Finally...they were here. The Colosseum. Once, lots of bloody and gross battles went on in there. Today, it was one of the most renowned places to NetBattle in the world. ...Funny how the basic concept never changed in all that time.
"Here we are, SplashMan! Gimme the time!"
"We made it! With 3 minutes to spare!"
"Good! See if you can bring up the tournament brackets!"
"Okay, let's see...aha, they've got them up for downloading! ...And done! Bringing it up on the screen!"
Sabrina watched as the 16 matches appeared on her PET's screen...and subsequently sighed. "Well, that's just perfect. We're in Group 2, which means we didn't even have to be here yet. You'd think the people in charge would know enough to send us a dang e-mail or something..."
"Yeah...but we can still wait and do some scouting! And we know our first opponent is someone called MachMan now!"
"Yeah, I saw. I'm going to go out on a limb and say he's quick...but, if he's quick, he might not be that powerful. Which gives us an edge of our own!"
"I hope so...anyway, what do you want to do now?" Before anyone could pitch in any ideas, a ringing noise could be heard, as though a telephone was ringing. "Huh? Sabrina, it's your phone!"
"Bring it up!" However, instead of streaming footage of the caller, the screen suddenly went blank... "Uh...hello?"
"Mwahahahaha!!! Sabrina Jetto...it appears I've tracked you down at last!"
"Huh?! Who are yo-...wait, I know that voice. Brandon, knock it off!"
"...I knew I should've used a voice disguising program..." The screen lit up, as a person that resembled Sabrina a little bit appeared on it. "So, sis...how are ya?"
"Er...I'm fine. Listen, about that whole thing in ACDC..."
"Don't worry about it."
"...Really? Even though I took all your stuff?"
"Yep. It's a long story, but to keep it short...that might've been the best thing that ever happened to me."
"Oh...well, glad it worked out. Is that all you wanted? Because I'm a little busy..."
"No, it's something else. It's about your Navi."
"About SplashMan? What about him?"
"Well, Dad made him, which means he was made with pretty old technology. Which is fine and dandy, but it also keeps you from using Crosses and stuff like that."
"Eh, don't worry about it! SplashMan's great even without that stuff!"
"Yeah, but...well, he'd be even better with it, wouldn't he?"
"...Okay, I'll bite. What'd you do?"
"I made a patch program that gives your Navi a more modern data structure, allowing him to do things he couldn't do before, like Crosses."
"Really, just like that? Well, in that case, send it over!"
"Hang on...there's a catch. First off, I can't figure out how to make it work on its own. You need to attach it to an empty GMO file, and then apply that to SplashMan."
"Is that it? If that's all there is to it, why are you so worried about me using it?"
"I'm getting to that, sheesh...the catch is, when you use it, there'll be a brief period where his body structure will be unstable. It'll only be for a few seconds or so, but afterwards...your Navi will look pretty different."
"Pretty different?"
"Yeah...in order to stabilize as quickly as possible, SplashMan will automatically reach into his memory files, and pull something out that can serve as a body. It might be himself, it might be a Navi he's met...it could be nearly anything he could think of. And it might not even be an exact copy, if he doesn't remember it correctly..."
"Oh...I dunno, then..."
"Do it, Sabrina!" A smaller window suddenly appeared, featuring the Aqua Navi. "I don't mind! I mean, it's still a GMO file, right? Then we should be able to deactivate it if we don't like it, right?"
"Well...Brandon, did you get that?"
"Yeah. And he's right...if you don't like his new body, you can just remove the GMO program and go back to his old body. But keep in mind that he'd still be only able to use Crosses and such while in the new form. It's not perfect, but I figured that in case you didn't like the new body, you should be able to get his old form back."
"Well...okay. Send it over!"
"All right...sent! ...Oh shoot, that tournament that's going on today's starting to show on TV! Later Sabrina, lemme know how that patch works!"
"Brandon, I...Brandon?" The click of doom confirmed the girl's suspicions that she had been hung up on. "Well, guess he'll be shocked during the second wave..."
"Yeah...the patch is downloaded, by the way, and I just attached it to that GMO file we got from that mission in NetFrica. Ready to try it?"
A Yes/No prompt appeared on the PET screen, whic Sabrina's finger hovered over. "One more time...are you really sure you want to do this?"
"Yep! Start it up!"
"Okay..." And thus, Yes was selected...SplashMan's body suddenly became blurry, and started to change colors. But sure enough, a few moments later, it became solid and visable once more. But he looked...uh...a bit girly. ".........SplashMan?"
"Huh...I don't feel too different. ...Wait, what's with my voice? La la la...sheesh, did that GMO change my voice or something?"
"...Yeah, your voice is what we should all be focusing on..."
"...Come to think of it, why is part of me moving when I'm talking? It's like I have a mouth now, or...something...ACK!!!" SplashMan looked down, only to realize that while he still appeared fitting of the first section of the name, the Man part was now out of the question. "I...I'm a girl..."
"Yeah...and you definitely look more human, now..."
"But...but...I've never seen anything like this! Didn't your brother say it'd be from my memory?"
"Yeah...wait! Remember when we were waiting for my passport to clear? I was flipping through the channels, and I wound up finding Princess of the Sea, which I watched for nostalgia! You didn't care for it, so you did some software maintenance. I think what you became...was what you remembered of the Princess of the Sea!"
"...Are you serious? All the cool things I've seen on the Net, and I pick a girly cartoon character for my new body?!"
"Oh, come on! I think you look really cute like that!"
"Well...I guess I could've picked worse things to become, but sheesh..."
"Hmm...well, Princess of the Sea is taken, and SplashMan definitely doesn't sound right...what should I call you when you're like this?...Oh, I know! How about SplashLady?"
"...SplashLady?"
"Yeah! I mean, when you're like that, you're a lady, and it makes you sound all classy!"
"If you say so...huh?" The newly dubbed SplashLady looked to her right, to notice she was holding a spear. "Hey, why do I have a spear? It's got a really dull point...but I can sense powerful water energy coming from it. It's giving me a similar vibe to my water cannons...which suddenly don't exist anymore..."
"Well, that must be what it's for, then. ...Hey, I got an idea!"
"An idea?"
"Yeah. You're registered as SplashMan in the tournament. So if I go around, they won't be able to tell who I am by you, and I might be able to learn stuff I wouldn't otherwise!"
"I don't like that idea...it's too sneaky!"
"Fine, spoilsport...but I still think it's a good idea for you to stick around in that form for a little while. Get used to it, and what not. After all, we can definitely catch people off guard if you show up for a battle like that!"
"...Oh, fine...I guess having things like a face isn't exactly a bad thing..."
"Do what you gotta do! Now, hmm...what should I do first..." With all that decided, Sabrina entered the Colosseum, and subsequently the lounge, and started to look around. Not too quickly, of course...she needed SOMETHING to do while waiting on her match.