Sci-Park

"And...Done!"

The moment Finny stepped her foot on the Sci-lab Park, the upgrades she was so desperate to install was complete, giving Cambiare few extra edge in the upcoming battle. "Finny, p-please tell me what's going on! Don't l-leave me in the dark like this!" Cambiare pleaded. "I don't think you understand, Cambi. Even if this Roger-guy is all that, we need to see the fruit of all those training we did so far! And I can't think of anything better than to tackle some fight with a stranger I just met at a store!"

The navi couldn't possibly compute Finny's thought process, but if there was one thing for sure, he wasn't going to like this at all...

Roger rushed to apply all the changes he had been considering while chasing after Finny to the park. His heart was racing at the anticipation of his first real netbattle and with such a cute girl at that, though it might also have been the exercise of running after her. Regardless, life was really starting to look up for him.

"Sorry about the delay! Not as fast as I used to be! Haha!" Roger laughed, short on breath. He tapped his PET's screen to see that everything was working and to get his navi ready, "DubloonMan!"

"Yo ho, Roger!" DubloonMan answered, "What be on yer mind?"

"It's time to fight!" Roger said.

DubloonMan perked up at the news and grinned, polishing his hook, "Music t' me ears, lad. Music t' me ears..."

Roger took a moment to think about what could happen and quickly amended his statement, "...Like a friendly fight, a FRIENDLY fight. You don't need to really go ALL OUT here, okay?"

"Aye, this fight'll be REAL friendly... Yar ha-har..." DubloonMan laughed slowly, not appearing as if he understood what his operator meant.

Roger's smile died a little but what choice did he have now. He shrugged and jacked his navi into the network and hoped for the best.

"Ready when you are." Roger said.

((Scilab Net))

[color=ff9900]"Ha, took you long enough." Finny remarked about Roger's pace. "Are you ready, Cambiare?" She showed off her PET at Roger as if she was in some Saturday kids show, ready to jump into action...But Cambiare couldn't share her enthusiasm whatsoever. "W-w-w-wait, I have to fight? Why do I have to fight! And that other navi sounds pretty r-rough..." The navi was reluctant to join the fight, but unfortunately, he wasn't the one who had the control over the jack-in function...

Finny pointed her PET at the terminal and forcefully sent Cambiare into his deathbattle, all the while keeping a smile on her face.

-Jack-in: Scilab-

"Uhh... Hahaha..." Roger laughed nervously, "Sorry about that. Your navi put up a real good fight! Mine just gets a little out of control sometimes..."

Part of him wanted to shake Finny's hand and bid her farewell, but mostly he wanted to get out of there before she started to cry or berate him for picking on her navi. He thought about how he could really use another visit to the beach to unwind after that fight.

Making sure DubloonMan was back in his PET, he added, "It was certainly nice meeting you, miss! I think I'm going to head off to the beach for a break. Hope we can do this again sometime - only if you really want to though! Hahaha!"

"...Wait." said Finny in a rather dramatic tone. "You're not getting away that easily, Roger!" She stomped her feet as she quickly approached Roger and abruptly grabbed the sailor by the collar (But not strong enough to pull anything else more than the shirt). "I think you have to take responsibility for beating up my navi, don't you think? Friendly match? You had a parrot fighting with your DoobooloonMan, that's not fair at all!"

Finny grabbed Roger's collars with both hands to finally pull Roger forward (by an inch), gritting her teeth as she barked at the poor sailor. "Don't you even feel sad about beating up Cambi like he was some rag doll? He has feelings to!...Rather, some pathetic feelings, but feelings nonetheless!" She continued her "little talk" as she pulled Roger closer (by another inch). "Like I said. You. Need. To. Take. Respo. Si. Bility! I'm gonna come with you whether you like it or not till we figure something out!" Finally letting go of Roger, Finny stepped back with her arms crossed, not wanting to lose "this" battle over anything else.

Roger didn't know what to say to such a personal attack, and being grabbed by a girl like that was fairly unsettling to him. This was almost a reverse of his situation in the netbattle. He knew he should have gotten out of there while he still could.

"Hey hey hey! T-take responsibility? That's just how netbattles are!" Roger said with hands raised defensively, "It's not like you really ever have a fair fight! Unless you're using the same navi and folder and everything else, someone's going to have an advantage somewhere! You just gotta deal!"

Roger straightened his jacket and added in a sophisticated tone, "You're welcome to join me, just no more grabbing please."

((Beach Street))

"So it's a deal, right? Better get yourself ready, Roger!" Finny smiled and followed behind the sailor promptly, enjoying herself even after her defeat in the netbattle. She honestly didn't know what she was going to get by following the middle-aged man to the beach...but she didn't have anything better to do. After a quick check-up on the PET, finding that Cambiare was still "asleep" recovering from battle, Finny had a mischievous smile.

"Let's get going!"

-Destination: Beach-