Hello and welcome to chapter two! Now if you guys don't mind, I'd like to try something a little new...
Marcus: Huh... Why am I... And what are you-
Yep. That's right.
Marcus: Wait, what?! Don't tell me-
Uh huh.
Marcus: ...I will murder you in your sleep. I hope you know that.
Yeah, yeah... That's what they all say... Now moving on!
Ahem... So. If you hate some of the names I used, by all means tell me! I'll do my best to change them and will gladly accept recommendations! And again, since I practically forgot to add this until recently... DISCLAIMER: I don't own the MMBN series nor anything related to it, other than my original characters and the thing in bold near the end of the story.
NetCity
In the ever-so-busy NetCity, two Navis were chilling in one of the many digitized parks. They were laying down next to each other, looking up at the digital clouds and sun that were recently added to NetCity a couple of years ago. They idly chatted for a couple of minutes, but everything soon went silent. After what seemed like five minutes, the Navi on the right sighed.
"Man... This bites."
The one on the left turned to the Navi in distress and chuckled. "What's wrong? Can't take a little publicity?"
The one on the right just hopped up onto his feet and stretched a bit. He looked like a standard Navi, donning the standard sky blue and navy blue human-like appearance; he didn't even have a custom symbol on his helmet or chest. However, one distinct property of this "standard" Navi is his personality, which he didn't mind expressing on a daily basis.
"Shut it, Ven. Not in the mood for this right now."
Ven just sat up straight, bringing his knees to his chest and hugging them as he looked straight ahead. He had a mischievous grin on his face as he snickered a little. "What? Last night couldn't have been that bad, Zhi. Or should I say Silver Van-"
Before Ven could finish his sentence, a girl Navi in multiple shades of purple came from the right and pounced on Zhi. Completely caught off guard, he, along with the Navi that pounced on him, fell onto the ground with a loud thud. Ven managed to miss getting stuck underneath the two and cringed as they fell. The purple Navi slowly rolled off of him and sat like nothing happened while Zhi groaned as sat himself upright.
Ven chuckled at the sight and turned to the purple Navi. "Jeez... That's one hell of an entrance you made, Jinx."
Jinx giggled a little, but Zhi started rubbing the arm he fell on. "'Jeez' is right... I swear Jinx, you're gonna freakin' tackle me 'til deletion!"
"Aw, don't be such a party pooper! You know I was just being friendly." Jinx made an innocent face and started pouting.
However, Zhi just scoffed at that and Ven chuckled some more. "If that's friendly, I'd hate to see you pissed off."
"Man, don't even start... I've seen her mad." Zhi shuddered as he dove into his memory banks. "She'd make Megaman shake in his boots."
Now it was Ven's turn to scoff. "Please... My pops isn't scared of anything."
/
After even more idle talking, Ven got up and brought out a screen showing various tidbits of information. He glanced at the time and sighed a little. "Looks like we should go now. Our NetOps are probably gonna kill us if we don't get back in time."
"Ain't that the truth..." Both Zhi and Jinx muttered. Zhi dusted himself off as he helped Jinx off the ground. Ven just raised an eyebrow at that, but decided to shrug it off.
"Well then! I'm gonna log out first. Later guys." Ven digitized into pixels and the pixels of him vanished into thin air as a short "Log Out" came and went where he once stood.
Just as Zhi was about to log out, Jinx caught him by the wrist. Zhi looked at Jinx strangely, but didn't resist her grasp.
"So Zhi... Your NetOp tell mine about the whole 'Silver Vanguard' thing?"
Zhi sighed when he heard the question. "Not yet. Says he's 'waiting 'til the right moment' or something like that. The only ones that know about it are us three, Marcus, and Patch."
"Is that right..." Jinx made a smirk that only a trickster would make as she replied. Zhi, knowing that she was up to something, tried speaking back, but couldn't as she pecked his cheek. He grew a slight blush as Jinx sweetly smiled.
"Well, I'll be seein' you soon!" And with that, Jinx logged out. Zhi just stood there, brushing the area she pecked at. He can't be falling for her. There's just no way... Sure she looked cute with with that smile and all but...
After shaking his head, he slapped himself twice on the face. "Alright... Snap out of it... Log out... And relax..." And that's just what he did as he went back to his PET.
Real World, Marcus' House...
Marcus didn't bother knocking on the door as he barged right in, took off his shoes, and dashed up the stairs to his room. He tossed his bag onto his chair and sank into his bed. So many thoughts were scrambling around in his head, but he never got the chance to organize them when his mother's voice pierced through his thoughts.
"Marcus! Is that you? Dinner'll be out in a half an hour!"
Getting up from the bed, he replied with a quick "Alright!" and took out his PET from his drawer. It was the newest model, sporting a decently-sized touch screen as well as a few buttons and a mini-projector. There was a slot for chips as well as an infrared light and a retractable cord for jacking in. It was monotone but sleek with black, white, and different shades of grey, and it also sported Zhi's real symbol: a black "Z" and a curve cutting the "Z" in half with white in the background.
He pressed the symbol and the PET came to life as the screen showed a menu. Zhi was there, scouring around to sort everything out. He turned around and saw Marcus, offering a little wave.
"Hey Marc, how was school?" Zhi was almost done filing everything inside the PET when he heard the sigh. He stopped everything and just looked up at his human companion. He looked troubled to say the least.
"Hey Zhi... School was just same old same old... Though I did run away from Ellie..." Marcus had meant to murmur that last part, but a sigh from Zhi told him he heard it all.
"Love problems, eh? Can't help you there. Oh, and do you mind if I get rid of this program? Disguising like a standard Navi is annoying..." Just as Marcus was about to reply, his mother called again.
"Marcus! Patch and Ellie are here! I'm sending them into your room now!"
Marcus almost fell off his bed when he heard that. Why the hell are they here now?! He quickly stuffed his PET into a drawer and took out an older model from his bag. Zhi moved over to it easily and noticed how frantically Marcus was moving his things. He was hiding chips that were laying across the room, as well as his pack and folders of chips. He was also tidying up the place in record time, making a mess of a room look adequate.
By the time Patch and Ellie got up to his room, the place was decently clean and free from anything that related to Netbattling, save for a few magazines. Marcus was casually sitting on his bed, fiddling around with the older model of the PET. He pretended not to notice them until they stepped into his room.
"O-Oh, hey guys... What brings you to my place?" There was a slight tinge of venom in his voice, mainly directed to Patch.
"Nothing really. What, we can't visit a friend's house?" Patch smiled as he grabbed one of the two chairs and plopped down on it.
"No, just... A little warning would've been nice..." Marcus put a slight jab in the "warning" and Patch understood. He just laughed and scratched the back of his head, giving a short "Sorry 'bout that."
Ellie, on the other hand, started growing a little suspicious as the two conversed. "Hey, you two... Are you guys hiding something from me?"
Marcus' heart skipped a beat and Patch flinched but quickly regained his composure. "Eh... W-What ever do you mean? W-We're just having a friendly chat! Aren't we, Marcus?"
"Y-Yeah, we aren't hiding anything from you..." The two nervously laughed as Ellie observed the two.
"Oh really?..." Ellie was about to pry more until Marcus' mom called from downstairs again.
"Dinner's ready! You three should come down before it gets cold!"
Marcus mentally thanked the heavens for the timing and got up from the bed. "C'mon guys, it's ramen night tonight!"
Patch perked up at the mention of food and quickly dashed out of the room, shoving Marcus aside. "First bowl's mine!"
Marcus quickly regained his balance as he ran down after him. "Over my dead body!"
Ellie just giggled at the sight of her two childhood friends being themselves again until she came across a magazine. She picked it up and flipped through it, showing. "Huh... I didn't know he still reads these."
After flipping a few pages, her eyes widened. She tossed the magazine on Marcus' bed as ideas began pouring into her mind. She then dashed down the stairs almost as crazily as the other two, ready to tell them some good news. The page the magazine landed on shouted its title in big, bright letters: Team Netbattle Tourney! Any Team of 5 are Welcome!
Pwa... Done and done. As always, I expect reviews! And please, try to keep them constructive?
Also, moar terms!
-NetCity: Basically a city for NetNavis.
-Netbattle: ...C'mon guys. I should not have to explain THIS. Nor the one above me for that matter.
Marcus: ...Am I just gonna suffer like this? With this... This...-
Patch: You aren't alone buddy...
Ven & Zhi: *nods in agreement*
Aw... It can't be that bad, guys!
Ellie: Hey guys! What's... Oh...
Jinx: ...Can we kill him? Or at least skin him alive?
...Oh my. Uh... So in an effort to stay alive, I'll cut it off right here. Tell me if you would like to see more of this or just want me to get rid of this all together. It's majority rules! If I see nothing in dem reviews, I'm going to continue with this whether you like it or not.
Patch: Please, help us... He's insane...
