Tourney Spectator Lounge

Rose decided to greet the newest arrival. "Hello there." She said, approaching him. She held out her hand for a greeting handshake as she had with everyone else. "My name's Rose Dunrae." She informed him with a smile.

She noted the impressive amount of apparently non-conformist types in her midst. "Strange; I don't think I've ever seen such a public smack down on the NP." Though based on the pale, red eyed person in front of her, the whole "non-conformist" thing didn't really startle her.

"Over there, that's Ceres, he and Enigma already won their first bracket match. And Zeo over there is just here to spectate. Everyone else, however, is in the second bracket, yeah." She continued.

SummonerMan continued watching the screens. He had decided to avoid speaking unless spoken to or the situation encouraged him joining in; either for his benefit or the entertaining detriment of another.

She backed off from the new entree after that, returning to where she had been standing, nearer to her chair.

Sabrina took the next few moments to just...stare at the newcomer, trying to figure out what in the world he was saying. ...Unfortunately, she failed miserably. "Er...hi! Yeah, most of the people here are in the second group..." She sat back as Rose took over for her and covered what she was about to. Which was good, as it meant she could take a few seconds to glance at the other matches.

A thought suddenly occurred in her head. One that made for a little conversation for everyone, at least. "You know, I'm curious...why did everyone decide to join the tournament? Personally, I wanted to see how me and my Navi did against other Navis, instead of just viruses like we usually do! And of course, I figured we'd get a nice little something for participating, especially if we won!"

"So...you joined just to get us free stuff?" SplashLady started sweatdropping at this reasoning. "If that's why you signed us up, you could've at least asked me if I wanted to do this beforehand..."

"...That's another reason we did it. You can be a real wuss when it comes to fighting anything that looks tough! I mean, you can suck it up and do things anyway, but at some point that's going to come back and bite you! And I don't want that happening while you're fighting something that can delete you...like that shark thing from Yoka yesterday!"

"Ugh, don't remind me of that..."

"See? Just thinking about it's giving you the creeps."

"...Fine. Okay then, after we're knocked out of the tournament, we can head for Hades Isle and get your thing about spooky places all cleared up! That way neither of us will be afraid of anything!"

"I-I told you I'm not afraid of that stuff! I just...don't like it..." Okay, now things were getting off-track. Time to get back to the matter at hand. "So, how about the rest of you? Of course, you don't really have to get all in-depth like I just did..."

Ceres snorted audibly at Sabrina's remark. Keep the peace? he said indignantly, just barely catching himself before he flew into a rant. Let's just say that's not the usual case. Indeed, Ceres had recovered quickly, back to his usual short-fused self.

Enigma, on the other hand, was barely containing his rage. The last time he'd been this angry was, well, when his other .GMO had taken over. Biting his figurative tongue, he chose to say nothing and let his operator make a fool out of himself. Maybe, sometime, he'd learn.

Yeah, I'm Ceres, the operator introduced himself with a nod. You're against... Memoriam, right? he asked casually. Should be a good fight. In fact, all of these fights should be interesting really. As he finished speaking, Sabrina took up the speaker's mantle, to which he began hesitantly, Well... we sort of...

We need the money and I need to know I'm not a loser, Enigma interrupted coldly. Every time he spoke seemed to bring an onslaught of emotions to Ceres, from embarrassment to shame to irritation. Right now, he decided to just play it safe and be humble.

Working towards that last speed upgrade, he said with a hint of pride coloring his words. The speed's worked pretty well so far. Enigma denied Ceres any further comments and left him searching awkwardly for something else to talk about.

The door burst open, and with a swish and a slight jangle, Steve strode into the lounge.

Punching a nearby soda machine, and grabbing the root beer that subsequently popped out, Steve flopped down in a nearby chair and cracked the can open.

"Yo." he said to the room as he took a draft. "How'd the other matches go? Anything interesting?"

"Pleasure to meet you Rose," Damian said, taking her hand and giving it a quick shake, "And you apparently have taken the lead in this tournament." Damian turned to Celes as Rose walked off, "You gotta be a pretty good fighter, I think I heard about you in Don's commentary... Shape shifter right? You gotta love that element of surprise..."

<We definitely know about the whole smoke and mirrors thing.> Void said as he loaded into his shadowy hologram on Damian's shoulder, <...And I must agree, dagger vs sword should be interesting...>

"And we must agree that the NP's whole... police brutality goes a little far..."

<In all honesty, we just entered the tournament cause it was there. You have to admit that competing like this is an exciting new way to test our skills. As intense as that net war was, the less that stuff happens the better...>

It's useful, Enigma admitted, not really sure of Damian's moral caliber as a whole. This guy seemed sketchy even to someone who'd met some of the worst people in the world.

Well, Don's commentary still calls us low middle tier, chuckled Ceres. I'd say we're pretty well into the middle tier by now, and when we get the zenny for it, we're heading to upper ASAP.

I particularly enjoy making weapons. We should have a little fight sometime, professed Enigma with a small smile. If you got an extra sword and he got an extra dagger, then you could do old-timey fencing. It was pretty amazing how Enigma had changed from fire to ice to calm in seconds.

Ceres, himself, was quite surprised. If anything, he took it for granted; Well, at least you're in a good mood again, he said almost triumphantly, his words becoming hesitant as Enigma shot him a look about halfway through. As to my opinions on the NetPolice, well, politics are forbidden in small talk, he replied, treading lightly around the issue. Best to let sleeping dogs lie... well, for as long as possible.

No problem with friendly NetBattling, and especially not with 32 people and cool prizes, Enigma shrugged, attempting to change the topic based on Damian's last comment. Conveniently, Steve chose that moment to walk into the room and grab his soda.

Hey, what's up? I'm Ceres, the operator said, inclining his head and making a friendly hand gesture as Steve walked by.

Exorcist won by default, we won pretty fast, you won of course, and the rest of the matches are still going steady, Enigma reported, pointing out the multiple tournament-oriented TV screens to Steve. I'm more excited for the second bracket, to be honest.

Rising up from his chair, Zeo stretched and put away his PET. He noticed that there were more people in the room than before. This place is getting a bit crowded. Am I really gonna stay to the end? he thought. He shrugged and studied the new arrivals. One of them must have been the guy who just won, judging from the current conversation. Directing his sentence to the one enjoying his drink, Zeo said, "I guess you're the guy who just won," echoing his previous thoughts. "You destroyed that other navi. Nicely done."

ViralMan returned to the PET for a moment, checking what Zeo had been doing. "Wait, you were playing game?! What about my-" He was interrupted by Zeo turning down the speakers again. While the navi moved to readjust them, his op said quietly, "Crowded rooms aren't the best for programming. Sorry. I did try." Checking the usage data again, ViralMan saw about 30 seconds had been spent programming. He sighed and stopped trying.

Finally Zeo introduced himself. "I'm Zeo Yamikagi. Nice to meet'cha."

Steve shrugged. "I got lucky, is all. The rest will be on skill, I hope." he said to Zeo.

Then, he waved his hand lazily to both him and Ceres. "I'm Steve. Druidman is indeed my Navi."

"Druidman..." DNR said as he looks in the direction of Steve. Polonius walks on over with a slight bow towards Steve, waving as he said "So do you remember us?"

"Yeah yeah! Do you remember us?" DNR's hologram appears besides the two, wondering if Druidman will make an appearance.

"I think I went over this, "Rose began, "But I;m here for a couple reasons. A: It was a nice topic for my next paper, B: It looked like a lot of fun. And C: The prizes, Which never hurt. however, the first one is really my big reason. I'd have come if their were no prizes."

She thought for a moment before adding, "Plus, I got to meet all of you."

"If you call that a bonus." SummonerMan added with a grin. "Besides, you didn't know you'd make friends when you got here. They could have found you unlikable."

Rose noted once more the dislike of the Net police which hung heavy and obvious around Ceres. At least he doesn't rant over it or anything, though that'd make great source for an article; always need some balanced dissenting opinions."

SummonerMan had just watched in disbelief as another match seemed to be won by a lagging issue. "Huh, that's interesting." he thought. "Now we have three winners, and still a pitiful amount of folder usage."

Before he said anything about it, the winner entered the room. Enigma also answered the question before SummonerMan needed to be bothered to.

Rose noted once more the heavy anit-NP sentiment after greeting Damian. She was really starting to be thrown off and intrigued by this striking possibly more than just non-conformist hatred of the Net Police. "My goodness. You'd think the Net Police like, shot their dogs, lit their houses on fire, abused their navis, and killed their parents."

SummonerMan grinned once more at the "second bracket" comment from Ceres. "You should be; there'll be a lot of interesting battles. Especially since you've met more than half the entrants. Besides, I'll be on that side." He shrugged at the end as he went back to watching. He seemed to be currently observing the monkey and the knight battling it out.

Rose went over to meet the new Operator, too. "Hello there." She said, once again with a smile. "I'm Rose Dunrae; It's a pleasure to meet you." Once again, she held out her hand in a standard greeting.

SummonerMan noticed the obnoxious way in which DNR greeted and assaulted the new navi, and chose to try and tune him out.

Huh...not a lot of NetPolice fans in the audience, apparently. Or among the people in the lounge, for that matter. However, she did feel a bit better that someone had motives somewhat similar to hers for entering the tournament.

...Suddenly, what sounded like a human hand hitting a hunk of metal and/or plastic was heard by the Netopian girl, who quickly glanced over. She knew the sound; it sounded was an awful lot like someone trying to get ice from the fridge back home. Looked like someone was trying to get a free soda...

KA-CHUNK!

...And succeeded. Well, power to him for pulling that off. "Hi there! Congrats on winning your match!" and this time, she knew she got the match results right.

SplashLady, on the other hand, was more focused in Polonius's and DNR's swift interest in the newcomers. Looked like they knew each other from before this. A bit interested in hearing Navis that already knew each other, as well as exactly who exactly this DruidMan was, she warped her hologram over to Polonius's unused shoulder. "Hi, new person! I'm SplashLady, and I'm the Navi of the girl that just greeted you! Nice to meet you!"

"...GAH!" Polonius quickly shifted as Splashlady appeared on his other shoulder, falling off to the floor with a dazed. He did get back up however, coughing a bit as he resumed his jovial attitude.

"DNR?" Steve said, slightly puzzled. "Oh! You must be Polonius! I don't think we ever formally met, more than just in passing." he added as comprehension set in.

Steve noticed that both DNR and this SplashLady were in mini-hologram mode. Knowing his PET didn't have this feature, he pulled out of his backpack something he had the foresight to grab on his way out; an old style PET holster armstrap. Strapping it on, and clicking his PEt in so that the large screen faced out, Druidman peered out of the window. "Yo, DNR-dude! Long time no see! And good day to you, Splash-chicka..." Druidman trailed off, he noticed something... off about the second Navi, but he couldn't place it. "Sorry about this old heap, I'm not too in tune with fancy holograms and whatnot. I like this older PET more. It's cozy, man."

Steve, meanwhile, turned to the second op that approached him. "Why, thank you, miss." Then addressing both her and Polonius; "I assume you guys are both in the second round of the battles?"

"Woahoa..." DNR and Polonius simultaneously said as they looked at the "new" fangled arm strap. It's so old to them, that they've never seen such a thing. DNR simply poked with his hologram arms towards the Druid one "So these were how holograms were made before... interesting..."

"Well... I'm fighting someone named Djinni..." DNR said with a smirk as Polonius nods to Steve. "Cozy you say?" the med student blinked curiously at Steve's old fangled PET, percolating his thoughts.

"So now that we're together again..." DNR said with a smirk as he quickly moved to Druidman's side, putting his mouth onto the wood navi's ear as he whispered to him "Think you can help me with something? That cutie SplashLady seems to be somewhat interested in me... you think you can help?"

Druidman blinked. He wasn't sure he should help DNR in this particular issue, but he couldn't think of a reason why, so he figured he'd go for it.

"Dude! DNR, little buddy! I just remembered that one time in that one net back in '7X, remember? I was fallin' down that one trap... thing, and then you saved my butt! MAN, I'm glad you were there, you saved my life! Those were good times, man. And then that one sweet little number was trapped by those viruses, and you valiantly rushed in to rescue her? Man, that was noble! And then she was all hot for you, dude, but you just played it cool, dude, remember? You said to her, "Sorry, dudette, but I'm way too much of a noble and valiant guy to take advantage of a scared and confused ladytype! HA HA HA!" And then, remember, you went and fought twelve HeelNavis at once! As I recall, while you were distracted, I ended up running off with the girl... hang on, I may be mixing up stories here..." Druidman 'reminisced' loudly, wildly pantomiming hand signals to go along with his 'memory'.

Steve pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Oh right! Of course! Man those were good times, heheh!" he said with a nod as he looked with Druidman. "Ahhh... yes I remembered that one time we fought those Magalian viruses! Damn those auras they had... We were lucky you had that one sig... what was it? Afro Disco Force? Eggs-on-an-omlette Force? Naked Wolf Searching for Maiden Force? I don't remember but it really took care of those viruses. She was even an aqua navi like yourself! Heheh... but seriously Splashlady, me and Druidman here go way back! I dare hope I can be the same to you?" DNR said with a light giggle and a smirk towards Splashlady, hoping to entice and wow the "female".

Well, this was odd...all of a sudden DruidMan and DNR were acting all weird. '7X? Afro Disco Force? What in the world? Maybe it was one of those things that made no sense unless you were actually there...?

"Uh..." Making sense of things that seemed a lot like gibberish wasn't exactly SplashLady's area of expertise. But that last part by DNR was pretty obvious. But, uh...eh, might be smart to play dumb right now. Considering she didn't get the rest of it, it wasn't a huge stretch, anyway. "Wait, what? I'm not really sure what you mean, DNR..."

"Well... basically... I basically helped somebody with Druidman here at my side a long time ago." DNR said condensing it, scratching his cheek somewhat.

"Oh, cool." SplashLady would probably have pulled out a paddleball game and messed around with it, if she had one, what with the conversation suddenly dying and all. However, another question formed in her head, and it was one that needed to be asked. "So, what were you saying just then about 'you being the same to me'?" Granted, she had a feeling she knew the answer; she wasn't THAT oblivious. But it couldn't hurt to make sure...

Druidman winced. He had handed DNR gold, and he had somehow flushed it down a drain. DNR didn't look totally helpless and hopeless yet, so he decided to not bail him out yet. Maybe he'd learn to walk today, after all.