-- to make him as cold as he looks."

Guy frowned but relinquished control of his PET, folding his hands on the table as he watched Trenn from where he sat. He didn't say it, but he didn't think he was going to learn much of anything from watching... at least the pressure was off of him.

But, despite himself, he had learned one thing: Survival was up to Titania and Oberon; he couldn't concern himself with their safety while he was trying to work his flesh hands to keep up with their electronic thoughts and movement. A kind of synthesis was happening in Guy's head whether he realized it or not as he tried to make sense of what he knew about Netbattling from watching Rachel, plus what Titania, Oberon, and Trenn had to teach him. The sting of having control wrested from his hands faded quite quickly. He had flipped the fuck out. It had been a costly mistake. He would not do so again.

And Trenn's chip choice... he had assessed what chips he had and then looked for strategic opportunities. The idea made Guy grimace; Titania and Oberon could move and fight automomously, but in order to give them strategic resources, Guy would have to know much more than he currently did.

---------------

Do Totems attack linear?
This is a good way to find out.
It would be a waste of--
The way this chip *works* is--
Well it was a poor tactical--
Op's splitting his neurons between us and--
Conceded. We make the best of it.

Titania and Oberon's voices blurred together in Trenn's ears, until it was hard to tell the male side from the female. They argued and reached consensus within a scant few seconds, ostensibly inculding the human chip-dispenser in the conversation but somewhat failing to allow him input.

Trenn's response to what was happening on the other side of the screens was swift. "All of you, move to the near edge of the pyramid wall and press up against it; make it so they can't aim those blasts at you without coming outside to do so." Trenn paused to pick up a chip from the table, slapping it into Guy/Rachel's PET. "Titania," Trenn said, predicting a shift, "Take out that Totem on your way over. Don't bother getting into melee range."

"Guy--" Trenn stopped himself short, realizing that he didn't really need to command the operator sitting next to him, and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. "Did you see what I just did there? I call it the 'command snap'. It's not something any operator does consciously, but it is something they all end up doing by sheer reflex. You eventually learn to cut down the amount of time it takes for you to make a decision as you gain netbattling experience; while it is the one thing I can't teach you to do right, it is the one thing you can learn to recognize and tug on."

Trenn paused for a split second, right eye leering towards the screens, then continued. "Think back for a bit. Have you ever had a problem come up when your navis were netbattling... that you had this instinctive, instant reaction to? A small little niggling feeling on what they should do next? I'm betting that the times it has happened, your sister has snapped up the initiative before you got a chance to try, eh?" Trenn smiled, eye once again darting to the twin PET screens next to him. Still okay so far.

"That is the command snap-- or, at least, what causes it. It's your fighting instinct creeping up behind you and giving you instructions. As time goes on, that instinct will get better at giving you the right instructions, but that can only come with raw battle experience." Trenn leaned against his seat, thinking. "Well, there is the occasional 'prodigy' netbattler. Kids that pop out, so to speak, with a nearly perfect battle instinct. Those are the tournament winners, the excellent students, the ones who seem to just know things before they are even told."

"It is something I have yet to perfect-- if it even can be perfected, that is-- but it is something that I am constantly striving to make better. You will need to do the same if you hope to control a navi solo." Trenn turned back towards the PETs with a knowing smile, then paused one last time. "Oh, right. You should probably get a better sorting system for your chips, as well." Trenn pointed to the disorganized spread of chips strewn across the table, then pointed at the organized, holographic chip list Soundman's PET was displaying. "You'd be surprised how much of a difference it can make. Just make sure you get the right sorting style for you, eh?"

Right. So Trenn was telling him to do exactly what he didn't have the experience for: Process tactical opportunities and act on them without delay. Well, he was about to find out whether or not he was a fast learner. Guy's eyes narrowed as he brought his focus to a point on the screen. Trenn's chip selection showed up. Titania's weapon was energized. The shot was fired.

Guy's eyes tracked his Navi's form the whole way, leaping off of his-her form only to identify targets and trace possible locations where the alternate might make an appearance. He was no NetBattler-- yet-- but he wasn't as clueless as Oberon deemed him. He didn't realize it, but he was learning to think like a fighter.

He looked to his chips. Rachel seemed to have them organized in order of what she considered most useful: The first few chips in the top left were the ElecSword, Sword, and AreaGrab. That wouldn't do for what Trenn was trying to teach him. He needed to have all his chips laid before him, so that when his mind matched a situation and a chip, the weapon could be found without needing to visually scan the whole folder. Alphabetized maybe. Or by attack type: Gun, sword, thrown.

Command snap. Yes, that was what he would call Rachel's responses. But Rachel's style was not Trenn's. She knew her maneuvers and weapons and looked for situations to use them in, which was why Titania and Oberon infuriated her so. Trenn was teaching the opposite. He was to identify situations first, then match them to weapons.

And for that he would have to know exactly what Titania and Oberon were like. What they were capable of and what they were best at. What they liked and what they were likely to think of for themselves. Well, damn.

It was annoying and gratifying at the same time. He was going to have to become one with his Navi. Form a bond between them. Just like on TV. Oh, if Rachel could hear that thought. Just like that, his fear evaporated. Whereas once Titania and Oberon's abilities were intimidating, a way to exhibit Guy's failure at Operating, now they were an asset, something he would learn to use to his advantage. It wasn't that he wasn't capable of understanding such an advanced Navi. It was that he had been afraid to.

"Synchro," he muttered under his breath. "Trenn," he said out loud, "I think I know why I couldn't handle this before..."

His fingers flicked across his chips. No chip was shunted to the end as useless. He needed every single tool available, for better or worse.

"Aha, you understand now, eh?" Trenn smiled wholeheartedly at Guy. "Well, I won't ask what exactly you realized if you don't want to tell me, but it's good that you're learning. Looking at Rachel, though... I can probably guess." Trenn gave a small click of his tongue as he watched the situation unfold on both PET screens, and decided to turn his attention towards the situation unfolding with the operator next to him instead.

"She is... a bit too domineering, if you ask me. Now, I mean no offense by that, mind you, but it is my opinion." Trenn paused, gauging Guy's reaction, then continued. "Someone once told me that a leader is not someone who commands, it is someone who also listens."

"Now, you might think that sounds... a bit stupid. I mean, a leader who doesn't lead? But that's not the point of it. What it means is that a real leader doesn't just rush blindly forward under their own terms, they consider everything around them first. A real operator needs to be the same way. If you don't listen to your navi, they're dead. If you don't pay attention to the terrain, they're dead. If you don't watch the enemy, they're dead. If you don't give them the right chip, they're dead." Trenn paused, scratching the top of his head. "So a good leader-- or a good Operator-- is not someone who simply commands, or in other words who follows nothing but their own point of view-- but it is someone who considers everything and then acts."

"I can understand if those two don't particularly like to think of anyone as a 'leader', per se, especially when their operator up to this point has been Rachel-- again, no offense," Trenn said, holding up a hand defensively, "But... when an Operator and a Navi understand each other well enough, it's no longer leadership and following, it... it becomes cooperation."

Trenn cracked his neck, then turned his full attention back to the situation at hand. "Think about it."