{Amlipeda} - Homepage of Amity.EXE

[Amlipeda] - "Protection through unity, leave no opportunity."

{Server Config} PUBLIC
{Server Status} ONLINE - Not Broadcasting

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The server that hosts this homepage is not part of a 'fixed' server network, and instead is part of a remote node. As such, it has the advantage of having a domain broadcasting transmitter that can be turned on and off at will, and can be moved around the real world as needed to keep the portal on the move (within reason, of course; it cannot broadcast a portal connection to a network on the other side of the world). If you are successful in obtaining a secured 'Amlipeda.gps' access token from the page's administrators, you will always be able to see any active portal that links to this homepage at any time, but without one you will be at the mercy of finding the current active portal across the vast space that is the internet (if one is even active at the time), although more often than not, the portal will be located somewhere within the ACDC networks.

If you step into the correct linked portal, you will be sent to a terminus that, from an observer looking down from up on high, looks like a six leaf flower, and can be broken down into two areas; the inner circular region of the flower, and the six 'petals', or pads, that make up the outer regions. An inpenetrable wall of trees border the edges of the pads, and a highly dense canopy prevents any navi from flying above these impossibly tall trees, which would be at odds with the high level of sunlight; it's almost like both the trees and canopy are somewhat transparent at a cellular level, acting as a forcefield to all passable matter while only allowing sunlight through. The bordering trees, canopy and floor seem to be impervious to all types of attacks and block all teleportation attempts. The sky obeys the same day and night cycle as the geozone the server is currently situated in.

The inner region can be further broken into three rings, starting with the smallest ring in the centre of the room, which houses the transmission portal and is 4m (13ft) wide. The next ring extends out an additional 4m (13 ft) past the edges of the inner ring and is slightly lower than the inner ring (around half-a-step's distance). The outermost ring, which extends yet another 4m (13ft) past the edges of the middle ring, is again slightly lower than the middle ring (another half-a-step's distance). Both the outermost and central ring are white in appearance with a gentle hexagonal tile pattern that overlays the entire area, and a warm white light glows from the gaps in-between the three rings; bright enough to light up the area, but not bright enough to be an eyesore or blinding to any visitors. The inner ring consists purely of the purple portal that acts as the bridge between networks; it remains a shade of indigo while inactive, however it continuously cycles and pulsates every three seconds between indigo and violet when activated for local domain access only, and between indigo, violet and white when connected to a portal on the internet as well.

From the edge of the outermost ring lie the six pads of the outer zones. Each of these are evenly sized around the edges of the outermost ring of the central zone, forming six perfect semi-circles off the edge of the outermost ring. As such, each pad has a 5m (16 ft) radius. The flooring in these areas matches the floor height of the outermost ring of the central zone, along with the same gentle hexagonal tile patterns, but not the same colour. Each pad sports its own colour, which matches the theme of each floral garden that outlines the edges of each of the pads. The flowers, shrubs, bonsai, cactii, and many other exotic plants are neatly arranged in what can only be described as a pattern of unity, a celebration of nature in the many forms it takes, organised only by the colour in which they can be found in the wild.

To continue to describe the contents of each pad, one must first name them to allow for orientation. Along with naming them, the coloured 'theme' of each is as follows:
NW pad: cyan blue
NE pad: golden yellow
E pad: lime green
SE pad: black
SW pad: white
W pad: neon red
This is necessary, as the NW, NE, W and E do differ from their SW and SE counterparts in the remaining contents of each pad.

Towards the back of the NW, NE, W and E pads can be found a long rectangular wooden table, placed perpendicular to the entry of the pad itself, with two equally long wooden benches positioned on each side of the table, capable of comfortably seating four people each side. Near the centre of the pads (but closer to the front) is a ceramic water fountain, again taking on the theme of each zone they are positioned in with different water jets protruding from the centre to accent each of the different themes.

The SW pad is occupied by a large screen that poses as the 'BBS' of this homepage. It's less a 'BBS' and more just a space that any visitor can leave their mark on the network. What is more intriguing is the SE pad, as it has another purple portal at its centre. This portal remains indigo, but is voice activated and will accept transmission commands from authorised personnel.

If you were one of the lucky few to find the homepage, you will land on the central portal facing the NW and NE pads. There are five system maintenance programs (or 'Progs' as they're more commonly known) that each patrol a pad (no Prog patrols the SE pad) and are coloured in shades of the same colour as the pad they patrol. If the network detects that this is your first time visiting the network, or you have not visited for an extended period of time, you will be greeted with a pre-recorded message from the administrator's navigator and its team. Otherwise, this video will not play again unless you speak to the SW Prog, who thinks that the pre-recorded message is majestic (possibly because it's infatuated with one of the support programs; which one, however, it won't say).

If you approach one of the Progs, you are likely to be told the following:

NW Prog: AMY LOVES LOBELIAS! BETWEEN YOU AND ME THOUGH, THE ONLY ONE THAT STAYS ALIVE IS THE ONE ON HER HEAD. DON'T TELL HER I SAID THAT THOUGH, OKAY? SHE TRIES SO HARD!
NE Prog: DID YOU KNOW THAT YELLOW LILIES SYMBOLISE THANKFULNESS? I'M THANKFUL THAT LILY TALKS TO HERS; THEY ALWAYS SEEM SO HAPPY AND VIBRANT!
E Prog: WE'VE STARTED GROWING GREEN TREE PEONIES! I THINK PEONY HOPES THAT SHE CAN LEARN FROM HOW THEY SPREAD SO WIDE FROM SUCH A SMALL BEGINNING. SHE REALLY IS PATIENT.
SW Prog: HELLO! PLEASE FEEL FREE TO LEAVE A COMMENT ON THE BOARD, WE APPRECIATE ALL FEEDBACK! OR, DID YOU WANT TO WATCH THE GREETING VIDEO AGAIN? [YES/NO] [NO:] OH, NO PROBLEM, BUT PLEASE, LEAVE A COMMENT! [YES:] EXCELLENT! I'LL GET RIGHT ON IT!
W Prog: I HOPE THAT THESE FLOWERS HAVE AS MANY LAYERS AS DAISY DOES. I MEAN, SHE ALWAYS SEEMS EITHER ANGRY, AGITATED OR PERTURBED; THERE'S GOT TO BE A REASON, RIGHT?

If you approach the SE pad and attempt to transport, you will be greeted with the following:
[Denied] - the portal will flash red, and nothing further happens
[Passed] - the portal will flash white, and the user is teleported to the next destination

{EAX012}

{<<< From ACDC Town: 3746 Boykin Road, Lower ACDC <<<}

A glowing tunnel of red, yellow, green, cyan and purple directed the navi through the gap in cyberspace between her PET and the not-yet-known destination. This was the eighth time they'd tried to establish a connection, but the pathway had been distorted by unknown errors preventing her transmission. Eric had consulted the manual to deal with the errors and had followed the instructions one by one based on the error codes presented, but this was a promising improvement to their prior attempts.

The warning of a large presence coming at her resulted in the same mid-air somersault she was becoming accustomed to performing. With a graceful landing, the slipstream dispersed to reveal the new area she'd ventured into.

"I think we did it, Eric! I can-"

{Hello, friend!}

Amy had landed on the centre of a three-tier circular platform arrangement. The centre was slightly higher than the lower two parts, and the middle platform being slightly higher than the outermost layer. There was a dim white glow that seemed to emanate from the edges between each platform, but that was not what had caught Amy's attention.

She was too distracted by the appearance of... herself. Standing right in front of her.

{Welcome to Amlipeda!} the other Amy replied as she raised her arms up with palms extended. {We hope you'll enjoy your stay!}

Eric had been reading through the remainder of the server troubleshooting notes, but hearing Amy speak up turned his attention back to the PET screen. When he saw that there were now two Amys, he sat there with a confused look on his face. "Amy...?" he asked waveringly.

"I think it's a hologram, Eric." But how...?

{My name is Amy, and these are my friends!} As she spoke those words, three creatures appeared from behind the fake Amy and took their positions around her; one above, one to the left and one to the right.

"They almost look like butterflies..." Eric commented.

Really? So that's what a butterfly looks like... she pondered to herself. Her earlier mental encouragement chant now made sense, adding to her confusion.

All three creatures were styled in the shape of a butterfly as they hovered in the air with semi-transparent wings, but the wings themselves were not the typical butterfly shape. The one that hovered above Amy was larger than the other two at almost twice their size, was yellow in appearance and had four wings shaped like long semi-narrow leaves of a tree, positioned in a cross pattern. The wings themselves didn't seem to attach to the body of the yellow butterfly at all, only adding to the mystery of its appearance. The butterflies to her left and right had wings that looked like someone had stuck two bowties in an overlapping cross formation across their backs; the butterfly on the left had red wings, and the one on the right had green wings.

{My name's Lily! Everything here is for your enjoyment!} the yellow butterfly cheerfully replied.

{My name is Penthia. It is an honour to make your acquaintence,} the green butterfly responded, bowing its head gently in mid-flight.

{And I'm Daisy. Break anything and we'll know,} the red butterfly snapped.

The fake Amy gave 'Daisy' a quick glare whilst briefly grunting under her breath before returning her attention back to the real Amy. {We are the ones who look after all of this,} she informed whilst twirling in place with arms extended. {This homepage was designed by my operator to promote peace and harmony between all. We do our best to make that vision a reality, so please, enjoy yourselves! If you have any questions, please feel free to leave a comment on our board, we really do value all your feedback!} Amy turned in the direction that she'd been motioned toward to see that there was in fact a BBS-style board in the white-floor area.

{Thank you for your time! And remember, here at Amlipeda, we believe in peace and harmony by looking out for each other!} As if on cue, all three of the butterflies flew onto fake Amy through the slits on her dress; one on the back and one on each forearm. In an instant, their appearances changed to embrace themselves as new additions to Amy's makeup. The red and green bowties changed in hue to the same white as her dress frills as they both took a place on her left and right shoulder, while the wings of the yellow butterfly turned into a transparent cyan that matched her dress as they grew exponentially in size until the fake Amy almost looked like a butterfly herself. These giant wings also seemed to be detached from Amy's body, but as the now-oversized wings fluttered twice the navi was able to hover off the ground gently.

{United we stand, divided we fall!} the four voices shouted out in unison. {Protection through unity, leave no opportunity!} At that, the image disappeared completely, leaving the real Amy alone to collect her thoughts about what she'd just seen.

"What... what was that all about?" she wondered out loud.

Eric was silent. He'd been watching the little show as well, but as to its meaning he had no clue, no advice to offer.

{MASTER!}

Amy noticed that an unusual creature with misshaped ears had detected her presence from one of the outerlying areas and was now making its way towards her. There were four other creatures of the same build, each one in a different gardened area, that turned around at the sound of their comrade. They too shouted out {MASTER!} and began approaching her.

"Ugh, there are Progs on here..."

Amy was taken aback by Eric's lack of enthusiasm; Progs were everybody's friends, were they not? Even though they were simple programs, maybe they could be of use to her.

"Hello!" she responded once they had all arranged themselves in front of her. "Do you know me?"

{NO WE DON'T, MASTER!} they all replied as one.

"You don't...? Then... how do you know that I'm your master?"

{MASTER HAS THE SAME BIOSIGNATURE AS MASTER, SO SHE MUST BE MASTER!}

Amy moved her hand to her face to hide her disgust. Eric's lack of enthusiam suddenly made sense.

"Well... I guess it's true," she replied. "Can I help you?"

{WE ARE HERE TO SERVE MASTER BY PROTECTING THE FLOWER!} they replied.

Amy frowned. She hadn't asked them what they did, she'd asked them if they wanted her help. Why else would they have run up to her? "Okay, but do you want something from me?"

{WE ARE HERE TO SERVE MASTER BY PROTECTING THE FLOWER!} they repeated.

"Eric, am I saying something wrong?" she whispered in confusion.

"No, I think they just watch the different zones," Eric sighed. "That's what Progs are designed for, after all; basic analysis and instructions. Just tell them to go back to work, I think they'll leave you alone."

"I can do that." In a louder voice she spoke to the group. "Please go back to work." Like a pack of obedient dogs, they all dispersed back to their original stations. "Perfect, thank you Eric."

A grin appeared on Eric's face; he'd done well. "You're welcome."

Talking about work reminded Amy of the job they needed to do. "Now that we've taken care of... all that stuff... how do we connect to the NetSquare?"

"I don't know about your homepage specifically, but most homepages we've offered tech support have a console that allows them to access other networks. At least, that's what we tap into remotely to do our work. Do you see anything that looks like a terminal?"

Amy looked around the area. Of the six pads that extended from the centre region, four were gardens and one was home to the board mentioned earlier. The last one had a small teleportation pad, which caught Amy's eye. "I think there may be another area to this homepage," she pointed out.

Eric saw the teleporation pad through the PET display. "Try it out, maybe?" he advised.

Amy took a step onto the dark pad. A second later, the pad lit up in a bright white light, and Amy was transferred to a new area. It was smaller than where she'd been previously; it almost looked like the equivalent of a navi home, with sleeping areas taking up four of the six zones. The last zone, however, had what Amy was looking for; a computer-like terminal for operations. "Found it!" she replied as she walked over to it. She attempted to sit in the chair before realising she'd squash her partner in the process.

"Alright, time for you to come out again. It's safe here, there's nobody around," she reassured the girl, but there was no response.

Amy reached behind her back with both arms to try prying her off. "Relax, there's nobody to... to..."

She patted her back. Nothing.

A quick glance left and right. Nothing.

"Eric!" she gasped. "She's gone!"

"She's gone...? Wait, she's gone?!"

The girl was not on her back, and there was only a limited number of places she could have hid in this small region; she definitely wasn't there.

"Dammit dammit DAMMIT!" Amy shouted. "What happened Eric?!"

"I don't know! Maybe she didn't come through with you?!"

Amy dashed back to the teleportation pad and was greeted with the same white light. She was only on the receiving pad for a second before two small arms wrapped themselves around her dress.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't know it would do that!" Amy knelt down and picked her up off the ground, giving Little Miss a proper hug in her arms for reassurance.

Eric watched the scene unfold. It was a little concerning for him, as the two had only been together for a day, and it was unlikely that Amy could take Little Miss everywhere she went. At some point, they were going to have to separate, but would this be the result each time? Something would need to be done about this.

After calming her down, Amy put Little Miss back on the ground. "I don't know if you understand, but I have to go back down there, okay?" she explained as she pointed to the pad. "I think I may be able to program it so you can come down too, but you have to let me go down alone for now, okay?"

The girl gripped Amy's dress with both hands and shook her head. Whether this was because it didn't understand or because it didn't want Amy to go, she didn't know. "I'm sorry, but I'll only be a few minutes, okay? Promise." She patted the girl's head as she stepped back onto the pad. Little Miss was dragged onto the pad as a result of her vice-like grip, but the pad still didn't allow her passage, taking Amy away and leaving her standing alone.

Amy landed in the dark zone again and headed straight to the console. "Okay Eric, tell me how to add her so she can come down here too."

Eric hadn't the slightest clue how to do that. "Umm, my knowledge is limited to fixing broken networks and establishing and maintaining connections between domains and servers. I don't know how to modify security kernels, but..." He looked at the manual. "Let me see if there's anything about it in here."

"Please, be quick," Amy urged.

Eric was beside himself to hear her using her pleases, but Amy was right, this was important and needed his attention. He turned back to the table of contents to see if there was a tab for security, and sure enough there was a whole chapter dedicated to the addition and removal of security access, including access to 'The Stem', the name the manual gave to the dark zone.

After relaying instructions to Amy, she was able to add Little Miss' biosignature to the database. The terminal made a satisfying tri-tone dinging sound as it confirmed the changes had taken place. At the same time, the teleporatation pad lit up as Little Miss appeared.

"You didn't even leave the pad, did you. You knew I'd come back again the same way," she chuckled to herself.

The little girl's head turned to the sound of Amy's voice, and upon spotting her she ran across the room as fast as her legs would carry her. This time Amy had both arms open and caught her in mid-leap, rotating her into place on her lap as she sat at the terminal. "I'd ask if you missed me, but I think the answer's obvious..." she laughed as she lowered the girl back to the ground. It gave Amy a warm and fuzzy feeling to be needed in such a manner. "I'm not going to leave you behind, okay?" she reassured the girl as she stroked her hair.

"Okay Eric, so how do we connect to NetSquare?"

{[Parallel Post] {EAB002} Internet City: Mission BBS: Mission Request: SPcore(1).dat}

"Okay, I've placed the message on the board," Amy advised. "I wonder how long it will be before we get a response?"

"I don't know. Stacey didn't say."

"So what do we do now?"

Eric looked back to his PC. He knew the answer, and it wasn't going to be pleasant for him. "I actually need to get some work done. I'm very far behind on my quota for this week, and if I don't get it done I could lose my job."

"You know, I've asked you this question a couple of times now but I kept getting interrupted. What exactly do you do for work?"

Eric clicked on a few icons on the desktop to launch some programs. "What was it called? Hologen?"

"Hologen, yeah."

"If you do that right now, I'll show you."

A moment later, Amy appeared on her desk, with Little Miss by her side as the girl's right hand firmly clutched the lower part of Amy's dress.

The program being run on Eric's PC monitor was split into two halves. On the right side was a complicated entanglement of brightly coloured neon lines, with white pulses moving backwards and forwards down the lines themselves. Occasionally the lines themselves would separate and join to new lines, or existing lines would suddenly retract and disappear. On the left side was an ever-expanding list of lines of text, with anything from three to five lines of text appearing per second, which pushed the older lines up in the list until they disappeared from view.

"What... what am I looking at?"

"This is a small subsection of the network grid for Lower ACDC. My job as a DJ contractor is to monitor the networks in the area and make sure any irregularities are identified and dealt with accordingly."

Amy looked to the screen again. "'Subsection'? 'Network grid'? 'DJ'? What are you talking about...?"

Eric smiled. He was used to that sort of reaction when he had to explain what his job entailed. "I work for a company called Dentech Junipers, or DJ for short. It's one of many companies around the world that make sure that all the servers that make up the internet keep talking to each other."

"...And how do you do help do that?"

"See these blips?" he asked as he pointed to the white flashes travelling along the neon lines. "That's data. Each transmission of data has a source and a destination. My job is just to make sure that data gets to its intended destination. That's it. That's what the left side is for, it shows me what is supposed to go where, while the right side helps to visualise the physical paths being taken."

"You say 'that's it', but I don't understand anything on this screen. How can you tell that the data is doing that?"

Eric laughed, making Amy blush in embarrassment. Was the answer that obvious?

"I've been doing this for many years, so I guess it just comes naturally to me now. I remember when Matt first showed the program to me though; my brain almost melted out of my ears."

"Who's Matt?" Amy asked. She'd heard that name earlier in the car ride home as well.

"Sorry; Matt is... probably the only friend I have," Eric mumbled.

"'Only friend'?" Amy echoed.

"Only 'human' friend," Eric quickly added.

"Will I get to meet him?"

"Absolutely. He normally comes around once or twice a month to visit. Officially, it's to check up on my work since he is technically my boss, but we just end up hanging out."

"Won't he get in trouble for not doing his job?" Amy didn't like the sound of that.

"His dad is the CEO of the entire company."

"Ah."

"So yeah, while I got a good job out of this, I still have to meet the required hours. I didn't log in over the last few days because..."

"Because of me, right?" Amy was shocked; she didn't mean to say it bitterly, but the words had slipped out with emotion.

"...no." Eric's eyes turned away from Amy. "It's not your fault. I didn't exactly make your first few days here enjoyable."

"The same could be said of me. I turned on all three of you pretty quickly."

"We didn't give you a reason to trust us. But you stuck around. And you were willing to put up with me. You could have given up on me just like the others."

"No way! That's what friends are for, right?"

Eric turned back to Amy. "So..... we are..... friends?"

Amy nodded in agreement. "Duh," she bantered back, like it should have been obvious.

A double-tone shrill beep from the computer snapped Eric's head back to the computer screen. "Oh great, there's a server going rogue in ACDC Central."

That was her cue to disappear before things got too emotional. "I'm going to head back into the server with Little Miss and shut down for the night. Will you be okay?"

"Is that her name? Little Miss?"

Amy stared at the little girl who was bound to her side. "I don't know her name. She doesn't speak, she just makes the odd squeal and grunt," she noted. "'Little Miss' is more of a description than a name, I guess."

"I hope she's okay..." The thought that 'Little Miss' may not be able to speak at all concerned Eric. "Don't worry about me though. I'll be fine; I'll probably log as many hours as I can and head to bed. It's been a long day." Eric's stomach growled, reminding him of his need for food. "Oh yeah, I'll stop for dinner once Stacey's finished cooking; it shouldn't be long now."

"Alright then. Good night!" Amy and Little Miss disappeared from the desk, leaving Eric alone to deal with a green line that was waving constantly between a red line and a blue line.

Back in The Stalk, Amy walked over to the only zone that seemed to have a recovery station her size. It had been positioned horizontally like a human bed and not vertically as expected. The idea of sleeping like a human amused Amy, but she could make it work. Before she could go to sleep, she first had to take care of her little partner. The joining section had a 'bed' similar in size to Little Miss, so Amy picked up the girl and placed her on it. She was resistant at first, but once the healing aura began to glow from the pad, the resistance stopped as her eyes began to close and her body curl up. Pleased with her actions, Amy returned to her own bed and laid herself out.

She expected the same healing aura to begin, but instead a small holographic prompt appeared above her head.

(Play Music? Yes / No)

Amy's hand moved towards the No portion, but a thought crossed her mind which stayed her hand. This was her server. If it was offering to play music, who had selected it? Logically speaking, it would have been herself, no? This reminded her of more important questions; who was the fake Amy, and who were all the different creatures flying around her? As much as she wanted to call them fake, she knew she had to face the very real possibility that it wasn't a fake Amy, that it was a recording of herself. From a past life that she had no memory of.

Who was she?

This one question opened her mind to the others that had started building up in the background. What was this place? How did the Progs know she belonged here when she'd never set foot on this server before? How could someone have recorded her in such detail, and yet leave no trace in her memory? And who was the voice that kept telling her all she needed to know to be a stronger, more capable person?

This led to another chain of questions. Why were the memories that remained only of a time of misery and defeat? Why could she clearly remember a neverending chain of disappointments and discipline, and not a single memory of this delightful place?

That last question wasn't correct. Even though today was the first time she'd seen a butterfly, she'd chanted to herself about them to get across a cracked field the day before. Which meant...

Which meant... what?

She needed more information. Which meant the only way to get some answers was to find this 'SP core' as proof of her strength and show it to Stacey. Stacey held the keys, keys that she needed to unlock memories.

(Play Music? {Yes} / No)

The calming music that followed helped to put Amy's mind at ease. Answers were coming; she just needed to be patient. As the glowing aura filled her vision she felt herself slipping into standby. She closed her eyes, but a moment later she felt something rub up against her chest. She opened her eyes again to see that Little Miss had joined her on her pad. Even though the healing aura of her own bed should have put her to sleep, her need for rest was not greater than her need to be with Amy. The cyan-clothed guardian knew she should have taken Little Miss back to her own bed; it was dangerous to let this bond get any deeper. She tried to get up, but her body was now at the point where it refused to listen to her commands. The bed held her captive, her lingering energy not enough to overcome the warmth that was now surrounding her. At this point she was too tired to care about the problem; cocooning herself around the unexpected guest, she finally gave in to her fatigue and slipped into recovery standby.

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Back on the world wide web, it was entering twilight hours in ACDC Net and the network sky was a stunning mix of orange, red, pink and purple as the digitised sun set on a fake horizon. Faint rays of light beamed through whatever holes they could find in the landscape as long shadows were cast onto the ground, creating zones where one could easily hide from unwelcome eyes.

In one area of the network four grandstands surrounded a small playing field. The network repair feature had fully restored the area to its natural state, despite the disruptions incurred to the area due to the actions of a certain miss, and was ready to be used for whatever functions one would think would be suitable.

Behind the southernmost grandstand, however, a cloaked figure moved back and forth behind the seating, using both the natural shadows and the hours of twilight to assist in masking his presence. There was not a lot to be said for the cloak; it looked to be a simple dark grey sheet that had been cut and sewn in the right places to hide all identifiable features of the creature except for its purple boots. Given the creature's stance and shape, it was possible the creature was of a humanoid build.

"I've found the source of the signal," an unknown male voice responded from beneath the cloak. "It definitely started here." There was a brief silence before the voice continued. "Yes, I'm sure. I know our frequencies." Another brief silence followed. Was this person talking to someone? There was no way to tell for sure, but the regular pausing indicated a coversation, not delusional meditation.

"This isn't like that. That was a fluke, and you know it. Someone tried to take advantage of the bond we have; someone who knows what we're up to." The male navi took a few steps to the other side of the grandstand's shadow. "I know it's risky, but you said it yourself, we need her missing half. The current setup can work without it, but together it wil-"

His speech trailed off as a long silence followed. The male began to dig his boot into the ground, harder and harder as the silence continued.

"Look," he finally hissed. "I told you, I'm taking all the necessary precautions. If it's her, I'll keep my distance and report back to you."

His attention was diverted away by a trio of Spikeys charging through the empty field. He had no intention of being baited into a battle, and slinked further into the grandstand shadows to avoid detection.

"Listen, I've got company," he whispered. "I'm going to follow the trail, whether you want me to or not. I'm telling you, she tagged something with gamma gel. All I have to do is find whatever she tagged and keep an eye out for her return. If she's tracking something she's definitely coming back for it." With that the cloak disappeared into the shadows completely, but it could still be heard as it faintly muttered to itself.

"I bet you tagged a friendly, didn't you? That would be just like you, wouldn't it? All I need to do then is make sure it stays alive for your return."

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{{{Nothing lasts forever dear. Eventually, we all share the same fate.}}}

Amy was awoken by something small tapping her on the face. She brushed it off with her hand, but the tapping resumed. She brushed it away again, but the object returned just as fast. Irritated, Amy opened her eyes in preparation of beating whatever was causing the problem, but when she saw it was a hand attached to a small girl in a pink and white dress, she remembered where she was and how she'd spent the night.

"Ugh, there are better ways to wake me up," she groaned as she accidentally rolled forward out of the bed, falling to the ground below. It was only a small distance, but the landing was enough to finish waking her up. Getting back to her feet, she turned to Little Miss. "So what do you want?" she grumbled, not wanting to yell at the girl but also not happy she'd been woken up before she was at 100%.

Little Miss grabbed her dress with one hand and pointed to the terminal with the other. That's when Amy noticed a blinking light on the main monitor. Walking back over to the screen to investigate while Little Miss gripped her dress, it dawned on her what the blinking light was for.

"Someone responded." Amy bent down to pick up the girl and did a quick pirouette in the middle of the sector while holding her to the sky. "Hah! One step closer!" she shouted in triumph.

Sitting down in front of the console, Amy read the message left for her.

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Well well, what have we here?

Looking for a support core, are we? Some free knowledge for you and your operator; thank me later... Most people who want to get assigned an official mission from those paper-clips up n the GNA usually submit through the actual mission request system. Tickets and threads sent into the wilds down here often get lost.
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"Wait, there was more than one...?" Amy pondered. She'd been so giddy about getting to see the boards section of the NetSquare that she didn't remember there being more than one board for requests. "Oops."

----------
And then, dear Amity, they get found again.

So, here is my offer: you need a support core, and I can certainly pay you with one. I have a little excursion I'd like an innocuous navi to make for me. It's not dangerous, unless you want to make it that way. A stroll across a beach, and a swim beneath some waves. Don't tell the fish I said hello or breathing might get more difficult. You just need to look; what we see and what we learn is often far more valuable than what we take.
----------

"That sounds like an amazing offer," Amy remarked, turning to Little Miss with a smile. "Doesn't sound hard at all! I don't understand why I can't say hi to any fish we meet at the beach, but if that's their only request, I don't think I care!"

----------
If you're game, Little Miss Amity, I have a core ready and waiting for you. Message back, and if you're in, we'll talk more in person. Somewhere safe, don't worry.

-CrypticMan.exe
----------

Done, she decided as she left her response.

----------
Excellent.

Here's a link to a public location we can meet and discuss further details.

Beach Net

See you soon
-CrypticMan
----------

A network link to the mission site. This was really happening.

"Eric! Wake up! We have work to do!" she yelled, knowing full well that he couldn't yet hear her.

Eric was fast asleep, which didn't surprise Amy at all. On their first morning together she'd been his alarm clock, and he'd been just as moody about being woken up early as she had been only moments ago, so it was probably going to take a similar motivation of jabbing or stirring to get him to wake. Amy pulled up the 'Transmission' menu in preparation of entering Hologen mode, but interestingly there was a new option available. Alongside 'Transfer', 'Interface' and 'Hologen', a new option was listed: 'Augment'.

Amy knew that Eric had stayed up later than she did; he said he was going to work as many hours as possible. Was it possible he'd also played with the server last night as well? One way to be certain; with a slight hesitation, she activated the 'Augment' option, not sure what to expect next.

With a blinding flash, Amy opened her eyes to find herself in Eric's room again. Not the miniature size she'd been in Hologen mode, but full size. At first Amy thought it may have been a simulation, just a replica of his room, but when she turned to her right Eric was fast asleep on his bed, sprawled out in a starfish formation.

A wide grin slowly crossed Amy's face. It was rude to assume Eric knew what he'd done, but Amy couldn't resist the opportunity that had been presented to her. He'd been so bashful about her possibly seeing him half naked; he'd probably freak out if he woke up with an unknown female next to him.

First, she had to know whether she was just a hologram or if she was real. She reached for the photo frame next to the server, and to her utter glee she was able to pick it up. Placing it down as delicately as she picked it up, she proceeded to gently pick up Eric's right arm and fold it back across his body. When Eric didn't stir, she nudged his body ever so slowly across the bed so that it occupied the left half only. With everything in place, Amy lowered herself onto the right side and laid down next to him.

"Eric. Errrrric..." she cooed into his ear.

His eyes fluttered as his consciousness began to return. A chain of groans, grunts and whines followed as his arms rotated to the wall so he could stretch out. It was too perfect; she giggled as the moments drew on.

That same giggling finally drew Eric's head back towards the source of the sounds. In a drunken-like state, his blurry eyes opened to stare directly into Amy's.

"Good morrrrning, precious..." she cooed further.

The reaction was swift and immediate. Eyes jerking wide open, Eric flew back in a panic towards the edge of the bed that met the wall. Such a strong thrust caused the bed to shift as well, opening up a gap between the bed and the wall which Eric's scrawny body was all too suitable to fit into. Tumbling into place, only his arms stuck out from the resulting gap as the rest of his body sank into it, further fuelling Amy's hysterical laughter.

"Oh my goodness!" The prankster was wiping back tears of joy. "That was PERFECT!" She may have to apologise for that later, but it had definitely been worth it to see his reaction.

Amy had to take a minute to compose herself before she finally decided to help Eric, who was too tightly jammed in the new crevice to be able to get out under his own power. Leveraging herself against the wall, Amy was able to give him a boost that allowed him to roll back onto the bed.

Eric rubbed the back of his head; he'd hit it against the wall in his bout of terror. "That really hurt..." he complained.

"Well, you shouldn't have let me find out the hard way that you'd been playing with my stuff without me!" she joked.

Eric had a supremely unimpressed look on his face, but as he stood up he took a look at his partner and squinted at her new form. "So. I guess I was right," he remarked.

"About what?"

"The 'Augment' function. It does make a real-life version of you after all."

"Are you... saying I can exist in the real world now...?"

Eric pointed to four small objects that were stuck to the corners of the room where the wall met the ceiling. She hadn't noticed them earlier. "According to the manual, they are wireless relays that allow you to 'augment' inside the field they create. But only inside the field; apparently you can't step outside of it," he added. "But... I think it might have been a bad ide-"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" she appealed to him like a little child. "I couldn't resist! Please don't be mad! I won't do it again, promise!"

Eric just rubbed the back of his head again as he sighed and sat back down on the bed.

"In that case, let's try this out..." Amy remarked. A style change later and Amy now stood in front of Eric in the Spring style. She stole a glance at the full-length mirror that covered the doors of Eric's cupboard to see the same lady that had been holding her arm around Heather Dougherty.

"That was definitely me, wasn't it."

"I guess so." Eric looked a little embarrassed as he turned away.

"...What?"

"It's kinda weird, seeing you like this. You look... human. Like someone I'd avoid at the mall."

It was true, she looked like a normal woman in her late teens or early 20s. Whoever had designed this style change had done an impeccable job of creating the illusion of a real lady, complete with clothing hues and textures. So much so that it was also disturbing Amy, who decided to return to her regular style. "There. That better?" she queried as the regular blue and purple returned.

"I didn't mean any offense, it's just..."

"...Yeah, I know what you mean. It is a little weird, isn't it."

'Weird' was a mild word compared to how Eric was feeling at present. There was another woman in his room that wasn't his sister. He knew it wasn't human, but somehow it still felt wrong to him.

"That's going to leave a bump, I just know it," he grumbled as he rubbed his head a third time. This kind of treatment had better not become a regular thing, he thought to himself.

"Aww, come on! Those kinds of moments don't come often! I told you; you need to loosen up!" she laughed as she threw herself back onto his bed.

Eric stood up and started moving toward his computer desk, but instead decided to pick up the PET from the top of the server. That way, he could continue making minor changes while reading the manual. As he raised the PET, Amy's image flickered on the bed and disappeared completely.

"...Amy?" he spoke to an empty room.

A moment passed before Amy reappeared on screen. "Whoo! That felt weird," she commented. "Why'd you do that?"

"That was my fault? I didn't mean to..." Eric looked back to the server. "I didn't tap anything, I just picked up the PET. Try doing it again."

"The option is gone. I can't Augment now."

Eric leaned over the server. On the top screen, a weird symbol was flashing with a red cross over it. The symbol itself looked like an upside down Y, but the lower half of the symbol was more like a rectangle than a V. An upside-down cubic Y.

"It looks like we might have disabled something," he advised as he picked up the manual. After reading a few lines on the troubleshooting page for Augmenting, the answer became clear. "Oh. It can only Augment a navi that's in a compatible PET that's 'connected to the relay pad'. I guess that means sitting directly on top of it, not wirelessly..."

"You need to put my PET on top of the server for it to work; okay. Okay, so just put it bac- wait, we have more important things to be doing!"

In her push for fun and games Amy had forgotten the reason she'd woken him up. "We got a response on the NetSquare post! Someone wants us to do work for an SP core!"

"Wait, already?" Eric didn't think such a request would be responded to so quickly, not after what Stacey said about SP cores being hard to obtain. "What's the request?"

"Someone wants us to go for a walk on a beach and swim in the ocean."

Eric's head instinctively tilted to the right with one eyebrow raised. "Huh? That's it?"

"That's all it said. Oh, and something about not talking to the fish while I swim."

"...Can you read me exactly what they said?" he asked with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

As Amy read the response out to Eric, he began shifting in his seat. He didn't like what he was hearing at all.

"I think it sounds like a trap..." Eric admitted as Amy finished talking. "...I mean, 'innocuous' is a strange word to use with someone you haven't met, and... I think 'fish' is a loose threat about talking to the police..."

"I think you're reading too much into it," Amy rebutted.

"...maybe let's just wait and see if anybody else has a better request?"

"Too late; I already accepted their offer," she countered. Eric opened his mouth to reply, but Amy cut him off. "They didn't say how long they'd wait, so hurry up and get ready." Amy was confident this would be over with quickly, and wasn't about to take no for an answer because of some shaky reasoning.

His many years of watching crime shows on television told him this was an obvious trip for something far more sinister. However, Amy seemed pretty keen to get the job done, and without any concrete proof, all he had were theories. His busting partner didn't want to let this opportunity go, it seemed, and he was about to be dragged along against his will.

Well, off you go then. I hope this doesn't get us into trouble.

Every part of him wanted no part of this mission. He should have said no and asserted dominance, like Stacey always did. Instead, he found himself walking towards the bathroom.

After a quick inventory clean-out, he came back to find Amy waiting for him on his bed in Hologen form. Only now did Eric remember an extra person notably absent from the room.

"Are you hiding Little Miss inside?" he asked, not pleased with himself for following directions like an obedient dog. Regardless of his reluctance to participate, he certainly didn't want a third potential victim being needlessly involved.

"No," was the kurt answer that followed. Amy turned and patted down her back to prove her statement.

"Oh. Wow. Okay. ...What did you do t-"

"I don't want to talk about it," she quickly interrupted.

Eric decided not to probe any further. Instead, he needed to best ensure their safety by being prepared. 'No half measures,' he reminded himself as he opened his backpack to remove and prepare the essentials; the battlechip folder, some blank chips, should the need arise, and of course, the NetPendium.

"Alright then," he half-confirmed, half-sighed. "Let's do this..."

{>>> To Beach Net: Pelagius Aquatic Research and Study Eco-centre >>>}

{EAX014}

{<<< From Beach Net: Pelagius Aquatic Research and Study Eco-centre <<<}

Amy's feet touched back down onto the main teleportation pad of the Flower as she briefly shook her head. Today had been nothing like what she had expected... but maybe that had been her fault. Eric had been suspicious of the whole ordeal from the beginnning, and while it certainly hadn't ended up being the disaster he'd made it out to be, it wouldn't be right to say it was the easy mission she thought it was going to be either. In fact, she'd committed them to a follow-up mission, so to say the mission was now behind them was somewhat incorrect.

Having said that, as the south-east portal lit up and a familiar ribboned face entered her view, a wave of relief dulled the anguish caused by the events of the day. A friendly, wide-eyed smile dulled the edge of an eventful day.

An eventful week, really. A lot had happened in the last four days since she'd been introduced to Eric. From strangers, to acquaintances, to friends, to partners, to...

...to...

Her grip tightened around Little Miss as she picked the girl up in her arms and walked over to the Stem teleportation pad, both being transferred with a brief flash of whitish violet. Once underground, Amy lowered the girl back to the ground, only to have the oversized bowtie remain by her side as she walked over to the terminal.

...to strangers again.

Certainly, her behaviour and attitude had been erratic to say the least, and not in character with her normal emotions at all. As she replayed the day's events in her mind, she tried to understand what it was that had set off a desire to be independent, bossy and somewhat stubborn too. It was true that Eric's indecisiveness was tiresome, but her reaction to it today had not been fair. Amy needed Eric to continue living, maybe as much as he needed her, but today she had cast him aside to the role of a spectator, only using him when she needed to. Admittedly that was the role given to an operator by a net navi, but she knew that she hadn't done so with grace and candour today.

And what had she been thinking, taking on Hoodwink's request? Steal something because someone asks nicely? Because they say it has no real value? Her honesty may have been what got them a passing mark from their boss, but it should never have been something she considered.

Her fingers quickly skimmed across the console keyboard as she hammered out the necessary commands to interface the SP core data provided by CrypticMan into the server. The request seemed easy enough, but it was the end goal that now had Amy nervous. Stacey had said this would be necessary to revive an old friend of hers. But if this 'old friend' didn't have their memories either, wouldn't that make them a stranger, not a friend...?

"It's done," she confirmed as the data stream ended.

Silence.

"Eric?" she called out. Maybe he was doing something else.

When her third attempt at communication also fell into the void, that feeling of irritability was starting to grow again. She enabled the 'Hologen' mode to find herself on top of the PET, which wasn't sitting on top of the desk any more but on top of the network server. More to the point, Eric wasn't sitting at his desk either, but had retreated back to his bed, his body under the cover and only the top of his hair poking out from under the sheet.

Amy's expression softened when she realised what was happening. Although she was in desperate need of some rest herself, she knew that the sight in front of her wasn't the same thing.

Not again...

{>>> To ACDC Town: 3746 Boykin Road, Lower ACDC >>>}

{EAX016}

{<<< From ACDC Town: 3746 Boykin Road, Lower ACDC <<<}

"And how are the flowers feeling today?"

"Not well, ma'am. I'm afraid something in the air seems to be disturbing them."

"Mmmmm... that's not good then, is it..."

It was not the first time she'd heard these voices. As Amy lay in her resting platform down in The Stem, sleep seemed to evade her being as well. Stacey hadn't come home yet, and 'Sakura' had now returned to her own resting platform, fully sunk into hiberation. This left Amy to be on her own, but, as she was becoming accustomed to, when she tried to clear her mind of surrounding thoughts and worries, it instead teleported her away to another world, to memories she'd never experienced. In particular, it led her to conversations she'd never had with what sounded like an older lady, the same voice that had scolded her in times of internal defeat, and an unknown younger lady. What disturbed Amy was that she felt like she knew each of these people intimately, but any actual information about their personages couldn't be found in her mind besides these random moments, like someone playing the middle parts of a movie without providing any further context.

"Amy dear, do you sense anything?"

"No ma'am, I don't sense anything. But I'm not a flower, so I don't think I can be useful for that..."

"I'm sure you'll be plenty useful dear. Go on, raise those pedicels and tell me what you feel."

"..."

"Don't be afraid. If you can't sense anything, that's okay too."

"You've got this Amy. Go on."

Amy could feel her pedicels rise out in response to her own stimuli as she felt the need to re-enact the scene being played out. To her disappointment the only thing she could sense was Sakura's presence as her head went silent, as if trying to make sense of the memory only caused it to run in fear.

Being careful not to disturb the resting child, Amy took her leave back to The Flower. The sun had begun to set, in response to the same scenario playing out across the ACDC landscape. A beautiful glow of yellow, orange, pink and red had begun to disrupt the otherwise clear blue sky, as another day began to draw to a close. The artificially refracted light bounced off various features in The Flower, giving some of the botanic life highlights and glowing features, whilst others began to darken in response to the lack of white light.

Amy found herself walking towards the bench that inhabited what she was certain had been 'her zone'. With six 'petals' surrounding the centre feature, it would make logical sense that the blue zone was hers, the white and black zones were neutral territory, and the green, yellow and red zones belonged to the friends she'd seen in the welcome video. Amy suspected that one of those friends would be in the SP core they had restored, but it was still just an educated guess.

She stared around the miniature arc of her region, as the flowers, shrubs, vines and miniature trees seemed to resonate with her and give her a sense of calm. Another reason to believe the blue zone belonged to her. But in particular, it was the cluster of blue and violet flowers closest to the bench she sat at that made her feel most at home.

"Lobelias."

The name popped into her head unexpectedly, but as she looked at their form, the heads drooping out towards the bench itself, she remembered the rattlings of the Prog that often tended to the gardening in this area: [AMY LOVES LOBELIAS!]

Amy plucked a handful of the still-bloomed flowers from the bush and playfully arranged them in her hair. Such a gesture was unnecessary, but doing so gave her an unusual sense of satisfaction. She used the flowers to create two lines down the left and right sides of her hair, which combined with the large flower already atop her head, gave the lady a more... organic look.

Pleased with her efforts, Amy got up from the bench and climbed atop it, turning into a makeshift bed as she lay atop its length. It was in this position that she remained as she wanted the sun dissolve into the horizon, the earlier hues fade out to the colours of early twilight. Pink, purple and violet washed over the sky as she again tried to clear her mind and gain some much needed rest.

{>>> To ACDC Town: 3746 Boykin Road, Lower ACDC >>>}

{EAX027}

{<<< From ACDC Town: 77 Press Street, ACDC Heights <<<}

It was night-time in the Flower as Amy landed on the teleportation pad. Four of the petals around the circumference were dimly lit by little lanterns grounded firmly into the centre of each table. They had risen from a flat position upon detecting it was nightfall, providing enough light to illuminate the tables themselves but not much else. Some of the plants in the domes emitted their own light, but as a whole most of the domes were dark, save for a few fireflies that flittered between the different zones. It didn't matter much though, as the soft glow of an overhead moon was enough to provide sight once their eyes had adjusted.

Feeling safe again, Lily detached herself from Amy's back, her wings returning to their normal yellow hue. Amy had the broken Prog held in her bosom while Meep appeared behind her, a little apprehensive of the room he'd just been exposed to. "That took way too long," she sneered as her wings shrunk to Lily size.

"Agreed," Amy replied. Both Eric and Amy had been advised by the server's manual that linking back to the Flower from the net was possible, but multiple security routines were in place to prevent someone from accidentally finding the link. Even if a person knew the link address, further protocols made it harder for someone to gain access without both a passcode and a geometric cypher. And even though Amy had passed all these hurdles, some unknown error had prevented their first six attempts to establish a connection to their home.

Amy was not amused by the difficulty in gaining access. "I know that this place is supposed to be hard to find, but I mean come on, there's a BBS right over there, for crying out loud. Why set this place up with a social feature if you're going to make it impossible to get here?"

"Whatever. We're here, let's just drop them off and keep moving."

"Right." Amy turned around to face the new visitor. "Don't worry Meep, this is my home," she reassured him as she knelt down to his level. "It's nice to look at, but this is only part of the server. There's an area down below that I'll give you access to that's safe from anybody who does manage to find their way here. And you won't be alone, you'll have company."

As if on queue, the Stem's pad lit up and a familiar girl dressed in pink made her entrance.

"Amy!" it cried out as it ran toward her. It had its arms out wide, ready to administer a hug, but stopped when it realised that Amy's arms were already occupied.

"Just a moment Sakura," she advised as she rose back up and moved towards the blue petal, hoping to place down the disabled program's body on the table there. By doing so, her absence brought Sakura face to face with Meep. Meep didn't seem threatened by the girl's presence (how could one feel threatened by a little girl in a princess dress?) and materialised its pickaxe to give a friendly wave to its new friend.

The scream that followed took Amy, Lily and Meep all by surprise; Amy almost dropped the Prog's body while Meep ran as fast as his little feet would carry him, seeking refuge behind her. Lily's body recoiled in pain, her wings stuttering momentarily as her body dropped to the ground. Lily was able to recover just in time, narrowly escaping a collision with the pad's edge by using the vector of descent to her advantage and wind surfing back to a stable height.

"Amy, you need to warn me about things like that," she grumbled as she tried to recompose herself, putting a little distance between herself and Sakura.

"She hasn't done that in a while," Amy apologised as she rubbed her ears and walked back to Sakura, Meep staying glued to her rear. "Please don't do that again, you scared Meep and almost hurt Lily."

Sakura was still shaken herself, so Amy knelt down again and put one hand on Sakura's head, the other on top of Meep's helmet. "Alright, here's how this is going to go. Both of you are my friends, and you're both welcome to stay here. I know neither of you wants to hurt the other, so surely you can both be friends, right?"

Meep was the first to take a step forward, putting the pickaxe away and began chippering away with excited tones, its eyes shining brightly.

"Sakura? What about you?"

The speech had done nothing to allay the concern on her face, but after a moment the girl nodded gently, perhaps not quite ready yet to commit to her response.

"Good enough."

It was only then that Amy realised that Sakura had said her name. She'd taken it in her stride as if it was normal, but this was the first time she'd heard the girl say anything other than her own name.

"Sakura," she gasped, turning back to her. "You said my name."

The girl with the bowtie simply nodded.

"Can you say it again?"

"Amy."

"What about my name?" Lily remarked from behind her.

Sakura's eyes shot up to the source of the voice, but no sound of her own came out.

"Can you say Meep?"

When she refused, Amy's smile beamed from ear to ear. She was clearly the favourite. This was confirmed when Sakura, without invitation, closed the distance between the pair and took the hug she tried to acquire moments ago. Amy's arms reciprocated the gesture as they sat there in silence.

Amy could tell by the tightness of her grip that the little girl didn't want her to leave. Truthfully, Amy didn't want to leave either. But when Lily flittered down to her shoulder and landed on her right side, she knew it wasn't to share in the embrace.

"Amy, we've gotta go."

Amy regretfully forced the pair apart, even while Sakura resisted.

"I'm sorry Sakura. I don't like leaving you alone either. But Meep can keep you company now. And once we fix the Prog, you'll have another friend down here." Her hand patted Sakura's head in an effort to comfort her, but judging by the sour, depressed look on her face, it didn't work.

After retrieving the Prog she put down earlier, Amy headed down to the Stem in order to place the disabled body on the centre table, and then walked over to the console. It took Amy a minute to add Meep's signature into the authorised entities register. Upon returning to the Flower she gestured for Meep to step onto the pad. It disappeared from the area in a flash of white, but only moments later it reappeared in the same manner, confused at first but then appearing relieved.

"Good, so you know how to work the pad." Her gaze briefly turned to Sakura, who was still by her side, and then back to Meep. "Sakura means a lot to me, okay? Please keep her safe."

Meep's pickaxe reappeared to give Amy what could only be the equivalent of a Metool salute.

Lily's body slipped through the seam of her dress again as she took her sentry post again. As expected, the yellow wings changed again into their cyan sheen as Lily resized the wings back to Amy size. "It's already late, Amy. This is going to get harder the more we dawdle."

"I know, I know," she exasperated. "So, you're sure this link will work?"

"How would I know? I've never used it before."

Amy groaned as she brought up the Flower's outgoing telemetry screen. According to the information she'd found on the net, the Navi Shop in Science Labs did indeed have a digital store, but how was she supposed to acquire physical hardware through a digital download...?

"Alright, here goes..." she advised as the portal flashed to indicate an open pathway.

{>>> To Internet City: Commercial Area: Navi Net-Shop >>>}

{EAX032}

{<<< From ACDC Town: 3746 Boykin Road, Lower ACDC <<<}

Eric's theory was correct; Amy had dropped out of the PET and into the Flower to make sure everything was still well, and more to the point, that Sakura and Meep were getting along in her absence. Amy entered the top layer to find Sakura in the red petal riding one of the Progs, its face showing distress to being ridden like a horse.

"Amy!" she called out anxiously.

{MASTER! HELP!}

"Sakura, what are you doing?!" Amy dashed across to the pair and lifted the girl off the Prog's shoulders. "Explain yourself," she demanded as she placed Sakura back onto the ground.

{IT IS MY FAULT MASTER. MISTRESS WAS BORED SO I SUGGESTED SHE USE ME TO CLEAN THE TALLER POPPIES.} It rubbed one of its round arm appendages against its head. {SHE IS HEAVIER THAN SHE LOOKS.}

Meep poked his head out from underneath the bench behind them, feeling safe now that the commotion had ended. When he saw Amy he chirped a gleeful 'MEEP!' before running over to stand beside her.

"I'm happy to see you're still in one piece," Amy remarked as she knelt down to the ground, directing Sakura to do the same with a pull of her shoulder. "Sakura, please don't do that again."

The girl simply nodded before charging forward for a hug. Amy half-expected this one and caught her in mid-air, much to the girl's delight.

"Don't worry, I'm not leaving you again for a while. For today, at least," she added. "Eric has work to do, so I can stay here with you."

The cutest of ecstatic squeals came from Sakura as she tightened her grip momentarily, but then pushed Amy away as she let go. Instead, her tiny hand took a hold of Amy's and started tugging on it as she pointed with her other hand towards the portal to the Stem.

"O... kay..." She wasn't sure what she was being invited to do, but the direction seemed simple enough. All three walked onto the pad to be teleported downstairs, and as they arrived Amy saw that the hologram monitor above the conference table was on, showing off an aerial shot of countless pools.

"Eric, you there?" she enquired.

"I'm here. What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong, just... did you leave the server connected to your PC?"

"Yes...? Should I have disconnected i-"

"No no, it's perfect. There's a picture on the conference table monitor. Can you see it?"

A moment passed. "A picture of hot springs? Is that what you're talking about?"

"'Hot springs'? What are those?"

"Hot springs are supposed to be good for relaxing your body. I've never been to one though. They say it's like sitting in a really warm pool that makes your skin feel better."

Such a concept sounded delightful to Amy. The fact that Sakura was pointing at the screen earnestly gave her an idea. "Do... do you want to go there?"

The girl's head bounced up and down with a wide smile. "Want go!"

It would be a great experience for the both of them, if what Eric said was correct, but there was a danger for them if they went. "Lily, where are you?"

"Here as normal, just relaxing."

Both girls turned toward the source of the voice. Lily had skipped the Flower and teleported directly into the Stem, and was now laying on the bed designed for her in the yellow section, with only her main body section being materialised.

"You surprised me. I thought you were still in stasis."

"Nope." Lily's wings reappeared by her side and she launched herself off the bed, flittering over to the pair. "If you bring Sakura you'll need to watch out for her. You told me she rode in your dress once, but that's my home now."

"You can't give it up just for a day?"

"Again, have you forgotten Kotobuki already? I might not get so lucky a second time."

Amy considered her options. If she left to go out to the net again with Sakura she'd need to make sure she was at peak fighting condition should the need arise, and that was with Lily as her backup. But Lily felt most comfortable using Amy as her ride, which meant that Sakura would need to remain by her side. What if she got separated from her...?

Tracking gel. The most intelligent of answers. Just like Meep, if Sakura was separated from Amy, she'd be able to reunite with her if she used tracking gel. Of course, just like Meep, our lady friend felt the need to ask for permission first. "Sakura, I have a way to watch you and know where you are, even if we get separated. Are you okay if I mark you with something I call tracking gel?"

"Okay." No hesitation whatsoever.

Amy was pleased with the response as her pedicels began buzzing with a new frequency. Another minute amount of the special gel formulated within her fingers, which she then rubbed against her antenna to set the frequency. She was mere centimetres from touching Sakura's forehead when Lily's voice boomed towards them.

"STOP!"

Amy's hand instantly retracted from the girl's head as her head orbited the room. There was no immediate threat in the area, which triggered a scowl towards the butterfly in response.

"What gives, Lily?!"

"Tracking gel! That's how he found us!"

"Huh?" Amy wasn't following.

"In Kotobuki! The cloak hit us with cleansing gel! THAT'S what that stuff was! He must have mixed it with tracking gel, and once he found our signal again he followed us to Electown. THAT'S why he only hit us once! Once the tracking gel was on us, there was no need to hit us again!"

"That's a bit of a stretch, don't you think...?" Amy challenged. "How did he know we'd be in Kotobuki in the first pla..."

"I don't need to explain, do I...?" Lily could already feel the cogs turning in Amy's mind.

An angered huff left her mouth as she finally looked up to her partner. "He followed Meep's signal just like we did. He KNEW we would come eventually."

"EXACTLY. Which means...?"

"...Which means if we step out again, eventually he will find us."

"AND...?"

She looked down to the girl currently in her charge. "And Sakura as well." She shook her head. "He didn't attack us the second time, he just wanted to talk. As long as we keep an eye on Sakura, she'll be safe."

"Are you sure about that...?"

Her fingers reapplied the gel onto her antenna to restrengthen the signal and then applied it to the little girl's forehead. "I won't live my life in fear any more. We're stronger now, and every day we fight we get stronger again." Sakura touched the spot on her head as Amy looked up to the butterfly in front of her. "Are you with me, Lily?" she asked as Amy extended an open hand to Sakura, who happily took hold of it.

"Always. SOMEONE has to make sure you don't do something dumb." She flew over the purple head of air and did a 180-degree turn in the air to line up her appendages with Amy's back seam in preparation for docking. "So. We're going to the hot springs. That's the plan?"

"If that cloak messes with us again, we won't hold back. Can I count on you if that happens?"

"What kind of question is that? I already wanted to disable it and you stopped me. The two of us together, we've got this."

The girls chuckled together. "United we stand, divided we fall."

Meanwhile, Eric moved the PET, the NetPendium and his chip folder to the study desk; close enough to reach if he needed them, but not close enough to be in his way while he continued to work at his PC. "Please let me know if you need my help with anything." His normal DJ network monitoring windows were now active, but on a separate window browser a webpage was open that had the title 'Dentech Juniper - Personal Inbox Creation'.

"Okay. We're going to get some upgrades first from the online navi shop, and then we'll cross over to the hot springs. Where are they?"

Eric opened up a new tab in the browser. "Pretty sure it will be in Yoka Net." A quick net search confirmed this. "I was right, Yoka Net. The hot springs you were looking at were the 'Seisen Onsen' pools in the western areas of Yoka."

"Then that's where we'll go." With Lily in place and Sakura by her side, Amy took a deep breath before exhaling slowly. Don't worry Amy; everything will be just fine.

{Parallel Post: {EAB003} Email: e.bauersox@dtj.com}

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