As soon as Gary hopped off the train, he began looking around. He had someone to look for...
"Gary!"
Ah, there she was. "Yuri!" He waved, letting her know she'd been heard.
WarriorMan disinterestedly looked over, and raised an eyebrow. "Ah, right. Now I remember why you're so into her. Reason one...and reason two. And rather big reasons for someone her age, I might add."
"And if you even hint at that, I'm going to digitize myself, just so I can strangle you!"
"Good luck with that..."
Argh, why was he even talking to his Navi? He had a girl to help. And not just any girl, either...Yuri Saitou. Long black hair, and really pretty red eyes, and, uh...as WarriorMan had not-so-subtly implied, puberty hit her with a ton of bricks, then used the bricks to get her on the road to being totally stacked. Also, despite being his age, he was fairly sure she'd skipped a grade or two. Also, and he had to remember this...no flowery old timey talk. She hated that. HATED it. "Hey there, Yuri! After hearing of your plight, I dropped what I was doing and came here as soon as I could!" Just, ignore the fact he wasn't actually doing anything at the time. "So, what's up?"
The instant he finished, the girl placed her hands in her lap, and bowed. "Thank you so much for coming, Gary! I...I can't believe that happened...you have to help me!"
"Well, uh, why don't you tell me just what it is that happened, exactly? Just start at the beginning."
"Okay. Will...you walk with me? The jack-in port I used is a bit of a walk away, and it'll be easier to access where I was there."
"Of course!" And maybe, just maybe, they could do a little more than walking later on. "So, go ahead and tell me all about what happened."
"Well, I have a wonderful Navi, Naginata. But, she sometimes struggles to do much damage when she fights. I'd rather not carry a folder full of BattleChips, either...knowing me, I'd probably just lose them."
"Okay..." A Navi that didn't use BattleChips? He couldn't envision WarriorMan fighting without them, and he was a super strong prototype Navi.
"But, I remembered my father talking about a special part he was developing. A bracelet-like device that, when attached to a Navi, drastically increases their power and speed. ...So I kinda...had Naginata go into his computer and take it."
"Oh, I see..." Wait. No he didn't. At all. "Hang on! You stole sensitive SciLab data?!"
"Shh! Not so loud!"
"Okay, I'm sorry, but seriously, you did that?!"
"I honestly don't think you'd understand...having a Navi that wants nothing more than to freely wander the Net, unafraid of what might wish you harm, but being completely unable to. You've got that powerful prototype Navi from the past, right? I'm sure he can tear through anything like a blade through a piece of paper!""
"...Okay, yeah, WarriorMan's never had that problem."
"...Sorry, I didn't mean to guilt trip you. Just know that I only did it to make my Navi happy, if only for a day. My father had the day off, so he didn't need access to the part, and so I knew I could take it today without him missing it. And I will say, it worked! Naginata almost effortlessly cleaved entire groups of viruses in mere seconds! But, then we reached an oddly dark area...perhaps the lighting needs to be reprogrammed there. She encountered...something. Neither of us know exactly what. But it was strong...too strong. Naginata fared poorly, and after a particularly vicious attack, she was forced to perform an emergency jack out. It was only later that we discovered that the final blow had knocked the program off of her...I can't negate weeks of my father toiling away to make it. And worse, if someone...or something...unsavory came by and used it...oh, I'll never be allowed to leave the house again...or worse, he might take Naginata away from me!" Yuri suddenly stopped, and grabbed Gary by the hands for a moment. "Please! You must get it back!"
"Yeah, don't you worry. WarriorMan and I are at your service!"
"Thank you, Gary. I really don't know how to express my gratitude..."
Oh, he could think of a few ways. "Don't worry about it. We'll grab that program before anything even has a chance to pick it up!"
"I pray that you do." She suddenly stopped. "Here we are."
Gary pulled his gaze away from the lady next to him and had a look around. "...Here we are...where, exactly? I see trees, and I see rocks, and I kinda see an inn off in the distance, but there's nowhere to jack in!"
"That's what I thought, too! But Naginata found a signal coming from a rock over here!" She crouched, and pointed at a well-hidden, but very unmistakably a wireless port. "See?"
"...It's definitely a port. Though, I gotta ask, why'd you even come over here to find it in the first place?"
"I've heard that inn has amazing hot springs. I thought I'd check them out as Naginata did her thing. But on the way, we found that, and decided it'd be more fun to investigate a mysterious rock's cyberworld!...Er, Gary? Are you all right? Your face seems kinda flush all of a sudden."
"Huh? Oh, nope! I'm fine!" He vigorously shook his head, nearly shaking off his glasses in the process, to push any and all thoughts of Yuri taking a hot spring bath to the back of his mind. "A rock cyberworld, huh? What's it like?"
"It's mostly like regular Yoka Net, but...well, you'll see."
"Heh, a secret area of Yoka's cyberworld...this oughta be fun!"
His operator's last remarks made WarriorMan raise an eyebrow. "You know, that actually sounds vaguely familiar."
"Wait, really? You've heard of it?"
"...Yeah, but I don't remember anything about it."
"Hmm...wait, if you remember it existing, that makes it at least 30 years old!"
"You're right. Well, now my curiosity is piqued."
"Um, I know this is going to sound a bit rude, but I'd rather not waste any more time than is needed..."
"Don't worry, Yuri, we're on our way!" Whip out PET, point dramatically at the rock...yeah, that's actually a thing he needed to do. "Jack in! WarriorMan, Execute!" But as the infrared beam shot out, something unexpected to him happened...
"Jack in! Naginata, Execute!"
(TO YOKA NET)