He had a good feeling. Not the usual one he got when he was exploring and running around, and it certainly wasn't the type of good feed feeling he got when Roll was near him. This one was different. Watching Gutsman or Guts as Roll and his friends called him battle against another Netnavi gave him a good feeling.

Allen described the feeling as excitement.

Watching two Navi's fight was… exciting.

"They're really good." Shell all but shook as he watched Gutsman duke it out with another netnavi as he grinned. "They must have practiced a lot."

"No doubt."

Allen spoke up as he contacted Shell.

"They have years of practice under their belt, so it makes sense that they're good battlers."

"Am I a good battler?" Shell asked as Allen developed a thoughtful expression.

"Can't say. Like them you have basic battle programs and scenarios installed in your core programming, but you don't have any real world experience implementing them."

"Wait so viruses don't count as battling experience?"

"Well, they do, but fighting a virus is a bit different than fighting a netnavi.

"How so?"

"Well~"

Allen seemed thoughtful again then he nodded his head.

"Well, viruses aren't necessarily smart, they don'ttypically use tactics and their abilities are limited to what type of virus they are. A fire virus will use flames, a water virus will use water, and an electric virus will always use electricity."

Allen stated.

Navi's on the other hand are almost the exact opposite. They're smart, they can use tactics and their abilities are varied based on general programs they have installed and the battle chips they have their operator gets their hands on."

"So there's more things to try taking account of?"

"Well if you're a tactical battler."

Allen admitted.

"There are those kinds of battlers who basically turn Netbattling into a game of punch face."

"Punch face?" Shell asked.

"Think of it like a contest of seeing who can get hit the most without flinching." Glide cut into the conversation as Shell turned to him. "It's not the most ingenious way of fighting, but that's how many young battlers and netnavi's fight."

"Oh~" Shell muttered as he seemed to think. "Do you fight that way?"

"Oh dear no." Glide chuckled. "When required Ms. Yai and I prefer the more tactical fight." Shell made a noise as he seemed to think before pointing at himself.

"Can we fight then?" Glide just released a nod and a smile.

"Of course, we are here for practice after all, I'd be honored to assist you in developing the basics for Netbattling."

"You hear that Shell, looks like you're getting some netnavi battling experience real soon."

"Yes~" Shell sounded exactly like a kid who was going to be allowed to play with the others real soon. "By the way, Allen?"

"Yeah?"

"My… 'brain' feels a little weird."

"Weird how?"

Allen sounded concerned as he narrowed his eyes and seemed to settle down on the floor, taking a minute to mess with something.

"I don't know, it's like…" Shell went looking for the words as he continued watching the fight. "For a while now, it just feels like my head is… well…" Shell muttered as Gutsman was declared the winner of the Netbattle. "Like I keep thinking; there's an idea going on in my head, then there's another one, and another one, and another one." He muttered. "Like there's a bunch of ideas or something playing around in my head."

"Why didn't you say anything earlier?"

Allen whispered as he continued working on something. "Well, I wasn't sure I needed to." Shell muttered. "My head doesn't hurt and I don't feel my data being corrupted or anything, but my head… I just can't stop thinking for some reason."

"How long has it been like this?"

"Since I 'woke up'." Allen made a noise as he continued working on something.

"Well I'm looking at your data now…"

On the other side of the screen Allen started typing away at his computer as he brought up Shell's file. For a moment he just stayed silent as he continued working

"It doesn't seem to be a glitch or anything, but your dual Core AI's do seem to be running parallel thought processes and then communicating with each other in a compare-contrast scenario."

Glide turned at that bit of information.

"It seems they're using your T.A. Software to get a better idea on how to come up with ideas and tactics."

"Oh… ok." Shell muttered. "What's my T.A Software?"

"Tactical Analysis." Glide jumped in as Shell turned to him. "Do forgive me for eavesdropping, but your T.A Software stands for Tactical Analysis. It assists and enhances a Netnavi's ability to form battle plans and use combat tactics."

"Oh." Shell muttered as he tapped his head. "So my brain is just making battleplans?"

"I believe so." Glide stated as he seemed to nod. "I happen to be equipped with the same software myself."

"Really, if you don't mind me asking, what Grade?"

"Η." Glide had no issue in revealing this piece of his programming.

"H?"

"It stands for ETA, that's the second highest in performance Grade available."

"Oh~" Shell made a noise. "What Grade am I?"

Your Tactical Software is Γ Grade, that's the standard set up."

"Standard huh?" Shell muttered as he seemed to think for a moment. "So my tactical software isn't as good as yours."

"I'm afraid not." Glide agreed. "But given a right software upgrade, you can get to the same level as me."

"That is gonna take some time though."

Allen admitted.

"I spent about four months worth of my allowance just getting you what you had. It's gonna take me some time to get what I'd need for upgrades, Shell."

"Oh, ok." Shell muttered as he seemed to think. "Is there any way I can help with that?"

"Actually yes."

Allen admitted.

"There are boards scattered around the net, where people and their Navi's put request forms. In exchange for a bit of work they'll pay you in zenny. Also we can go to the major organizations like SciLab and apply for a job of some kind and see if they'll take us."

Allen admitted.

"But let's worry about that another day, Shell you've only been active for half a day."

"Right."

"Well, what Shell think? Gutsman very strong, right?" The hulking netnavi asked as he walked up to the younger program with that same upside down eye smile. Shell just nodded his head.

"Yeah. It looks like you pack a lot of power behind those punches of yours, and that shockwave trick is pretty cool too."

"Yeah, Gutsman is pretty cool." The giant agreed as he looked elsewhere. "Just wish Roll could see how cool Gutsman is now." He asked, looking at Roll who seemed to be off to the side and talking to a screen with her operator's face on it.

Weird feeling… but Shell pushed it aside. "What is she doing anyway?"

"Roll help Mayl through personal matters." Gutsman stated. "Girl-only matters."

"Oh~" Shell made a noise before looking at Glide. "Am I allowed to know what girls' only matters are?"

"No." Was Glide's response.

"No." Was Gutsman's response.

"No."

Was Allen's response as the three males just laughed lightly to Shell's confusion. "Are girl matters that complicated?"

"Yes." Was Glide's response.

"Yes." Was Gutsman's response.

"Yes."

The three started to chuckle again as Glide put a hand on Shell's shoulder. "Shell, I have a female operator, and there are personal matters in which I myself can not assist her in. These matters are things only a fellow girl can handle." He patted the young navi's shoulder before turning towards the arena. "Now, given we have a moment, what do you say we help you acquire some battling experience?" That got Shell to perk up.

"Yes please!"


Elsewhere

"Is this everyone?" A hooded figure asked as he looked at the seven gathered before him. Well, fourteen really, there were the seven Netnavis that were listening in on this meeting alongside their operators. Just out of sight and but certainly not out of mind.

"Were you expecting more." A man asked as he got comfy in his seat and kicked his feet up. "Well, either case, you asked for us, you got us." The man shrugged slightly. "So, how can we help you?"

"I'd like to hire you and your team for a job."

"Well, we're listening."


Notes

Alright everyone this was short chapter but before we wrap it up theres something I should probably bring up, just to be a bit clearer about Blues and Rockman's situation. They're going to be out of focus but there still be in the story. They will show up every now and then - especially Rockman because of his relationship with Roll. It's not gonna just be that Roll is apparently dating Rockman and you don't get to see them have any scenes together. Personally, if I did so it would be a pretty cheap way of doing things. Likewise you will see Lan hanging out with Mayl whenever he's in town. But beyond that Lan, Rockman, Chaud and Blues will mostly be out of focus, they have their own thing going on in a different city and that'll occupy most of their time. WHEN things really get started; WWW revival or some other organization pops up; or even Bass / Forte showing up they will join the story more often and help out.

Also as Intalasiagirl noted even if Rock and Blues are pretty overpowered at this point, they could serve as potential mentor figures for Shell and help with his development. Since he's basically a baby I was thinking of giving him some kind of mentor figure anyway. Like maybe Kendoman to teach him to use his sword properly, or maybe Searchman to teach him how to shoot with his buster. So if Blues or Rockman take up that position at one point then that would give them another reason to appear in the story more often, and possibly have to save and reprimend their student when he's in over his head.

Also a question asked by Intalasiagirl; is Allen in college? Yes actually, he and the cast are in college. That is a part a realize I pretty much skipped over. It's been 5 years since Lan's last real adventure in Battle Network 6 and I'm guessing he was around 13 - maybe 14 years old when that happened. If an idea of how I put that together, well here's the thing; Lan was 11 when the first Battle Network game came out and became 12 at the end of Battle Network 3 and still going to school at ACDC Elementry School until Battle Network 6 when he moved. While the timeline is a bit blurry after that - Lan's age being pretty much forgotten or ignored - I'm going to go out on a limb and say Battle Network 4 was a year later due to the Red Sun/Blue Moon Tournament being around; so if that's the case it would put Lan at 13, and believe it or not Battle Network 5 was just a couple months after 4. Sometime after that maybe months to another year later(again, timeline gets kinda vague here), came Battle Network 6. So Lan would be either 13 or 14 years old. Add five years to that and he and the cast would be around either 18 or 19 years old so respectively they'd be in or starting college.

If there's any other comments or questions coming up feel free to ask or post them. Until then.