Virtual Pest Control, Naturally.

So, are we sure this is the right place? I'm a bit skeptical...

A voice of uncertainty echoed from the PET as Rei stood himself before fairly worn glass house. It seemed as though it could still be of use, stains on the walls and lack of people in the vicinity led him to wonder. His finger tapped against the side of the PET as he looked around, but as far as he knew this was the only greenhouse around the campus. Not that he made a habit to memorize the layout, of course.

[ Well, at least it's a start. After you get in there, take a look and see what's around. Find some clues or information about the mission, and we'll go from there. You can't blame me for logically thinking a greenhouse area could be accessible from a greenhouse. Get ready.]

As Rei spoke, he pulled the cord from the side of his console, keeping an eye out for the nearest port. Inspection of the entrance along with a bit of dust removal revealed a usable port, which he was quick to link up with. [Alright, get in there and let me know what you find.]

Finally, I get to have some fun~

[Hey, this isn't for fun. We're here to train you like you wanted, remember?]

The spider was already moving to the network, not entirely paying attention any more. She was more interested in what she was going to find, and in meeting this "Arachne". If she was lucky, she might even get a free meal.

((logged in)

Rei was still mumbling to himself as the video link between himself and his navi closed. Nothing good usually came out of a request like that. "Really now... if it's easier to be explained in person, it's a complicated matter. Complicated matters are always troublesome. I'm sure we can handle it, but still..." His words became incomprihensable after that, mumbling in such a low tone even he didn't really know what he was saying anymore.

He brushed his hair out of his eyes, adjusting his dark black cap to keep the hair where he wanted it, before he pushed the door to the greenhouse open and made his way inside. The worn down interior was the first thing the operator noticed, making him a little on edge. Bad news in a run down old building... this is something right out of a bad movie. Next thing ya know some beast jumps out and attacks me for no reason

Rei's irrational thinking went a little overboard as he became paranoid, but slowly he got used to the surroundings. Besides it was just a greenhouse. The worst that could be here were a few small insects and some plants. Giving his head a good shake Rei tried to clear the thoughts from his head, and just took a quick look around for Arachne's operator, Tavi.

"Hey umm... Tavi, are you in here?"

It was a bit familiar, calling out to the person he was looking for.Then again, it was the same way Sylk had tried to locate Arachne on her entrance to the net here. Though it probably was the best way to go about it.

A familiar voice echoed in response, uttering a rushed "Just a moment!" before being followed by the soft but slowly intensifying patter of approaching footsteps as the voice's owner hurried towards him. Soon enough, Tavi rounded the edge of a plant-covered table behind Rei and approached. Predictably, she looked exactly like the image of her that had appeared in the net would have suggested, though up close Rei could tell that she was also rather short, and fidgeting a lot more than would be normal even for a nervous person.

"So uhh..." she started, then trailed off, looking away. A few seconds passed before she managed anything else. "I...guess I should start from the beginning. But first, uhh, don't tell anyone else about this. Especially not anyone who works here. I don't want to think about what they'll do to me.

"So you know I was working on a project a month ago and ended up making a bunch of bug programs for it. Of course you do, I said that already, but while I was working on it I got asked by a classmate to help with some exploration mission in Netopia. Basically, big hole in the net, lots of buried data, some archaeologist navi trying to raise it to the surface which was screwing a lot of stuff in the area up, but we also found the remains of a few dormant viruses in there."

She drew out her PET and pressed a few buttons on it, then held it out and activated a holoprojector. The image that materialized on it was of an insectoid virus with six legs, spines on its back, and a gem set on the head between the eyes. Occasionally, a glowing sphere would flicker in and out of existence, completely surrounding the creature when it was present. The image started as a single virus, displayed in a hazy bluish monochrome, then split into three: one red, one green, and one gold.

"I thought they were dead, I swear!" Tavi defended after allowing Rei to get a good look at them. "But...I guess they weren't. I made some modifications on them and then they woke up and...all this happened."

Rei watched as Tavi began to explain the situation, trying to piece together the situation mentally as she went over the details. He still didn't quite understand the whole issue but it seemed like things were pretty dire the way her words came out.

Rei scratched the back of his head as a bit of a habit followed by a sigh; A common sight when Rei found himself trying to come to terms with a troublesome situation. " So you played around with some old virii and released something that could... organize a group of insect programs and virii, as well as cause a big enough threat to request outside assistance" Putting it bluntly as he could, not really sure what else he could say. His brief pause allowed him to pick his words better as he resumed his statement. " All that dispite wanting to keep it a secret? Well, i'm not quite sure what to say to that..."

Rei's eyes traveled down to the image that Tavi had prepared for him, unknown to the dangers this perticular bug was capable of. " But i'm sure you had your reasons, am i right?" Rei toned changed as a slightly nervous laughter escaped his throat. " Don't worry, we'll do what we can. I just have something i'd like you to clear something up about this menace here..."

Rei's gaze moved to look Tavi in the eyes as he tried to get a little more serious about the mission and what was to come. He was prepared to go on with the mission having full confidence in sylk. There was just one thing bothering him. "Err... what is this virus and why should i be afraid of it? heheh... heh..." He had no idea what he was looking at.

"Sorry, i've never seen or heard of this thing before. So if you could just , uh, give me a decent overview of what you know about it or what you've done to it, i'd appreciate it really." He was pretty sure he sounded a bit like a fool after agreeing to go on regardless of being completly ignorent to his targets, but at this point it would have been more troublesome to feign that he knew what he was doing. Atleast he was doing well at hiding his own embarassment from Tavi as his averted his sight a few degrees.

What have we gotten ourselves in this time...

"Huh? What do you-oh, right," Tavi answered, changing direction mid-sentence with the realization that most people wouldn't recognize a virus that hadn't been seen for years.

"It's a virus from the old net. Thirty years at least, if the samples I found are to be believed. Every record I've found says they're native to the Undernet, which doesn't really explain why I found these in Netopia, but if I was able to capture them and transport them here maybe someone else did the same." Tavi pressed a couple buttons on the PET and several labels appeared on the hologram, identifying the virus as 'Scuttlest Family' and detailing various features of the virus that even Tavi probably didn't fully understand, as well as labeling the aura that protected the virus.

Meanwhile, Tavi continued her explanation. "One source said it's the most powerful virus family on the net. Or it was. Even if I did believe that, I think I broke the ones I found. I tried to make them more versatile, but ended up splitting their attack programs to do it. That's good, by the way, it means neither of our navis will be killed by the first hit."

"Geez... that strong huh? Well, even if they are weakened..." Rei suddenly smirked after his words faded, his tone was a little more upbeat as well. After hearing the type of opponents he and sylk would be facing, a part of his old personality kicked in from when he still had curseman. He wanted to test their abilities and co-operation, to see how far it could get them. A challenging battle to push them to the ropes.

"This is gonna be one hell of a fight. I can't wait, hahahah" He was clearly excited. It'd been a while since his had ignored his constant worrying and gotten into a good fighting spirit. Maybe this would help him loosen up a little bit.

"Alright, shall we get going then? If they are as strong as you say, we should probably take care of them as quickly as possible. We don't want to run the risk of them damaging anything else. Especially while we have our navi's on their own, right?" His voice was full of confidence for once as he spoke, already planning out a few tactics depending on the situations. Sylks folder had a lot of fire power lately, but the programs in question would probably have a few tricks up their coding as well. As Rei thought about it more, he knew Sylk would probably enjoy the battle most of all. Even if she was heading into a dangerous fight, more so then her past battles.

"Thanks for all the info, Tavi. Let's do our best, okay?" Rei chuckled as he turned, giving the girl a wave, and taking off back the way he came. As he exited the building, he whipped out his PET and connected it back into the same terminal as before.

"Alright Sylk, get ready. We're heading into battle!"