"You know, I'm actually really happy about this." Elisa was ecstatic, buoyant; after carefully scrutinising Elynor's inert form, she decided to pay heed to the grand mistress' words and was now feeling the surge of TGT. "It's finally here! We're gonna be famous in a day!"
"Well, somebody has to take care of all the miscellaneous details," remarked Savannah reasonably. "Like who's going to be the host, how many battles are going to be fought in a day – all that stuff."
"How is that important?" Carri Harrison, a carefree girl barely out of her teens, queried. Turning to the Navi sitting next to her, fiddling with her Interworld Connector, she wrinkled her nose and gestured to where Elynor and Piero were sitting at the table's head. "I mean, knowing them, they'll probably already've decided, Rilla. Seriously."
"Just because you say that doesn't mean it's true," countered Jinsei Toyama, young fellow who had come over from the southern area of the country with his friends Ayame Kobayashi and Yoshiro Nakamura. "We've been working this hard on it. We've been spending months on it. Don't just throw our work out the window."
"Groovy metaphor, baby," tossed in a grinning Chuck, who apparently didn't care about the rest of what Jinsei was saying. "Like, y'know, from this viewpoint, the only thing not psychadellic about TGT is, like, the fact that members can't enter it."
"We can't?" A green-clad Navi named Gene was curious, inquisitive. "Why? Anyone know?" he persisted, gesturing to Piero and Elynor. They were talking together. "I don't just think we can ask them – they're too caught up," he went on, his tone quietening.
"No. I didn't even know that before today." A Net Op named Magnolia Sosa – middle-aged, she was in fact the oldest of the entire Grand Tournament staff – had a bewildered look on her face. "Which is weird, considering I wrote most of the other rules."
"I'm gonna guess that it's Rule 1 in the book," grinned Douglas, scratching his head. "Maybe you only did the others – Rule 2 to however many there are in all."
"There are way too many," replied Clifford with a grin of equal easygoing mischief. "I bet the list goes past two hundred and fifty, 'cause neat'n'orderly Piero and Elynor have at least two hundred in that rulebook of theirs." He focused bright blue eyes on Magnolia. "Right?"
"Well, there are a great many." Magnolia shrugged. "Probably less than two hundred – you may not have that bit right, you know – but I'm pretty sure that there are at least fifty."
"Doesn't seem like a great very many," a laughing Maxim commented to Lara, who was on his right. At his insistence, they were both standing comfortably in the Internet "The way I see it, the fact that the initiator gets to wear this nifty cloak to start the tournament is enough for me," he added, faithfully tapping the scarlet cloak thrown over his shoulder.
"Well, be happy then." Lara smiled and patted her friend on the head. "After all, who else would have voted you as initiator anyway?"
"Well, everyone knows I have some butt-kickin' dance moves." A slightly miffed Maxim held his head high. "Anyway, quiet down. I need to be observant right now – I want to know what everyone else is saying."
Petey smiled as he watched the two friends bickering. Shaking his head – why were they being so daft, anyway? – he grinned as he saw Adrian. Chuck's Navi, standing in front of him, was gazing forward with a glowing glint in his eye. Tapping the dreamer on the arm, Petey gave him a wide, stretching, ear-to-ear grin.
"Whatcha doin', l'il buddy?" he asked playfully. "Gazing across at my beautiful features?" He winked, sticking his head forward and making his neck longer than usual.
"Yeah, right." Adrian grinned and glanced around. "But from what I'm hearing, we can't enter TGT. That's too bad, isn't it?"
"I was thinking I could be host anyway." Petey was quite aware of his own grinning face and gleaming, reminiscent eyes as he uttered his dream. "From what Elynor just said, they don't have one."
While the estranged pair grinned dreamily, Luanne Knowles, a young Operator in her twenties, pulled her PET from her pocket and examined the data running across its screen. Before her eyes she saw that many positions had already been filled out – after-battle healer, Chip seller, ticket sellers… By now, with TGT a single day away, one thing hadn't been decided yet – the food sellers. Oddly enough, it had always been Luanne's dream to walk around the bleachers a sports game, earning some Zenny as she travelled from one fan to the other, offering them food from a box strapped around her neck. Now, she knew, would be the perfect time to ask – so, with a determined face, she turned to her Navi, Lou, and Clifford's, Ranji, who was sitting beside him.
"Ran, Lou, do you think I should be a food seller?" the TGT staffer asked, trying to be confident. Actually, she wasn't very sure of what could happen – she had always been shy at heart and, besides, now would be a good time to ask for counsel. "You know, the people who sell fast food at sports."
Ranji, a sleek spy-like Navi, stared at her intensely. "You know, out of all things, this isn't one I would expect coming from you," he said incredulously. "You, selling fast food?"
"Well, that's Luanne for you." A smiling Lou patted the bright red headband pushed through her cinnamon-coloured curls. "I expected something of the sort." Reassuringly, she tapped her Net Op's shoulder. "You're a shy but gentle person, 'Anne. But you always have the oddest dreams."
"Though this one, hopefully, shouldn't be hard to accomplish." Luanne smiled, the tone of her voice still timid and unsure. "A food seller – it shouldn't be too hard." The tone of her voice intensified, growing more worried as her words flickered more and more quickly from her mouth. "Then again, I don't even know where the tournament's supposed to be held. I don't know how dangerous it can be for a person, especially for someone like me – what if the bleachers are really steep, and I fall? What if? What'll happen then?"
"Whoa, whoa. Slow down." Lou gripped Luanne by the shoulders. "Slow down, girl. Calm yourself. Take deep breaths. The tournament is indoors anyway – and, rumour is, the room where it's going to be is even bigger than the one from last time."
"I– I–" Luanne hesitated, somewhat placated by her Navi's cool hands, but feeling more anxious than ever. "If it's bigger, then there'll be more seats – there'll be more of them, and there'll be higher up. I could fall."
"No, no." Ranji got up from across the table, briefly disappeared for a second, a resurfaced before Luanne and Lou. Now, the table pressing into his backside, but he ignored the pain. "Listen to me, 'Anne," he announced, now standing in front of the Navi and her worried-out-of-her-wits Net Op, "it'll be fine. There will be lots of customers that you'll be able to serve, and I heard that they're all well carpeted, with tracts so that your feet won't slip." He smiled. "Trust me."
Luanne smiled. "Thanks," she whispered.
Near the other end of the table sat a line of friends: Kito Camacho, Gene's Operator, along with Ayame, Willism and Yoshiro. Yoshiro, who had once been a tour guide at a dojo (now under the process of renovation after an unbeknownst reign of terror), was sipping from an iced soda.
"I think that the Grand Tournament can be the best NetBattling tournament since the N1 Grand Prix," the black-haired man declared coolly as he drank down some of the raspberry-flavoured soft drink. "As a matter of fact, I wouldn't be surprised if it were." He paused thoughtfully, licking his lips slowly as he rose from his drinking stance. "And, I must say, this northern cold drink is delicious."
"It's called ' cold soda,'" laughed a cheerful Kito as he slapped the older man's shoulder. They were only a few years apart – Kito wasn't as young as his happy-go-lucky nature would suggest – though he had to admit that Yoshiro's immaculate black shades were a noticeable but eloquent touch. "And they have it down south, too."
"Yes, but they didn't allow them at the dojo. They didn't allow Navis, either." Headstrong Ayame smiled and gestured to her Navi, Willis, who was sitting beside her. "I was only allowed to have Willis here because I was head of the guard." Her face clouded, a shade falling onto unusually dark eyes. "Even then I had to fight for it."
"Me, I don't care." Willis, who always adapted quickly, grinned and shrugged expansively. "As long as I can make my way through the world with the people I love, I'm fine." Yawning, he extended his arms behind his head and leaned back into the chair. "So, I'll be happy if the Grand Tournament is a success. I bet it will be, but if it isn't I'll help make it better." His eyes closed, he mulled continually on. "No, scrap that. I'll help make it better either way. After all, we've been working this hard on it."
"I agree." Ayame glanced at Yoshiro, who was staring at her avidly, the tall glass still clutched in one fist. "You have to work to accomplish great things."
Yoshiro took a smaller intake of his soda before setting it down on the table before him. "Sometimes," he said, a smile playing about his lips, "careful bargaining and resourceful wit and cleverness will get you exactly where you need."
"'I agree,'" quoted Willis, and the three of them laughed.
Douglas' Navi Cameron, who had been listening to their conversation, quickly tuned out. She was serious at best and worst – quite the opposite of her Operator, through some odd coincidence of fate – and, now growing bored with the situation, she tapped Ranji on the shoulder. Her fellow Navi, resplendent in his sleek silver tightsuit, had reappeared from comforting Luanne.
"Hey, Cam." He smiled – no one knew why, but, while good personality together didn't bother her, grinning did – as his eyes ran up and down her clothes. "New duds? I like the get-up."
She nodded solemnly, observing her blue sweater and plain dark corduroys. "Yes, I decided that I might as well dress as a human if I'm in their world." Her own eyes flickered across his figure. "Most everyone else has, except you."
"I don't need to." Ranji impatiently waved a hand. "I like being a stealthy espion. But, aside from that, what's up?"
She shrugged, her eyes serious. "Nothing much, I guess. The Grand Tournament will be initiated tomorrow, and, honestly, I'm not very interested." She shrugged a single shoulder this time. "The only reason I joined was because of Douglas. He wanted me to."
"You're not?" Ranji, who hadn't known this little bit of information before, was quite surprised. "But you were always there, working more than you needed to." He paused. "I wasn't expecting that."
Cameron wasn't surprised by his arching eyebrows. True, she had dutifully worked five times a week on TGT at the headquarters, but – but, well, she wasn't really into it. For her, it was a second job; she preferred virusbusting near the Yumland area of the 'Net, Net City being too crowded and everywhere else being not crowded enough. Ranji knew, of course, as did everyone else, but rarely asked her about it; it was the sort of thing Cameron always did alone. "Well, you know I always liked virusbusting more," she went on, carefully deciding her words as she spoke. "To me, working on TGT was something I did as a second job – true, I did have fun, but it was only one time. I don't know if I want to do it again."
She wasn't very surprised when, by the end of her speech, Ranj was smiling again, though she couldn't fathom why. "Well, you should," the spy Navi encouraged the virusbusting Navi, "it makes you interact more with people."
