In Scilabs

Shigeru stepped off of the metroline, heading for the Navicust shop. He heard it was under new management, too. Meh. He didn't care who ran it so long as he got his upgrades.

Shigeru walked out of the shop, sat down on a nearby bench, and got to modding Voltman. To his relief, it appeared that his current spot was close enough to the port from which he jacked in that he didn't have to reconnect.

Shigeru hopped on the metroline, heading for ACDC.

Shigeru arrived once more in Scilabs. As he walked along, he looked for any potential eateries around. He was getting hungry. Finally, he spotted a small hot dog stand nearby. He walked up to the counter.
Uh... let's see... ah. Three MondoDogs please.
He waited while the cook whipped three sausages out of the grease, and laid them onto a bun before covering them with all the condiments in sight. Shigeru's mouth watered just looking at them, and he finally got them as the finishing touches of salt and pepper were added.
Alright! How much do I owe you?
The cook surveyed Shigeru through one eye.
"This your first time here?"
Yep.
"Then take 'em on the house. Just be sure to tell all your friends where you got those monsters!"
A pained look shot across Shigeru's face, and he walked away without a sound after placing a 30z tip on the counter. He muttered to himself as he walked toward the shop.
"Tell all your friends..." Good idea. If I had any...
Shigeru's dad had moved around a lot before settling down in Electown, and Shigeru had never been in one place long enough for him to make any real friends. Sure, he got free airline tickets because his dad was chummy with the CEO of some airline, but was that really worth it?
He needed some friends.
He logged into the net, checked up on Voltman, and navigated to the Internet City BBS. His fingers flew over the keyboard, and he looked over the message he had typed once before hitting the "Post" button.
He finally arrived at Suitachi's shop, and glanced at the prices for the upgrades before he went in. He whistled softly at the cost of some of the larger process upgrades, and checked the Netpolice's "Missions" board.
Still no response. Still no extra cash. Dang...
He shrugged, and sat down on a bench to wait. Fiddling with the PET controls, he set up a program to notify him when someone responded to his thread in the BBS, and reconnected with Voltman.
He chuckled slightly. He always did when watching MiniVolt.

A short distance away from where Shigeru was sitting, Rigel could be seen leaning against a tree, PET wirelessly jacked into his recently moved base, which was barely visible in his favorite grove of trees near the navi shop. Quickly keying in a message in response to the request for others in the Sharo research mission to meet near the navi shop, he looked around, as though trying to find a person he had never seen before.

Shigeru nearly choked on the last bite of his first hot dog as his PET let out a Ping sound. His eyes watered, and he quickly grabbed his soda and took several desperate gulps, attempting to dislodge a wad of food lodged in his throat that was the approximate size and shape of a baseball.
He finally swallowed, and grabbed his PET. A window had been pulled up to the BBS, and he read the reply quickly. He muttered to himself as he scanned the description of his ally.
A cape, huh? Shouldn't be too hard to find...
Then he looked up.
Damn cosplayers...
But wait. All of the caped people were heading for a large building nearby. And by the sound of it, the guy he was looking for wasn't. He looked once more, before finally spotting someone who fit all of the description from the post. He managed to push his way through the crowd of anime fans (though he stepped on quite a few feet), and finally reached Rigel. He looked him up and down.
Slicked down hair, cape, blue clothes. Yep. It's him.
Still, he felt it polite to ask.
It's Rigel, right? I'm Shigeru, Volt's operator. Nice to meet you.

((Swing? Where?))

Still leaning against his tree and looking around for Shigeru, Rigel noticed quite a few people wearing capes that were heading towards a building nearby.

This might complicate things.

Suddenly, he noticed one person pushing through the crowds, heading straight toward him. Glad that the mob of cosplayers hadn't deterred him, he answered Shigeru's statement, "Yeah, that's me." He glanced down at his PET, which was projecting the scene in Sharo. "I see Pianissimo's already met with Volt, from the looks of it."

(Huh?)

Shigeru glanced down at his screen, laughing at MiniVolt.
Yeah. Guess so. He is a... charismatic little guy. Kinda ends up meeting everyone one way or another.
Then, Voltman shifted to his Adult.GMO. He laughed again.
And now you've met BOTH of him. Don't ask me to explain.
He took a bite out of his second MondoDog, and swallowed before proffering the uneaten one towards Rigel.
You want it? I got 'em for free, so I wouldn't mind.
He took another monstrous bite out of his hot dog, but as he did something caught his attention as he saw his PET out of the corner of his eye.
TWO Voltmans?

((Nevermind, you fixed it.))

"Hm...looks like a GMO file, but judging from Pianissimo's reaction, his personality has changed too. Interesting..." muttered Rigel, not entirely addressing Shigeru at the moment, so that he was taken by surprise when suddenly offered a MondoDog.

"I...sure, why not," he said, taking the uneaten hot dog. With an enormous effort, he managed to take a bite out of it...since when did they make hot dogs this huge?

"Pretty good," Rigel said once able to actually talk again. "Maybe just a bit heavy on the pepper, but..."

Shigeru looked confused for a moment, and swallowed before saying,
Really? Just the opposite, I thought. To each his own, I guess.
Then, turning back to Voltman, he started to talk about Rigel's GMO comment.
Well, the truth is that I don't know what the hell is going on with Voltman. That adult form you saw earlier used to be his regular form, and the child his GMO. But recently the GMO assimilated the old base image program, and replaced it, basically spitting out his old image as the GMO. Volt also seems to have developed a double personality...
He hung his head, the image of someone who had tried everything, and failed.
I know, you've probably drifted off by now, thinking that I'm someone who's being a complete idiot, confiding in a stranger. But they say that the best way to get to know someone is to netbattle with or against them.
He looked up, as if nothing had happened, and took another bite out of his hot dog.
So, how does Pianissimo attack? It could be helpful when planning a strategy.

"Not a big fan of pepper," Rigel muttered, before Shigeru started talking about the...situation...with Voltman. Suddenly, he made a comment about Rigel likely having drifted off by this point.

"No...no, I'm still here," he said, trying to figure out how a GMO could not only develop a personality of its own, but also replace the original image program. The closest situation he could think of was Swing and his Swordmaster.GMO...but that had been through Swing's personal preference.

"Pianissimo...is an assassin. He tends to prefer striking the enemy fast and hard, usually with melee weapons. Think of him as a swordfighter that prefers jumping the opponent instead of a fair fight. He also has a bit of an aversion to loud noises. Works much better in silence. In fact, he has a technique that does just that, temporarily eliminates all sound in the area."

Shigeru nodded as he spoke
Okay. Swordfighter. Good to know. My navi seems to draw most of the attention unless we're with allies who throw themselves into danger, so that may come in handy. But no sound? That would make communication difficult between navis. They'd have to make some sort of code to communicate. Then again, slashing wildly generally gives the "Charge!" signal...
He took another bite out of his hot dog. Then, something hit him.
Do you have an areagrab chip? It sounds like you would, seeing as it's the perfect thing for getting behind the enemy... and as for your melee weapons, that's always a good weapon to use.
As for Voltman's fighting style, he's a trickster. He'll use his multiple personalities to confuse the opponent, and will always resort to his electric blasts when all else fails.

"Yes, I have an areagrab chip," Rigel said, taken aback for only a second. "Why do you ask?"

Because, Shigeru explained, if we can plan a double attack from behind, we could severely damage the enemy ranks before they even know what hit them. Next turn, if there's anything left, we should do just that. If you have a sword chip, use it.
He chucked his MondoDog wrapper in the trash, and focused on his PET, talking to Voltman and slotting in chips. Then, he started laughing as he closed a communications link with Voltman.
Don't mind Volt's behavior. He can just be dramatic for the hell of it when he gets bored. It's just his way of making things more interesting. I don't think I mentioned this earlier, but he seems to treat life as one giant game. Whether he's a child or not. It's all just for the love of the battle, for Voltman.

Shigeru suddenly got up, looking at his zenny balance, and headed for the navicust shop.
Be right back! But I've got to get something before we face whatever deleted Stryder!

(To the navicust shop!)

Shigeru ran back, out of breath.
Sorry about that, but this...
He held up the process upgrade
...will definitely help us.

"Well, that's nice to know," said Rigel, looking up as Shigeru returned. He of course remembered Swing's description of Sharo from the Cybeast incident seven years ago. "If whatever deleted Stryder is what I think it is, we'll certainly need all the help we can get."

Shigeru grinned weakly at Rigel.
Well, it looks like we did it.
He stood up, stretching.
But if you'll excuse me, I have to go. See you around!
And with that, he rushed off towards the Metroline, and bought a ticket to ACDC. He was about to get on when he stopped, and headed back towards the Upgrade Shop. There were some things he wanted to get...

So that\'s all there is, huh? said Rigel to himself, jacking Pianissimo out of Sharo. He disappeared into the trees, and seconds later came out holding what appeared to be a briefcase, and headed toward the metroline.

Shigeru arrived in Scilabs once more, grinning and looking around. Sure enough, the hotdog vendor was still there. Walking up, he placed an order for a mondodog, payed the 50z, added 20z as a small tip (loving the fact that he was now friends with the vendor, and got discounted prices), and headed towards the upgrades shop. His zenny balance was still the same, so he assumed that the trade hadn't gone through yet. So, with nothing else to do, he just sat down and watched Volt's battle.
It'll take a while to reestablish a link strong enough to send battlechips through... he mused ...so I guess there's nothing else for it. I've got to let him handle this one on his own.
But as the fighting progressed, the trio tearing through the enemies like rice paper, his grin spread into a full out smile.
Maybe he won't have to.