Tourney Spectator Lounge

"Ahh..." As she entered the lobby, Sabrina flipped her new Recover30 chip between her fingers, before dumping it into her spare chip pocket. "Well, THAT didn't work out the way I hoped..."

"Yeah...listen. There's something I want to tell you..."

"I already told you. You don't have to apologize! Whenever Dad and FlareMan had one of their rare failures, they always split the blame, and said that as a team, the blame should be shared among all the team members. So while I can't say it's all my own fault, it's definitely not all you, either. We both screwed up, and that's why we lost."

"Nicely said, Sabrina! But, that's not what I was going to say..."

"...Oh. Then what is it?"

"I dunno...I just didn't feel comfortable fighting like this. I mean, I did get a little practice beforehand, but I've still had this body for less than a day. I think that got in the way of my battling a little bit. It's still no excuse, but I think it was a factor..."

"Really? I guess that one's on me, since it was my idea you fight like that. ...See, this is the kind of teamwork that makes Dad and Brandon so good! We can tell each other what we did right and wrong, and not worry about what the other'll think!"

"You really think so? Too bad we didn't show it during the match..."

"Yeah, that was rough...but unless you find a way to go back in time, there's nothing we can do about it now. We'll just have to do better next time! ...Well, there's no real reason to stay here. Let's just go back to Electopia and keep training!...Starting tomorrow. I don't really feel like doing it now..."

"Yeah...me too. At least it'll give me time to get used to this body!"

"You know that you can change back to your regular self anytime now, right?"

"I know...but there's things that I can only do like this! Like opening my mouth, since I only have one in this form, spinning my spear, since not only do I have a spear, but there's no way I'm dexterous enough when I'm normal...and even breathe!" SplashLady suddenly stopped and took a deep breath. "See? I mean, I can do something like that normally, but I can't actually get air in and out of me!"

"So long as you realize that it's your call!" And so, having wrapped up her first tournament experience, the Netopian girl exited the Colosseum, the city, and the entire country, in that order.

(to Yoka!)

Mazer walked out of the competition terminal, PET in hand.
"Great work on your first battle, you two!"
Mach stood next to Aera, who just recently emerged from the DRS from being EJO'd by one of Splashman's attacks, and gives a thumbs up to Mazer.
[[i]It was a great battle, especially for my first time facing another Navi in a duel-like setting.[/i]]
"You know what, you're right! We haven't really done any NetBattling against other Navis until now. I hope this isn't just a case of beginner's luck!"
[[i]Both of us know there will be some especially strong Navis in the tournament. I would be surprised if I win, especially without the last battle being a hard-core slugfest.[/i]]
Aera turned to Mach and frowned.
[[i]Well at least have some self confidence! I think we can win this.[/i]]

As the two looked at each other, Mazer passed a board on the wall with the tournament bracket displayed. The first round of battles were nearly over, and he could see who he and his partners would face next.
"Hey, I found out who we're facing. Its Na'im bin ...Shaitan, with Djinni.EXE and Fyre.SP. Interesting."
[[i]Well, I knew it would only be a matter of time before we encountered a Navi with a SP of their own.][/i]

Mazer happened to notice two snapshots of both the NetOp and his Navi/SP pair. He started to take all of the information he currently had, and got a hypothesis.
"From looking at Djinni and Fyre, and her SP's name, I think either one or both of them have fire attributes."
[[i]Hm... It's probably likely they would have chosen the fire tourney folder. I may actually be able to use my XIIICross next battle. I would have done so before, but Splashman would have doused me in an instant.][/i]

Mazer continued to look on, and noticed Machman was still fairly low on the list for the next round.
"It looks like it may be a bit until the next round starts. You want to do some quick busting, to keep you both warmed up?"
[[i]Sounds alright with me.[/i]]
[[i]Me too.[/i]]
"Cool. I'll jack you both in once I get out of here."

Mazer left the building, and went to the nearest phone/internet terminal. He then inserted his PET jack into one of the ports, and sent his Navi and SP into the network.

"Zzzz....zzz....*snrk!*... Hrm?" Aelieth blearily opened his eyes, the empty Styrofoam cup rolling from his hand as he stretched. Rubbing his eyes, he looked around, noticing the "sudden" lack of people. "Huh..." he groaned, stretching his neck. "I must have dozed off... Beta?" He stood up, pushed down on his hips, and twisted his spine, eliciting a series of small pops to run the length of his spine. He looked around to see what had become of his Navi.

Holoß, being snubbed by all but one other Navi and coming back to find his operator asleep, had spent the past while wandering around the room, keeping to himself. At the moment, he had himself propped up behind Burt's seat, his quiet nature allowing him to watch over the man's shoulder quite unnoticed. As Burt left his seat ((Link)), Holo slid down the back of the chair, stealing the professor's seat. Feeling playful, a thin beam of light flashed through his body, leaving a holographic Metool standing where Holo once sat. The mischievous projection sat in wait, eager to see how the human would react to seeing a "real" virus.

Virgil walked into the spectator lounge, and spotted all the people residing in there. He said something into the PET that wasn't very audible to surrounding eavesdroppers, and walked to one of the chairs and used it's port to jack his navi in. His eyes turned to the seat next to him, the one inhabited by a met...In roughly a second, Virgil's palm was about to collide with the poor program of malice intent... or the chair, one of those two.

Holoß stood there as a fist passed smoothly through his back. Turning, he cast a sarcastic glare upon the man who just tried to punch a hologram before flipping off the chair, fluidly shifting into a floating mouth before jabbing his tongue out at him. Falling to the floor, he sprouted feline legs from his back and trotted over to Aelieth, the tabby sized lion rubbing his head against his Net Op's leg before deactivating the projector and appearing once more upon the PET screen.

"There you are." He said, looking down at the beep his PET gave him. "Get into any trouble while I was asleep?" The holographic Navi shook his head, perhaps a bit more enthusiastically than the question warranted. Strolling back to his seat, Aelieth laid the PET on one of his legs as he turned to the screens showing the fights. "I wonder how tough our next opponent is gonna be..." he wondered, watching no fight in particular. Holoß merely shrugged, reclining as a hammock unfurled from his back. I'd rather not think about it... the Navi thought, a split-second sidelong glance momentarily betraying his relaxed demeanor. Hopefully enough for me to handle.

"We're awesome!"

<We know it!>

<We note the fact that we won by default, and shut up to show it...> Void glared angrily at his comrades as they boogied into the room, <We didn't necessarily win this fight, and did you see who we are fighting in the next round?>

<come on, how bad could it be?>

"Level 20+..." Damian gulped nervously as he looked at, the roster.

<What?!?>

<Now it sinks in...> Void mutters. <We're gonna need some kind of-- SYSTEM UPDATE, REREGISTRATION OF SUB_TYPES>

"Wha..." Damian gave a confused look at Imp, wondering what in the abyss just happened.

<We never changed his update messaging system, nothing big happens.>

"Well there is a new wind type on the list, that looks pretty good."

<yeah, but look at this one right here, there is a new shadow subty-oops.> Imp cringed, his finger hitting an option when he tried to show the location of the shadow subtype.

<LOADING NEW SUB_TYPE: SUMMON, LOADING COMP- to happen> Void looked back and forth between his OP and Imp, <What just happened? and why do I suddenly feel heavier?>

Damian shot a enraged look at Imp, "Congratulations Void, you're a summon subtype..."

<WHAT!?!?!>

<It's cool, we can salvage this. You use most of your chips like summons anyways... and... like... you know...>

"Let's try and get a sig-edit before round 2, maybe we can change enough to give us an advantage."

As Damian headed out the door, Void quickly muttered to Damian, <Don't take too long, I need to vent my anger...>

Burt lounged lazily with a comfortable stretch, extending his legs to cover the entire couch while scratching under his ribs uncomfortably. "Why do I wear wool sweaters all the time again? So itchy," he muttered to himself, watching the tournament updates with a languid smile. As he watched the battle results scroll by, he realized that only two fights remained still unfinished. "Ah, well then Exxy, looks like our battle will be coming up soon! I'm getting my rest in now so I'll be ready for it," he sighed with a quiet, lazy tone, plopping his head back down onto the armrest and snuggling himself deep into the cushions.

"Ah ha, okay then. I guess I'll keep on resting myself," she responded, enjoying having her robe back to replace the rather immodest swimsuit. "How much longer do you suppose it'll be? I can't wait to have my first real match!" she thought with excitement, imagining what kind of interesting opponent a guy named HoloBeta could turn out to be (assuming she was reading the symbol correctly from the distance of the couch).

"Eh, just a little while, they're wrapping up now," Burt answered in a muffled voice, his face still buried in the cushions. As soon as he'd finished speaking, his PET began to ring out the tone of the popular (20 years ago) dance hit, "Alma Data," which Burt had indicated recently as "the anthem of Counterinfectualism." This awful sound was apparently indicating a call, so he rolled over on one arm to answer it, his long, dark bangs hanging in his face as he pressed the PET's response button. "Yeeello? Is this one of my admiring students?" he asked with undue confidence.

"No, this is Dr. Ernst Green, calling on behalf of the school board, your rather discontent employers. You DO recall that you're supposed to be teaching today, don't you? I don't know how you slipped out, but we've word that you're involved in some sort of sponsored netbattling tournament right now! Do you have any idea what a disgrace this board finds the mere concept of a teacher skipping his own class to earn cash prizes in a leisurely event to be?" a gruff voice scolded Burt at an audible enough volume so as to allow the entire room to hear it.

"W-Well skipping's a little strong, see, I allowed all of my students to follow me here as a field trip! I-It was supposed to be net-battling education, y'see," Burt replied, straightening his scarf as though it were a tie.

"And just what part of religious studies is it that has ANYTHING to do with net-battling?!" the voice growled. "I want to see you in my office IMMEDIATELY after you arrive back and finish teaching that class that you are assigned to teach!"

"Yes sir!" Burt finished, standing erect and shivering. "Dammit, Exxy, it seems we've got to split. I want you to battle as much as you want to battle, but my job's in danger! No job means no money and no money means no netbattling. Even the devout need money, am I right?" he asked, adjusting his glasses and bolting for the door.

"But Burt, I didn't even get a single battle..." Exorcist sobbed, burying her face in her hands. In the end, the whole training exercise had been a flop and she barely felt she'd become any stronger at all. Maybe she'd end up strengthening her ability to cope with disappointment...?

Aelieth watched as the older gentleman made a mad dash for the door. "Huh... I wonder where he's off to. He's gonna miss his match if he's gone too long..." Shrugging, he turned back to the screens just in time to see one Navi send a hematite column barreling across the field. "You watching these, Holo? We've gotta stay on top of these strategies if we're going to beat this." He commented in a matter-of-fact tone, perhaps overdoing his newfound confidence act. Holo lifted his head, shrugged, then went back to reclining.

As his head turned to face the ceiling, a window popped into existence, floating about a foot above his face. "New software update detected. Would you like to install update (Y/N)?" Holo blinked before raising a finger to the panel, lazily tracing a 'Y' next to the prompt and depressing the panel marked "Submit." Holoß felt an electric jolt as his palm was instantly fused with the popup window, its face now displaying a progress bar. Trying to pull away, Holo accidently pulled the window further onto himself, his other arm and a good portion of his chest now electrically bonded to the window. A faint glowing emanated from the panel as the progress bar filled, streams of new data flowing into Holo and weaving itself into his code, replacing outdated lines and streamlining his processes. Thirty seconds later, the update completed and Holo managed to dislodge himself from the pop-up, uncertain of what he just downloaded...

A light chirp! sounded from the PET, alerting Aelieth that something had just been downloaded. "Wha...?" he mused, unclipping the PET from his belt and looking down at the screen. An information window sat emblazoned upon the screen, blocking Holoß from view. "Congratulations! Your Net Navigator upgrade: SPEED SUBTYPE has been successfully installed! Please contact SciLabs customer support for any questions regarding your SPEED SUBTYPE upgrade. Press anywhere to close this window." Confused as to how this was possible, Aelieth tapped the screen lightly and gasped at what he saw. The new subtype had caused the .net coding in Holo to process faster than his projectors could handle, resulting and a large amount of lag in the Navi's movements. The Navi waved sheepishly, several afterimages of his hand jaggedly following the arm as he did so.

The Operator jumped up, searching frantically for the clock on the wall. Not much time was left before the next match. He needed something to fix this. Aeleith's mind roared into overdrive, his programmer's instincts actively seeking solutions to the problem. Holo's projectors aren't processing fast enough for his programming... He needs an upgrade... where have I seen Process Upgrades before?... !!! He bolted for the door, pushing his way through the crowd and to the train. "Gotta make it there fast!" he grimaced, sharp pains stabbing away at his screaming lungs.

((Heading to Navi Shop.))

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Aelieth stumbled through the door, collapsing on the closest seat he could find. Man.... I'm horribly out of shape... he mentally grumbled, collapsing at the waist to catch his breath. Once his sides no longer felt as though his lungs were desperately trying to tear their way through his ribs, he opened his newly purchased upgrades and began the upgrade process...

((Keeping time space intact without double-posting))

"Manners, huh?" Duke muttered, getting out of his seat and stumbling to the door. "It's out of my hands. Besides, things tend to die when they encounter him, it's not like he'd have much use for them."

He wandered out of the coliseum, hoping to visit the navi shop before the next match.

Steve sat at his chair, after finishing operating Druidman for the GNA. He installed the blank Support Program, already full of ideas on how to program it. Perhaps a cool weapon or a motorcycle or something. OH! A GOAT. That would be awesome. But something strange happened...

"Druidman, what happened to that SP we just got?" Steve asked his Navi.

"Uh, Idunno, dude, but I feel kinda funky." was his only reply.

Quickly checking the program files, he noticed that Druidman's program had gotten slightly larger... well, shit. "Druidman, I think you ate it." was Steve's reply in horror.

"Ate it?" Druidman added. "That would explain why I feel kinda content, dude."

"Wait, I see..." Steve said, examining the coding a bit closer. "It looks like the SP automatically attached itself to your program, and took on the characteristics of a dormant part of you. It's part of you that's now separate. Think of it as a spirit or something."

"Like an animal spirit?" Druidman replied. Though he was a druid, Druidman still held a great respect for the old Native Netopian legends.

"Sure, I guess so." Steve said, looking though the statistics displayed. "It looks minorly corrupted. It's element is Fire. Probably from that one thing." He said. "Had it not been there, I'd have expected it to be Wood like you. In fact... it looks like it's almost a total mirror for you. Hmm, that's odd..."

"What is it man?" Druidman replied, focusing on his new partner.

"It looks like it somehow split your subtype... You now are more of an earth based subtype... Ah, see, the PET is classifying you as a Ground type Navi, now. Wait, what?" Steve was momentarily confused, as he had never heard of such a subtype. "Anyway, it looks like your SP took the other half, it's Wind type." he finished.

"Fire and Wind? Like a phoenix or something?" Druidman replied.

On the word 'phoenix' a burst of flame appeared in the air in front of him, and large egg was deposited on the ground, which instantly hatched in a shower of embers, and a large, red and gold plumaged bird appeared, stretched it's wings, and took flight, orbiting Druidman. "It's a simurgh, dude!" Druidman called. "Hey, Sim! There's a good bird, man!" As 'Sim' landed on Druidman's shoulder, Druidman corrected himself. "Sorry. 'Lady'."

"How can you tell?" Steve asked, curious.

"I just know those sorts of things, man. You should know that." Druidman laughed.

"Well, at any rate, you have an SP now. It's not a goat, but it will do. Take good care of her, Druidman." Steve lectured.

"Goat?" was Druidman's reply with a confused look.

Mill walked into the lounge as nonchalantly as possible, aware that most of the other first round winners would be there too, so his victory meant little. After a headcount, though... Mill didn't recognize anyone. He caught 3 people immediately in his eye: one was sitting in one of the chairs and upgrading his PET, and looked like he was gasping for breath... Eh, he's probably alright. Someone else was by the terminals, and apparently getting some warm-up busting in while he could. The last dude was sporting a ponytail and sunglasses while chatting with his Navi... Weird...

Not feeling particularly daring at the moment, Mill walked over to the displays to take a look at the bracket. From the people he knew... "Burt won by default, but... withdrew for personal reasons for the second round. Wow. I guess I really shouldn't predict things with him..." sighed Mill, moving on through the list. "Voulge and SummonerMan... SummonerMan is Rose's Navi, I think. And one of them will be our next opponent."

"I'll win regardless of who I'm fighting, so don't worry about it." bragged Anyis, on a bit of an arrogance high after the win.

"Hopefully a little quicker than last time..." muttered Mill under his breath. "Oh, Sabrina lost. I guess that's why she's not still here..." He only spoke a few words to her, but it still sucked that someone he knew lost. That "MachMan" Navi must be pretty strong... No no, worry about that later. Voulge and SummonerMan are the only ones I should be paying attention to right now. So, with his curiousity satisfied, Mill took a seat in another part of the lounge to watch the end of the remaining match to decide his opponent.

A good showing from both Voulge and SummonerMan... with no resolution. "Jeez, am I ever actually going to get my next opponent?" groaned Anyis in frustration, ignoring how much effort both teams were putting into their fight.

"If you're that itching for a fight, do you just want to go bust some viruses?" asked Mill. "If we just jack in here, we could probably clear a few before they finish."

"Yeah, okay. I could use a warm-up." nodded Anyis in agreement. This led Mill to scoot over a few seats and beam Anyis into the nearest terminal.

(Jack In, Netopia Net)

Returning from the shop, Duke wandered back to the same chair he had occupied before and flopped in it again. Looking up at the battle still taking place, he rolled his eyes. "Sheesh, they're still going at it?"

As Enigma was jacked out of the local Net, Ceres looked around the room casually for the first time in probably half an hour, forty-five minutes. His eyes catching on the multiple screens clustered around the room, he widened his eyes with surprise. What, they're still going? he laughed, watching with interest as the singular battle was displayed across every single screen in the room. It really was quite an interesting effect, as there was no delay on any screen and so there seemed to be dozens of identical fights going on all around them.

Looks like it's finishing up, Enigma said nonchalantly, then suddenly noticing SummonerMan. Hey, if it isn't that jerk of a navi. Looks like he's gonna lose, too, Enigma chuckled.

Maybe not, Ceres retorted, then began to change his mind as he saw the strategy of the two navis. Hmm, looks like the other navi is going for a finisher, and all Summoner really used was a Guard...

Yeah, it may be close, but he's pretty much done, shrugged Enigma.

So, does anyone know what we're supposed to do to go to round two? Ceres called out to the room. I've been sitting here for aaaages.

Steve looked up. "They can't start round two until round one is over." he answered, rolling his eyes. "After that, I'm sure that they'll post who's in which arena." he added, stretching in his chair. "Gotta clean up the messes we made and build the new terrain or whatever."

Ceres shot Steve a look back and replied, I meant when exactly. It could be, say, right now, if they want to get started immediately, or right when this battle finishes, or whenever we like...

Basically, he was trying to start a conversation, snorted Enigma to Ceres' chagrin.

After finishing the battle, Marius arrived at the Spectator Lounge, finding himself surrounded by faces he never seen before. Obviously, most of these people are the Round 2 contestants he may need to fight next. Whipping out his PET from his jacket pocket, he browsed the tournament bracket and found his next opponent. "Anyis and Mill..." Marius scanned through the room, but found no one matching his opponent's profile. "Guess he's not here...What's this?"

The operator suddenly found a shiny pair of 10 zennies just under his feet. Marius picked it up and put it in his pocket. Voulge buzzed out of the PET and appeared as a holographic image, suddenly questioning Marius. "20 Zennies...We have just enough for a Signature Edit Upgrade. I strongly recommend that we purchase one so we can improve our chances in the next battle.". He looked at his navi and sighed. "But we just got here too..."

======
Destination: Navi Shop
======

Returning from his trip to the shop, Marius again entered the Lounge, finding the same people, but no real sign of his opponent, Mill. The operator took the nearest chair, sofa, or anything he could sit on and began to take a short rest. Voulge appeared in front of his operator, standing perfectly still and absolute. "What do you plan to do now? Just wait here until the second round starts?. Marius was closing his eyes, thinking what he should really do. "Maybe...Or we can juts waste our time and go to the net. I'm curious about Netopian viruses.". Voulge nodded and cut the visual connection. "Your will be done..."

======
Plug in!: Netopian Network
======

"Shit..." Steve mumbled to himself. He must have dozed off waiting for the end of the last match. Grabbing his things, he quickly jumped up and headed out to the room indicated by the DruidMan vs LinkMan flashing on the bracket board.

"Wait..." he thought as he ran. "LinkMan?"

"Done..." Aelieth sighed, leaning back and rubbing his temples. As he attempted to unknit the furrow in his brow that had formed threw extreme concentration, Holoß opened his eyes and blinked. Experimentally waving his arm through the air, he noted with satisfaction that only one arm waggled before him. "Alright, so your projectors have been upgraded to output much faster than before," Aelieth started, explaining to the Navi exactly what he had done while Holo was in standby. "Since we don't have time for a full diagnostic, I've given you full access to the refresh rate, so you should be able to calibrate them on the go."

"Well... here we go..." the operator braced himself, noting that the second round was beginning. Clipping the PET to his belt, he gathered his objects and left to check in for the next fight.