First Wish

Electown center, a wide square with electronics shops all around with a park in the middle and a dwindling amount of people. In the middle of it all, within the park, stands a man with an electronic keyboard playing his tunes with a small cup in front of him for some small earnings. As if his fingers slide over the keys, a holographic image of his Navi starts to sing.

"I could stay awake just to hear you breathing... Watch you smile while you are sleeping... Far away and dreaming... I could spend my life in this sweet surrender... I could stay lost in this moment... Forever... Well, every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure...!"

The music played by the man lifts and the Navi starts to sing louder, moving her hands as if she was holding a microphone.

"I don't wanna close my eyes! I don't wanna fall asleep...! 'Cause I'd miss you, babe... And I don't wanna miss a thing! 'Cause even when I dream of you! The sweetest dream will never do... I'd still miss you, babe... And I don't wanna miss a thing!"

The Navi continues singing, still moving as if she was singing through a microphone. "Lying close to you... Feeling your heart beating..." she continues to sing, her eyes sparkling as she looks around and her mouth moving behind a veil. "And I'm wondering what you're dreaming... Wondering if it's me you're seeing..." she sings, but then stops abruptly and turns towards her Operator.

"Why did you stop playing, Na'im?" the Navi asks quietly as she looks up at him. A stream of flames came from below her ring, keeping her above the surface of the keyboard and slowly moved around while waiting for Na'im's reply.

"Ahh... Sorry," Na'im quietly replied as he looked down at his Navi, "I lost my train of thought, Djinni. It got derailed." After saying this, he looked around and noticed people were slowly moving away from the center. "Let's take a break," he said and glanced at Djinni.

"But my people! They want me!" she shouted as she held her hands, formed into fists, against her chest. A large opened smile appeared on her face as she looked at Na'im, who only snickered and nodded.

He folded back the stand of the keyboard and moved his fingers to the far right part of it, sliding them over a touch screen as he asked, "Can you turn off the keyboard, Djinni?"

"Got it," she said and dragged a window in front of her with the keyboard's programming as the PET was built into it. Various symbols of instruments were visible on the window, the keyboard being capable of playing more than one instrument, and turned off the currently enabled ones. "Done... And done," she said and slid the window away, "So how long are you thinking of resting?"

"I don't think playing some more will get more people to come, Djinni. We'll call it a day," he said and sat down on a corner, close to a flower bed as he glanced at the flowers. "Such an easy life. They grow, they die and they grow again... Only to die again. And the best part is that they don't get bored," he said as he laughed afterwards. "Humans don't have that part..." Na'im continued and turned to Djinni.

"I never get bored when I sing..." Djinni replied and tilted her head to the right side, thinking. A few seconds later she tilted her head to the left side, still thinking. "Why don't we try doing something else for a change?" she asked as she held a finger against her lower lip while looking as if she was still thinking.

It remained quiet for a few seconds, but then Na'im started to laugh as he took the keyboard and put it on his back. "Ah, if only it was that easy," he said, still laughing quietly, "I've got enough money to feed myself. Not to mention money for a roof above my head. But I can't afford any luxuries. You know that, Djinni."

"But... But... Can't we just take a little bit of it?" she said and held her index finger and thumb close to each other, "Just for some amusement."

"Maybe," he muttered and got captured in random thoughts as he looked around aimlessly. "I wish something good would happen for a change," he said in a half trance, still thinking. Until he got snapped out of it by a loud noise that seemed to come from far away. "I thought this place was always quiet at this time..." he said to himself and stood up to see if he could identify the noise maker.

"To the observation deck!" Djinni exclaimed and floated up to Na'im's head to look around while holding a hand above her eyes. "Think we've got something over there, captain," she eventually said and pointed into the direction of an object in the distance that seemed to be approaching them.

"Good job, first mate Djinni," Na'im replied as he arched one of his eyebrows and walked out of the park to take a better look at it. His head averted from it, he walked out of the park still focused on the sound.

"NA'IM, WATCH OUT!"

Turning his head towards the object's direction, it seemed to be closer by than expected. A white and gold motorcycle with roaring engines and a girl that was on top of it. Her face was blocked by a helmet, but there was something else that Na'im was concerned with and that was how to dodge it. He immediately jumped sideways, back into the park as he heard the motorcycle didn't bother pulling the brakes and kept on going. "Hello, concrete..." he muttered as he laid on the ground with his chest, not wanting the keyboard to get damaged. Slowly he crawled up and sat down, looking at where the motorcycle had gone.

"They dropped something, boss!" Djinni shouted and attempted to pull on Na'im jacket so he could stand up. But doing this was without success as she realized she was just a hologram. "Just get up," she eventually said.

Just a slight nod came as reply as Na'im proceeded to stand up from the dirty floor. "Looks like a bag," he said as he approached the object that fallen off the motorcycle and picked it up. Carefully he opened it and took a peek inside with Djinni floating above his shoulder to look into it too. "What..." he said and picked up a few of the objects within it, "Chips? Navi Customizer goods?"

"There's a letter too!" Djinni shouted and dived into the bag, "I'll grab it for you!"

Na'im waited a few seconds for Djinni to realize she was just a hologram and looked around to see if anyone was around, but he was alone. Even some of the stores had started to close. "Figured it out yet?" he asked as he looked at a store closing, the employees talking with each other pleasantly.

"...Just help me with this. I can't read it, it's dark in here," she said, still in the bag.

Pulling up the letter, as he took along Djinni to his shoulder, he started to read it out loud. "Dear Hal, due to unforeseen problems I've unable to continue with NetBattling. I'd rather not tell about these problems in this letter, because there's too much to talk about. I hope you'll be able to use these where I couldn't. I hope I'll see you again. Much love, Area." Na'im sighed quietly after having read this and started to talk, "Looks like this girl took it to a beloved because she couldn't continue on her own... What do you think...?"

"SO TOUCHING!" Djinni exclaimed with tears in her eyes, "Such a mysterious love story! Drama! Passion!" Waving her arms around, all excited just thinking about it, she continued to talk about it, "I bet she must've been a shy passionate girl. And the guy a handsome strong man. Ah, I can already see it in front of her."

"You've got that sparkle in your eyes again, Djinni..." Na'im muttered and walked across the streets, away from the park, while going through the things that were in the bag. "She must've been quite some NetBattler," he said as he counted the amount of chips, "Pity I don't even know what these do... I've never studied the details of NetBattling. Do we need to sign in somewhere? Are we just NetBattler whenever we want to?"

Snapped out of her romantic dream of 'Area' and 'Hal', she looked at Na'im and started to speak, "I don't really know. I only take the safe paths along internet because you tell me to. No idea how it is outside those paths. We can just simply go there and look for ourselves?"

"Guess you're right," he said and held a chip up to the light of a streetlight, "If something's good is over there, it'll reach us eventually. Let's install these things. Maybe I can find a guide on the internet... Agh, forgot something. I've got to look for a place to stay tonight too..."

"How about that internet café?" Djinni suggested, "It's open 24 hours, right? Maybe they've got a place to stay and we can check out the internet immediately."

"Doesn't hurt to try..." Na'im said as he turned his head into the direction of the place his Navi had suggested and slowly walked towards it. "So... Djinni... About today..." But before he could ask his question entirely, he heard a few sounds coming from his PET and noticed Djinni had gone off into it. Turning the PET back to his front by using the strap, he looked at the screen and noticed it had turned itself off. Laughing softly, he turned it back to his back and looked up at the sky before heading into the internet café.

"So I've got two wishes left now?"

"Where we going?" Djinni asked as she sat on top of Na'im's shoulder as hologram, looking around. They had left the store they were staying at and were on their way elsewhere.

"I've heard about a good Navi store," Na'im said and held a newspaper clipping up in front of Djinni's face. On the paper was an advertisement about Gosthe's Chip Shop in ACDC. "We'll look for a chip or two to score." he said to finish and started to look around. "There's always a nighttime bus," he said with a grin as he saw a vehicle approach in the distance and lifted his hand to wave, "And they let you come along freely without a fuss."

"Well, that makes no sense..." Djinni said and left for her PET again, "I'll be taking a nap. It's late."

"One to ACDC," Na'im said to the driver of the bus, "Of course, for free." He sat down and crossed his legs, placing his keyboard PET next to him against the side of the bus. "And when we're there, the sun will show itself bare."