Neon Lights and Nil Chips

It didn't take long to drive to NetVegas from the NetCafé. Especially in comparison to the time it had take to get to the NetCafé from ACDC. All the same, the drive was short and sweet, and far more interesting.

They had been bombarded by neon lights and signs of all sorts driving down the strip. The area seemed far sketchier than others she'd been to recently.

Rose eventually pulled into a spot outside a casino on the strip. The company of others made her feel a lot better about being here, but all the same she felt like this place wasn't as safe as others had been. "It also isn't targeted at children," reflecting on the various signs she'd seen made that obvious.

Due to the inherit danger in the area, Rose decided this time to put the roof back up after getting out, and to make sure to properly lock her car. The last thing they needed was for someone to steal it.

Once she was out, she looked around some more and then waited for her friends to join her. They hadn't exactly planned what they would do next yet, so now seemed as good a time as any to think about it.

So think she did.

Zeo emerged from the car shielding his eyes. His little experience with NetVegas Net was enough to warrant the caution, and it turned out to be a good idea. He carefully checked around the parking area from behind shielded eyes until he found a direction he could safely look in without irritating them. "This stupid place is just as bad as its network," Zeo grumbled. "This had better go quickly."

He looked at the casino they'd parked beside. Aside from the bright lights, there wasn't anything really special about it. How are we supposed to find something when we barely know what it is or where it would be? Zeo could only assume that a nil-zenny poker chip held some kind of special significance, and would hopefully be well known in the area. "I can't think of anything to do except ask someone," he said after a minute of post-car ride silence. "We should probably be careful who we're asking, though." While that was probably true, at least it wasn't dark yet. That would likely be both the best and worst time to go looking for information.

Now that I think about it, going to a town focused on tourism and casinos during the day seems... counterproductive, Zeo thought. He wasn't coming back here at night thought, so that was somewhat irrelevant. Stepping further from the car, Zeo waited for someone to propose a next step, or for the ever helpful Sabrina to procure a random pedestrian to interrogate.

Unlike Zeo, Sabrina failed to shield her eyes before hopping out of the car. But also unlike him, she didn't need to, as the sunglasses from DenTech made a second appearance. After all, since she was from Netopia, she knew how bright the town could get. Not that the area not covered by the sunglasses wasn't mind numbingly bright. Because it was.

"Be careful? But Zeo, it's a family town now!" She spoke with absolutely zero seriousness, allowing the sarcasm to drip off onto the sidewalk. Even though sarcasm on the ground might be a health hazard. "Hmm...I guess asking's the fastest way we're going to know." Now, who to ask? No one that looked like they might know seemed especially friendly...aside from that guy standing next to the casino's door. A doorman, maybe? At any rate, he was probably as good a pick as anyone else. Maybe he'd even help them out if they asked nicely.

"Excuse me, sir! Do you know where we could find a..." She pulled out the list, just to make sure she got the name right. At least it was hard to miss; it was the only thing that hadn't been crossed out. "...nil zenny poker chip?"

With the trio arriving at the NetVegas area, all was lights and shine in the unending neon-struck area. Sabrina went to work quickly, scanning the area for whoever she was going to interrogate next for the last item. Spotting a lone male near a casino entrance, she waltzed up, confident as ever, to ask the man a question. The response was less than desirable: "Eh? What? Poker chip?"

A scrunched up, puzzled face told the 16-year-old that her target wasn't the one to know about this kind of stuff. The man replied roughly, "Kid, I haven't got no idea what you're talking about. I'm just waiting here for a chick I'm supposed to meet, and you're not her. Scram, 'fore I turn your face to mush." To emphasize his point, his puzzled face screwed up into a threatening gaze, his head tilted ever so slightly, and his posture tensed up.

Sabrina had gone to bother a man, and he didn't seem at all receptive. Clearly it was time to give up. Obviously further discussion would only aggravate the man, and he didn't seem like he'd be of any use to their investigation.

"He's a dead end. We don't want him to become an enemy, but we have no use for him. So we can skip him and move on," Rose was fairly ready to deal with networking issues like this.

She nodded to the man and then opted to look along the street either for an information booth, or for the largest Casino around. This one they had parked by seemed fairly large, but she could only imagine the best chance would be at the biggest one.

While looking, she also made sure to keep an eye out for anything that looked like a poker chip worth nothing.

"Well then, I suggest we try something else," the girl remarked. She would make her suggestion once she'd properly glanced over the area.

"A little more tact going about that would have been nice," Zeo muttered to himself. It could have gone worse, though. Zeo was kind of surprised that the rougher types were around before it was completely dark. Then again, they'd been at this for a while and it was probably getting close. He didn't bother checking the time on his PET, since that would mean ViralMan would be exposed to the neon. Zeo was fairly sure the Navi had developed an irrational fear (or hate) of the city's neon signs. Can't really blame him, I guess, Zeo conceded, narrowing his eyes and scanning the area. "...no idea what to do next," he said solemnly.

The group weren't really avid gamblers except for Sabrina (Zeo smiled as he noted this), so it wasn't a big surprise that this would be harder then some of the previous items. I wonder how many people even know about these nil-zenny chips. Like he'd admitted before, Zeo wasn't sure what to do next. Entering a casino to ask was highly likely to just get them shooed out. Asking random people had failed. At least this time, and Sabrina probably wasn't too inclined to try again after that reception. Or maybe she was.

Hopefully she had some kind of idea, because right now Zeo could only glance around with a neutral look on his face trying to come up with some genius plan.

"Yeah, because beating up a girl's definitely how you impress the ladies..." With a shrug and the comment, Sabrina returned to the rest of the group, not at all rattled from the previous incident. At least on the outside. Truthfully, she was a little shaken on the inside. "Ideas...hmm..." ...Blank. Blank. Blank. Clearly, she was a master artist, the way she was drawing blanks. "Any ideas, SplashMan?"

"Uhh..." ...Blank. Blank. Blank. Clearly, he was a master artist, the way he was drawing blanks. "Not really...we just don't know anything about it. And if we don't know anything about it, there's not much else we can do..."

"Right..." ...And then, something inside the Netopian girl's head clicked. "...So, we need to get more info. And guess what? I know someone that can probably find that out for us really quick!"

"Really? Who?"

"..." Strong? Yes. Sincere? Yes. Smart? Nope. At least SplashMan fit two out of the three S's. "You! Can't you run a search on nil zenny poker chips and see if the Net has anything?"

"Oh, right...all right, let's see..." Time to put the PET's good ol' fashioned search engine. Which, in Sabrina's case, was Oggole. SplashMan took a moment to input the necessary keywords, and then...OGGOLE SEARCH.

Searching on the famously known Oggole search engine, SplashMan got to his results fairly quickly, turning up several entries on poker chips, but nothing on those valued at 0 zenny. Not deterred, he pulled up the information anyway, displaying it on the PET's reading screen.

Quote (Article)

Poker chips are small discs used in lieu of currency in casinos. These tokens are widely used as play money in casual or tournament matches involving table games. Some casinos use gaming plaques for high stakes table games, usually amounting to 25,000z and above. Plaques differ from chips in that they are somewhat larger, usually rectangular in shape and contain serial numbers for identification purposes.

Money can be exchanged for chips (and vice versa) in a casino at several places: the casino cage, the gaming tables, or a cashier station. They generally have no value outside of the casino. In certain places, however, some casinos might honor chips from other casinos. Certain businesses in gambling towns may honor them informally.

The employment of the use of chips is due to several reasons. They are more convenient to use than currency, and also make theft and counterfeit attempts more difficult. Their uniform shape and weight allows ease of counting when compared to paper-based currency, either by manual count or by weighing. Verification of payout by casino authorities is also easier, reducing the likelihood of incorrect payment by a dealer. Aside from that, the chips are already seen to be an important part of the casino environment, making replacement with another medium of currency unpopular by default.

A new form of poker chip eliminates the use of traditional metal or plastic tokens in favor of computerized discs. These discs, which have no value by default, are pre-loaded automatically by the casino with a selected monetary value at locations of chip and money exchange. This allows the casino to use the same type of chips for many different denominations, and therefore reduce cost.

Casino chip collecting is a part of numismatics, more specifically as specialized exonumia collecting. This hobby has become increasingly popular with the Casino Chips & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club formed in 19XX. Several casinos sell custom-made sets of chips and one or two decks of cards stamped with the name of the casino on them. Each set is contained in a small briefcase or box.

Once it was brought up, Sabrina read the information over. It wasn't exactly interesting to her, but she elected not to skim, and checked it all. And it was a good thing she did, since one of those paragraphs had something highly relevant to the search. With a newfound smile, she highlighted the text that mattered to them, and sent it over to Rose's and Zeo's PETs. "Hey guys, check this out!"

"So, you'll be able to get that chip after all?"

"Well, I'm not totally sure about that yet, but we've got a lead. That's something, right?"

"Right! Glad I could help out!" Happy that he was finally able to help out, SplashMan sat back, continuing his vacation from fighting. Though, admittedly, all this moving around without being able to battle was starting to make him a little antsy.

Quote (Article)

Poker chips are small discs used in lieu of currency in casinos. These tokens are widely used as play money in casual or tournament matches involving table games. Some casinos use gaming plaques for high stakes table games, usually amounting to 25,000z and above. Plaques differ from chips in that they are somewhat larger, usually rectangular in shape and contain serial numbers for identification purposes.

Money can be exchanged for chips (and vice versa) in a casino at several places: the casino cage, the gaming tables, or a cashier station. They generally have no value outside of the casino. In certain places, however, some casinos might honor chips from other casinos. Certain businesses in gambling towns may honor them informally.

The employment of the use of chips is due to several reasons. They are more convenient to use than currency, and also make theft and counterfeit attempts more difficult. Their uniform shape and weight allows ease of counting when compared to paper-based currency, either by manual count or by weighing. Verification of payout by casino authorities is also easier, reducing the likelihood of incorrect payment by a dealer. Aside from that, the chips are already seen to be an important part of the casino environment, making replacement with another medium of currency unpopular by default.

A new form of poker chip eliminates the use of traditional metal or plastic tokens in favor of computerized discs. These discs, which have no value by default, are pre-loaded automatically by the casino with a selected monetary value at locations of chip and money exchange. This allows the casino to use the same type of chips for many different denominations, and therefore reduce cost.

Casino chip collecting is a part of numismatics, more specifically as specialized exonumia collecting. This hobby has become increasingly popular with the Casino Chips & Gaming Tokens Collectors Club formed in 19XX. Several casinos sell custom-made sets of chips and one or two decks of cards stamped with the name of the casino on them. Each set is contained in a small briefcase or box.

Rose quickly abandoned her real world search in favor of paying attention to Sabrina's Net Search. She had, after all, pioneered this method back at the start of the mission, so she had a good deal of faith in the likelihood of its success.

This faith surged when Sabrina stated that they'd found something. When she was sent the file, she read it completely. She did focus on the bolded section, but she got the rest o it down as well. Rose was a fast reader. Information gathering was one of her key skills.

SummonerMan read the info as well, but thanks to the fairly lame scene going on, he decided not to go any further than that.

"Well, I guess that means we'll have to go in," Rose declared. "And then we'll have to either get some of the pre-preloaded chips, or somehow get the machine to spit out a chip without preloading it with a value."

She thought more about the wording. "Unless 'by default' means they are actually empty," she began trailing off, "this article is poorly written, you can't even tell what it means. I mean, why bother writing an article. . ." As she continued trailing to a mumbled whisper, she shook her head unhappily, and walked to the Casino to settle the whole deal.

She wouldn't know what the actual state was until she saw the things first hand. She couldn't do that until she walked into the Casino. She glanced back at her friends and added quickly "C'mon, let's go."

Before long she was at the entrance, and attempted to walk in, still somewhat bothered by the article, and not paying much else any attention. She didn't stop when she got there. She had a purpose, and was heading straight to accomplish it. She sported a determined look, walked with a purpose, and made her way on.

Zeo made sure to cover the screen of his PET as he pulled it out to block the lights until his Navi's visage was obscured by the text Sabrina had found. It didn't take him long to go over the relevant bit and subsequently the rest of the file. "So they're electronic poker chips minus the value," he thought aloud. "Now we know what we're looking for, at least." Of course, knowing this meant they had to head into a casino. Zeo could potentially pass for 18 if he needed to, but that wasn't going to work in a situation like this. He wasn't eager to simply try strolling in, either. A lot of possible ways to proceed on this stage of the hunt appeared to include some kind of larger risk...

And I've got no desire to make my first transaction on this outing a bail fee, he thought determinedly. With that in mind, it seemed like a good idea to think things over before... Rose started over towards the casino. So much for that, Zeo sighed silently. Out of the neon light frying pan and into the gambling fire. I really hope there aren't any chip traders in there. He frowned and put away his PET. "Wish me luck," he ordered his Navi sarcastically.

"Enjoy the squad car," his Navi replied.

This time Zeo sighed audibly as he started walking after Rose. He decided to take a page out of her book this time, hanging back to the point that he could allot them a second chance at getting in if it came to that. If Rose somehow managed to get in, he'd just catch up and rejoin her. This was pointless last time, though. Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll be the same here. He continued after Rose at a steady pace.

Walking into the Grand NetVegas Hotel Casino and into the actual casino itself, the trio were greeted with a barrage of light and sparkles and dazzles. Slot machines and roulette tables and many other things indicated the place as somewhere, above all, to make it or lose it. Since it was getting a bit later in the day, the place was just starting to liven up, with only a few people walking around, contemplating their luck. It was not as lively as it would be in the dark (or in this case, light) of night, as expected, but it was by no means dead.

The huge scale of the place meant they had some room to walk around in, and there didn't seem to be anyone around to stop them from anything, and so they got in without any trouble. One particular security fellow was eyeballing Sabrina with more than a little interest, but that was about it.

Once Rose was inside, she looked around quickly. However, it didn't turn up an answer to her question quickly enough. Clearly something would have to be done.

Taking into consideration the size of the place, Rose formed her plan. Then, taking into consideration their respective ages and the danger involved, she modified it to include some safety measures.

Turning to face her friends, she spelt it out for them. "Alright, this place is bigger than I expected." She began, pulling out her PeT. "So here's the plan. We split up and look for the machine."

She looked at the two of them, expecting at the least some disapproval from Zeo, so she quickly continued without a pause. "I'll set up a three way call. Just don't hang up and you'll be connected to the others at all times. That way we'll be able to tell each other when we find the machine. Or if you get into trouble..." She ended the statement trailing off and with a shrug. She certainly didn't plan on running into trouble. It was mainly a safety precaution.

She quickly pressed a few buttons and started the call from her end, meaning that once the other two answered they'd all be linked.

She looked around once more. "I guess I'll head this way," she informed the two, with a gesture, "Good Luck!"

And with that, she turned from the two and headed off into the Casino, straight away from the door. She kept her eyes out for the machine, but focused on finding someone who didn't seem to be occupied with something.

Preferably a female who didn't look too intimidating.

After a decent amount of walking, Rose found herself fairly far from her starting point, and decided she'd have to settle on someone to ask. So she did.

"Excuse me," she began politely, "do you know where the Computerized Chip Machine is?" She did her best not to sound too young or unsure of herself. The last thing she needed was to get security called on her.

Just in case, she kept her hand by her PeT and made sure she was ready to dart into any crowd she could find if things started looking bad.

"Okay, that was easier than I thought," Zeo said, surprised. He picked up the pace and caught up with Rose instantly as they came to a stop in the casino. "You'd think they would have some kind of way to keep minors out. Oh well, we're in," he concluded. Rose saved him from having to ask what do next, reasonably suggesting that they split up. By nature Zeo was obligated to feel unsure about that plan, but he reminded himself that it was probably necessary and he'd look stupid protesting. Once she finished explaining herself, Zeo grabbed his PET again--making sure to cover the screen until his Navi could avert his eyes--and answered the call. "Alright, you too," he replied automatically as Rose walked off.

Can't get much done standing around like this, I guess. Zeo looked at his options. He didn't see anything like a chip machine, but if it was around here they'd be done already. "Well, I guess I'm going this way," he stated halfheartedly to Sabrina, setting off to the left of the door. Maybe he'd get lucky and find some kind of info booth. Or maybe he'd get unlucky and get pegged for being somewhere he wasn't supposed to be. I'll worry about that if it happens, Zeo resolved. He wasn't too keen on trying to interrogate casino patrons or staff for fear of being kicked out, and instead focused on either finding the machine in question or some sort of static info machine. Maybe even a map. At the very least, the map would come in handy if Zeo managed to get himself lost. Which was entirely possible.

Well, there was no mistaking that this was a casino. Since they'd all gotten in without any problem, she couldn't help but be a little tempted to see if she could get away with a little gambling. But, that wasn't why they were there, so she needed to focus and not do anything to bring too much attention to herself and the others. Though Sabrina couldn't shake the feeling that she was being watched, and not just by a security camera.

She listened to Rose's plan, deciding that it wasn't a bad idea to split up while still keeping in touch. With a press of a button, she brought the call up, and suddenly thought of something for the others to keep in mind. "Oh, if you guys notice any free drinks, I wouldn't take them. Could be alcoholic, you know..." And that was that. Now, which way should they go? Rose went that way, and Zeo went that way, so what was left...?

Well, there was that feeling of being watched she could check out. After a few moments of looking around, she found her starer; looked like a member of security. Gulp. Still, if he didn't suspect anything, maybe he could help her? Deciding it was worth a shot, she walked over to him. After all, what said you shouldn't be suspicious of someone if they just walked up for no apparent reason?

"Excuse me. Does this place have any machines with those chips that you pre-load money onto?" There, that sounded reasonable, and surprisingly polite. Though Sabrina COULD be polite when she wanted to. IF she wanted to.

As Sabrina and Rose went people-hunting, Zeo opted instead to go searching for himself of the aforementioned poker-chip dispenser. Sabrina found the security guard to be somewhat helpful, if a bit silent, as the burly man thumbed in the direction of one conveniently located about a few feet away. Rose found a wandering casino visitor and questioned her of the machine as well, and was replied to promptly with a rough "Over there," and a hiccup. The visitor looked particularly giddy about something, and Rose opted not to stay much longer around her.

And so, all three of the team found their respective chip-dispensing machines at opposite sides of the casino. The machines all looked similar in design. Three inputs received simple zenny, NaviCard and a PET terminal link, and one output looked to be the place where they would receive their loot. Operation was simple, as holograms of golden Mr. Programs appeared in front of each machine, pointing to each button and screen to detail their use.

Rose had lucked out and gotten a friendly, albeit likely drunk, patron to point her int the direction of a machine. Sort of nice, at least.

However the woman was, Rose ended up at the machine all the same. And so she set to trying to use the machine.

First, she tried just clicking the button the little Mr.Progs told her to press when she was done, so see if it would just vend a blank chip.

Then just for good luck, she tried following the instructions, to see if she could get the machine to put a balance of nothing on her chip.

She stared at the slot expectantly, and pulled out some zenny. "If this doesn't work," she thought, with a sigh, "I'll have to put some money on it, and then try and lose it I guess. "

It was alright, since she did have a stock of extra money she could use. It was just less than ideal, since she'd rather just get a chip with no money.

She'd get something out of this machine, though.

"Success... I think," Zeo celebrated with uncertainty upon finding the machine. "This must be it." He hadn't spoken to anyone on the way to the machine, but he had spotted some odd people as he walked. Maybe drunk, maybe the usual casino populace, Zeo surmised. Either way, he didn't plan on staying to find out. It would be a good idea to make the machine produce his quarry before someone dodgy came to use it. He gave the machine a quick once-over while the Mr. Program informed him of the machine's various features.

After listening to the Mr. Prog, Zeo studied the various inputs on the device. There might not be a way to make it drop blank chips, he thought to himself. People could just walk off with them. If that were the case, he'd either have to gamble it away or mess with the machine. The first option posed the risk of being caught for doing something illegal, and the second... probably did too.

Lacking in good choices, Zeo took to inspecting and pressing numerous buttons without inserting zenny to see whether it would actually produce the chip. If that didn't work ViralMan might be able force the machine to, but that was currently Zeo's last resort. He figured it would be a good idea to contact the others while he messed with the machine and see whether they'd been successful already. Raising his PET, he did so.

"Rose? Sabrina? Either of you have any luck?" He pressed a button near the machine's output area. "I found a machine and I'm trying it, but it hasn't given me anything yet." After speaking, Zeo stepped back from the machine and waited for a response from either his friends or the machine itself.

After thanking the guard for his assistance, Sabrina made her way to the chip dispensing machine. Though, there was something off about watching Mr. Progs pointing. She didn't remember them ordinarily having arms...but she wasn't there to think about such things. Taking a deep breath, she tried following the directions of the golden program, though unlike their instructions, she made sure the zenny total remained at 0z. She actually had no choice; she had no cash of her own, and the account she could access for random things went through her father. And seeing anything concerning NetVegas would raise red flags that weren't easily answered. Then again, she could probably just show him the list, and that would prove that she wasn't being a delinquent. Or being like her brother. ...Probably.

...Anyway, she was probably just overthinking things, since the machine seemed to be going pretty slow for some reason. Hopefully that was just how it worked, and wasn't a sign of imminent mechanical or technological failure. But again, that was probably just overthinking things out of boredom.

"Rose? Sabrina? Either of you have any luck?"

Oh good, someone to talk to. "I found a machine easy enough. I'm working on getting a chip right now. You'd their machines would be quicker than this, though..."

With their goal in sight, Sabrina, Rose and Zeo went about their own way of getting things done. The male of the two resorted to search and stab, pressing buttons here and there, while Rose and Sabrina followed the instructions, attempting to change the full total they had to spend to zero. Unfortunately, all of their attempts were kind of unsuccessful. The lowest value the chips could be loaded with seemed to be a thousand zenny, and there was no way of going through the system. This was, after all, a casino, and theft was one of the most tempting opportunities a dishonest person could go for.