Shin's SciLabs Travels

Shin got off the metro from the Colosseum and arrived at SciLabs.
"Let's go Red!"
"Yeah!"
"Plug-in! Red_Riding_Hodd.exe! Transmission!" Shin announced, sending his navi into the net.

Shin jacked his navi out and sighed. That navi team he just faced was a BITCH to kill. Time for some upgrades.

Shin walked out of the shop and sat down on the bench. He installed the upgrades and rearranged his chip folder while having not much to do.

Chris stepped off the Metro, arriving in a small plaza. He'd been here many, many times before living in SciLabs and all, but it was still fun. Multiple conversations sprang into one ear and out the other, while Suitachi's Navi Shop was visible a ways away. As usual, the place was packed.

He got to the plaza and leaned against a convieniently-placed streetlight. He adjusted his hoodie to make it a little more comfortable, made sure that it was in fact navy blue like he'd said, and once done took out his PET. Binary was in sleep mode; he was for once in his default form as a mass of gel with the top shaped like a human's torso, with no tentacles or anything.

He opened the interface menu on the PET and with the tap of a holographic button created a holographic, scaled-down copy of Binary on his shoulder. He was still in sleep mode, which was thankful, but Chris had toned the volume of his voice down anyway.

With that done, Chris had nothing to do but wait for Shin, whichever of the many people in the plaza he was, to recognize him from his description. He greeted a few of his fellow scientists that were also taking the day off, but that was all he was doing for now.

Shin had closed his e-mail inbox, stretched, and looked around.
"Wonder where- Ah~" the netop started as he saw a few scientists pass by a man who fit the description Chris sent him. Adjusting his shades over his eyes and zipping up his jacket to full, the self-proclaimed ace netbattler walked coolly up to Chris, holding out a black, gloved hand.
"Chris Lemrock, I presume?" Shin greeted the scientist in the most eloquent, British accent he could muster. "Fujiwara Shin."
"And Red_Riding_Hood.exe!" Red yelped, jumping cheerfully out of her PET in a life-size hologram of herself.
"Hey hey hey, that's going to slow the processing you know?" Shin pouted, glancing down at his navi, hand still extended to Chris.
"Hehehe, can't help it if we're meeting new friends," the red-caped wonder giggled as some passerbys gave the group some strange looks.

Chris smiled, shaking Shin's hand a couple times. "Well met, Shin. I'd introduce myself, only you already know who I am, and it's a bit hard to mistake Binary," he said, pointing a finger at the hibernating figure on his shoulder. Seeing the life-sized version of Red in comparison to his little hologram, he shrugged and muttered, "Ehh, why not?" He took out his PET and tapped a few holographic keys, swelling Binary to life size (slightly over 6 feet), and jolting him out of sleep mode.

"Logging official titles: Fujiwara Shin, Red_Riding_Hood.EXE!" Binary stated, turning his faceless head to Shin and Red in turn.

"Now then, I believe we have some business to take care of in the Net?" Chris asked, gesturing toward the public jack-in ports in the plaza. "Netopia Net, right?"

"You're right on the mark my friend, now, let's clean some networks!" Shin shouted, jumping over a bench that was in front of the jack-in ports, twirling his PET masterfully as Red jumped back into it.

"Plug-in! Red_Riding_Hood.exe! Transmission!" the self-proclaimed Ace Netbattler yelled, posing dramatically as he sent his navi into the net through one of the jack-in ports, attracting some attention, and then plopped down on the bench he just jumped over, snacking on something he randomly pulled out of his backpack.

[LULZ, PLUG-IN]

Chris snickered at Shin's antics. "You aren't the only one that can do that," he said, then held his PET up to his face.

He lept over the bench that separated him from Shin, then landed and pointed his arm straight out at the jack-in port, yelling, "OBJECTION!" at the top of his lungs. "The Net cannot be cleansed by mere Navis! We need epic win! We need friendship! We need high-strength cleansing powder!" he exclaimed. "Binary! Go forth, and follow yonder busting buddy into the depths of the filthy Net!"

And with that, he shot the red beam of doom towards a port, and Binary vanished from his holographic position beside Chris, zoomed towards the Net. His job done, Chris ignored the incredulous stares from the scientists he'd just bumped into earlier, and the mutters about overly frivolous bosses from said scientists, and uncerimoniously dumped himself onto the bench beside Shin. He set his PET in his lap and made the giant, holographic screen materialize from it.

He looked over at Shin and saw him munching on something. "What's that you're munching on?" he asked.

"Cool~" Shin gasped at Chris' ridiculous performance. On the scientist's next question, Shin tipped his sunglasses down, winking, "Oh~ You don't want that, I have something, more... worth your time," he said, finishing his snack and pulling out a sack from his backpack. Setting the sack beside him, the netop quickly removed the sack, revealing... a mini-fridge?

"Wait a moment," the food connoisseur stated, his holoscreen displaying Red and Binary's exploration efforts as he dug through the mini-fridge, pulling what seemed to be... a carton of yogurt?

"Brewed from some of the finest in Yumland, it's a craze going around Netopia too," Shin explained, opening the carton, and taking a ice cream scoop out of his backpack and a paper bowl as well. He dug into the white, creamy, frozen concoction, ladling two large scoops into the bowl, taking out a plastic spoon from his pack as well, placing it in the bowl, and handing it to Chris.

"Here, might be on the sour side, but that's what makes it popular," the self-proclaimed Ace Netbattler advised, stowing his stuff away. "Yumland Korean District Sour Frozen Yogurt," he explained, watching the holoscreen of his PET.

Chris openly gaped at the mini-fridge stowed within Shin's backpack, watching the older man pull out a carton of frozen yogurt and hand him a generous portion of the stuff. "Gotta find out how to build one of those; I've been getting random cravings for frozen coffee treats lately anyway," Chris thought. He was pulled back into the world of reality as he looked at the 'frogurt'. He took the plastic spoon and casually took a bite, and his eyes widened. "This stuff is freaking good; as good as coffee!" Chris exclaimed, rapidly shoveling another few spoonfuls into his mouth.

"I take it you've got an experienced pallate to know about stuff like this, ehh? Or am I just hopelessly behind on what's cool these days from being cooped in a giant laboratory?" Chris asked, sneaking in a compliment on Shin's taste.

"Well, that's over with," Shin grumbled, stretching as this chapter of his life had closed, but left open to come back at with a dog-eared page.

"Your analytical skills are impressive, Chris Lemrock. I would like to ask you to join an organization we're part of. It's known as Neo Requiem," the ace began, adjusting his sunglasses.

"We collect information about everything, and I mean everything. A rudimentary basis for a group, I know, but it is built for the good of net society," the man put his food storage away while saying this.

"Truly, there are corrupt people in all faces of life. Law is not an exception as you have witnessed in what has been dubbed as, 'The Great Net War.' We advise and fight against what is deemed reasonably unjust and are organized as such. That's all I can say at the moment really," the black-themed youth commented, slinging a bag over his shoulder. "Drop me a line by e-mail if you're interested. I'm pooped, so I'll head back home. I'm very interested to find out what you think. For now, farewell my friend, our bond created a new power between our navis, and as such, we shall always be connected."

...And so that ace netbattler went off toward the horizon.

"Neo Requiem, huh..." Chris muttered to himself, watching Shin's retreating silhouette. Yawning, he stretched and looked at his PET for a second, glad to see that Binary was in sleep mode. He was still a bit worried at the constant ripple of his semi-viscous body, but put it off for when he got back to the privacy and security of his office. Another check made him take a sharp intake of breath; money from busting had added up, apparently. After some thought, Binary shrugged and took off for the Navi shop a short distance away.

Shin sat down on a bench. He then checked his e-mail.

--

"Well, it seems commenting on the operator's blog has brought me a bit of attention," Shin chuckled.

"Alright, let's figure out what happened to these guys. Must've been demoted or something," Red commented.

"Very well. Plug-in, Red_Riding_Hood.exe, Execute!" the self-proclaimed ace shouted, sending his navi into a nearby telephone jack.

Stretching after the long busting run, Shin tried determining his next location.

"Hmm... an area we haven't visited before perhaps? How about Dentech? That place sounds ok," Shin asked Red.

"Works for me! Let's move it!" Red yelped in excitement.

"Alright, let's go!" Shin yelled, running toward the metro.