"He did it!" Students found themselves cheering while watching the broadcast, seeing Cipher go into the building, and power started returning to the school, warranting more cheer.
"Well, looks like our job's done." Pip said. "Still, who the heck attacks a random school like this?" He couldn't help but wonder.
"I don't know, but I doubt it's a coincidence, given where this part of the district is." Adrian admitted.
"Maybe we should talk more about it back in the real world." Pip suggested, manifesting back as a bird, as the two dematerialized.
Getting out of the bathroom, Adrian noted the quiet hallways again, and that class had resumed.
"Man, this is the most orderly I've seen the halls, like, ever." Pip said. "Still, what're you gonna do? Go back to class like a normal studen- And we're already out the door." he remarked.
"Reina's just going to bug me about what happened today, anyways. She should just focus on her theatre thing." Adrian commented.
"Aww, you do care!" Pip teased, as Adrian rolled his eyes. "Well what're you gonna do, take another shift at that supermarket? You know you could just ask Patrick for money."
"No. He's probably still at work, and what I do as Cipher is my own problem. Asking a Neo-Site enforcer for that kind of help is a terrible idea." Adrian told Pip.
"Fair enough...Well, whatever." Pip said, sighing. "Still, you do way more for that market than you get paid for, If you didn't come in one day, I bet chaos would follow."
"You're exaggerating." Adrian commented.
"Not really. Those guys didn't even know how to turn a device on and off again." Pip deadpanned.
After the day had ended, and the next one had arrived, Adrian found himself getting out of bed, stretching. "Pip. Get up." He said.
"Five more minutes..." Pip drowsily answered.
"Fine, but it's Friday, so I guess I won't have need for those extra servings of dessert..." Adrian started with a smirk, before Pip immediately jolted up.
"HEY HEY NOW! Don't be so hasty! I'm coming, I'm coming!" Pip said, flying into the bag. "Onward!"
"Geez...You're always so unmotivated until food or Cipher business is involved." Adrian remarked, before looking around. "Huh. Guess Patrick went in early. They really need to learn what a maximum hour week is..." he said, before heading out the door and walking towards class...before yelping in surprise as something seemed to barrel into him from behind, or more accurately, someone.
"Whoa, damn..! Sorry, man!" A boy with gray hair and blue eyes said, getting up and quickly gathering the things they had dropped, and seemed to run off in a bit of a hurry.
"Ow, what the hell..?" Adrian asked, getting up himself, and checking himself over. "Guess nothing got cut on the sidewalk..." he said, before noticing a paper that the boy had forgotten to pick up, and picked it up himself, before noticing what was on it.
"What the hell? Neo-Site coordinates? But that guy didn't have an account on the server, did he?" Pip asked.
"No, not when I looked into everyone's..." Adrian said, narrowing his eyes. "These coordinates, I haven't been to this spot on the site before, either." he said.
"Think it's a hacker hideout, or even worse, a church roleplay site?" Pip asked, as Adrian looked over in confusion. "What, they get a little too "Ara Ara" with the nuns." he said.
"...For your sake, I'm ignoring that. But we should check out where these coordinates lead." Adrian said.
"I agree! Wait...This means you're skipping school again, doesn't it?" Pip asked, disappointed.
"For once, no. I'm gonna see if I can find out anything else this guy might be hiding." He said.
"Wow...I never thought I'd see the day you decided against your opportunity to skip class. Good for you, buddy." Pip complimented, as Adrian rushed off.
Later on, Reina walked up to Adrian, who was currently peeking through a door. "Hey, Ad! What'cha doing?" she asked, as Adrian flinched.
"...Don't sneak up on me like that." Adrian said. "But if you have to know, I'm trying to find out more about another student." he said.
"Ooh! A student! Is she pretty?" Reina asked with a smug grin.
"No, and if you're not going to help me find out about him, then leave me alone." Adrian said.
"Aw, don't be like that- Wait, him? I never knew you were-" Reina started, before promptly being bonked on the head.
"It's not like that, either." Adrian said, deadpanned, as Reina held her head.
"Oww...But then why're you suddenly interested in getting to know another student? Do they have some weird techy stuff you wanted to research?" Reina asked.
"...Something like that. Look, do you know anything about this guy?" Adrian asked, pointing out the boy from earlier.
"Oh, Percy?" Reina asked.
"You know him?" Adrian asked.
"Of course I do! He's a really popular guy here! Head of the boxing wrestling clubs!" Reina said. "Heard he's got a little sister planning to attend school with him once she's old enough." she said.
"...I see. What about vanguard?" Adrian asked.
"Ooh! Vanguard?! Are you finally interested in joining that club with me?!" Reina asked, eyes sparkly.
"...Reina, answer my question first before I even consider it." Adrian said, deadpanned.
"Fine, fine...but no, the guy's supposedly never even touched the game before." Reina answered, as Adrian narrowed his eyes at the paper.
Then if he's never played...Why the hell does he have an account on the Neo-Site? Requirements for one is a full deck... Adrian thought to himself.
"But still...I answered your question! Can I finally submit an application for you in the vanguard club?" Reina said.
"Sure, fine, just leave me alone...I've got work to do." Adrian said, walking off.
"WOO!" Reina cheered.
...I'm starting to regret agreeing to her terms...but as much as I hate that, I'm even more happy that Reina came in handy. Adrian thought to himself, before walking towards the school doors.
"Hey. I see you." Nilam said, glaring.
"And you can see me push the door handle to leave. I've been here more than long enough today." Adrian remarked.
"Oh, no. Everyone knows you ditched after the blackout yesterday. I'm not gonna let you walk out again." Nilam said, before Adrian looked at his phone from a text. "Are you seriously checking your phone while I'm talking to you?"
"Yes." Adrian answered while reading it, before twirling his phone and putting it away. "Fine, I'll stay. Now get out of my way." He said, walking past her.
...A text convinced him to stay? What the hell's even going on with him? Nilam thought to herself, raising an eyebrow.
Pip's got a point. If I want to see what Percy's doing there, I need to wait for school to let out so he'll be able to go online. Otherwise It'll be a waste of time. Adrian thought to himself...
Once classes let out, Adrian just crossed his arms, awkwardly staring from outside of the boxing club room.
"Didn't account for club times, did you? Good thing one of us actually reads the extracurriculars. They're gonna be in there for about an hour." Pip told Adrian, who groaned.
"Well, what am I supposed to do for an hour? I didn't have time to grab my kit and gadgets." Adrian said, before someone put a hand on his shoulder.
"Heeey, Adrian! Did you actually stay for the club meeting? I'm so proud of you!" Reina said, as Adrian slowly turned around.
"Right...I almost forgot." Adrian said, unenthusiastically, as Reina practically dragged him by the arm.
Then again...Since clubs meet after school, at least I have an excuse to be here after hours waiting for Percy to leave. Adrian thought to himself.
"You gotta go meet our club president! I'm sure she'll be super happy to have you!" Reina said. "After all, ever since you were a kid, you've been beating me at vanguard!" Reina said, as Adrian sighed as they were brought into the room.
"Fine, who's-" Adrian started, before his eyes slightly widened, as he found himself staring right at Nilam.
"...I'm surprised you of all people signed up for a club." Nilam remarked.
"Ooh, you two already know each other?! Great!" Reina cheered.
"Well, Adrian...I suppose if you're a member, you wouldn't mind showing me your deck?" Nilam asked, narrowing her eyes.
...So she's suspicious of when I left during the blackout. Unfortunately for you, I'm not dumb enough to walk around with my Astral Dragons in clear view...And I know the whole school watched yesterday. Adrian said, taking a deckbox out of his bag.
"Sure, go ahead." He said, tossing it to her, as she intently searched through it.
Great Nature...Looks like a pretty well put together Bigbelly deck. Nilam thought to herself while looking it over.
"So, care to say why you asked to see my deck?" Adrian asked, with his own eyes narrowed.
"...I was simply wanting to see if there were any suggestions I could give you as club president." Nilam said, closing the deck and tossing it back. "Maybe a few more stand triggers could help with a multi-attack tactic."
"I see." Adrian said.
"Nilam's super smart! She could probably even tune Cipher's deck one day!" Reina said.
...Looks like I've just added a problem to myself by joining this club. Unlike Reina, this girl's clearly no idiot. Adrian thought to himself. I just have to deal with the meeting and go home... He then thought, sighing.
Fortunately for Adrian, once the meeting was over, he was able to leave immediately, and saw Percy leaving as well, and he tailed behind him for a bit as quietly as he could.
"Man...Today was exhausting, but I've still gotta make it to the circuit...The big prize fight's today." Percy said to himself, as Adrian narrowed his eyes and stopped following him, heading off to his own home.
"Circuit? Prize? What the hell's going on here?" Pip asked, as Adrian took out his Neo-Site device and put it on.
"No clue, but we're about to find out." Adrian said, pushing a button and materializing.
Landing in the Neo-Site, Adrian immediately pushed a button, as a motorcycle vehicle appeared in front of him, as he got on. "Hang on, Pip. The coordinates are a bit far from here, so I'm not walking all the way there." he said, speeding off.
"Still, why do you care? Percy seems like an okay guy, heck, he's even got a little sister! If she thinks so highly of him, he can't be up to something bad, right?" Pip asked.
"That's not the part I'm worried about. Unless there's an official Neo-Site event going on, fighting for prizes is banned." Adrian reminded. "Whatever they're putting Percy up for sounds suspicious, and I'm investigating it." he said, before stopping in front of a normally "NPC" building.
"What the hell? People can't even access these buildings. Are you sure this is the right place?" Pip asked, as Adrian got up and input a command, before walking through it. "Hey! You better have let me in there, too!" Pip said, flying through the door, as the two went in to see a rather large arena and bleachers, as fights were going on with plenty of people cheering, as someone saw them go in.
"Huh? Who're you? I don't remember giving you an invite..." A rather gruff man said. "Wait...Holy-! You're Cipher, ain't you?!" He said, flinching.
"In the flesh." Adrian answered.
"Now you listen here! We ain't hurtin or huntin people, so whatever you're here about, we got nothin' to hide!" The hacker said.
"Relax, I'm not here for a hunt. I'm here because I'm curious as to what's going on here." Adrian told him.
"Oh? So you're a curious fighter? That's even better! Listen up here, Cipher, buddy, maybe you can even help me!" They said, approaching.
"I'm not your buddy, and I'll send your IP to the higher ups if you touch me." Adrian warned.
"Right, right...But listen, we've got a real rising star here, under the name "Silver Battler". A real youngster with a lot of potential! But nobody here's even a remotely good fight for him, and that's affectin' bets. Now, hear me out here, What if you, the infamous Cipher, were to go against the rising star of the underground fight circuit?" He asked.
"What, you want us to be your crowd monkey?!" Pip asked, angrily.
"Now, now, No dirty business here. Just a good clean fight to rile a crowd up. Neo-Site's all stingy with competition for bets, but some people just wanna feel the rush of that "Just one more gamble"! Is that so wrong?!" The hacker asked.
"Of course it is! Tell 'em, Cipher, you'd never stoop so low as to be the monkey for a hacker-!" Pip started, before getting cut off.
"Fine, I'll fight this Silver Battler." Adrian said.
"What the WHAT?!" Pip asked, shocked.
"Great! Now let me just verify your deck for the event, so you don't end up changing the contents mid-intermission..." They said, as a strange light flashed over his deck. "And there you go! The waiting room's that way, the fight's gonna be in 30 minutes!" He said, offering his hand for Adrian to shake, as he seemed to narrow his eyes, but accept the handshake, before Adrian went off.
"Cipher, would you like to explain to me what the hell that was about?! Why are you agreeing to an underground fight circuit fight?!" Pip demanded.
"Because I finally got the answer to my question." Adrian said, before holding a hand over his deck, as a few strange symbols showed up, before clearing out as Adrian input some commands.
"What the..?" Pip asked.
"Looks like that "No dirty business" promise was a lie. He rigged my deck when he verified it, but in my favor." Adrian told Pip.
"Wait, in your favor? But what about the Silver Battler being their rising star? wouldn't they want to hinder you, not help you?" Pip asked.
"That's why I got back when he wanted to shake my hand." Adrian said, pulling up a screen. "I attached an audio chip to him, let's see what he has to say for himself when he arranges this fight..." he said, as the man's voice was audible.
"Man...I can't believe it! Not only do I get to stiff Silver Battler out of his winnings by rigging the fight, but the crowd gets to go wild seeing the legendary Cipher in the ring! I am gonna be rich by the end of this!" The man said, laughing heartily.
"That sleezy..! We have to do something about it!" Pip said.
"If we say something now, there's no guarantee that the Silver Battler will be okay. Not to mention, I need to confirm my theory..." Adrian said, standing up.
"Your theory?" Pip asked.
"...On just who the Silver Battler is." Adrian said, with his eyes narrowed.