Desmond's House

Arriving back at home, Desmond could see the PET was still on and Tennisman looked like he was doing okay. Desmond was worried over nothing though it seemed like his navi was talking with someone. He dropped down his bags beside the door and closed it behind him before checking the screen for a closer look.

"Sup?" Desmond said, "I'm back."

A night of restless sleep had passed since Tennisman claimed victory over the Cybeast, Squalo. Though he had won the battle, the price he paid was steep and he had succumbed to a massive influx of data. Desmond didn't know what to do and simply decided to wait it out.

A thin red font on the PET screen read, "BeastOUT Acquisition Confirmed. Readjusting Parameters... 99%"

The program had been running non-stop all night and Desmond was anxious to see it to completion. He had figured if it was something negative, there would be no need for the long load time. He hoped it was something good. Deuce was still active to keep the netop occupied with reassurance.

"So, what do you think it is?" Desmond asked.

"This BeastOUT program?" Deuce answered back, "I did a web search and got a bunch of conflicting rumours, so I can't say for sure but most of the articles seem to point to it being something good."

Desmond perked up at the news, "Really?"

"Sure, if you can call a double-edged sword good." Deuce added.

"Oh..." Desmond sighed.

The PET made a small blip as the percentage reached 100% and began to integrate the new information. Desmond watched anxiously as the screen of his PET flickered with streams of data he recognized from the dying body of the Cybeast. When it subsided and everything looked normal again, Tennisman opened his eyes and blinked, looking around.

His first question was blunt, "Did we win?"

Desmond let out a breath of relief and smiled, "Yeah, man. You kicked that shark's ASS!"

Tennisman continued to inquire about the fight, "What happened afterwards? I remember being attacked and then... Nothing."

"The whole thing melted into this ball of numbers and then it got sucked into your chest. You blacked out and some weird 'beastout' program started to run." explained his operator to the best of his ability, "You've been down all night."

"I see." replied Tennisman.

"How do you feel? Anything weird?" Desmond asked.

Tennisman ran his hand over the emblem on his chest and shook his head, "No, I feel normal."

Still not entirely convinced, Desmond made a quick suggestion, "Uhh... Let's jack into ACDC for a test run."

Tennisman nodded and disappeared from the PET's screen.

((ACDC Rogue Net))

"Soooo... You wanna talk about it?" Desmond asked his navi awkwardly.

Tennisman was silent but Desmond recognized this only as the calm before the storm. His navi was thinking of the right words before starting something long. He really didn't want to listen but it was a necessary part of trying to help; a boring and necessary part.

To his surprise, Tennisman was brief, "I want to train myself."

Desmond raised an eyebrow at the comment and asked, "...Train yourself how? Like you wanna go lift weights or something?"

"This beastOUT, I want to know if it can be controlled." Tennisman said.

"That's an interesting concept." Deuce said, "I can't really say I was there to witness the fight, but I do remember SOMEONE not deactivating the overdrive when it kicked in..."

"HEY!" Desmond snapped with a blush of shame, "...You saw that?"

"Overdrive?" Tennisman asked curiously.

"Approximately half-way through your transformation's duration, several warnings appeared on the PET." Deuce explained, "I have a sneaking suspicion that if you had heeded the warning and returned to normal, there wouldn't have been any of those crippling after-affects."

"DON'T PUT THIS ALL ON ME! I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT WAS GOING ON!" Desmond shouted.

"So would that make you incompetent or incapable? Possibly both?" provoked Deuce.

Desmond grew furious, "YOU FREAKING LITTLE-"

"Stop." Tennisman stated firmly, "If what Deuce says is true, then there may be merit to training myself in using the beastOUT properly."

"...Little rat bastard." Desmond murmured.

"This is just my guess, but what if there are long term detrimental effects?" Deuce asked with genuine concern, "Are you sure you wouldn't be more willing to look for a cure instead?"

Tennisman hadn't even considered that this might be part of a larger problem rather than a boon. He wondered if his program could be eroding away on an undetectable level. There was no point in idle speculation and he decided he needed to be sure.

"Desmond, perhaps we should visit the Science Labs to have a series of diagnostics performed." Tennisman suggested.

His operator seemed pleased at the idea, "Yeah, I think there's some stuff I wanna buy too so I was going to head there anyways. Let's go now."

With that, he plucked the PET out of the charger and left for the Science Labs.

((Navi Shop))

After returning home with a clean bill of health for his navi and a brand new upgrade, Desmond sat down to install the program into his NaviCustomizer.

"...You can't have the block over the command line." reminded Deuce.

Desmond grimaced, "I know that."

"...It shouldn't be adjacent to that HP+50 either." Deuce added.

Desmond had actually forgotten that fact but waved off the racket's warning, "I know!"

Setting the piece in place and running the application, Tennisman's face appeared on the PET's window after rebooting.

"Good?" Desmond asked.

Tennisman nodded in quiet compliance.

"Awesome." smiled the operator, "So about this training, where do you wanna go? Science Labs? Electown?"

"Sharo." Replied Tennisman.

"Sharo?" Desmond echoed, "Where's that?"

"Sharo is the closest northernmost country neighbouring Electopia." Deuce began, "Their network is said to be highly secure and practically guarded by a legion of aqua-element viruses. Most outsiders find it hard to adapt to the frigid temperatures and militant regime leaving the area sparsely populated."

"Why'd you wanna go there?" Desmond asked "If you really wanted to use your element, shouldn't you go to a fiery place like... I have no idea. Hotopia?"

"There is no Hotopia." Tennisman said, "And I think it more suitable to relate to the viruses of the same element and possibly collect more aqua battlechips for our folder."

"What! Come on! We have great aqua chips!" Desmond argued, "Like AquaNeedle and... I got this Wideshot and Bubble thing from trading..."

The three of them went completely silent in agreement.

"Yeah, okay, let's go to Sharo." relented Desmond.

((Sharo Rogue Net))

"Was there anything you wanted to get in particular?" Deuce asked from the PET screen.

"I think I finished redoing Fifteen so I wanna check out the Navi shop for some SP stuff." replied Desmond.

Deuce seemed to let out a disgruntled groan at the response and quickly changed the subject, "Do you think you should also look over the folder too?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll get to it." Desmond said, grabbing his jacket and PET as he headed out the door.

((Folder Edit
-HiCannon out
-Bubblestar out
-Kunai1 out
-Kunai1 out

-Avalanche1 in
-Holy Panel in
-Wideshot1 in
-Ironshell1 in))
((Navi Shop))

"It stopped raining JUST as I come home. Fantastic." Desmond groaned, dropping his wet coat to the floor.

"Didn't you say something about wanting to get something for Support Programs?" Deuce asked nonchalantly.

Desmond closed his eyes and took in a deep breath before he spoke again, "...Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"Well, you did tell me to 'shup'." the racket answered back.

"YOU NEVER LISTEN TO ME! WHY WOULD YOU START NOW?" barked Desmond.

Deuce chuckled slightly, "I found it convenient."

Desmond rubbed his temples and sat back down at his desk. "Doesn't matter now cuz I'm broke. TENNISMAN!" he called out.

"Yes?" his navi replied.

"How are the upgrades holding up?" Desmond asked, "Ready to do some more busting?"

Tennisman nodded and was promptly jacked into the network.

((SciLab Chaos Net))

"Well that sucked." Desmond bluntly stated.

Tennisman didn't have much to add but agreed that though he had survived his first excursion into that network, it was a close shave, especially for his support programs.

"...What do you wanna do now?" Desmond added, clearly fatigued.

His navi looked contemplative for a moment before answering, "Internet City."

"Huh?" his operator grunted.

Deuce was quick to interject with an explanation, "Internet City is a hub of navis and information. If you wanted to find someone or something, that would be a good place to start."

Desmond took in a deep breath and wiped his face, "...Sure, whatevvver."

((Internet City))

"Alright, so what are we doing now?" Desmond asked.

Tennisman replied, "We are going to Netfrica Net."

His operator sighed, as his patience for his navi's exploits seemed to be wearing thin, "No, I mean like... What did you sign up for? I don't get it."

Tennisman thought it a waste of time to explain adequately in a format that Desmond could easily understand but it was at times like this that Deuce conveniently intervened, "Your navi signed up to be a part of the NP's Justice department."

"You mean like... The internet police?" Desmond mused.

Deuce wasn't willing to agree immediately but eventually slurred out a response, "...Sure. Let's go with that."

((Netfrica Net))

As soon as Desmond saw that his navi and two support programs had been safely reclaimed into the PET, he plucked it from the table and dropped it into the charger.

"It's late and I'm tired." He spat, collapsing onto his bed and mumbling, "Things tomorrow."

Tennisman felt they all deserved a good rest and entered a sleep mode along with his operator. Deuce and Fifteen followed suit, leaving the room completely silent for the first time in hours.

* * *

The sun broke through the window and slapped Desmond in the face like a home intruder. He grimaced at the intangible intruder and rolled around but his hunger was getting the better of him. He groaned and used what little energy he had to crawl out of bed and head straight to the kitchen for a piece of bread. He returned to this desk and pressed random buttons on his PET to reactivate it.

"Morning..." Desmond slurred, chewing his bread all the while.

Tennisman's face replaced the black screensaver and he nodded to his operator.

"Alright, big day... Gonna join those internet police..." Desmond said.

Deuce chimed in, "You don't sound very excited."

"Give it half an hour." Desmond answered, jacking his navi back into the recruitment kiosk.

((Internet City))

"But first, let's hit up the navi shop." added Desmond as he grabbed his jacket, "Use up some of this busting money. I've been thinking about getting you Floatshoes so you don't have problems with weird floor crap."

The eager operator finished bundling up and plucked the PET from the charger before heading out to gather his supplies.

((Navi Shop))