Sam Isenstein
10/24/02
Hacked
ÒOh. . . DAMN!Ó Sam jumped out of bed, and made a mad dash for the shower, stubbing his toe on the door, and muttering extreme profanities to his Navi. Sam was a 14 year old boy, just trying to survive being a teen. He was very tall, lanky, but much stronger than he looked. He was average looking, and he had braces. Sam was a good student, but was most proficient at deciphering code, also a talented Net Battler, a good programmer, and a passable hacker.
ÒSorry, man! I kinda forgot about school today! I didnÕt mean to, it just slipped my mind!Ó SamÕs Navi, Swipeman, called from the video monitor on SamÕs desk. Swipeman was a tall, lanky Navi, dark blue body suit, with a visor on his helmet, black hair and deep brown eyes. He had Water Armor, 300 H.P. and a third level buster. He also had short claws on his hands that could do some major damage, and a symbol that looked like a tear in his body suit, except you could see ever-changing circuitry in it behind a clear panel.
ÒYou donÕt HAVE a mind!!! YouÕre a frigginÕ computer code! You canÕt forget stuff! Oh. . . wait a second. . . itÕs Saturday. Oops. Yes! No school today, and I can do whatever I want!Ó Sam loaded Swipe onto his personal PET unit, got dressed and walked downstairs.
ÒWait, itÕs only Friday! Sorry, Sam, IÕm really out of tune for some reason. I donÕt feel very good today. ItÕs almost as if something is inside my head, deleting files. Wha- AHHH!Ó The picture of Swipe on SamÕs PET faded, and an image of a skull replaced him. Swipe had been hacked.
After checking the date, which was really Saturday, Sam dashed downstairs, tripped over the family cat, and fell sprawling into the kitchen. ÒMom, Swipes been hacked! I need to get to the repair shop to see if they can recover some data!Ó
ÒOh, O.K. Just make sure that you will be back for dinner. You slept until 2:00! HereÕs some cash.Ó SamÕs mom pulled out a cord, plugged it into his PET, and transferred the money, about 5,000 Zeny, enough to repair Swipeman to full power
and then some. Sam grabbed his skates, and started to cruise to HitoÕs Repair Shop.
ÒHey Hito!Ó Sam ran up to the shop, and zoomed through the door. The greeting jingle turned on, and didnÕt shut up until Sam kicked it. He found himself in a large open area, nicely lit, and clean except for the computers, vehicles and appliances in various states of disrepair behind the counter.
ÒGotta get that dang thing fixed. . .Ó Hito mumbled. Hito was a middle aged man, with streaks of gray thorough his brown hair. He was a bit heavy set, very powerful, although quite short. A nice man, who was always day dreaming, but he could be gruff sometimes.
ÒWhat do you want now?Ó Hito demanded, throwing down an oily rag and straightening up from underneath a bank of computers, which he had been cleaning.
ÒSorry to disturb you, but I think that my Navi, Swipeman.EXE, has been hacked. He said he wasnÕt feeling well, and the the screen deleted and it showed a skull. I didnÕt want to look into it, because I thought that I would mess things up, so I brought it to the expert.Ó
Glowing under the praise, Hito took the PET unit from Sam, and detached the Navi block. A chip slid out, and Hito inserted it into a slot on his computer, and then plugged his own Navi, Junkman, in too.
ÒWell now, lets see what happened. Oh, it was a stupid punk kid who thought that he could get away with it, I think. Well, I bet that he didnÕt reckon that he would have such a master programmer as me on his tail! IÕve found his net address, and I just told the Net Battlers Network. ThatÕll settle his hash. Now, lets see what I can do for poor old Swipe. Junkman, see if you can find some files with Swipe in them.Ó
After a few minutes, Junkman gave a shout. ÒHito, I found the basic program data and memory file, and his basic battle chips. That means that if you resend the data and perform a reboot, Swipe will come back and remember everything., except who hacked him. The bad thing is that all of his H.P. memory is gone, so now he is down to just 100 H.P., and his Water Armor has been deleted, as well as his level 3 buster data!Ó
ÒCRAP! Do you know how long it took me to build him up that far?? I got him for my 12 birthday! TWO YEARS! I have to start over again! At least all of his memory and basic data is saved, as well as my beginning chips, so itÕs not totally lost!Ó
ÒThat's the spirit! IÕll perform a reboot,Ó Hito replied.
After 5 minutes, Swipe was back online, and trying to recover anything that was looked over, so he was off-line for the moment. ÒThat will be 5,000 Zeny, please!Ó Sam cursed inwardly. That brought his total funds to zero, because he recently spent all of his money on the now deleted Water Armor. He trudged out of the shop, looking downward.
After skating for a block, he saw a man get knocked down by a kid on a motorcycle. He appeared to be in pain, so Sam hurried over to help him out.
ÒOw. . . that hurt. Oh well, IÕm O.K. Thanks for your help, kid. Here. I found this the other day in an antique shop, I thought it was a battle chip cartridge holder, but I guess it is an old upgrade module. I donÕt want it, because my Navi, Leafman, is already strong enough, and I think that it might mess him up. Here ya go!Ó With this, the man whirled and walked quickly down the street.
Sam stared at the module. It was gunmetal gray, pitted near the top, and rusted. It certainly did look ancient. It was the size of his palm, and had three buttons, labeled transmit, stop and done. After inspecting the module, Sam jumped on his board and darted home.
Sam crashed through the door, and clambered upstairs into his room, where he took out the upgrade module.
ÒWell, I have nothing to loose, so I might as well go for it,Ó Sam thought. He pulled the jack in cable on his PET, and connected it to the module. He took a deep breath, and then switched the module to the transmit position, and the PET to receive position. A blinding light erupted from his PET, and a pulse of blue energy shot down the link cable. The module shook, and then with a sharp *PING* it was done. Sam crawled over and looked at the module, and the done button started to glow. Sam pushed it, and a white light shot out of the button, and then the whole module crackled, fizzed, and started to smoke. Sam dumped the whole mess into the garbage compactor, which immediately ate it. Sam pressed the ÔonÕ button on his PET, and the screen said that it would take a while. It was now 6:00, so Sam ran downstairs, ate, messed around, watched T.V., and the Navi still wasnÕt done reloading, so Sam crawled into bed.
End of Part 1
Sam woke up, and rubbed his eyes, and then it all came flooding back to him.
ÒSWIPE!Ó Sam jumped up, and ran to his desk, where his PET was sitting. He switched it on, and it booted up like normal, but when he got to his Navi, things got very odd. First off, there was a new background, which consisted of rapidly pulsating colors. Also, when he logged on, he had more Zeny than ever before! But most oddly, Swipeman.EXE had gotten a makeover! He was now a dull blue/black, with gunmetal blue ridges, and he had wicked looking barbed claws. He was lightly armored, and sporting a new helmet, with a metallic visor attached to it. He also had fold out wings, that looked organic, and a bigger, more dominating symbol like his old form in his chest. He was altogether a very intimidating program. His stats now read 500 H.P., Dark Armor, and level 5 buster. He saw that their was also some new, powerful battle chips in his chip folder. He was much more powerful than Sam had ever dreamed.
ÒWow, you look awesome! How do you feel?Ó
Swipe looked at himself, and answered in his regular voice. ÒI feel great! IÕm way more powerful than ever before! The module you gave me kicks ass! I wanna try it out!!!Ó
ÒWell, we gotta go to school tomorrow, and maybe we can battle Ezra.Ó
ÒAll right, letÕs do it!Ó
The rest of the day flew by uneventfully, and Sam went to bed, dreaming about future net battles.
When Sam woke up, on time for once, he showered and raced downstairs. He walked the 3 blocks to school, and rushed into the classroom.
ÒSam! Where have you been?! I was trying to call you! I wanna kick your ass in a net battle,Ó SamÕs best friend, Ezra, called from across the room. Ezra was on the short side, powerfully built, and he had dirty blonde hair that was constantly changing colors, and he had greenish eyes, which always had a twinkle of mischief in them.
ÒSorry, IÕve been kinda busy lately. Wait, check this out!Ó
EzraÕs jaw dropped, and he stood staring dumbly at the Navi for a minute. He soon regained his composure.
ÒWell, Swipeman changed a lot over the weekend. What the hell happened? Puberty or something??Ó Sam told the story to Ezra, and EzraÕs eyes lit up.
ÒMaybe that could happen to my Navi, Slashman.EXE!Ó Slashman was a deep red Navi, with gunmetal blue hair, green eyes, 350 H.P., and a level 4 buster rifle. He also had short swords over both hands, coming out of his arms, and an emblem with a small white circle, which had a red saber hilt with a green blade over his heart. A very nice, custom made Navi.
ÒWow, maybe! I threw out the module, but maybe we can find the trash, and the address might be on it!Ó They both agreed to do this, and after school they headed to SamÕs house.
ÒOh man, I hope itÕs not gone by now,Ó Sam said as he dove ito the recycling bin. A couple seconds later, he emerged triumphantly holding a dull metal cube.
ÒWe got lucky. The address is etched in steel on the outside. It says Ô620, North East Dentown, Antique Shop.Ó
ÒWhat the hell are we waiting for,Ó Ezra said, Òlets get over there!Ó
Sam and Ezra ran down to the Monorail Station, and bought tickets to Dentown. As they walked into the train, Ezra was challenged by a young boy to a net battle. Ezra accepted, and the fight commenced.
ÒSlashman.EXE, hack in!!Ó Slashman appeared on the screen, and so did the boys Navi, Tenguman. Tenguman was shaped like a man, except he had a mask with a pointed nose on it, two huge throwing stars, and jet fins. As the fight began, Tenguman tried to hit Slash with a Level 1 Shockwave attack. Slash dodged easily, jumped forward, and lashed out at Tenguman with his short swords. They connected, bringing Tenguman down to half health.
ÒI didnÕt think that you could be so strong! Jack out, Tenguman!Ó
ÒHey, the fight just started,Ó yelled Ezra. ÒDonÕt be such a pussy!Ó
ÒHey, you called me a bad name! Jim, net battle the other one! Teach him a lesson!Ó
A big guy, looked about 16, stepped out of the shadows. ÒBring it. No one makes fun of my little brother except for me. Weightman, Jack in!Ó Weightman was a top heavy Navi, with no legs, just treads. He was shaped
ÒSwipeman.EXE, upload!Ó
Weightman and Swipe found themselves in a blue arena, facing each other.
ÒLetÕs show Ôem what we got, Weightman! GUTSPUNCH ATTACK!!! Got that chip form my dad.Ó Weightman pulled back his right hand, which started to glow, and shot forth a huge wave of destructive energy.
ÒOh no! SWIPE! Dodge it!Ó However, Swipeman stood and took the full force of the blow. He skidded back on his heels a few feet, and then when the dust settled, he was still. Everyone waited, holding their breath. All of the sudden, SwipeÕs head snapped back, and his eyes glowed like some primeval animal, glaring out of the mists of time.
ÒOh, shit,Ó muttered the boy. Swipe dashed forward with a mighty war cry, and took a running leap into the sky. His wings unfurled, and he dove straight at Weightman, his claws drawn. With a flash of light, Swipe was on the other side of Weightman. Weightman looked at his chest, and gaped in surprise to see his chest splitting open.
ÒWeightman, Jack out! Oh man! You got wasted by a kid,Ó the boy exclaimed. ÒWell, I guess that I have to give you something. Here. Take it.Ó The kid handed Sam a Buster Sword chip. ÒThat makes your buster a sword until you end your turn.Ó The boy turned around, and walked to the other side of the train, and his little brother tailed after him, making faces at us.
ÒWow, you just killed him! That was amazing,Ó exclaimed Ezra. Sam was a little confused. He had never seen Swipe get into that kind of. . . feeding frenzy, and he didnÕt know what to make of it. He decided not to say anything, because at that moment the doors opened into the bustling streets of Dentown.
As Sam and Ezra made their way into the North West corner of Dentown, they saw the usual sights. Street venders hawking their wares, kids running around, restaurants, general business. They arrived at the N.W. corner, and they started to search for the antique shop.
ÔHmm. . . 620. . . Ah! There it is,Ó proclaimed Ezra, and they walked into a little grungy building, squashed between two high-rises. Dust motes danced in a sunbeam from the single window, and they could see huge vases and bookshelves covered in ancient artifacts, everything from outdated battle chips to ancient car transmissions.
ÒHello. IÕve been expecting you. Welcome to your future.Ó
End of Part 2
10/24/02
Hacked
ÒOh. . . DAMN!Ó Sam jumped out of bed, and made a mad dash for the shower, stubbing his toe on the door, and muttering extreme profanities to his Navi. Sam was a 14 year old boy, just trying to survive being a teen. He was very tall, lanky, but much stronger than he looked. He was average looking, and he had braces. Sam was a good student, but was most proficient at deciphering code, also a talented Net Battler, a good programmer, and a passable hacker.
ÒSorry, man! I kinda forgot about school today! I didnÕt mean to, it just slipped my mind!Ó SamÕs Navi, Swipeman, called from the video monitor on SamÕs desk. Swipeman was a tall, lanky Navi, dark blue body suit, with a visor on his helmet, black hair and deep brown eyes. He had Water Armor, 300 H.P. and a third level buster. He also had short claws on his hands that could do some major damage, and a symbol that looked like a tear in his body suit, except you could see ever-changing circuitry in it behind a clear panel.
ÒYou donÕt HAVE a mind!!! YouÕre a frigginÕ computer code! You canÕt forget stuff! Oh. . . wait a second. . . itÕs Saturday. Oops. Yes! No school today, and I can do whatever I want!Ó Sam loaded Swipe onto his personal PET unit, got dressed and walked downstairs.
ÒWait, itÕs only Friday! Sorry, Sam, IÕm really out of tune for some reason. I donÕt feel very good today. ItÕs almost as if something is inside my head, deleting files. Wha- AHHH!Ó The picture of Swipe on SamÕs PET faded, and an image of a skull replaced him. Swipe had been hacked.
After checking the date, which was really Saturday, Sam dashed downstairs, tripped over the family cat, and fell sprawling into the kitchen. ÒMom, Swipes been hacked! I need to get to the repair shop to see if they can recover some data!Ó
ÒOh, O.K. Just make sure that you will be back for dinner. You slept until 2:00! HereÕs some cash.Ó SamÕs mom pulled out a cord, plugged it into his PET, and transferred the money, about 5,000 Zeny, enough to repair Swipeman to full power
and then some. Sam grabbed his skates, and started to cruise to HitoÕs Repair Shop.
ÒHey Hito!Ó Sam ran up to the shop, and zoomed through the door. The greeting jingle turned on, and didnÕt shut up until Sam kicked it. He found himself in a large open area, nicely lit, and clean except for the computers, vehicles and appliances in various states of disrepair behind the counter.
ÒGotta get that dang thing fixed. . .Ó Hito mumbled. Hito was a middle aged man, with streaks of gray thorough his brown hair. He was a bit heavy set, very powerful, although quite short. A nice man, who was always day dreaming, but he could be gruff sometimes.
ÒWhat do you want now?Ó Hito demanded, throwing down an oily rag and straightening up from underneath a bank of computers, which he had been cleaning.
ÒSorry to disturb you, but I think that my Navi, Swipeman.EXE, has been hacked. He said he wasnÕt feeling well, and the the screen deleted and it showed a skull. I didnÕt want to look into it, because I thought that I would mess things up, so I brought it to the expert.Ó
Glowing under the praise, Hito took the PET unit from Sam, and detached the Navi block. A chip slid out, and Hito inserted it into a slot on his computer, and then plugged his own Navi, Junkman, in too.
ÒWell now, lets see what happened. Oh, it was a stupid punk kid who thought that he could get away with it, I think. Well, I bet that he didnÕt reckon that he would have such a master programmer as me on his tail! IÕve found his net address, and I just told the Net Battlers Network. ThatÕll settle his hash. Now, lets see what I can do for poor old Swipe. Junkman, see if you can find some files with Swipe in them.Ó
After a few minutes, Junkman gave a shout. ÒHito, I found the basic program data and memory file, and his basic battle chips. That means that if you resend the data and perform a reboot, Swipe will come back and remember everything., except who hacked him. The bad thing is that all of his H.P. memory is gone, so now he is down to just 100 H.P., and his Water Armor has been deleted, as well as his level 3 buster data!Ó
ÒCRAP! Do you know how long it took me to build him up that far?? I got him for my 12 birthday! TWO YEARS! I have to start over again! At least all of his memory and basic data is saved, as well as my beginning chips, so itÕs not totally lost!Ó
ÒThat's the spirit! IÕll perform a reboot,Ó Hito replied.
After 5 minutes, Swipe was back online, and trying to recover anything that was looked over, so he was off-line for the moment. ÒThat will be 5,000 Zeny, please!Ó Sam cursed inwardly. That brought his total funds to zero, because he recently spent all of his money on the now deleted Water Armor. He trudged out of the shop, looking downward.
After skating for a block, he saw a man get knocked down by a kid on a motorcycle. He appeared to be in pain, so Sam hurried over to help him out.
ÒOw. . . that hurt. Oh well, IÕm O.K. Thanks for your help, kid. Here. I found this the other day in an antique shop, I thought it was a battle chip cartridge holder, but I guess it is an old upgrade module. I donÕt want it, because my Navi, Leafman, is already strong enough, and I think that it might mess him up. Here ya go!Ó With this, the man whirled and walked quickly down the street.
Sam stared at the module. It was gunmetal gray, pitted near the top, and rusted. It certainly did look ancient. It was the size of his palm, and had three buttons, labeled transmit, stop and done. After inspecting the module, Sam jumped on his board and darted home.
Sam crashed through the door, and clambered upstairs into his room, where he took out the upgrade module.
ÒWell, I have nothing to loose, so I might as well go for it,Ó Sam thought. He pulled the jack in cable on his PET, and connected it to the module. He took a deep breath, and then switched the module to the transmit position, and the PET to receive position. A blinding light erupted from his PET, and a pulse of blue energy shot down the link cable. The module shook, and then with a sharp *PING* it was done. Sam crawled over and looked at the module, and the done button started to glow. Sam pushed it, and a white light shot out of the button, and then the whole module crackled, fizzed, and started to smoke. Sam dumped the whole mess into the garbage compactor, which immediately ate it. Sam pressed the ÔonÕ button on his PET, and the screen said that it would take a while. It was now 6:00, so Sam ran downstairs, ate, messed around, watched T.V., and the Navi still wasnÕt done reloading, so Sam crawled into bed.
End of Part 1
Sam woke up, and rubbed his eyes, and then it all came flooding back to him.
ÒSWIPE!Ó Sam jumped up, and ran to his desk, where his PET was sitting. He switched it on, and it booted up like normal, but when he got to his Navi, things got very odd. First off, there was a new background, which consisted of rapidly pulsating colors. Also, when he logged on, he had more Zeny than ever before! But most oddly, Swipeman.EXE had gotten a makeover! He was now a dull blue/black, with gunmetal blue ridges, and he had wicked looking barbed claws. He was lightly armored, and sporting a new helmet, with a metallic visor attached to it. He also had fold out wings, that looked organic, and a bigger, more dominating symbol like his old form in his chest. He was altogether a very intimidating program. His stats now read 500 H.P., Dark Armor, and level 5 buster. He saw that their was also some new, powerful battle chips in his chip folder. He was much more powerful than Sam had ever dreamed.
ÒWow, you look awesome! How do you feel?Ó
Swipe looked at himself, and answered in his regular voice. ÒI feel great! IÕm way more powerful than ever before! The module you gave me kicks ass! I wanna try it out!!!Ó
ÒWell, we gotta go to school tomorrow, and maybe we can battle Ezra.Ó
ÒAll right, letÕs do it!Ó
The rest of the day flew by uneventfully, and Sam went to bed, dreaming about future net battles.
When Sam woke up, on time for once, he showered and raced downstairs. He walked the 3 blocks to school, and rushed into the classroom.
ÒSam! Where have you been?! I was trying to call you! I wanna kick your ass in a net battle,Ó SamÕs best friend, Ezra, called from across the room. Ezra was on the short side, powerfully built, and he had dirty blonde hair that was constantly changing colors, and he had greenish eyes, which always had a twinkle of mischief in them.
ÒSorry, IÕve been kinda busy lately. Wait, check this out!Ó
EzraÕs jaw dropped, and he stood staring dumbly at the Navi for a minute. He soon regained his composure.
ÒWell, Swipeman changed a lot over the weekend. What the hell happened? Puberty or something??Ó Sam told the story to Ezra, and EzraÕs eyes lit up.
ÒMaybe that could happen to my Navi, Slashman.EXE!Ó Slashman was a deep red Navi, with gunmetal blue hair, green eyes, 350 H.P., and a level 4 buster rifle. He also had short swords over both hands, coming out of his arms, and an emblem with a small white circle, which had a red saber hilt with a green blade over his heart. A very nice, custom made Navi.
ÒWow, maybe! I threw out the module, but maybe we can find the trash, and the address might be on it!Ó They both agreed to do this, and after school they headed to SamÕs house.
ÒOh man, I hope itÕs not gone by now,Ó Sam said as he dove ito the recycling bin. A couple seconds later, he emerged triumphantly holding a dull metal cube.
ÒWe got lucky. The address is etched in steel on the outside. It says Ô620, North East Dentown, Antique Shop.Ó
ÒWhat the hell are we waiting for,Ó Ezra said, Òlets get over there!Ó
Sam and Ezra ran down to the Monorail Station, and bought tickets to Dentown. As they walked into the train, Ezra was challenged by a young boy to a net battle. Ezra accepted, and the fight commenced.
ÒSlashman.EXE, hack in!!Ó Slashman appeared on the screen, and so did the boys Navi, Tenguman. Tenguman was shaped like a man, except he had a mask with a pointed nose on it, two huge throwing stars, and jet fins. As the fight began, Tenguman tried to hit Slash with a Level 1 Shockwave attack. Slash dodged easily, jumped forward, and lashed out at Tenguman with his short swords. They connected, bringing Tenguman down to half health.
ÒI didnÕt think that you could be so strong! Jack out, Tenguman!Ó
ÒHey, the fight just started,Ó yelled Ezra. ÒDonÕt be such a pussy!Ó
ÒHey, you called me a bad name! Jim, net battle the other one! Teach him a lesson!Ó
A big guy, looked about 16, stepped out of the shadows. ÒBring it. No one makes fun of my little brother except for me. Weightman, Jack in!Ó Weightman was a top heavy Navi, with no legs, just treads. He was shaped
ÒSwipeman.EXE, upload!Ó
Weightman and Swipe found themselves in a blue arena, facing each other.
ÒLetÕs show Ôem what we got, Weightman! GUTSPUNCH ATTACK!!! Got that chip form my dad.Ó Weightman pulled back his right hand, which started to glow, and shot forth a huge wave of destructive energy.
ÒOh no! SWIPE! Dodge it!Ó However, Swipeman stood and took the full force of the blow. He skidded back on his heels a few feet, and then when the dust settled, he was still. Everyone waited, holding their breath. All of the sudden, SwipeÕs head snapped back, and his eyes glowed like some primeval animal, glaring out of the mists of time.
ÒOh, shit,Ó muttered the boy. Swipe dashed forward with a mighty war cry, and took a running leap into the sky. His wings unfurled, and he dove straight at Weightman, his claws drawn. With a flash of light, Swipe was on the other side of Weightman. Weightman looked at his chest, and gaped in surprise to see his chest splitting open.
ÒWeightman, Jack out! Oh man! You got wasted by a kid,Ó the boy exclaimed. ÒWell, I guess that I have to give you something. Here. Take it.Ó The kid handed Sam a Buster Sword chip. ÒThat makes your buster a sword until you end your turn.Ó The boy turned around, and walked to the other side of the train, and his little brother tailed after him, making faces at us.
ÒWow, you just killed him! That was amazing,Ó exclaimed Ezra. Sam was a little confused. He had never seen Swipe get into that kind of. . . feeding frenzy, and he didnÕt know what to make of it. He decided not to say anything, because at that moment the doors opened into the bustling streets of Dentown.
As Sam and Ezra made their way into the North West corner of Dentown, they saw the usual sights. Street venders hawking their wares, kids running around, restaurants, general business. They arrived at the N.W. corner, and they started to search for the antique shop.
ÔHmm. . . 620. . . Ah! There it is,Ó proclaimed Ezra, and they walked into a little grungy building, squashed between two high-rises. Dust motes danced in a sunbeam from the single window, and they could see huge vases and bookshelves covered in ancient artifacts, everything from outdated battle chips to ancient car transmissions.
ÒHello. IÕve been expecting you. Welcome to your future.Ó
End of Part 2