Outside (Open)

Cid sat in his room flipping mindlessly through the T.V. Channels. There really wan't anything on, and Cid really didn't want watch T.V.

He wanted to go for a walk. But like it always did, his body started to quiver in fear at the first sign of interaction with others. No amount of determination could change his terror at even sayng "Hello" to someone. Why couldn't he break free?

Whipping out his PET, Cid decided he needed a pep talk. Dartman flashed to life on the screen "Hay Cid, need something?" came the cheery voice.

"Were going out" said Cid coldly

"Out....you mean Out out?" The Navi was stunned by this turn of events. "You sure?"

Cid was already sweating "Ya" he paused to take a few breaths "I'm sure"

Cid walked through the empty house, pausing only to grab a quick snack from the fridge. After being nourished, Cid stood before the door to the outside. His terror had peaked. Outside would be people. Whenever he got around people his mind choacked up and he would tremble is spite of himself. "Just do it, just do it" he told himself over and over again.

"Cid, if your not ready, you don't have to go"

"No I want to go out, I want to have friends like everyone else" whispered Cid. Before he could stop himslef, Cid had opeand the door and steped outside. It was midafternoon in ACDC, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Cid took a few deep breaths and began to walk. On step at a time, he made his way through the city.

In his hand, Dartman beeped with joy "Im proud of you Cid"

After a short walk, Cid took a short rest at the park. There were children playing on the playground and a dog and its master were rolling about on the ground in joy.

Cid couldn't help but relax the tinyest bit. But his sence of ease was shattered when a voice from behind said "Hello there"

Someone was talking to him, Cid panicked.

Sieg didn't have to go anywhere. He just roamed from place to place without a care in the world, undisturbed by anyone. Aside from the constant bugging from his navi ofcourse.

- I wanna try my upgrades! Let me figth someone!

Sieg considered to just ignore her, but knowing Valkyrie, she would find a way to blackmail him into picking a fight anyway. He let out a sigh and decided to search for an opponent. Taking a moment to look around, he noticed a boy with a PET sitting on one of the benches.

- Hello there! I see you have a PET... do you want to do a sparring battle?

There was a weird expression on the boys face as if... "well my sleep deprived face and the rugged look must look extra scary today" thought Sieg.

- I uh... won't use battle chips if you're afraid...

He saw noone else with a pet out there... if the kid says no, Val will annoy him to death by the time he finds another competitor.

Dartman say that Cid was seizing up, If he didn't interjuct, Cid woould probably just freeze up.

"Ya Cid, A quick spar sounds fun. Le'mme At um."

At the sound of his navi's voice, Cid snapped out of his panic. He didn't really like to fight, but Dartman lived for the trill of battle. "Um...sure, we can have a quick match" mutered Cid, he was having enough troble even responding, much less making eye contact.

"ALLL RIIIIIIGGGGGGGGHHH" chimed in Dartman.

"Um....where should we fight" asked Cid

"A shyguy, huh?"

-I never understood why, but there are jack in ports on the slides. I was too lazy to check which net they connect...

Sieg stepped next to one of the slides and searched for the slot. He plugged the PET in with a cord; his old model pet didn't have any infra connection built in.

Cid followed slowly but surly. He noticed that the guy who challenged him had an older model PET, since he needed to manualy jack in. Cid's model was a bit newer, having the infra red beam as opposed to the cabel. "Alright Dartman, Jack in"

The beam struck the port and Dartman enterd the SlideComp.


(OOC: will be continued in "Shots and ladders" in ACDC net)

Sieg remained silent while he pulled the cord out of the police infested slope. He was thinking hard. He had some expressions for when he screws up. Like "sorry", "it was not my fault", or "it was like that when I got here". But what the hell should he say after involving someone in a fight with a bunch of policeman, which led to their navis getting saved by (and indebted to) the netmaffia?

- I... uh... didn't think this would happen...

'Think Sieg, think... What would the great criminals of history do now?'

- ...maybe... we should get out of here?

((yo, I saw you were already in another battle. You should play the real-world stuff out if you jack out then back in somewhere else.))

(oh, Im still new to this)

"Ya...your right" Cid answered, he didn't even look at Sieg. Part of him was still in shock over what had just happened, the rest was confused and scared about being in debt to the NetMafia.

Cid started to walk away, he knew that something more should be said, but could decide to say. His shyness had recided a bit afer spending a little time with Sieg, but his mind wasn't thinking clearly.

When he was almost out of the park, he turned back and yelled "Hay, I'll...See you around." he even gave a weak smile. Then he continued to walk away "You did good today Cid" said Dartman from Cid'set.

Arriving at his house, Cid trew himself back down on the sofa and tryed to relax. As he slid deeper into the coushins, Dartman chimed in "You know Cid, I had a great time netbattleing today. And You definatly were enjoying it. Maybe we should start battling a bit more ofter?"

Cid didn't hear him, he was already asleep.