School is so boring...

"...and that'll be your homework for the weekend. Everyone make sure to complete it by the time we come back on Monday!"

A chorus of agreements came from the other students, but Alexander wasn't even paying attention. His gaze was directed out the window, the pencil tapping idly on the paper before him. A small list of chips was jotted down, and the man glanced back down at them for a moment, as if trying to see if he had forgotten anything. He had some money on-hand, but that was going to be for food.

"Hey, Alex!"

The cheerful call of the one that had introduced him to net battling in the first place roused his attention, and he glanced up. "What?" he asked blandly, very little inflection on his tone; it was as flat as the blackboard.

The redhead grinned. "C'mon man, don't be such a downer. You had a chance to bust up some viruses yet?"

Alexander didn't respond, but the voice of Vigil popped up from the boy's pocket. "Alexander decided to see just how far he could push. It turns out that going all across the Net was not the most responsible thing to do," the woman's voice drawled out, like honeyed sugar, and Alexander merely closed his eyes, turning his head to the side.

"No one asked you."

His friend gave a short, barking laugh as he threw his head back, before he pointed down to the young man sitting in the desk. "All right. Going to teach you. Again."

"I don't need another lesson, Travis. I just need to upgrade Vigil."

"You can put your hands wherever you need to..." the female voice cooed.

"I also don't appreciate you installing that bug in her personality software," Alex spoke, glancing back to his friend.

Travis just grinned. "It's not a bug. It's a feature. It's also really hot. Maybe if you thought about having a woman's sexy voice speaking dirty things to you-"

"Is that what you do with your PET, Travis~?"

The boy's face took on a few shades the color of his hair as he let out another laugh. "Red-handed, red-haired and red-faced. C'mon. If it's zenny you need then you need to start with the basics around town. I'll show you where I started out at. I won't even hold your hand, I'll just let you do all the work and laud my own accomplishments of training you to be someone amazing. You uh. You will be amazing, right?"

Alexander exhaled, standing. "Probably. I'm already done with the homework anyway."

"You...what? It just got assigned."

"I figured that's what the teacher would assign and already completed it ahead of time."

Travis looked on at Alexander for a moment before he shook his head. "Dude you are boring as hell. Anyway, c'mon."

"I don't think you're boring, Alexander~" Vigil's voice echoed out from the PET as the brunette grabbed his coat, finally standing up from his desk. He didn't particularly like school. He was good at it, even if he didn't bother to turn in all of his homework. Or show up for some of the tests or quizzes. His movements were rather methodical compared to the overly animated Travis who was busy showing Alex the different 'fanart' of his NetNavi that he had gotten some friends to draw. Most of them were in rather risque positions, outfits, or both, and where wholly uninteresting to Alex. Granted, Travis' Navi was good enough at battling that she put several others to shame.

Alexander needed to beat him one day, of course, to prove that he was better.

~~

"This is it!"

"This is a telephone pole."

"Can you not always be such a downer? Look. This is where I jacked in as a joke but there's actually a few viruses chilling around. Figure they cause some of the static on the phone, you know?

Alexander frowned. "I suppose. This feels like a waste of time. Shouldn't I be fighting something stronger?"

"C'mon man, you'll get there. Baby steps my dude. Baby steps."

The man exhaled, pulling the PET from his pocket. "All right then. Vigil, you ready?"

"I'm always ready for you~"

Alexander sighed, before he nonchalantly moved his arm forward, attaching the PET to the terminal, and moving to the ACDC Net. "Vigil. Jack in."

--

To: ACDC Net

((Continued from Here ))

==

Outside, Alexander gave a small sound. "I guess she's done. Vigil.exe, logout," he spoke, pulling the woman out with him before he glanced to Travis. "This was a pretty good spot."

"I told you dude. It's like my go-to."

Alex glanced down at the PET as the woman jacked out, then, before he looked in the direction of the Sci-Lab. "I suppose we should take the virus data we got and get some updates. Those will help."

"I'm ready for you to put your hands wherever you-"

"Stop."

==

Moving to here

((Coming from here ))

After Alexander had finished with shopping, and getting Vigil updated, he had planned to head back over to the same telephone pole and go another round, when Vigil chimed in.

"Hey now. You didn't forget the meeting that you've got with Angela, did you~? Only got a short time to get me over to Netopia, now."

Alexander gave a small sound. "I had forgotten. Thank you," he spoke to Vigil, before adjusting his steps and headed back toward his home. He ignored the greetings of his siblings as he passed by, shutting the door to his room, and locking it, before plugging the PET into his computer. "All right. Jack in. Head to MeowMan's address over in Netopia."

"Yes sir~ I wonder if MeowMan will let me play with his-"

"Stop."

((Going to here

(( Coming in from here))

Alexander gave a small sound as he stretched, his arms up high over his head. "I think that was beneficial. You got a lot of information and data on battling."

"While true, it is getting late, my dear Alexander. When shall you sleep?"

"She's right. I should probably jet," Travis spoke, waving to Alexander before the boy began to head out, leaving the two alone for a moment.

"I suppose I should take you to get some upgrades."

"You're always spending money on me so frivolously. I can't say I don't appreciate it, though~".

Alexander sighed, heading out to take the train to the shop.