Steve's Pad

Steve came back into his appartment and half collapsed into his chair. He was exhausted. He figured he'd rest his eyes for a bit...


...



...Steve snapped awake. He must have slept through the night, as the early rays of light of a new day were creeping in through his blinds. He groaned. He fell asleep in his chair again, he back would be killing him later.

Stretching, and hearing his back pop in several places, and wiping a bit of semidry drool from the corner of his mouth, he rubbed his stubbly chin. He rather liked having a bit of scruff there, so maybe he'd keep it for awhile.

Reaching over to his backpack where it had landed when he dropped it, he drug out his PET and binder.

"Druidman, you up?" he said groggily.

"It's about time, dude. You should probably get that snoring looked at, I bet the neighbors called in complaints." Druidman teased in his laid back voice.

Steve smiled. After all of the craziness that the two of them had expienced in the last week, they were still the same, regular guys teasing each other and talking about movies and music and stuff. It was almost surreal.

"Say, Druidman, you want to go busting in just a normal setting on your own for a bit?" Steve said suddenly.

"And then she said, that's not popcorn, that's my clitoris! HA HA HA hurk?" Druidman sputtered as he finished his joke. "Uh, yeah, sure, dude." he said.

"Well, let's try and get back to a nice, normal routine, okay? Jack in, Druidman.EXE, Execute!"

Druidman came back into his PET, fit as a fiddle, and began to take a drink, signifying his was in a heal cycle.

Steve looked at the several chips he had won in the new Rogue Net. All of them were powerful, and most were rarer in today's economy, as well. He had also gotten a modest pile of Zenny. He suddenly smiled. A few months ago, this much Zenny would have been a fortune, but now with Druidman as powerful as he was, it comparatively did little. Steve began to shuffle through his chips in his binder and pocket, re-arranging his folder.

"Oh, hey dude, looks like the brackets are posted for that tournament thing tomorrow." Druidman said, idly thumbing through his mailbox, looking at spare bits of parchment.

"Really? Who are we fighting?" Steve asked, not looking up.

"Hrm, some Navi named Karmaria.APP." Druid replied, scratching his head. "An APP Navi? Those are uncommon."

"Yeah, they are." Steve said, looking up at last, finishing his folder. "I've never heard of this one, either."

"Thats not really that surprising, man." Druidman replied as he finished downing what he was drinking, "We really only know a few other Navis, and of a few more."

"I suppose you're right." was Steve's reply. "Oh well, I guess we'll met this Karmaria when we go to the tournament."

Steve got back into his pad and sat down at his computer, surprisingly alert for once after a big day out and about.

"What now, dude?" Druidman asked from his PET.

"Actually, I think it's time we relax hardcore. I heard that NetVegas is open again. Could be fun." Steve replied. "I wonder if that net goes as deep as the others?"

"Only one way to find out, dude." Druidman said excitedly, as he tore a hole into the fabric of the Net and jumped into the darkened Rouge Net.

Steve got up, and went to the bathroom, where he took a fourteen month long shit.

...

After he came back, he picked up his PET. "Okay Druidman, where to now?"

"I don't have a preference, dude. Let's just go with the flow." his Navi replied lazily.

Steve nodded, and after a moment or two's thought, jacked into Electown's Rouge Net.

Steve stretched, and was shocked to discover that some cobwebs had somehow formed around his legs. "What the?" he said as he pulled them off. "How did it get so dusty in here?"

Wading through the inch thick layer of said dust, Steve made it out of the door and caught the bus to Scilab.

Steve came back into his apartment... and nearly died from the allergic reaction he had to all the dust bunnies and cobwebs that had mysteriously accumulated over the course of a few minutes.

"I have got to clean this place up, Druidman, okay?" he said through his sleeve as he grabbed a mop and rag.

"Duuuude, you can NOT just tell me that you unlocked two more of my domain seals and then just tell me that you're leaving me on a shelf, man. That's just too bogus." Druidman complained.

"Fine." Steve grumped. "But I'm not stopping my cleaning, understand? I'll only pop in to check on you, I won't be watching the whole time."

"Whatever, man." Druidman said smugly.

Steve set the location to random, and jacked Druidman into the net, Druidman supplied his own entrance to it's deeper reaches.

Steve got up, realized he had grown a full beard, shaved, and then grabbed his bag and hopped onto the shuttle to SciLabs.

Returning from the store, Steve pulled off his bag and tossed it into a nearby chair, and dug into his pocket and fished out his PET. "Okay, Druidman. I got some upgrades. How'd things go on your end?"

"Uh, well, man, I got this bounty paper thing." Druidman mumbled in reply and he retrieved the slightly crumpled file from his belt pouch. "I gotta hunt these Void-things, man."

"Voids? Never heard of them." Steve replied, doing a quick online search. "Ugh, they kinda look like goopy, blobby guys." he added after he found a result. "Says here they are in NAXA and Sharo nets."

"NAXA? Never heard of it, dude." Druidman replied idly. "What's it like?"

"It's a relatively newer net, or at least, more recently open to the public. It's based in our satellite system in orbit." Steve explained.

"Whoa, far out, man. Sounds like fun?"

"Actually... yeah. Seems like you'd be at an advantage there. Most of the viruses would be weak to your magic." Steve was now looking at a net threat summary. "Let's go there! Jack in, Druidman."

But as he moved to go sit in his chair, Steve stepped on something he had missed in his previous clean sweep, and rolled his ankle and began to fall. "Oh, piss!" he exclaimed as his PET went careening into the wall and bounced down to the floor. "Sorry, pal!" he replied as he scooped it back up, flipping it over to check for damage.

He didn't see flashing on the screen, "JACK IN COORDINATE ERROR"

"Well, may as well make the most of this moment's reprieve, I guess." Steve sighed as he gathered his stuff and once more made a trip to the shuttle bound for the Scilab.

Steve got back to his place, went into his office, and flopped into his chair, perhaps a bit too forcefully, because the chair fell over when he did so. "Ohpissmyfatass!" he yelped as he stood up and righted his furniture. Perhaps updating some of his old and battered possessions would be in order soon?

He shook the thought from his mind, and pulled out his PET and chip binder. "Okay, Druidman, jack in, let's not keep Sylk waiting."