Shadows of the past

The Metro's doors swished open, as a cheerful digital female announced the arrival at Yoka. Dusting off his blazer, Joseph stepped onto the departing platform, fighting to his eyes from darting to and fro.

It had been seven years.

Yet he was still uneasy.

Not much had changed in Yoka--the legendary Hot Springs were still in full operation, and the atmosphere was... steamy, to say the least. Joseph's eyes lit up at one important detail--the run-down condition of the VABCA, no longer in service. It was a small consolation, but a thin smile stretched across Joseph's face nonetheless.

He had no dreams of encountering his past nemesises here--Frag wasn't ready yet, after all. But for now, he would recollect. Regroup. Slowly bring Frag up-to-date on their history.

Glancing at his Navi, still in sleep mode after the recent upgrade, Joseph's mind made a startling realization:

Frag still looked too much like BoxNix to pass off as an ordinary Navi. He would need to change the appearance--at least until he was able to fend off those the legendary form would attract.

His fingers working as fast as he could, Joseph rearranged the blocks into something that no one could possibly mistake for BoxNix--

Minutes later, the chunky shape, looking like something straight from a kindergartener's Lego bin, was before him. Well, it's workable. Joseph sighed mentally, as he pondered how the new upgrade would affect Frag's already volatile systems--I don't think I'm quite ready to handle that many personas at once, yet...

What did each color represent? The specifics eluded him. However, he was sure of one thing--the pink block had been obliterated, and the teal block--wait, the teal block was still there.

Or was it? As he stared, the color of the block slowly faded away, replaced by a metallic chrome--

Shit. A quick glance to Frag's vitals confirmed Joseph's worst fear--he had no idea what the hell was going on. But whatever it was, he didn't like it. Without a second thought, he rammed the "Execute" button, starting the wake-up sequence for Frag--
"What... What happened?" A deep rumble echoed from the PET. Joseph jumped, before realizing that it belonged to his Navi--"Just finished the upgrade." He glanced nervously at Frag's vitals, watching for fluctuations--

"...Did you change my appearance again?" Frag growled, as he examined his new body. "Warn me beforehand, next--" And that was all he got, before Joseph nonchalantly tapped the Jack-In command.
Snagging his PET, Joseph ambled over to the train station, light skipping as he did so.

It had been a profitable haul. Now, to see if the NET rumors about the new PET upgrade was true...

He headed off to SciLabs.