Rania in ACDC

Rania stepped off of the metroline and into the sunlight, shielding her eyes with one of her gloved hands. "Ah, I love ACDC! So many trees, little animals, bright houses, smiling people!" she listed off, revelling in the warm feel of the town. Her exhubrant feeling soon left her, however, she soon realized that she would inevitably have to switch back on her PET and face her navi. She sighed deeply, then reluctanly flicked the switch. Her eyes met the cold metal visor of her navi; even though she couldn't see them, she felt his eyes burning into her own ruthlessly.

"So, what's the deal? You going to flick that switch and run away again?" her navi asked rudely, crossing his arms in defiance. "You're the chicken you know; you've got the switch, not me."

She growled, gritting her teeth and almost accidently flicking the switch once again. She tried to calm herself down, then met him again with her eyebrows arched fiercely. "Today we are going to netbattle," she told him quickly, drawing her lower lip up tightly.

"Hmph. To think! This girl is in control of everything I do. Fate has a funny way of playing with soulful fighters such as myself!" he laughed morbidly, still refusing to crack a smile. "'Today we netbattle?' So you're saying you're going to have some part in fighting? Or are you just going to sit out there and feed chips into the side of a little machine?"

She continued to keep a resolute look, although one of her eyebrows twitched in irritation. "Hey, I can fight to you know. But you're going to need me if you plan to make it out there on the net and get stronger!" she scolded him. She hoped she could appeal to his fighter-like will to improve. She was sadly mistaken as he simply laughed, almost smiling but still sounding ludicrously disrespectful.

"What was that again? Did you just say I needed your help? What a joke!" he snickered. "Talk like this is a waste. If you're so sure I need you to fight, then prove it."

"F-Fine!" she cried indignantly, heading over to the park. "There are places to jack in here. We'll see how cocky you are once these viruses knock you down a peg."

"Hm hm hm... You expect wimpy viruses to put me in my place? We'll see," he chuckled as he was sent onto the net.

"Not so fast! I'm sending you to the netsquare first. We're going to meet some people before we go out. You know, easier to fight in groups, right?" she interrupted.

Her navi was silent, frowing in disgust. "This girl..." he thought to himself disdainfully.

"I won't be gone for two seconds, I promise!" Rania whispered under her breath as she ran out toward the metroline station. "And when I come back, you'll be stronger than ever!"

"Ah, I'm back," Rania gasped, plopping back down next to the old man. She'd come back so soon that he hadn't even left his seat yet. "Now, let's see what these new upgrades amount to..." she muttered to herself, gripping her PET tightly as she reestablished her connection.

"It's about time I left... I should really stop by Suitachi's and get an upgrade of some sort for MeleeMan. I don't want him to be outclassed when the battle begins..." Rania thought to herself, brushing a bit of hair out of her eyes as she rose from her seat on the bench. Disabling her PET's connection to the net, she headed for the metroline that would take her to the Scilabs area.