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Chapter 2: ''Defenders of the People''
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Terry glanced down at his cards, which were not very good. He had a Queen of Hearts, a Ten of Clubs, a Seven of Spades, and an Eight of Hearts. He glanced at his opponents, trying to determine what cards they had by their expressions. Butch wasn't having much luck, there were creases on his brow. Unless he was bluffing, he did not have a winn9ing hand. Karla, on the other hand, was maintaining a rigid poker face.

From an overhead monitor, their navis were watching the game with interest. Terry's Dash, Butch's Crushman, and Karla's Tyria.

Butch sighed and discarded one card. Karla's eyes lit up and she swiped it from the discard pile, and laid a royal flush down on the table. '' Ha! I won!'' she exclaimed, annoying Terry.

''Tough luck Terry.'' Dash said. Crushman and Tyria remained silent.

Terry placed his losing hand on the table, leaned back in his chair, and sighed. He had brown hair and green eyes and wore a T-shirt underneath a leather jacket, which was, in this day and age, quite a find. He was also wearing an old pair of jeans which had a rip above the left knee, and was faded to the point that they were almost white. On his feet were an ancient pair of sneakers.

Butch was wearing overalls and heavy boots. He had small black eyes, and he had a light blue bandana over his head. Despite a muscular build, he had a gentle nature.

Karla had dark blue eyes and black hair. She too had a bandana over her hair, but it was white instead of blue. Like Terry, she too wore jeans, except that they weren't faded, and her shirt was also white.

Dash had a dark green body suit, and his helmet, while relatively simple, was green. His boots and gloves were also green. His symbol was of a white triangle over a black background, and his eyes were dark blue.

Crushman was purple and robotic looking. He was about 7ft tall, and had spikes coming out of his shoulders. His helmet vaguely resembled that of a football player, and his eyes glowed red.

Tyria, one of the few female navis created, had a tan body suit that showed off her female figure. She had black stripes running from her armpits to her boots, and brown hair flowed from the back of her helmet. Her eyes were also brown.

Terry took out his Progress PET and mumble ''Jack out Dash...'' Dash disappeared from the monitor, and reappeared on the PET screen.

''What's the matter, you don't want to lose again?'' Karla asked, as she swept the cards into a pile.

Terry gazed out of the window. Their HQ was an abandoned military base, there was even a hanger and an airfield. Not far away, the town of Kyotoro was visible, they tried to stay away from it as much as possible, the villagers though that the rebels were haughty and stuck up. The Rebels were pretty much the only people apart from the upper class with PETs these days, and a new type had not been introduced in nearly a century.

''No, it's just that it's so... BORING without Slate around, he usually has us all doing something.''

Slate was their leader, who had left several days before to 'take care of some business'.

Butch scowled, and his navi voiced his thoughts, '' Then you must really be bored then, he's an inflexible, stuck up man. And his navi...'' Crushman said in his deep, bass voice.

''You could go see Vick in the archives...'' Tyria suggested.

'' With computer nerd? No way!'' Terry grumbled.

As if on cue, Vick sprung into the room. He was, as Terry said, a computer nerd. He had wild hair parted down the middle, and glasses so thick that you couldn't see his eyes. He always wore a lab coat, and everyone had learned the hard way not to ask him for technical info.

His navi was an old market model, which as far as everyone knew, had not been customized in any way. He was called Beta (''Cause he's been deleted and restored.'').

''What are you doing in here? There are no spare computer parts in here.'' asked Terry.

''Actually, I was coming to get a bite to eat, when I saw something moving out in the field.'' he answered in an annoyed tone.

''Well what was it, I don't see anything.'' said Butch, who had also come to the window.

'' It was something red, among the weeds.'' said Vick, pointing at a patch of grass that had not been cut in years.

''Well, it was probably a bird or something, cause it's obviously gone now.''

''Hmph.''

None of them were aware that there was, in fact someone hiding in the grass. A small boy, with PET and photograph in hand.
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