The Legendary Battle Dojo

"I'm home!" Leslie slid open the front door, holding a rather large paper bag. The house itself was highly traditional Electopian style, complete with straw mats and sliding wooden doors. The foyer itself was basically just a really big room used as the conveniently placed main training area, with several storage closets in the back.

"Oh, good. I thought you might've gotten lost!" A voice shouted from the opened right door, which led to the living quarters for what were basically the two masters. "Come on, I'm starvin'!" The young woman rolled her eyes, and followed the voice into a kitchen/dining room area...if it could be called a kitchen. Aside from the sink area, it clearly didn't receive much love from the occupants. The dining room was very simple, with a low, Electopian style square table with a pillow on each side. On the pillow facing the door was a middle aged Electopian man, wearing a karategi, complete with an open top like Leslie, and possessed a rugged, unkempt beard (with a few gray hairs). In fact, it looked like he hadn't so much as showered in a week. "Evening, Les!"

"...Hey, Father. I brought back supper like you asked. Stopped at the usual ramen shop down the street." She set her bag on the table, before removing two large styrofoam bowls from it. "Just plain, I'm afraid. Oh, and I got them to include chopsticks, so no worrying about that again."

"Meh, too much flavor dulls the senses. What are you waiting for, let's eat!" The elder Battle opened his bowl, and began to slurp down noodles. Not that this stopped him from talking "Sho, do you schthink your sholo training ish going well?"

"The physical training's going fine. The mental training...I dunno. I just can't stay completely focused for very long." Leslie grabbed her chopsticks, and started downing the ramen even faster than her old man.

"That'sh fine. You're shtill young. It'd be more odd if it wash going flawlesshly." At this point, Mr. Battle set down his utensils, and took a drink from a large green bottle, which for some reason made his daughter roll her eyes disgustedly. "Ahh! Oh, right! My Navi wanted to say something to you."

He pressed a button on his PET, causing a hologram of a NormalNavi to appear on the table. "Hey! You made sure to complete that errand, right?"

Without missing a beat in food consumption, Leslie brought up a hologram of Martia to do the talking while her mouth was preoccupied. "...Yeah. After everyone's finished eating, I'll transfer it over."

"Oh, good! I was starting to worry that I'd run out of the stuff before the night was done! ...Say, Martia, is it just me, or are you looking even prettier than usual?...HIC!!!" The resulting hiccup proved so strong, that it actually forced the Navi to make a small hop. "Heh...sorry!"

The martial arts Navi's face became pale, and soon contorted into a grimace. "...Okay, what am I going to have to bail you out of now? You only use that line when you're asking for some kind of favor!"

"Not a thing! But, uh, earlier I got this great idea!"

"Oh yeah, that idea! Yep, he really had a stroke of genius this time!" The one-two punch made both girls leer at their counterparts. Martia, in particular, seemed to be glaring that just screamed "Are you sure it wasn't just a regular stroke?"

"You see, the Net's more popular than-HIC!-ever! And while we've expanded the dojo's activities there, we could use some advertising."

"I really, REALLY don't like where this is going..."

"What, you think I want you to strip down into some tiny bikini and advertise in the streets about the dojo? Because I considered that, but this idea was way better!"

"...Just...go on..."

"Well, I thought about what kind of dojo people would want to go to. And, then it hit me while watching TV. People like to see the kind of martial artists that wander around, punching bad guys into dust! Heroes of justice, if you will! So, I figure that if we start doing things like that, we'll get noticed like that!"

"...Actually, you've had worse ideas. I guess I can get on board with the plan. So, what did you have in mind?"

"Well, actually, it'll probably be mostly you. I can't punch my way out of a wet paper bag, after all. And believe me, I tried. Plus, as a custom Navi, you can catch people's eye more easily than I ever would! After all, everyone's seen a NormalNavi, but not many people have seen a Navi like you! So, anyway, I decided to get the ball rolling, and signed you up for a mission!"

"......And why didn't you even ask me this BEFORE you did it?"

"Well, I wanted to make sure you didn't say no..."

"You...but...argh!!!" Martia snapped her fingers, causing her headgear to instantly fade, apparently just so she could clutch her head in pain this plan was causing.

"Don't worry, you're all signed up, and you got what sounds like a really easy one! Just head for the coordinates that gave me, or should I say, you, and use this key card to get in! I'll give it to you after you hook me up with that crate!"

"Sigh...he's really got us backed into a corner this time. If we don't do that mission now, we'll look like real asses. You better not have gotten us in anything too deep!"

"Nah, it sounds easy! And even though you're new to NetBattling, it doesn't sound like there's any battling, either. The reward sounds pretty good, too!"

Navi and operator looked at each other, then back at the NormalNavi...then back at each other. "We'll see. I'll do it, but next time, you better ask before getting us any missions!...By the way, how'd you get a mission for me? I thought they usually only gave missions directly?"

"They do! But, heh heh...I fudged the request so it looked like you were the one asking..."

One could almost see the fuse in Martia's head blow, causing her operator to retract the hologram, and while she was all for finding out whether it was possible for a hologram to wring another hologram's neck, she decided that doing so to her father's Navi wasn't worth the risk. Leslie then stood up, her supper finished. "I'm going to go start on this mission. I'll transfer the crate in just a sec. Mind doing cleanup, Father?"

"Eh? Oh, sure, whatever!" The contents of the bottle were completely empty, and so the useless glass was carelessly tossed back, to...a rather large pile of broken green glass. "I'll just hang out here for a bit! Maybe grab another cold one and watch some TV..."

==============================================

A few minutes later, Leslie slid open the door to her room. It was a pretty small room, with a futon tucked away in a far corner. Aside from that, it was...actually pretty bare. In the other far corner was a small desk with an obviously old computer on it, with nothing but a pillow to sit on, and a small bookshelf, which mostly contained books on martial arts technique...though, if one looked very carefully, you could see the edges of a few dirty magazines peeking through the books. And...that was basically it. A small closet next to the bookshelf contained all her clothes. Without looking, she removed her black belt and karategi jacket, and flung them on top of the bookshelf before flopping onto what could very generously be called a bed. "Well, this is turning into a real pain in the ass day, huh?"

"Yeah, but there's not much else to do but grin and bear it at this point. Let's just get it over with, okay?"

"Fine. Got the coordinates all set?"

"Almost...there, now they are! I've got the GuestPass with me, too. So, jack me in at will! Though, I'm a little worried that he never said exactly what the mission was going to be..."

"Yeah...only one way to find out now, though." The fighter, without even looking, aimed her PET straight at her computer's lone port. Though, admittedly, if her arms were much longer, the two ports would probably have been touching. "Jack in! Martia, Execute!"
"I'm back!" Martia reformed within the confines of her PET screen...and suddenly found herself dissipating again. The next thing she knew, she was in a familiar cyberworld. "Uh, Leslie? Why am I in your computer?"

"Because I'm taking the PET with me to the bathroom, and you probably don't want to see what happens while I'm inside said bathroom. Here's a hint...it involves that recording of your mission I did!"

"...Yeah, good call. Go take care of that." The Navi waved her operator off, wanting that particular conversation to end fast.

"Okay! Be back soon!" And thus was Leslie off, to do...certain things. Martia sat back and took the opportunity to relax from a hard mission of chasing crazy Navis from Sharo and having her clothing ripped to shreds. At one point she stopped to access something on the Net, but otherwise, she simply kept her eyes closed and did nothing.

About 15 minutes later, the operator walked back into her room, giving off a more relaxed aura herself. "I'm baaack! You can come back to the PET now!" And so the Navi did. "Hey, what're you holding?"

"I checked out the chip trading BBS on a hunch, and look what I got! Another FireHit!"

"Cool. What'd it cost?"

"Just that Shotgun. I'm not much for shooting things, so..."

"Yep. Don't get me wrong, as long as it's just a chip trade, I don't really care. Now, if it cost money, you'll need to check with me first! I mean, what I've got in the PET is all I have!"

"I know, I know...the dojo's under, so we shouldn't go spending cash frivolously."

"...No. 3-4 years ago, the dojo was under. Now we have gills and our bodies are better suited for immense water pressure!"

"...You've been watching nature shows again, haven't you?"

"...Maybe..." Leslie flopped onto her futon. "By the way, you can head back to the PET now, I'm done. I'm beat, so I'm gonna go to bed now..."

"Sure!" And so it was done. Now she could find that recording of her mission and-

"Oh, and I put some security on that mission recording. Touch it, and all your clothes go poof while pictures of you download right to my computer!"

The only response was a wordless growl...

----------------

"Zzzz..." Well, this was getting ridiculous. The PET's alarm went off 45 minutes ago, and was going off again every 5 minutes. And yet Leslie didn't even seem to hear a single beep. As it began to sound the alarm once again, Martia kicked a window inside the device, ending its reign of terror on her aching head. Why she didn't do that half an hour ago, she'd never know. "Ughhh...Leslie, get up already!"

"Zzzz..."

The martial arts Navi growled, before getting an idea. "...Oh no! My clothes are malfunctioning and they're all turning invisible! And only an operator can fix this! What should I do?"

"...Zzzz..."

...Leslie wasn't just out, she was OUT. If she wasn't snoring, the Navi would probably start wondering if she was dead. "...Whatever...I guess you've really been pushing yourself hard lately, and this is your body's way of making you stop for a while." But now she was getting bored. And without her operator, she couldn't do all that much. "Hmm...I guess I could see if I can do another mission. If it's like the last one, I won't need Leslie!" Well, that decided it. She brought up the mission BBS, typed in a request, and clicked on Send...

Fortunately, the response was swift, so there was very little wait time. Once everything was confirmed, she set her destination to the listed coordinates, and vanished from the PET.
As soon as Martia was back in the PET, she took a good look around, noticing that Leslie was nowhere to be found. Guess she finally got her butt out of bed. She didn't have long to wonder just where she went, as her operator walked back into her room...fully clothed, thankfully. Her wet hair, however, made it rather clear where she'd been. "Hey, Leslie!"

"Hey, Martia! Where were you? I went over to say good morning when I woke up, but you weren't there!"

"Oh, I had to go...somewhere..." Telling her about that last mission...no. Nuh-uh. Not happening. "The good news is, I also got some cash for us!"

"Oh, nice! ...So, anything you wanna do today? I'm feeling really good, so I'm up for anything you can think of!"

"...Honestly, I don't really wanna do anything right now..."

"...Weak! Well, I'm gonna do something!" The martial artist walked over to her window, and took a quick look around. No one was there...perfect, no one would freak out if she did that. "Alley oop!" With that, she slid through the window, landing perfectly on her feet on the ground below...which was impressive, considering her room was on the second floor.

"Hold on a sec!"

"Relax! Father locked the door when he left, and the only other key's safe inside!"

"So, you're getting back in-"

"My window's open, isn't it? And even if some robber somehow got in through there, it's not like we really have anything worth stealing!" Well, that was nice and cleared up. Now, where to...?
"Hmm...uh-huh...grr...ugh, what the hell is this thing's problem?!" Back in her room after a display of aerial grace that sadly no one saw, Leslie began to work on installing that upgrade she bought, with significantly less flourish. "...Oh, there's the slot!...Isn't it?...Dammit, all these slots look alike!"

"Yawn...what are you doing, Leslie?" To make matters worse, her commotion had woken up Martia, who appeared via an extremely groggy hologram. "...And why is the back of your PET open?"

"Right now, I'm being extremely pissed off at this! Especially since I wanted to do this before you woke up!"

"Oh. So, what are you doing, exactly?"

"I got this speed upgrade with the money you got doing...whatever. I'm trying to install it, but I can't figure out where!"

"...Speed upgrade? Why'd you get that? I thought you'd spend it on getting other than noodles in your stomach..."

"I thought about that, but...well, you do have to put up with a lot of crap because of me. So, to show my appreciation, I got it so you could beat things up faster! A girl's gotta protect herself, especially on the net!"

"Aww, thank you!" Martia hopped over and hugged her operator on the side of the face. Unfortunately for Leslie, holograms weren't solid, so she didn't get to feel cheekboob. "By the way, you're trying to put in where HPMemories go. It should go in that large slot up top."

"Up top?...Hey, I didn't see that one!" Click! It fit into place perfectly. "Finally! Though, I really did want to surprise you...say, you feel any different?"

"...Hmm. Not directly, but the PET's processing speed definitely just spiked. That'll allow me to interact with it faster."

"If you say so. So long as it works!"

"And again, I really appreciate you doing that!"

"Not a problem! It'd be nice to eat something besides noodles for a change, but my Navi comes first!" The martial artist looked over at her computer, getting an idea. "Hey, I just got a great idea! Let's do some busting, and test out that upgrade!"

"Sure! Can't let my fighting skills get rusty, after all!"

...Now where was that jack-in port, again? Oh, right there, in front of her face. Duh. "No point wasting any time, then! Jack in! Martia, Execute!"

(TO YOKA NET)
"Phew, that was rough!" As soon as she back, Martia got to work on activating some healing routines, and, much to her operator's disappointment, refreshed her appearance to be completely dry. "Ugh, I'm not accessing any suspicious data crystals for a while...

"Well...I've been thinking about it a bit, and, well, it probably wouldn't have been a good idea to leave it alone anyway. It might've started causing problems on its own or something. So you probably did the right thing!"

"I guess...still a massive pain, though!"

"Oh, it was a total pain in the ass. But, you fought hard, and it all worked out! Oh, and someone on the chip trade BBS gave me something called MistConvergence for that chip we got. I looked it up, and remember the hot water hand thing?"

"Yeah...I still feel burnt where it attacked me. I think I'm gonna have to use lotion or something..."

"...A-Anyway..." Don't think about Martia covering herself in lotion, Leslie, don't do it...crap. She thought about it. Oh yeah, rub it on you nice and slow..."Uh...well, now you can use a move like that. Really strong, and it sounds like something that gels well with your usual moves!" And, back to thinking about that.

"That doesn't sound too bad, actually. Well, anyway, what should we do now? I don't want to go busting again after that last fight...but at the same time, it doesn't seem fair if I get to sit back and relax while the dojo's in rough shape..."

"Oh, don't worry about it. I really need to do some training, anyway." ...Hmm. Idea forming...forming...aha! "Oh, I know! Why don't you do a mission thing? You won't need me, and you'll be helping out without doing a lot of hard work!"

"I dunno if I'd call it easy..." After all, showing off her womanly attributes wasn't a walk in the park. "But, I guess so. Jack me in, and we can both get started, okay?"

"All right." Point PET at port, and..."Jack in! Martia, Execute!"

About 10 minutes later, Leslie was all by herself in the house's main foyer, with a training post all set up. She took a deep breath, as she prepared herself for a pre-training ritual of hers: begin by punching the post with all her might. That way, she could get that out of her system, and focus on her technique. She reared back, gathered her thoughts and energy into her right fist, and-

"Leslie!"

...Well, so much for that. The young woman looked over at her PET, which now oddly had her Navi back in it. "Well, that was fast. How'd it go?"

"I dunno, I haven't done it yet."

"...Then why the hell aren't you doing it? You forget something?"

"Nope, I signed up for a mission that needs us both!"

Martia could almost see her operator processing that bit of info. "...What?! I didn't even know they offered those!"

"Well, they do. We need to report to the Stanley Court Mall in ElecTown. You know where that is, right?"

"Yeah, I think. That's the one that has all the random events, right?"

"Yup. And today, we're part of that event!"

"Well, you can tell me about it on the way over." Somehow, in that time frame, Leslie had gone all the way up her room, and halfway out the window. "You know, for most families, if someone locked the front door and took the only key, they'd be in real trouble!" A hop later, she made a perfect three point landing on the ground. "Good thing I'm not most people in most families!"

(TO ELECTOWN)
"Ahhhhhhhhhh!~" Precisely one hour and ten minutes after arriving home, Leslie walked into her room with a bizarrely content expression on her face, with a towel on her head, and the clothes she had worn on her mission wrapped up in a ball in her hand. "I needed that soooooo bad!"

"Not even going to ask what you did in that shower..." Martia popped up via hologram atop her operator's PET. "Thanks for putting on some clean clothes before coming in here, by the way."

"Aww, really? Pretty sure I set a new personal record or two in there...well, whatever!" With a splat, the martial artist flung her soaped up clothes into the closet. "...Did that just splat? How much of that stuff got in my clothes? I guess that explains a lot..."

"Yeah...so anyway, what are you gonna do now? The day's almost over, so if you need to do anything, you should go while there's still daylight!"

"How much almost over?"

"5:05 PM."

"...That mission took even longer than I thought..."

"Well, your shower didn't really help any...but I guess after what you went through, it couldn't be helped."

"If it makes you feel any better, your story helped keep that shower from taking even longer!"

"...Uh, glad to help...? You just said that to freak me out a little, didn't you?"

"Yep! Looks like it worked, too!" Flinging her towel over into a corner, Leslie reached into her closet, pulled out a spare black belt, and tied it around her head. "Anyway, I wanted to blow the cash we've gotten, so I guess we're off!"

"So, where are you off to? I can't really think of anywhere that you'd spend that much cash...I can think of where you'd spend less, and where you'd spend more, but 6530z's a weird amount for you..."

"Oh, don't worry! I know just the place!" Let's see...grab the house key and her PET off the table...and that was pretty much all she needed. "And I guess if Father comes home, he can just come in through here!" Through the window, a hop down to the ground...and she was on her way.

(TO SCILAB)
And there it was. Home sweet home. By now, it was completely dark, yet there was only one light on. That probably meant her father was already in bed...which also meant the front door would be locked. Crap, that meant she needed to get in the hard way. Well, hard in the sense that a normal person would be officially screwed and have to call a locksmith. She, on the other hand, just had to jump, frontflip, and there she was, in front of her own bedroom window. Piece of cake. Open the window, and bam. She just broke into her own house. "Well, that was fun. I guess supper's down in the kitchen...meh, I'm not really hungry right now."

"That's a first. Guess you drank too much tea! ...Unless-"

"Yeah, it's not just that. It's just, all that talking with Rogan brought up some bad memories."

"Bad memories? You mean..."

"Yeah, THOSE bad memories."

"Oh..."

"Don't worry, you know I can handle it." Well, that wasn't entirely true...she was probably going to make a certain trip tomorrow morning because of it. "So, another night where I've got absolutely nothing to do...any ideas, Martia?"

"Hmm...night busting, maybe? There's not a whole lot you can really do right now..."

"Yeah, I might wake up Father if I try to do any training...but, are you sure you're up for it? You've had a pretty busy day already."

"Don't worry, I'm fine! And we can always use some extra cash, anyway!"

"Very true. But, where are we gonna actually do it? Look at all the areas we can check out..."

"Hmm...how about-nah, that's kinda stupid..."

"What? I don't care if it's stupid, if you've got an idea, spill it!" While she waited, Leslie got herself 'undressed', which constituted losing her belt, jacket, shoes, and hand bandages. Which really just made herself look more like an exercise buff, and not a martial artist.

"Well, I was just thinking. DenTech University has one of the biggest online public archives in the world. Maybe somewhere in there, they've got some info on martial arts? Maybe they don't have anything new to us, but you never know...I think it's worth checking out!"

"Hey, that's not a bad id-wait, why can't we just access the archive without jacking in?"

"Well, not everything's accessible if we do that. If we really wanted to dig deep, I'd have to physically be in the archive, and manually go through everything."

"Okay, that makes sense...but why can't we just jack into it directly?"

"Do YOU feel like going all the way to DenTech at this time of night? We can still access that network from here, but it's pretty unlikely we'd get there without having to fight off a few viruses first. So, I get in some extra training, and you get to pass some time until you get sleepy!"

"You know, when you put it that way, I don't get how it's a stupid idea at all."

"Well, it's entirely possible that there isn't anything we can use in there, so we might not get anything out of it other than the NetBattle training. But I guess that's not exactly terrible itself, is it?"

"I know I'm fine with it." With that, the martial artist pulled her chair out from under her desk, and plopped onto it. "Ready to get started?"

"Ready to rock!"

"Well, have fun!" Oh, right, she should probably point her PET at her computer's port...like so. "Jack in! Martia, Execute!"
"I'm hoooome!~" With a cheery shout, Martia found herself back in her PET. She immediately noticed that it was in its charger, while Leslie was crawling into her futon. Once she was under the covers, she flung her bra over with the rest of the stuff she'd already taken off. "You really are whipped, aren't you?"

"Don't tell me you're not."

"Well, yeah, I am kinda tired...what time is it?" ...After 11? Ouch. "Wow, no wonder! We've been doing stuff all day!"

"Yeah, no kidding. So, anyway, I'm ready to crash. Night, Martia."

"Good night, Leslie!" And that was her cue. Turning the PET screen off, the Navi got to work on getting all her wet clothes off. Gloves, off. Boots, off. Headgear, off despite being not wet. Gi, off...and, wow. Body paint was usually looser than her outer armor was. Regardless, that came off, too. And nothing was spared, as her panties were too soaked to keep on. And now...to turn up the heat to something more comfortable for a girl that just got covered in fluid specifically designed to reduce temperature. Also, she needed to set things so that her outfit would be dry before Leslie was up...there. Now all she had to do was wait around naked for a few hours.

--------------------------------

Unfortunately for Leslie, she would never know about her Navi's stripping, as by the time she was up, Martia was fully dressed, and fully visible through the screen. "Morning, Martia!"

"About time you woke up! I've been trying to wake you up for a while, but you wouldn't budge! I guess you really were completely bushed." She knew enough not to look at her operator right away...unlike said operator, she didn't care to start her day by staring at another woman's bosom. "Covered yet?" ...No response. "...Leslie?" Cautiously, she looked over, only to find that she was, in fact, alone. "...Oh, I guess she wanted breakfast right away. Guess I'm still getting used to humans doing their thing." Well, not much to do but wait.

About an hour later, the martial artist returned to her room, thankfully fully dressed. "Sorry for ditching you, but I was starved! Then I decided to go take a quick bath."

"And now it's almost noon!"

"Yep...wait, noon?! I slept until 11?!"

"Yep. Like I said, you must've been super exhausted!"

"...Well, crap. That's one morning down the drain. I guess it explains why my ramen was so cold, though." ...Hmm. Now for the eternal question. "So, what do you want to do today?"

"Oh, I dunno. We could head back to DenTech and look stuff up like we were going to. Or we could practice busting...or we could do a mission...wait, aren't you going to do any training today?"

"Meh, I've wasted half the day already. Might as well make it a total waste."

"Well, if you say so..."

"Well, I guess it's not quite a waste if we help someone in the process, so how about we take up a mission?"

"Sounds good! I'll go get a request up now!"

(TO BE CONTINUED)
Once more, Leslie sat around, and watched her Navi show up on her PET screen. But there was something off with Martia...she was just standing there, but she seemed kinda...jittery and twitchy. "Hey, something wrong?"

"Umm...not really wrong, but...could you go do something without me for a bit?"

The operator snickered, knowing exactly what was going on. After all, after the things that happened on that mission..."All right, then I'll go spend all the cash we just got. It won't do us any good just sitting around."

"H-Hold on! Don't bring your PET!"

"And why not?"

"It's...personal!"

"Sure..." Yeah, it was 'personal', all right. Oh well, she had her zenny card around here somewhere...ah, there it was. She'd been using it as a bookmark for that jiujitsu manual she never got around to finishing. She opened it up and took the card, so that she could use it without losing her place. She just had to hope there wasn't any strong winds blowing in from her window. "All right, have fun doing whatever. I'm out!"

"Right..."

And with that, the martial artist left via the window, but not before writing something on a scrap of paper and taking it with her: '10920'.

(TO SCILAB)
Before popping back into her room, Leslie took a moment outside her window to check for any sounds coming from within. There was some grunting coming from inside...Martia's grunting. But she knew that particular sound. Her Navi was just practicing her moves. It was safe to go in. And so, she slipped in through the window, bag in hand. "I'm baaaaack!"

"Hrraagh! ...Oh, hey Leslie." A hologram popped up above the PET, showing off the martial artist Navi. "Actually, I kinda need to know something...what'd you get?"

"Oh, I splurged and got a speed upgrade."

"Cool, cool...anything else?"

"Uhh...I still had a little leftover, so I grabbed a process upgrade. So now I'm pretty much broke."

"Can you do me a huge favor, and add that process upgrade right now?"

"You want that first? Sure, but why?" She sat down and took the back off her PET, and started working on it.

"Well, while you were out, I thought up a new technique!"

This revelation, along with what she suspected her Navi of doing earlier, made the martial artist freeze for a momenet and look at the Navi hologram quizzically. "Say what?"

"Well, while you were out, it occurred to me that I never got around to analyzing Kevari's fighting style. So I did, and came up with a new move. But right now, I can't add it without ruining my others...so I need that upgrade!"

...Something reminded her that she needed to think about a water themed Navi. Oh, she was so right earlier. "...Well, it's in."

"Perfect! Thanks!" A blue aura surrounded her right hand for a moment, but faded. "I should go try it out now!"

"Hold up! I didn't blow 10000 zenny on this speed upgrade so I could not use it!"

"Oh, sorry...I was just so caught up with learning my new attack that I..."

"Relax, it'll just take a sec..." And...there. "It's in. Feeling quicker?"

"Yeah, I do! ...Can I go try my new move now?"

"I swear, if this is how you're going to act, I'm never spending that much on you again!"

"Oh, come on! You'd be the same way!"

"I'm not really being serious, ya know. Not really, anyway...so, anywhere in particular you want to go?"

"Um...not really. I guess we can just stay local."

"Yoka Area it is!" Computer was already on, so..."Jack in! Martia, Execute!"

(TO YOKA AREA)
After getting her Navi back, and subbsequently getting some supper, Leslie found herself lying in bed, completely and utterly devoid of things to do. "Ugh. SO bored."

"Me too." The voice came from right beside her. "...Well, you know what always solves that problem! ...Although if we do that, I might as well save circumstance the trouble and just start stripping now..." Martia looked down at her chest, and frowned. The next mission that didn't expose her chest would be the first.

"Eh, don't worry. One of these days, I'll be the one doing a mission without anything on, and not you!"

"There's a big difference between you and me, though."

"...What's that?" Okay, her figure wasn't quite as...perfect as her Navi's, but it was hardly bad. She wasn't sure what that difference could be.

"You don't care!"

"...Oh, that. What can I say? I don't embarrass easy!"

"You don't embarrass, period! But I do!"

"Ain't that the truth?"

The martial artist Navi folded her arms across her chest, almost as if preparing for when it'd be necessary. "At any rate, it's up to you. Mission or no?"

"Eh, sure. And I'll tell ya what. I'll even write up the request!"

"Really? I don't mind that..."

"Don't worry about it! If you wanna help, you can always proofread!"

"Now THAT I believe..."

In time, the message was written and sent, and there was more waiting. Fortunately for Leslie, there wasn't too big of a delay before the response came. "Oh hey, a response!" Both operator and Navi read it, and took a moment to ponder. "Uh...this is gonna sound bad, but who's Heidi Mansworth?"

"Incognito? Hmm...oh, right, I remember him." Right, from that mission where she dressed up as a superhero...though the name escaped her. Her cheeks turned slightly red as she recalled a certain part, in which the Navi in question wound up giving her a good groping. "Yeah, we've...definitely met."

"OH! I just remembered! She's that girl that was dressed up as a man on that one mission!"

"That...somehow manages to be both really vague and really specific at the same time...but I think we're thinking of the same incident, at least. So, shall we? It'd be pretty terrible of us to not take it after reading everything."

"That, and the Battles aren't much for turning a blind eye to helping people, and bringing their tormentors to justice."

"Wow."

"I know, it's a great code, right?"

"No, I'm just wondering who you ripped that quote from."

"...Yeah, you get your outfit shredded on this mission, I'm totally not refreshing it."

"W-Wait a sec! I'm sorry!" Perhaps more notable than the apology itself was how genuine it sounded. Probably because Martia knew it was safer to assume loss of clothing whenever she took a mission. "Please please please refresh it!"

"...Oh, I'll think about it. Maybe. Let's go ahead and accept it."
Leslie and Martia would have a bit of waiting time before their guest for the evening arrived per the mission they'd accepted, which made sense, as, even with the major advancements in travel that had happened in the past centuries, she'd still need to get from one place to another. If Leslie was watching, she might be surprised at the means of transportation: last time they'd met, Leslie had seen Heidi's beetle, a small car in itself, but this time, it was a cab driving up. Even more surprising than that, the girl that emerged wasn't dressed as a man... in fact, she was barely dressed at all. Heidi had what seemed at first to be a long sweater on... but as she approached the dojo, it would become increasingly apparent that what she was wearing was actually a heavy night-shirt. The shirt hung slightly off her thin shoulders and she appeared to be wearing no shoes, sandals, socks... or pants... on her lower body. In fact, judging by her bare shoulders, it was questionable as to whether she was wearing a bra. She carried with her only her PET in one hand and a large, brown duffel bag in the other.

The weather had become overcast and rain had started pouring; this would be annoying for the average person, but was devestating to Heidi, who was just barely dressed. She'd reluctantly given the cab driver payment before starting in a sprint up the path to the dojo and nearly crashing into the door in an attempt not to stand in the rain too long. The bounty hunter would either ring the doorbell or, provided there wasn't one, would politely knock until the door was open. "Excuse me!" she called out, even before Leslie or anyone else could arrive. "Is this the Battle residence? I really need to speak to Leslie Battle!" It was pretty clear that she was in more dire straits than her mission post had let on. Someone would have to let her in quickly, as it would be heart-breaking to leave her out in the rain much longer.
Once everything was finalized, Leslie walked over to her windown, and sat down in front of it. "Huh...it's really clouding up all of a sudden. Think it'll rain?"

"Forecast says it will. Guess they were right this time."

"At least I won't get caught in it because of the mission. ...Though, that Heidi woman probably will. But eh, she'll probably have like three layers on anyway. She won't even get wet!"

"Poor you, huh?"

"I dunno, I don't remember all that well what she looks like. I guess we'll both find out." And there was waiting, and waiting...but before a third waiting could be had, a cab came up. Considering how infrequently traffic stopped at her house, this immediately drew the young woman's attention. "Is that her? ...Wait, didn't she have a car before?"

"...Maybe? I don't recall, myself. But I'm pretty sure that's her. ...She looks different this time, though."

"Well, yeah. She's wearing less clothes than me right now." ...Right? Let's see. Bra, shorts, panties underneath shorts, socks. Yeah, that was probably more. "And of course, it's raining cats and dogs. At least it's warm enough that she won't catch a cold."

"Small miracles and all that. Still, you should probably be a good host and let her in soon."

"...Aw crap, Father's not home, is he? For fuck's sake...can't rely on him for anything!" She bolted out of her room, down the stairs, through the living room, into the main room, and reached the main door. "Yeah, these doors open outward, so you may wanna step back for a little bit." Grab the key, unlock the door, put the key back really quick so the mystery of where it went was still a mystery...and push! The fairly large wooden doors flung open when subjected to the martial artist's strength, hopefully not smacking Heidi in the process. "Hey there! Come on in! Can I get you anything? Tea? Towel? ...Don't worry about getting anything wet, though. There's not a whole lot we care about enough to not get soaked."
At the last moment, Heidi had jumped back to avoid getting hit by the door, although she hadn't expected the force with which it would swing open. Perhaps she should have anticipated it, given what she knew Leslie had done to Wilhelm Jacques to punish him for his crime back during the giant robot octopus incident. That said, she hadn't really wanted to jump back, as it put her back into the rainfall again, allowing more water to run through her single garment and down her shoulders. Her teeth clenched and she began shivering again (though, again, the summer still had the temperature up).

Now that she was up close, Leslie could see Heidi's green eyes, which might be the only familiar part of her, and even those had been covered with sunglasses throughout most of their last meeting. Ironically, she'd probably be more familiar if she still had a fake mustache on, but she didn't. The bush of brown hair that had once framed her head had grown out to a more girlish length, but the rain had matted it down, so any styling that had been in it was ruined. Granted, there probably hadn't been a lot of style to it to begin with, given the rest of her state of dress. Her tall, very skinny body looked especially pathetic as she huddled her arms together just beneath her chest, exposing the curve of what was a very plain and average set of breasts. If Leslie looked juuuust close enough, she'd see a bit of texture too, due to the matting caused by the rain and the chill. This seemed to affirm Leslie's thought that Heidi might not be wearing a bra, but didn't explain why she wasn't.

"Hi!" Heidi gasped, then ran in from the rain past Leslie as fast as she could, before skidding to a stop, dropping her duffle bag by the door, and clutching herself tightly again. "S-Sorry, that was rude of me," she apologized, waiting for Leslie to close the door so that the two of them could converse further. "Thank you for inviting me in... I know we don't know each other too well, so you're doing me a big favor! A-And I'd appreciate tea," she continued, licking her lips with obvious thirst. "... And a towel," she added, doing her best to avoid wringing out her sweater onto the tatami floor. The last reassurance seemed to be an even bigger relief than the other two, and she finally allowed herself to start massaging the wetness from her hair and shirt. "Oh gosh... Thanks. This is so embarrassing, but I didn't even have an umbrella... that got sold along with everything else," she sighed deeply.

At this point, Leslie would presumably leave to go get the things she'd offered Heidi; Heidi, in turn would wait by the doorway, trying to be patient and not squeeze any more water onto the floor than she had to, now knowing that a towel was coming. Once Leslie arrived, she'd eagerly accept the cloth and start wiping down, focusing first on her hair. When the towel came away from her hair, it had retaken its bushy form, looking comically like a 'fro thanks to its volume and poor reaction to the moisture. "You're a lifesaver," she reiterated, smiling for the first time since she'd come in... With her hands extended above her head, the shirt had now found its place on her shoulders, but as a result, had ridden up just enough for Leslie to see that the girl was wearing men's boxer shorts in a red and white checkered pattern. Those too were soaked, clinging to her skin enough to prove that the girl was indeed a girl, but thankfully for her modesty, no more than that. They did look like they were in danger of slipping off, more than anything. Heidi didn't seem to realize that she'd revealed that; she continued speaking normally once her arms were back down. "Oh, you must be thinking now that I came here just to get my sorry butt out of the rain! Sorry again. I really do have a problem with Incognito that I need your help to solve. Thank you for agreeing too... er..." she started, then recalled that she wasn't familiar enough with Leslie's navi to name her. Embarrassed, she shook her head again and tried to soldier on. "I'll explain it all to you! Do you have a place to sit?" She'd discretely begun to towel her bare legs, ironically being careful not to displace her shirt. "Well, I actually explained the basics to you already... So I'll give you another important detail. I mentioned this a little earlier, but it's important that the 'dream' be at least partially familiar to the one experiencing it. With that in mind, it's best if your navi appears to him as she did the first time. I didn't see much of it, but that won't be a problem, will it? Uh oh... she wasn't in a costume last time, was she? If so, can you describe it to me a little? I'm pretty handy at writing up GMOs and I do have a spare one I can lend her."
Leslie could barely get in her greeting before a Heidi colored flash went by her. She scratched the back of her neck as she pondered what in the world was going on with her, but shrugged it away for the moment and quickly pulled the doors in. When the other woman wasn't looking, she quickly snagged the key from its hiding place, locked it, and put it back. It wasn't that she didn't trust her, it was just that when it came to the dojo's security, she didn't trust anyone.

The martial artist looked over her new guest, noting that, while she wasn't anything super special appearance-wise, she wasn't exactly unattractive, either. Unfortunately, she was chivalrous enough to avoid focusing much on certain areas of Heidi, and ended up not getting to view any of it. In an odd reversal for her, she was probably the less oddly dressed girl; without any of her martial arts gear on, she just looked like a girl about to go for a jog.

"Tea and towel, coming up! ...Feel free to sit in the living room instead of standing around in this big empty room. Your call, though." She rushed off, to seek what she had offered. A little while later, she re-emerged, a big white towel around one shoulder, and a mug filled with hot tea in the opposite hand. "Careful, tea's hot!" But it was the towel that was first taken, and used to wipe off her hair...and revealing certain information about herself. While not intentionally, Leslie ended up noticing, and if nothing else, at least she could be safe in saying this was how Heidi really looked, and not just some elaborate disguise. She listened to the talk, but, well..."Hang on a sec. Before we get into that, lemme ask you something. You don't have to answer if you don't want, though. ...What the hell happened to you? Are pants optional in Electopia now? Because I can get behind that, but it'd be really sudden."

In her PET, Martia slowly and gently facepalmed. "Great tact there, Leslie..." While she wasn't about to call her operator out yet, she could at least be embarrassed enough for both of them for bringing up such a delicate subject so bluntly.
The towel and tea each served in roughly equal measure to put Heidi into a better mood. After toweling off, the self-made bounty hunter accepted the drink. "Thank you again," she murmured, before beginning to drink the tea... realizing it was still too hot, she thought the better of it and moved to the living room where she could sit down and hopefully set it down while it cooled. "Erm... I'll explain, but yes, let's take a seat first," she laughed awkwardly, perhaps hoping to put off the conversation as long as possible.

Once the two were seated in the living room, wherever was best, Heidi cleared her throat and continued. "Really, this isn't anything to worry about. I've always been a little tight on money, but you know that old expression... 'you have to spend money to make money,' right? So um, I took out some loans on equipment to help me out with my bounty hunting career. Especially for hunting Dora, who I mentioned before, it was important to buy technology that could prevent or otherwise provide a backup against any changes that Dora might make. Even with all of those safeguards, Incognito still took memory damage during that altercation on the net... Between that and the cost of getting tips about her criminal activities and her location, following lead after lead... well, the costs kept adding up and I didn't exactly have any other work along the way. That meant money just kept coming out of my account... So finally, I had to start selling all of the non-essentials to pay the bills. That meant little things like my awards, old clothes, my portable TV, my radio, my outdated bounty hunting equipment... then um... my disguises, the rest of my clothes, my car... which was also my home... but, you know it's all good... I'm just focusing on the here and now!" she resolved, clenching her fists in an expression of determination that seemed as though it was to reassure herself as much as her acquaintance. "With my equipment related to the Dora Quaid case still handy and Incognito's PET, I have all I need to catch the criminal and make back all of the money I lost! She's got a huge bounty against her right now. As soon as I've turned her in, I'll make back everything I lost and then some!"

That might not exactly reassure Leslie, so Heidi would press her legs together, scooch up on her seat, and continue talking quickly in a more grave tone. "That brings me to the problem... Incognito. You heard what's happened to him. He's not just the key piece in this mission; he's also my best friend. I have to make sure that he gains back all of his memories, although, honestly, he only appears to have lost about half a day's worth. Still, that information is vital, both for the sake of justice against Dora, and also, for the sake of, ahem, my living expenses," she explained, crossing her arms defensively against her bralessness as her money problems came up again. "So, do you think Martia can help?"
While it was really quite lovely to see Heidi in so little clothing, with what there was being wet and stuck to her body, it occurred to Leslie that she really ought to at least offer to remedy that. Still, she waited until she heard the whole story out, which was...wow. Sure, she was dirt poor herself, but at least she didn't have to sell any of her stuff to make ends meet. "Well, I hope for your sake you're right about that, or you're in some deep trouble. At any rate, unless Martia's got some weird objection, we'll do whatever we can to help!"

The fighter Navi's hologram appeared on her operator's shoulder, and did a small bow. "We're not the kind of people to turn away someone in trouble. Rest assured that anything I can do, I will do!"

"So there you have it. All right, next order of business. ...You want something drier to put on? We're not overly different in size, so I bet you could wear anything in my closet! Not that that's a lot...but I'll go see what I've got in there. Here." Leslie set her PET down on the room's lone table. "Martia can give you that GMO description or whatever while I go see what I've got. Be back in a few!" She raced upstairs to check her wardrobe, leaving her Navi behind.

And since she was there, said Navi decided she might as well go ahead and tell her what she needed. "Okay, I imagine that how I looked then is somewhere in my files. Just lemme take a sec to bring it up...there. Darn, it's not in a format where I can show you. But I can tell you every last detail of it. Let me know when you're ready." Once Heidi was all set, Martia would go on to cover every last inch of the Red Nova outfit, from top to bottom. There were a couple of points where she looked a little red in the face, but considering what happened before, that probably wasn't too surprising. "...And that's everything. I didn't change a thing about it...even though there's a couple of things I kinda wanted to...but if we're trying to help Incognito get his memories back, being exact is best, I think."

"Back!" Once more, the martial artist returned to her guest, though without anything extra to wear actually on her. "Well, I looked...all I really have are, well, stuff like what I'm wearing now, a few karate outfits, and a couple of old school uniforms. Your call, though, if you want anything." Let it never be said that she wasn't ever chivalrous.
Heidi responded to Leslie's worry with a half-smile, which made it seem like she wanted to reassure her friend, but couldn't, because she agreed with the assessment. Lucky for her, it sounded like Martia was up for the task. "Great! That's wonderful. Incognito had kind things to say about you after your mission, you know? I'm sure he'd be thrilled to know you're helping!" Heidi sighed. It would be interesting to know what sort of kind things he'd said and if they dealt with the specifics of what he and Martia had inadvertently gotten into during their encounter, but the operator elaborated no further.

When Leslie offered Heidi some clothes, she was clearly in a state where she was not too proud to reject charity. "That sounds wonderful... but-" she started, but Leslie was already out of the room to go check. That turned out to be fine with Heidi, who needed to speak to Martia about the GMO regardless. She listened, nodding intently and seeming surprisingly capable of holding a straight face, even when Martia talked about the way her bloomers had been a size or two too tight on her. "I see... I can manage that. I did work pretty closely with Cornelia for a while, so I've seen Red Nova's image plastered all over everything. I can replicate the outfit," she agreed. "Sorry you've got to wear those pants again... I always thought to myself that the real Red Nova wouldn't be able to get any work done, saving the galaxy or granting people's wishes, if she was always worrying abut her wedgie... I'll probably have you keep your own underwear," she added, as a footnote. "Not that I think that should matter, right?" she further added, as a more ironic footnote.

Heidi had gotten to work on the quick job of designing Martia a Red Nova costume when Leslie returned. The martial artist described a few possible outfits for Heidi, but hadn't brought any to show. "Well, I'd hate to ruin your good karate clothes. I'd be happy to except one of your old uniforms, though," she added. "But... boy, I hate to admit this... but what I could really use is a bath or a shower... Would you mind too much if I used one? Sorry for imposing... I'll tell you about the rest of the mission, though, and send you the link in."

Whether Leslie agreed and they began moving or whether she declined and they went to retrieve the clothes instead, Heidi would stay with Leslie to explain the rest of the particulars of the mission. "The jack-in link I'm sending you will put you into the 'dreamscape' that Incognito is occupying. There shouldn't be anyone else in there, I think, although there's always the possibility Fancy will come back. Hopefully, she won't, but if she does, we'll figure out something to do about it. Once you're in there, you'll still be able to do everything you can normally as a navi, including communications and using your weapons. Because you haven't had any of the disorientation that most of those going through the initial procedure get, I believe you'll have all of your wits about you. You'll be the only 'actor' in there; from what I heard from Fancy, the actor's job is to ensure the dreamer that they are, in fact, in a dream. There are a bunch of rules and some kind of work against each other, so listen closely," she continued, pressing her hand to her chin while she tried to remember all of them. "The first: the host needs to have an experience 'like a dream,' but should not be aware that they are in a dream. There should be immersion. Basically, don't tell Incognito he's dreaming, nor any aspects of what's happening on the outside while he's in this dream state. At the same time, 'like a dream' means one of three states."

"First: a dream based in memory, where all that happens are things that Incognito has experienced before. This might be the easiest to follow through on and ensures the most stable dreamscape; the host will remain confident in the illusion and won't wake up, while also not shifting the environment any more than they have to in order to complete the memory." Signalling a second, she held up two fingers. "Second: a nightmare. In this scenario, you would play to his fears and try to give him a bad dream. Note that injuring him is actually completely possible and won't wake him up instantly, unlike how you might imagine a dream working. This scenario can cause rapid changes in the environment and is very good at digging up past experiences, from what I hear, although... obviously, it's a little mean, but he'll wake up and think it's just a dream. So it's fine, right?" she chuckled, sounding nervous. "He's a bit of a scaredy-cat, so it would probably be easy to follow through on. The last scenario is a good dream... to follow up on that, you'd have to know the sorts of things Incognito wants to dream about. I can't say what they are, though... he's so bashful and he always keeps to himself," Heidi admitted, now holding up three fingers. "If you have an idea, though, that sort of dream can also encourage rapid environment changes and would probably be nicer for him. That said, I also understand it can be a bit slower to work than the nightmare... but it also has less of a chance of waking him up, since he won't want to. I'll leave that decision to Martia."

Having said all that, Heidi pondered, then came up with a few more useful factoids. "Other things... he can still communicate with me, if he thinks about it. If he does decide to do that, I will have to become an actor in his dream as well; for that reason, I'll be covertly monitoring the situation as well, in a way that he can't see. I'll adapt to however you're guiding the dream. Also, be sure not to do anything that mandates another actor that we don't have, such as another navi. I think the environment can create static images of other navis, but not other actual characters... it's best if it doesn't make any others, obviously, since an inanimate figure of a navi would break immersion. I'd recommend trying not to reference other people and acting as though you're supposed to be alone. Finally, the 'fail' condition will probably be either taking so long that he wakes up, or otherwise, tipping him off to the fact that he's in a dream... so try to avoid those. As the operator of the navi who was undergoing the treatment, I have a little monitor that will tell me where you lie on the good dream, memory, nightmare scale. It will also alert you of any potential fail conditions so you can fix them. I'll share a copy with you, Leslie..." she finished, handing over the data packet.

*Leslie received RedNova.GMO and DreamGauge.DAT, and jack-in coordinates! Refer to this post for a description of Red Nova's clothing*

((Topic opening soon in NPC homepages))
Thrilled. Riiiiiight. That was one way to put it, after what they'd gotten into before. Martia resisted the urge to sigh, and instead described the outfit. Maybe too well..."Don't worry about the pants, at least this time I'll know it's coming. And, yeah, my underwear shouldn't matter. It'll just be for comfort's sake. Ha ha..." Somehow, the laugh managed to be even less convincing than she expected, which was saying something. "So yeah, be super accurate, please."

Leslie was soon back, and after listing the options, snickered a bit at Heidi's reaction. "My GOOD karate clothes? Trust me, I seriously doubt a girl with a little rain on her is going to wreck this." If anything, that'd make it better. "Bath or shower...well, I've got a couple of options there. There's a small shower upstairs, but it only really gets used when someone needs a quick rinse. No, what you probably want is...well, follow me!" The martial artist led the other woman towards the stairs she'd used to search for clothes, but instead of going up them, took a left, towards another door. It was locked, but only with a latch, so it was trivial to get it open...and once it was, it was quite obvious what Leslie had meant by 'what she wanted'. "Ta-da! We've got our own hot springs bath! About 40 years...or was it 50...meh, whatever, we found out a hot water vein runs right under our property. So my grandfather dug it out, and now the dojo has its own nice little spa, for after a hard day of training! Oh, if you don't want to get rained on while enjoying it, there's an awning I can set up to cover part of it, so only the parts you wanna get wet will get wet!"

The Navi, at least, was paying full attention. "Okay, I think I got all that." Now, to check the data she'd gotten. There was the GMO, and that DreamGauge...seemed like she'd be able to use it while she was in there. Her butt wasn't really looking forward to the former, though..."I guess I'll go ahead and change here." Martia glowed for a moment, as her form fitting outfit was replaced with...an outfit that managed to be even more form fitting. As Heidi had said, her panties remained her own. Small comforts, and all that...though it was also that much less space for the rest of her. She was a little tempted to just take them off for the mission...but, no, that'd come back to bite her hard, the way things usually went. "Looks like Red Nova's back!"

"You know, crazy thought. What if we wore disguises like that whenever we did missions? Two sexy ladies, bringing peace and justice to DenCity. Tell me that wouldn't be awesome!"

"I agree...with the part about it being a crazy thought."

"...I wasn't really serious, you know. Honestly, I'd be amazed if you could kick properly without snapping those briefs in two!"

"Yeah, THAT'S the big problem..."

"Hmm...we need to jack you in. I guess the nearest port would be the maintenance panel? Can you access the main network from there?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I can. Go ahead and send me in." If only because she might be cold feet from prolonged wedgie exposure.

"All right, in you go! Jack in! Martia, Execute!" And in went her Navi. "So, what do you say, Heidi? Want the shower, or this?"
"One super accurate pair of way-too-tight bloomers, coming right up," Heidi joked, perhaps being a little too ready to take the 'don't worry' suggestion. If she ever had to feel the squeeze of those pants, she probably wouldn't joke about them... but then, she had less meat to squeeze than Martia did all around, be it the muscle or the fatty spots.

Once Leslie returned, Heidi smiled along with Leslie's description of her own not-so-ritzy duds, but looked more genuinely pleased once she was led to the Battles' personal hot springs bath. "Wow!" she exclaimed, seeming shocked. It was true: from the outside of the building, she hadn't really pictured that the family could own hot springs on their property... not that she was in a position to judge anyone for their wealth or lack thereof. "That's lovely, thanks... Although, I haven't exactly done a hard day's training to deserve it," she added. Martia was busy with her own changing, which Heidi got the honor of watching, due to the hologram projection. "You really are the spitting image of Red Nova, that's for sure," she mumured. "It's pretty uncanny."

Soon enough, Martia would jack in and leave them; Heidi pressed her fingers together and smiled sheepishly. "I've never tried bathing in the hot springs before, growing up in Netopia as a young girl and being dirt poor as an adult... If it's not a bother, I'd love to take a quick bath here," she answered hesitantly. "But I don't know if there's any etiquette or anything like that. Do you have towels out here and everything else, or is that stuff inside? Where should I take my clothes off? Though, I don't plan on putting these back on until they're dry..." she asked, turning to look around the bath. It seemed she was aware enough to know that stripping in front of a relative stranger would be a bad idea... but not aware enough to realize that Leslie was of a preference where talking about stripping in front of her would probably be a turn-on rather than just awkward. Then again, Heidi would probably seem more appealing in that way once she had utilized the bath for a bit, as it was evident that she needed one. The rain could only do so much and she probably hadn't had the money to blow on a gym shower or bath-house recently, nor owned an actual shower room for quite some time.