Chapter One
The Strange Battle Chip
Tory Froid frowned at an array of colorful battle chips on his desk. The majority was very familiar to him, having used most of them for net battling with his navi. He then heard the familiar voice of his navi, Iceman, speak up. He turned to his PET. The small screen had an Inuit-like, small hooded figure looking friendlily at him.
"Just looking at them isn't going to put the chips into your pack," Iceman said cheerfully.
Tory smiled a bit, though he did not really feel in the mood to do that. He then frowned and picked up a chip with a small figure bearing a simple cyber sword. There were several others like it and had basically the same picture with various weapons or attacks, but thankfully, he only had the one.
"I know most of which chips to put for our battle in the tournament tomorrow," he started. "But I really don't want to have to use this one."
He put it back on the desk. It was called an "Assistant Chip", which was basically what the named was- an assistant, robot-like figure would be summoned and do a few attacks, then disappear. Some were much stronger than others, and in few tournaments, they had even been banned. Unfortunately, they were very much legal in the tournament he and Iceman would be participating in tomorrow, though. It helped a bit that he and Iceman had looked up the chip, and so he knew it was one of the lower level ones.
His navi spoke up again. "If you really don't want to use it, then don't," he suggested.
Tory sighed, then leaned over and put his chin on his hands. "I would do that, Iceman, but my dad's counting on me using the chip in the tournament."
"Because he gave it to you, right?"
He nodded. "Yeah. He got that chip since he happened to get it free as a small award along with his bonus at work. I guess his boss really likes chips."
Tory looked over at Iceman to see him with a thoughtful look on his face. "I guess that would usually be a good thing, right?" he said. "You get free chips since your Dad doesn't have a navi, and we can practice using them."
Tory made a wry face. "Well, usually, I guess," he agreed. He leaned back in his chair. "But you know I don't really like these types of chips very much."
Iceman nodded. They had talked about the subject before. While they basically agreed on it, Tory was more firm that the "assistant" summoned was what many thought about net navis- mere programs instead of ones being able to become friends, as he and Iceman were. The idea of the chip seemed to invoke the thought that navis were only that, and would never be anything else.
He was surprised when Iceman suddenly smiled. "Maybe you won't have to even use it tomorrow," he said brightly. "Then you can say to your dad that you brought it with you, but didn't need it for the tournament."
Tory smiled a bit, but not much. "I hope so," he replied, looking at the stagnant picture of the assistant chip.
He looked at his partially full chip pouch, then back at the chips at his desk. Tory picked up the assistant chip.
"I guess I should put it in," he said reluctantly. He then smiled at his navi. "Maybe you're right, and I just won't have to use it after all."
Iceman grinned at him. "That's the spirit," he cheered. He then frowned a bit, his face becoming more serious. "But if we do happen to need it, just use it, okay? The effect doesn't last long, and it might help."
Tory sighed a bit, then nodded. "Okay," he reluctantly agreed.
He then put the assistant into the bottom of his pouch- where it would not be seen easily- and then put the rest of his chosen chips on top a bit later. The other chips went into the spare pouch that he usually kept in his closet.
Tory then closed it, sighing with relief. "Well, that's done," he stated, relieved.
He looked over to see his navi grinning at him. "Now it's time for a game?" he asked eagerly.
"Okay," Tory replied, grinning back.
He had already finished his homework, and had practiced violin. Tory went to his computer and waited for it to boot up, then inserted a strategy maze game CD-ROM. They were soon involved in a side-quest to find out where a surprisingly helpful thief had hidden some magical swords. Iceman happily bounced from area to area, since him being a net-navi allowed him to actually be in the game.
Tory was surprised a bit later when he heard his father speak. "Playing that game again, I see?"
He quickly paused the game- though not his navi, who waved and then started goofily spinning in circles within the still area around him- and turned around to see his father in the doorway.
"Hi, Dad," he greeted him.
His father came over. "How are you doing, Tory?" he asked, smiling at him.
Tory grinned back. "Just fine," he replied.
He then laughed as he heard a jovial greeting from his navi. "Hiiiii!" Iceman cheered, and Tory turned to see him waving excitedly.
Mr. Froid laughed. "Hello to you, too, Iceman," he said. "It looks like you're still doing well."
Iceman spread out his arms. "Sure am!" he agreed happily.
Tory's father chuckled, then turned back to him. "Oh, right that chip I gave you," he said, while Tory managed to hide a wince. "You're still going to use it, right?"
Tory faked a small grin, though he knew that Iceman would be able to tell the difference. "Yeah, it's in my chip pouch with the others," he said brightly.
"Good," his father said. "I hope that it helps tomorrow."
"Yeah." Tory nodded, while he saw Iceman rubbing his mittens while frowning a bit from the corner of his eye.
His father smiled. "Well, I'll leave the two of you to your game," he stated. "Your mother said that supper will be in about an hour, I think."
"Okay."
His father left the room, closing the door behind him. Tory sighed as he slumped a bit in his chair. He turned to see his navi frowning a bit at the area around him.
"Could you un-pause the game now?" Iceman asked, poking at an unmoving over-sized bumblebee. In this paused game, even navis could not cheat. "I want to be able to see things moving again around here."
Tory laughed a bit. "Yeah, sure," he replied, swerving the mouse to the game menu. "Usually, though, I would be really glad to see bees stuck in the air instead of going to sting me."
"Well, that's not this game," Iceman replied. "Plus, I can easily ice them anyway."
"That's true," Tory agreed.
He clicked the "resume game" feature on the menu, and the game became busy again. Like the navi had stated, Iceman easily froze the bee, which actually could randomly be one that would grow twenty-times its size and become more of a formidable enemy if one was stung by it.
They continued to play, beating a few more levels. He was glad that at the game was not an actual battle, like in the tournament, though.
Tory nervously sat in one of the waiting rooms with some other tournament contestants that had not gone yet. All of them there would also be battling within the next two hours. Most of the others were chatting away with their navis and with each other, while a few other competitors just practically stared, looking rather bored, at the wall. A large television screen was on one side of the room, so that they could see the other matches.
Tory looked at his opponent for his and Iceman's next match, Umiko Nomura, who was an Electopian girl with short black hair that looked like she was in middle school. The tall girl was currently chatting animatedly with another girl on the other side of the room. She at least did not seem like the arrogant type, and had even greeted him friendlily just after entering the room. Tory just sat on his bench, hoping that he would not become more nervous than he already was.
"How are you doing, Tory?" Iceman asked him from his PET.
Tory lifted his small computer from its pouch. "Okay, I guess," he responded, sighing a bit.
Iceman smiled at him. "Cheer up," he said, grinning. "I'm sure it'll turn out fine."
"I guess," Tory responded, shrugging.
He briefly looked at some of the laughing contestants, including his opponent. Tory had not thought that he and Iceman would still be in the tournament, actually, but somehow, they were. Lan Hikari, one of his friends that were still in the tournament had had a battle earlier that day. It was no surprise that he and his navi, Megaman, were victorious. They were quite strong net battlers.
A few battles later, his name, as well as his Umiko's, were called by a runner. Tory heard his opponent say a cheerful farewell to some people, and they were both told to go through the separate doorways to arrive at their match.
Tory went through the one on his right, glad that the hallway was fairly short. He soon came out to the cheering arena, seemingly much louder than it had on the television. He then got into place behind the large glass "bubble" that covered the computerized playing field for the navis. There was the same ground and mountain scene that he had seen in the last few matches from when he had glanced at the television.
"Let's do this, Tory," Iceman cheerfully chirped from his PET.
Tory lifted up the PET from the holder to see his navi grinning excitedly. Seeing his enthusiasm did make him feel a little less nervous.
"Yeah," he agreed.
He turned his PET around so that the sensor was aimed at the plugin hole, and pressed the jack-in button. The familiar red laser light streamed from his PET to the playing field, and soon his navi was standing about a foot from a rocky mountain. He saw Umiko do the same, and soon a green female navi holding a crossbow appeared on the other side of the playing field.
Umiko went first, equipping her navi, Kita, with a charge bow. Iceman was easily able to dodge the shot, as well as a few others. Kita managed to dodge Iceman's basic freezing weapon, not even slipping on the ice created from it underneath her. Tory watched as Iceman easily dodged a few more shots from the charge bow, then a long sword, then returned the shots with a few battle chips from Tory. Kita seemed a bit weakened from the hits, but definitely not so much that she was out of the battle.
From there, though, the match- for Iceman and Tory, anyway- practically went spiraling downhill. Iceman was hit several times with both lower-level and higher-level attacks, and Tory winced as he saw his navi slam against one of the mountains, nearly spent. He grimaced, sending one of his last chips into the PET, which sent a small wave of water barreling against the other navi. Kita was briefly distracted from the wave, and had to run up a mountain to dodge it.
"Come on, Iceman," Tory whispered, hoping that his navi could hear.
Even if the Inuit navi did not know of the plea, Iceman still managed to stand. Tory breathed a sigh of relief, even though there was not really a good chance of them winning at this point.
Unfortunately, at that moment, Iceman nearly fell down again with yet another bow attack, while Kita was preparing another arrow. Tory doubted that Iceman could dodge much more of them. If perhaps he was better with strategy, or just had an instinct for battling, like Lan and Chaud- a friend of Lan's that was also a strong battler- maybe he could come up with something better- or have done better in the first place.
Sighing a bit- and thumbing a cyber sword chip in the meantime for afterword- Tory reluctantly slid in the assistant chip. As he had expected, something not even close to a navi pixilated itself into the battle arena. Tory hoped that it knew what the target was, though. Generally most of the assistant chips did somehow, though there were a few odd times with the assistant repeatedly whacking the net op's navi instead of the opponent. One time, he had seen one accidentally crush the net op's navi in a land slide, automatically ending the battle.
Tory watched the assistant, hoping that it would rush toward Kita. He then winced as Kita shot her arrow, but fortunately, Iceman was able to dodge the projectile by diving to one side.
Tory was wondering if he had a defective chip, when the assistant turned around. He gasped a bit. Instead of the robotic-like eyes, the assistant's gaze was almost . . . confused?
He cringed a bit. Maybe the chip even had jumbled programming that needed to be fixed- if it even could be. It could be a reason not to use the chip again, though of course a broken battle chip certainly would not help Iceman in the current battle, though.
Suddenly, almost decisively, the assistant turned away, its face now more neutral. It summoned a mere cyber sword- a weaker version than the actual chip- and lunged toward Kita. Its steps were sure and quick, and actually managed a few solid hits on the enemy navi, who raised her bow too late in defense.
The assistant soon faded away. Tory breathed a sigh of relief. At least he did not have to worry about the odd chip anymore. He put in the cyber sword chip, and Iceman was able to use it just fine. However, Kita mounted a few stronger attacks, and his navi was soon on the ground. Tory winced as the count-down timer within the area clicked down to zero. The crowd cheered as the match ended, but Tory was more focused on his prostrate navi.
Iceman still was down, but as he watched, Kita raised a hand to the Inuit navi and help him up.
"Hey, great battle," Kita said, smiling a little.
Iceman put an embarrassed hand behind his head. "Eh, thanks," he stated.
Tory watched as Umiko logged her navi out. Tory then raised his PET toward the jack in slot and did the same. Iceman appeared in his PET.
"You okay, Iceman?" he asked nervously.
The Inuit navi grinned at him. "I've felt better, but I'm mostly fine," he replied cheerfully.
Tory smiled some, relieved. He then heard footsteps near him as he went down the steps toward the outside part of the room. Turning, he saw Umiko behind him.
"Great battle," the girl net battler said, echoing her navi. "That was cool you telling your navi to use the shot gun at the mountain, and using the rocks from that blast blocking my comet chip. Usually navis try to dodge it instead, or tackle it straight on."
Tory shrugged, embarrassed. "I actually got that idea from Iceman earlier," he confessed.
A chuckle came from his PET, and he raised it from its pouch to see Iceman grinning at him. "Well, Tory's the one that actually remembered it here."
Umiko also laughed. "Good teamwork, then," she stated.
Tory was glad that she was actually being nice, unlike a few other net ops he and Iceman had battled before. Umiko then frowned a bit.
"You might want to check out that chip of yours," she suggested. "The assistant one. I've never seen one hesitate like that before."
Tory actually had, but maybe the female battler was referring to the confusion he thought he had seen in its eyes. So Umiko had seen that, as well? He then inwardly winced. No doubt at least a few in the cheering crowd had, then, as well. Well, there were certainly witnesses to how defective it was, then. There were even a few chip shops in town, all relatively close by, and most of them worked with repairing broken ones.
"Uh, yeah, I could do that," he said, hoping that he seemed eager enough.
Fortunately, Umiko only smiled instead. "Right."
"Oy, Umiko!"
Tory heard a voice calling out for the female battler, and saw a couple of girls running down the sloped walkway. In the background, the new battle had just started, along with more almost deafening cheers.
He winced at the nearly tumultuous noise, but was distracted by Lan and several other friends saying apologies for the loss, but at the same time congratulating them for managing a place somewhat higher up in the tournament.
Tory shifted, a bit uncomfortable at the small crowd around him. Sure, they were at least somewhat nice and had definitely helped him and Iceman a while ago in an incident with the water plant where his father worked, but it was still a bit strange to be part of a crowd. He managed to decline a visit to a curry shop, insisting instead that he had some other things to do.
Tory then turned back to his PET. Iceman grinned at him, not seemingly bothered that the group, which included his navi friends, had left.
He managed a small smile. "Let's get back home so you can charge," he said.
A few hours later, Iceman was completely back to his usual stats and was happily bouncing around the area in Tory's PET, chasing a ball that had managed to go slip past several basket-like targets on one wall. He watched, a bit amused, as the ball turned into a small grey cat- one of its qualities- and snuck past straight behind the small navi on light paws. It then darted behind another small target on the other side of the computerized space.
"It's to your left," Tory said, pointing in the correct direction.
Iceman's face turned surprised. "It is?" he asked confusedly.
He looked in the direction Tory had indicated, only to see a small block. He frowned, reaching out with one mittened hand. At his touch, the block turned back into a cat, then a ball, and started to roll away. Iceman pounced on it, capturing the runaway item with both hands.
Tory watched as the ball was thrown into the basket, landing beside several others. "I got them all!" he cheered.
Tory laughed, seeing his navi do a small victory dance. It had not been easy, but finally, his navi had been successful at the mini-game.
Iceman then touched a button near one of the baskets, and all of the targets, the balls included, disappeared, leaving only the line-streaked floor and walls around him. He then looked at Tory expectantly.
"So, is the check on the chip done yet?" he asked.
Tory sighed, looking at his computer. It was not quite the high quality of his father's, but still could handle several things. Chip inspection was one of them. He saw that the green line was at ninety-seven percent, which was most likely at only a few more minutes until finishing. The small "chip holder" where he could view the effects and stats of a chip without inserting them into his PET, was right next to the keyboard.
"Almost," he reported.
Iceman grinned. "Oh good," he replied, looking relieved. "Then you won't have to say no to more sofas again."
Tory chuckled a bit. After Iceman had finished charging, he had taken Umiko's advice and had taken the chip to a repair shop. Unfortunately, that one and most of the others nearby had been quite busy, and somehow, either with bizarre mix-ups or with an odd persuasion attempt to get him to leave, he had been offered several odd items instead, couches included. (The latter actually did somewhat make sense, since it also sold household items in another part of the store.)
Finally, after declining what sounded like someone offering blue spaghetti- it had been quite loud with some alarm going off that another hassled worker assured him was only accidentally set off- he and Iceman had managed to find a small chip store that actually seemed less busy. A friendly worker there had scanned the chip and assured him that it was fine.
Tory, though, had not quite managed to get the confused look of the assistant navi out of his head. With a few random exceptions, his chips had usually always worked in the past, but this error seemed quite different. Also, as the worker of the shop had assured him that the chip held no viruses, he was sure a simple home scan would not harm it.
It seemed that was definitely true as the scan reached one hundred percent and a message popped up, stating that it was done. Tory clicked on the results button, and quickly scanned through the brief wording, knowing that Iceman was doing the same from his PET.
"Eh, it looks like it's working okay," he heard his navi comment.
Tory nodded, then clicked the back button. Maybe the chip was just fine and he would never have to even look at it ever again-
He then let out a gasp as suddenly, his screen turned black. Random text rolled down the screen, including bits of JavaScript, html, and CSS. In the brief smattering of wording he saw, he spotted what even looked like part of a webpage, though curiously without a complete doctype or a correct beginning html tag. There was even the set-up for a small table with the all of the text itself gibberish.
Tory then attempted to open the task manager, without success. Frowning intensely, he tried again, then the simple log out of the user account. Even pulling out the chip of the holder was futile, as it seemed almost glued in the small device.
"Could you log me in?" Iceman asked worriedly.
He shook his head. "No, the chip actually might contain viruses after all, and I don't want to risk you getting infected," he quickly replied.
. . . Not to mention, he really was not a net op that was quite competent in battle. Surely his earlier loss had definitely proven that, as well as many others.
Tory then pushed a switch close to his computer that would put an extra firewall to keep possible viruses running through the rest of the house's network. Hopefully there were not a lot already.
He then grimaced. Maybe he had been quite stupid to try to check the chip himself. Perhaps he should have waited for his father to come home, as he was more adept with computers than he himself was. Unfortunately, his father was working late today, but had stated that he wanted to see the recording of his match later on.
He frowned. Well, at least his father would see the assistant chip being used, though hopefully he would not have to thoroughly disinfect his son's computer due to a dumb mistake- or even get a new one. Maybe he would have to use his father's computer or one at a library branch for a while.
He was wondering if he should just shut the computer off, when the screen suddenly glowed a bright blue. Tory winced, holding an arm to his eyes.
After a few seconds, the glow vanished. Tory pulled his arm away and saw the regular home screen, with even the program icons in the same places as they had been before.
"Are there a lot of viruses?" Iceman spoke up after a few seconds.
Tory sighed, shrugging. He was wondering why the virus scanner in the computer had not picked any up yet, when suddenly, something faded into view. He was then very surprised, as something very similar to the assistant navi he had seen in the battle arena became completely opaque, and fell face-first onto the menu on the bottom of the screen.
"Ow," it spoke up, rubbing its helmet slightly with one hand as it sat up.
The figure then turned around to see Tory, its eyes becoming quite wide. Tory instinctively stood up from his chair. Certainly, he had heard some viruses in his computer actually speak before, but that had not been too often. Also, either his father or someone else that had been visiting had always been able to delete those types of infections without too much difficulty. It was only him, Iceman, and his mother currently at home, though.
His navi spoke up again. "I want to help, "he pleaded.
Tory sighed, looking apprehensively at the substantiated virus on his computer screen. The virus itself seemed to not be listening to them, but was instead looking around at the various icons, a frown on his face.
"Okay," he relented.
He reached for the PET and readied it to a position to be able to jack his navi in. The virus turned around, finally seeming interested in something else again.
It held up its hands in a surrendering position. "Really, I am definitely not a virus- and yes, I realize that does sound rather odd," it said with a grimace at the last part.
Tory frowned in return. That statement in itself was a definite mark of the figure on the screen being something that could seriously infect a computer. He had known about some classmates in his old hometown- which he had moved from two years ago- that had reported viruses utterly insisting they were health inspectors, for some strange reason.
He pressed the button that would release a navi to the cyber world. With a beam a red light, Iceman was jacked in and pixelated near the virus.
His navi wasted no time in attacking the intruder. Tory pressed a combination on his computer that would help protect the program shortcuts on the screen, just before Iceman blew a blizzard of snow toward the virus. The virus merely dodged the attack, and the whirlwind of snow faded away.
"Really, I am not a virus!" the intruder insisted, before dodging yet more snowy attacks.
Tory grimaced and slid in a cyber sword chip. While it was not an extremely strong one, with well-placed movements, a navi could deal serious damage. Unfortunately, the virus merely summoned a sword of its own and easily blocked the attack.
The intruder dodged more thrusts, for some reason not returning any of his own. Tory watched the two small figures on his screen fight, with him adding more battle chips. It seemed that, although the virus was still dodging or blocking the moves that Iceman did, it seemed to be moving less fluidly. Finally, the virus was weakening. The virus did not seem to be enjoying being on the losing side of the fight, as its face became a bit dejected.
"Oh, great," it said, seemingly to itself just after wearily flipping over a tidal wave of water. "I'm not at full strength, and who knows why- well, I don't, anyway . . ."
The intruder then surprisingly undid its sword and sat cross-legged on the bottom of the screen. Iceman looked surprised, then let out another shot from a laser gun. Tory watched as it came closer to the navi-
Then bounced off of a shield. He blinked, surprised. Surrounding the virus was a multi-sided blue sheen, perhaps similar to a translucent diamond- well, a blue one- more than any type of shield chip he had ever seen. Then again, he certainly was not the most proficient with navi battle-related knowledge.
Tory wondered if there was actually someone helping the virus from another computer somewhere. He winced. Hopefully it was not the start of a more complicated infection takeover of some sort.
Iceman fired several more times without any effect, with the shield surprisingly still there. The virus itself seemed to have lost interest in the battle, as it merely leaned its chin on one hand, looking a bit bored.
Tory frowned. What was he supposed to do about a virus, that though weakened, still could apparently defend itself fairly well, and his own navi was losing strength without any more visible damage on the enemy's side? Actually, there had been no damage dealt to the virus in the first place. It had just merely become weakened with the constant dodging, and was most likely now regaining its strength before attacking again- unless, he was just stupid and the shield was just a misleading maneuver for whatever else it was programmed to do. Maybe the shield was something that was slowly gathering enough power to launch a much more powerful attack of some sort.
The virus scanners on his computer still had not picked up anything, and Tory quickly checked to see if they were on, hoping that doing that while the virus was still within the strange shield would not harm either his navi or the data on his computer. He clicked with his mouse on the menu icon, but the scanner was still there, running, or so it said.
Iceman, though, was not at full power. Tory saw that the Inuit navi breathing hard as it launched yet another futile cannon attack on the blue shield. The virus inside had not moved from its spot, besides moving its head a bit as it seemed to gaze disinterestedly at the menu screen nearby.
"I'm going to log you out, Iceman, okay?" Tory said.
Iceman frowned, looking at the virus still within the shield, but reluctantly nodded. "Yeah, but I want to beat this virus sometime," he replied.
So did Tory, but he also really did not want his navi to be harmed in the process. He aimed the portal of his PET at the jack-in slot, and the red beam coming into the device signaled his navi's safe return. Tory quickly looked at the small screen. He saw his navi wave at him, and was relieved. At least the virus had not gone with him.
A quick look at his computer stated that the virus was still just sitting there. Tory hesitated, then tugged on the assistant chip still in the chip scanner. To his surprise, it actually came free. The virus's eyes seemed to widen a bit just before it instantly pixelated from the menu screen, along with the blue shield. Tory warily placed the chip onto the desk, then started a much more thorough virus scan for his computer.
He then placed his PET back into its regular pouch. Even if his father was not currently at home, then he could ask his mother for permission to call someone else that possibly could help with strange viruses found in battle chips. Then again, maybe the chip itself was not actually an actual chip, but was some imitation that contained, well, viruses instead.
Tory frowned some more at that thought. Hopefully his father would not get into any trouble. He went for his mother, but only found a note on the kitchen counter that she had gone out shopping, and would be not be back for a few hours. He stood by the counting, wondering what to do.
"Would that chip shop you went to earlier help?" Iceman suggested.
Tory raised his PET so that he could see his navi's face. He then smiled a bit.
"Maybe it could," he responded. "A lot of chip shops also deal with viruses and other computer and PET related problems."
He easily found the number for the shop and was about to call, when he remembered something. Smacking his forehead a little for his stupidity, he called his mother's new cell phone. His father had finally convinced a week ago that she needed one, and he kept on forgetting about it.
At least he did not need to look up the number. Tory called, and reassured his mother that nothing was too amiss, but just wanted to check out a battle chip that had a definite problem, to say the least. He then quickly called the shop. A receptionist picked up after only two rings, and even better, a worker was available to look at the chip currently.
He thanked the person and hung up.
Iceman spoke up again. "Any luck?" he asked hopefully.
Tory nodded. "Yeah, someone can look at the chip."
"All right!" Iceman cheered. He then added wistfully, "I hope I weakened the virus enough for them to delete it."
Tory chuckled a bit. "I hope so, too," he replied.
He gathered the chip, putting it in a plastic bag, and just in case, quickly made sure that he had the same battle chips that he had used in the tournament earlier. He left a reminder note for his mother where he was, as well as one for his father, if for some odd reason he did not get home before him.
He then set off in the warm air outside. "Keeter Third Street, number three-oh-one," Iceman piped up.
Tory nodded, knowing that his navi could see the motion from the PET even if he did not hold it up. "I know."
He reached the small chip shop again easily. There were even less customers than before, and he was soon met by a friendly worker, who led him to a back room.
The worker, Mr. Eduardo Cuello, according to his name tag, frowned as he inspected the chip from where he held it in his hand. "Hmmm, assistant chip, eh?" he said, peering at it closely. "A sword one, type G. Power sixty, speed thirty, by the looks of it."
"The assistant acted a bit weird when I put it in my PET," Tory stated, purposely leaving out that the battle had been for a tournament.
Mr. Cuello nodded. "Yes, you had said something about a virus on the phone, someone said."
Tory also nodded. He then explained about the odd virus, with Iceman speaking up every now and then. Surprisingly, the worker seemed to enjoy the navi's comments, smiling whenever Iceman spoke up and even answered in return. He even asked to see his navi, and grinned and waved a bit when Tory held up his PET. Iceman happily returned the gesture. That was different from some other times when an employee frowned or even scowled viciously whenever any sort of navi said anything, including maintenance ones in the store's cyber world.
The worker spoke up again. "Well, let's have a look at this troublesome chip of yours," he said, gesturing to the back of the room.
Tory looked in the direction and saw several computers and other machines nearby, as well as a larger screen above the former. He followed the worker to the computer on the right. Mr. Cuello turned it on and opened up a program, then entered several commands. He then inserted the chip what Tory recognized as a more advanced scanner beside it, which he recognized as being also able to scan chips.
On the computer screen, the virus appeared within several holding rings. Tory eyed it warily. Even though he knew that the holders locked it in place, he winced a bit at the intruder that Iceman had attempted to battle earlier, with no success. The virus itself certainly still did not look passive like the usual assistant chip, as it moved its head side to side a bit, with its face definitely a bit nervous.
The worker did not seem perturbed, and he hummed a bit as he typed in more code on the computer, as well as more commands on several buttons on the large scanner. Tory frowned at the screen. Nothing seemed to be happening with the virus, which was now actually looking a bit downcast in its cyber prison. Mr. Cuello typed a bit more in the window next to one with the virus.
A few minutes later, the worker looked up from the screen, looking a bit thoughtful. Tory was confused, as the virus was certainly still there.
"Is it almost gone yet?" Iceman asked from his PET.
Mr. Cuello chuckled. "Oh, I should hope not," he said.
"What?" Tory said, surprised.
The worker spun in his chair to face him. "Well, this is certainly not what I had expected from this chip, but your friend here is definitely not a virus."
Tory was even more baffled. "But what is it?" he asked worriedly.
He was not sure what else it could be, other than some odd programming that someone had somehow shoved into what looked like a battle chip.
Mr. Cuello smiled some more. "It's a net navi."