A Meeting at 3:00

"Hmm..." Chris thought for a moment. "We could try somewhere in the south end of the park, I don't think too many people go there, there's no playgrounds or picnic areas, plus it's not near any entrances or exits." Chris stowed his PET back in his pocket, then turned to travel down the path. "Follow me, I'll show you the way."

"Ah ok", John replied in a friendly tone to Chris' suggestion, the sooner he was away from the happy people in the play area, the better. As he watched Chris prepare to get moving, he done the same by thrusting the screen back into the jumbled mess that hung precariously from his waist, he then proceeded to follow the man when he was prompted to.

While the two men walked to their destination, the silence that accompanied it compelled John to fill it with general chit-chat, "So... How did you get into the whole net battling thing then?"

"Hmm?" Chris uttered in responce to John's question. "Oh, I just kind of got into it as a hobby, to be honest. I got Nitro here-" Chris patted his pocket. "-as a going away present from some old friends of mine. Well, I got all the base components, I made Nitro myself. So anyway, after I made him, we did what any teenager with a Navi and nothing to do would do: we took to the net. Dozens upon dozens of viruses and hostile Navis later, here we are. So how about you? Why're you getting into busting?"

John listened intently to Chris as he described his situation and as he listened, it suddenly dawned on him that he would eventually have to answer a similar question. As the man drew his talk to a close, John felt a strange sense of envy at his story; it seemed to be the start of a great adventure for the pair, whereas all he had was a list of bitter regrets. Preferring not to go into too much detail into his life story with somebody he just met, John went with the safer route by saying, "Oh me? You know how it is, bills to pay and all that, he he he", finishing off his hollow tale with a half hearted laugh. Realising the how obvious his half truths must have appeared to Chris, John quickly tried to switch the conversation back to the task at hand.

As the ambient sounds appeared to die down, John posed a question to Chris, "Er, so are we near this point yet?".

Chris raised an eyebrow at John's short and vague explanation. There was obviously something that John wasn't telling him. Still, it's not like Chris had told John the whole story, either.

Chris had decided to keep quiet about he and Nitro's recent foray into Net-terrorism, partly because he didn't want John and Gadgetman into trouble, if Nitro was recognized in the Net by an officer, by knowingly fraternizing with a criminal, and on the off chance that John and Gadget were in the NetPolice themselves.

At any rate, Chris decided not to persue the subject of John's motivations, and instead answered his second question.

"Well," Chris said. "It shouldn't be too much farther, but you sort of have to keep your eye out. They like having them blend in with the surroundings, to keep the park's atmosphere. They put them in benches, statues, lamp posts, I'd even bet that some of these trees aren't quite all natural, if you know what I mean." Chris took a look around, and spotted a bench about forty feet away from where they were. "In fact, I think I see one over there." Chris pointed out the bench to John. Chris started to take larger strides toward the bench, hoping to claim the spot before anyone else did.

As Chris explained the reasons for the jack in port's out of the way location, John couldn't help but notice how rundown this part of the park was in comparison to the area the pair had been in up untill recently, although it was still clean and child friendly, a distinct layer of grime seemed to layer most of the aparatus and seating areas nearby.

The other man had seemed to wrap up his talk and was beggining to approach a nearby supposedly hidden point and as John had never really explored the play area before, could only follow him after a quick grunt of aknowledgement, making sure to avoid the few bits of rubbish that littered the disused path along the way.

Chris and John reached the bench without much incident. Chris stopped at the bench and looked at it for a moment, then wiped his finger across a portion of it. It didn't seem wet or anything, but there was a bit of dried dirt sitting on the spot he intended to sit on. Chris roughly wiped the bench with an open palm, then, when he was satisfied with his work, he removed his PET from his pocket (after wiping his hand off on his pants, of course,) and sat down.

Chris flipped up a cover of sorts on the bench's arm, and located a few jack-in ports embedded into the arm. Chris looked up at John, who hadn't taken any action yet. "Go ahead and sit down," Chris said. "There should be some ports on the other arm." Chris then fished out a small wireless adapter and plugged it into one of the ports on his side. Once it was plugged in and ready to accept a signal, Chris pressed the Connect button on his PET, and sent Nitro into the Net.

[NITRO JACK-IN]

Taking the cue from Chris, John also motioned towards his new seating area, although it was only when they were both up close that he realised the seat was completely covered in a layer of grime. Watching onwards as Chris casually brushed away the muck with a few quick arm movements, John went to emulate the move on his own portion of bench only to find that his paranoid brain prevented his clean arm from coming anywhere near the stuff, he instead tucked his lab coat firmly beneath himself as he sat down, preferring not to think of what lay underneath.

Watching as the other guy seemed to attach a receiver of some description into the arm of the bench chair, John smiled at the thoughts of how primitive his own methods must have seemed in comparison, he pulled a wire that seemed to be slightly darker than the rest of the jumble around it, extending it until it could reach the port and inserted it, he quickly added, "My gears a little outdated, needs a direct connection to work properly".

[Jack in, Gadgetman.exe]

A small indicator on the screen indicated that Nitro had successfully transferred into the PET. Chris reached over and pulled the wireless adapter from the jack-in port. He looked up at the sky as hestood up and stowed the device in his pocket, and noticed that it had begun to turn a bright orange red colour. "Jeez," Chris remarked. "We've been out here longer than I thought." A slight breeze sent a chill through Chris' body, as if prompting him to move things along. He turned to John, stowing the PET in his pocket. "Well, it's been fun," Chris said. "You and Gadgetman certainly can hold your own. Sorry to cut things short, but I really can't stand the cold." He gave a short wave as he turned to leave. "Be sure to drop us a line, I'm sure Nitro gave you our email!" Chris began walking away, heading for home and trying to get out of the cold as quickly as possible.

"I'll, er, be sure to do that", John replied nervously, he gave a hesitant hand wave to Chris as he walked off into the distance, "Well that was time I could have spent differently...", he continued as soon as the other man was out of earshot.

After he was sure the coast was clear, John slinked away from the secluded part off the park, making sure too avoid the still busy main area, a bundle of cables swinging precariously from his side; the man was tired and he knew he was in need of a good sleep.