Blade Testing

Upon arriving in the park, Hector promptly located the nearest tree, and sat down against it, then removed his PET from its holster, and began to type something. "Hmm...that should do."

"Doing something?"

"But of course. I felt now was a good time to return to the action. So I signed us up for a mission."

"Yes, I read your handiwork. Might I ask exactly what 'certain behaviors' gave you the urge to spite me?"

"Complaining about that CornShot was pitiful. It's a free chip, we have no right to complain."

"Bah! Go change that part right now!"

"I could...but they already gave me a reply."

"Whaaa?!" The Navi joined his operator in reading the response. "...Wow. Someone should tell this guy about the Shift key. Also, what a total hippie!"

"Perhaps, but if he's our latest benefactor, you're to treat him with respect. Is that clear?"

"Yeah, yeah...heh, 'tools of the man need not apply'. I bet he'd flip his lid if he knew I was on certain men's most wanted lists!"

"Was. You WERE on certain men's most wanted lists. But that's taken care of. We're in the clear."

"Right...feel like telling me how that works now?"

"Not at all."

"Grr..."

"All right, they sent the coordinates. Seems this'll occur in ACDC Area."

"...Very well. All right, let's go meet Hippie Boy! I've got a flawless reputation to live up to!"

"Roger that." Now, a place to jack in...ah, right, the squirrel statue had a server inside of it. Should be possible to jack in from it. "Jack in! SharpMan, Execute!" A red beam of light shot from Hector's PET, containing the data that was about to undergo what would undoubtedly be a soul crushingly difficult mission...

(TO ACDC NET)
"Argh!" As soon as he was fully assimilated in the confines of his PET, SharpMan began powerfully slashing at the air, apparently angry over how his endeavor had turned out. "Who does that woman think she is?! She dares insult a professional Navi deleter? Ha! Next time I'll show her overestimating my abilities is impossible!!"

"Calm down. You may be a Navi deleter, but you acted anything but professional just then. It was actually sorta pathetic."

"What, now you're agreeing with that-"

"To an extent, yes. The truth is, you're a LV 4 Navi now. You were once one of the Net's most feared Navis in some circles, but now you're essentially just another face in the crowd...for the time being. Your technique is much better than a typical Navi of that level, but that alone doesn't make you all-powerful."

"Grr..." The bladed Navi stopped cutting up the space in front of him, apparently content to lean against the cyberspace's wall. "...Aha! There's a very easy way to change this!"

"That being?"

"We undergo missions to get some of my old chips back! Shouldn't be that hard!"

"...Yeah...tell you what. I'll let you undergo a mission for ONE chip. I'll let you decide which one to go after. Rare chips will be harder to get...but you know that, of course."

"One?! ...Meh, better than nothing. All right, how about...CustomSword? Best backup chip ever!"

"So you're going for a true rare chip, eh? Fine with me. I'll put in the request." And after some typing, the wait began. Luckily, it didn't take long; a couple of minutes, tops. "There we go. How does it sound?"

"Ruthless, thorough, and secretive...ha! If I didn't know better, I'd think it was me sabotaging this guy!"

"Well, as you can see, time is of the essence. Are you in?"

"Not like they're crawling with missions that hand out CustomSwords. Plus, I wanna find out who that mysterious guy is! Sure, put me down for it!"

More typing, more small amounts of waiting. "We got the coordinates. Let's head out immediately."

"Let's party!"

And now, more PET pointng at ridiculous squirrel statue. "Coordinates in. Jack in! SharpMan, Execute!"

(TO HOMEPAGES)
The instant he was back to safety, SharpMan initiated two programs: the auto-recovery system, and...a fan program. "I'm from Whazzap. I can handle heat. But that's just ridiculous at the end!"

"At least you didn't get burned. So, tell it to me straight. Did you give her my actual contact info, or just a dummy address?"

"Hey, I might be an assassin, but I have honor! The real thing, no doubt!"

"Ah. I'd be fine either way...I just wanted to know for certain."

"...There, that should do it. All right, I'm in peak shape now! Back to the set!"

"As you wish." Now, to input those coordinates once more... "Jack in! SharpMan, Execute!"

(TO HOMEPAGES...AGAIN)
It took everything he had, but SharpMan managed to avoid falling flat on his face upon arriving in the PET. "You know, I'm happy I pulled it off and all, but...do me a favor, and NEVER discuss that mission in my presence again!"

"Got it." A BattleChip popped out of the PET, and into Hector's waiting hand: a pink sword with some sort of gauge in the background. "Like you said, it's done, and we've got our payment...as do others."

"...Meh, I suppose giving up somewhere around 2000 zenny to ensure the likes of CustomSword is worth it. At any rate, let's just do whatever we're gonna do next!"

"Well, that's a fine question. Really, we could do anything at this point. Call it a day, do some busting, whatever we want."

"I'm in a good mood for busting. Mentally drained, but physically good!"

"Fine with me. But now the question arises...where?"

"After that, I want somewhere hot..but not fire-based hot. Some other kind!"

"All right, how about...Yumland? It's jungle, so it's warm, but it also has very few Fire viruses."

"Meh, I'm a dry heat kind of guy. But eh, whatever. I could use some mindless destruction!"

"And I could use some mental activity to wake up. Very well, it's decided." And it was decided. PET aimed at the squirrel statue, and..."Jack in! SharpMan, Execute!

(TO YUMLAND AREA)
Nestled against the same tree as before, Hector aimed his PET at the squirrel statue once more. "Well, hope you're ready. Jack in! SharpMan, Execute!"

(TO NETOPIA)
In a single motion, Hector went from sitting under a tree to standing up in front of a tree, watching his Navi enter his PET. "Who would've guessed those Spikey were actually a special type of SP?"

"Actually, I just got a weird thought. What do you think that virus zoo's gonna do with our little present?"

"Right, I got an e-mail from them just a moment ago. It basically reaffirmed what the GNA told us, and that they'll take care of them despite technically not being viruses. So, ironically, we ended up saving their lives."

"Heh, who would've guessed that I of all Navis would save something like that? By the way, what did they give us for our donation?"

"Nothing. Turns out they don't offer cash rewards for bringing in viruses. A shame if you ask me."

"So I did it for nothing?! Bah! Can I at least get my SP now?!"

"Well, you've seen what they said. Personally, I think we should take the egg and make it into a SP."

"What?! No way! I need a plain ol' SP base, so I can combine it with this!" SharpMan revealed the mysterious purple-gray sphere from before, which he held up in front of him. "It won't work with that egg!"

"I still don't know what that is, but seeing as how we can't send it to that zoo, and you're decently responsible for orphaning it..."

"If you're trying to guilt trip me, you're failing miserably."

"Think of it this way. You can ride into battle on a Spikey this way. Think your purple-gray orb can do that for you?"

"...You have a point. Fine, I'll do it. I can get another SP base some other time, I guess."

A few moments passed, and the PET became suddenly rich in cybernutrients. "I'll leave the SP work to you, SharpMan. Me, I'm gonna do a little shopping before giving you the grand tour..." Good thing the shop was all of one minute away.

(TO THE STORE)
As it turned out, the fabled Electopian house of Hector Guerrero was...simple, to say the least. A large kitchen/living room area, a single bedroom, and a single bathroom, all connected via doors. Nothing especially noteworthy about them, either. Nothing fancy whatsoever...

A couple of hours passed, which were mostly spent watching TV, with a pause for dinner. Exciting stuff. However, soon afterward..."Hey, SharpMan. How's the SP work coming along?"

"Almost done! The GNA got one wrong, though...structurally, the egg data's a lot more like a Spikey than they thought. But don't worry. Using my expert knowledge on Spikey, and a little help from that HeatShot chip data we got, I've patched it into a working SP! It just needs a minute to boot up again!"

"Not bad. Though, 'again'?"

"Well, I activated it at several points during the process, to make sure everything was working properly as I went along. Plus, it got to know me, so we don't have to do introductions or anything stupid like that! We can just head on in and get started!" DING! ...Ding? "Ah, there we go! Behold...the SP!" A small purple Spikey appeared next to the bladed Navi, sitting as it wagged its stubby tail. "I dunno what to call it, so for now I'm just called it Spikey!"

"...I can safely say I've never seen anything like it."

"That better not be mocking me!" The Spikey joined in on the anger fest, barking at Hector. "Ha, the two of us are gonna get along just fine!"

"Well, at any rate, we should see how things go with it in battle. ...Speaking of which, NAXA recently opened their part of the Net to the public. I've been meaning to see if it was especially noteworthy, but now we could kill two birds with one stone, and let our new Spikey get some BugFrags in the process."

"Sure. But on one condition."

"Don't worry, I've had enough looking at corn today. I won't send CornShot over unless it's vital to strategy."

"Then let's roll!"

Apparently, the Whazzapian interpreted roll as 'go to a different room', as he headed into the bedroom, which had little else besides a bed and a few small tables, one of which had a fairly old computer. "Let's get started then. Shar-"

"Wait a sec! You're sending me into that piece of junk?! I thought you'd get something classier to jack into, at least!"

"Don't let appearances fool you. On the outside, it looks awful, but the insides are pretty new. Anyone would be fine with using it, even you...your majesty." Without letting his Navi get in another word edgewise, Hector pointed his PET at the computer's fairly large jack-in port. "Jack in! SharpMan, Execute!"

(TO NAXA AREA)
"B-"

An alarm clock was suddenly struck by a knife's handle, turning it off without so much as a scratch. The blade itself rested comfortably in a block of wood directly behind it. The thrower revealed themself as they walked through the doorway and checked the clock. "...Hmph, seems like I was a fraction of a second late. I must be getting rusty..."

"Ugggh..." A PET lay next to the clock, and formed a hologram of SharpMan, clutching his head. "What the...? Hey, Hector! What happened?! You jacked me out last night just like that, then I'm knocked out until now!"

"Oh, that? I was getting tired, so I jacked you out and hit you with a knockout program so you wouldn't complain about getting to rend enough foes, or anything like that."

"...What?! I would NOT have said that! It would've been more like I'd complain about getting to tear apart enough enemies!" The Navi stopped for a second, as what he just said sunk in. "...Well, whatever. You could, ya know, just tell me that you're tired. I'm not that big of a complainer!"

"In the heat of the moment? I think you are." The Whazzapian picked up his PET, before grabbing his stuck knife/wood block combo and dropping it behind the drawer it was on. People might get the wrong idea if they saw that. "Anyway, I was thinking you could use a boost to your innate ability, so I was going to head for the Navi Shop. Coming?"

"Of course I'm up for that! But...question first."

"Yes?"

"What time is it?"

"9:02 AM."

"...You've been up 3 hours? And you never bothered to wake me up?!"

"What's wrong with a little peace and quiet now and then?"

"...Heh. Fine. Well, let's get going!"

"Let's." And thus did operator and Navi reunite in the world of undreams, and left their humble abode for the chance to do some shopping...
"All right...all right...nope, too high, won't work like that."

"Ah, sorry. Misremembered the rotation speed. How about...this?"

"Hmm...looks good...wait, no, now it's too slow!"

"...I could've sworn I had all this memorized before..."

"Next time, eat more ginseng, or whatever humans eat to help their memory!"

The hour or so was spent via such conversations, as Hector fiddled with a wide array of coding, much to his Navi's pleasure/chagrin, depending on whether he was doing it correctly. "...All right, that should do it."

"...Yep, I can feel it! I'm a little more back to my old self! And you even managed to give me Red Cutter back!"

"I thought you might like to have that one back. Had to sacrifice boosting the others all the way to make sure it could actually do something, but it seems we did just fine."

"Got that right. After all, whoever fights me isn't gonna need their life anymore, so I might as well use it!"

"I'm highly aware of that. ...So, care to test out your 'new' abilities?"

"Care to ask a question that isn't incredibly obvious?"

"Point taken." Luckily, the computer tower could be seen all the way from the kitchen table where he sat at for the Navi tweaking. The Whazzapian pointed his PET at the port...then froze. "So, where would you like to bust?"

"Hmm..." As what looked like a large dartboard appeared behind him, SharpMan detached an arm blade, and without looking, threw it behind him onto it. After seeing where it hit, he put it back in its rightful place. "Based on that, Yumland it is!"

"Yumland, eh? Fine by me." Infrared beam, on. "Jack in! SharpMan, Execute!"

(TO THE NET PORTION OF THINGS)

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As the fight with the WuNote raged, Hector did something he never did without some some of provocation: left his Navi to fend for himself for a moment. He headed for a nearby open window and looked out of it. Yep, that was definitely crying...and it was right below him. A look down revealed a young Electopian boy, who couldn't have been more than 8 or 9. "...Hey, kid. Any reason you're crying?"

The child looked up, and seeing the slightly shady man did nothing to shed the waterworks. "I-I-I...my friends told me that if y-you put two C-C-Cannons and a Wood chip in the ch-chip trader, you'd get an awesome Wood chip back...b-b-but, they lied, and all I got was th-this crummy Spreader..." It was a bit hard to tell whether he was just blubbering, or if he was actually a bit afraid of the rather imposing person above him. "I really l-liked that CornShot, t-too..."

The Whazzapian smirked, from a mixture of knowing he could help out the kid, and knowing that he could get his Navi to half shut up by doing so. "CornShot, you say? Well, you're in luck, kid. See, I've got one, but my Navi probably couldn't hate it more. So, I'll trade you mine for that Spreader."

The crying suddenly stopped. "R-Really...?"

"Eh, why not? I'm sure my Navi would appreciate it." Hector reached down, with one of his CornShots lightly placed between two of his fingers.

The child fumbled around for a moment in his pocket, then snatched the Wood chip and replaced it with his end of the deal. "G-Gee, thanks! Now I've got my favorite chip back!"

"Trust me, you're doing me a favor too, kid..." There, not only was it quieter now, one of his two CornShot chips was permanently disposed of. Excellent. Now, with that distraction gone, time to get back to business...