Episode 4: Two and Two make Four easy
Diary of Jeremy Belpois Kadic Academy 11th grade Student, October 19th
With the group First Victory on the Internet our popularity has increased slightly but that isn't really a good thing. I received four e-mail messages one each from the Chosen One, Guide, XANA, and KC which was a forwarded message from the Site Admin of 09. Kevin sent our first 'paycheck' valued at 2000 Zenny and his congratulations for completing a level one site. Guide sent us the next two keys which was his reward for completing the first site. He mentioned that we may want to consider dividing our group so that two sites can be handled at the same time to speed things up but that was our choice. XANA sent us a message with an attached check for 15000 Zenny stating that he doesn't go back on his bets and that we had earned this but he also warned us that any further disturbances within his sites will result in our deletion one way or another. I replied back to him saying that his threat was noted and we'll forward it to the Chosen One so that he could deal with it if he wanted to. However the forwarded message from Site 09 was interesting. They had detected a file that was left behind from the old protocol and they sent it to the Agency to take care of it. KC told us in his message on top of the old message that this file was the rulebreaker card that Kat had earned when she defeated Xanatos in a databattle and attached it with the e-mail. The rulebreaker card was called Dark Cannon which KC warned us that before we use it we may want to show it to Clip because it reminded him of a dangerous program with a similar name. In any case we had to visit a virtual bank in Google to spread the money around to the different accounts. The bank was pretty easy to work with it had a ton of ATM's for simplistic transactions but if we needed advanced help there was a worker that could be summoned and it was thanks to him and Clip that we learned something special about Strawberry.
The group was gathered around one terminal but Jeremy was having a difficult time on what exactly to do
Jeremy sighed and said "When all else fails get help." He pressed the call for help
"Excuse me, pardon me..." a male voice sounded as a program in a causal dress suit worked his way though the group and came up to Jeremy "You call for help?"
Jeremy nodded "Indeed I did… I'm Jeremy Belpois of the Lyoko Warriors"
"Ah..." The guy responded "I heard about you guys…" He said "you caused some big uproar over at Site 09… I heard you guys almost blew up the site if it wasn't for the Agency it would have."
Jeremy said "It was an accident; I don't know what happened we were just doing our job when it just happened. It was like a time bomb was triggered if and when the site was hacked it would start the countdown."
"Huh…" The clerk said "Well in any case what can I do for ya."
Jeremy said "Well we got this paycheck for doing our job and we want to split it among ourselves."
"Easy enough…" replied the clerk "let me see the check and your "
Jeremy handed over the 15000Z check and the group each handed over their
The clerk looked at the check and whistled slightly "all this for one job… I knew XANA pays nice but this is…"
Jeremy chuckled slightly "It was a bit of a bet and we won."
The clerk said "huh… well take a big risk and you get big rewards… anyway how do you want this split."
Jeremy said "two thousand for me, four thousand for Aelita, and eighteen hundred for the rest of the group."
Aelita said "Actually make mine thirty-five hundred and give Kat twenty three hundred. She deserves a little extra for her effort at the site."
The clerk said "Alright… I'll be just a minute."
Kat grinned and laughed "Got to give credit where credit is due, right girl" She petted Strawberry who growled in happiness.
Jeremy smiled slightly "Yes both of you did pretty well against Xanatos. I'm somewhat surprised that his dreaded Nightmare Force wasn't as effective against Strawberry."
"Well Ghost Type moves have no effect against Normal Type Pokémon." Replied the clerk as he continued to work
"Huh?" was the response from the group.
The clerk chuckled slightly "What can I say I like Pokémon and that Shiny Furret on your shoulders is quite the beauty if I do say so myself."
"Whoa, Whoa, Whoa," Kat exclaimed "I think you made a mistake. Strawberry a Ferret not a Pokémon"
The clerk said "Well she sure looks like one to me… although the voice and the face are slightly off now that I take a good look."
Kat took a look at Strawberry and blinked "Is it possible though…"
Strawberry growled cutely
Aelita said "Could be… remember that world does exist according to Guide."
Kat said "But how would the supercomputer know to turn my pet Ferret into a Pokémon look alike."
Aelita said "Maybe that's something you dreamed about Strawberry being Kat…"
Jeremy said "And with the codes from KC he could have given information to the computer about Pokémon."
Kat said "huh…"
The clerk said "Well that should do it…" He handed the ID cards back to the group "Anything else that I can do for you?"
Jeremy said "I don't think so… I already put in the other paycheck…"
Kat said "You mind Jeremy I like to withdraw from my account."
Jeremy said "What for…"
Kat said "Oh right before Ulrich and Yumi started their spar I ran out of tokens and the change machine doesn't take ID's only bills"
Jeremy said "Oh… well it is your money… but don't overspend on tokens for the arcade"
Kat said "Let's see how much should I take out…" She withdrew 1000 Zenny which came out as two bills. "Yeah… that should be enough." She stored it into a pouch on her dress. "Now let's hit the arcade!"
Jeremy sighed and said to the clerk "Thanks for your help."
The clerk said "Glad to do it. Enjoy your day" and walked off
The group made their way to Clip's Arcade.
Once inside, Kat instantly bolted over to the change machine and made some tokens for Arcade games.
Jeremy walked over to Clip who was behind the counter just keeping an eye on his place when he saw Jeremy he smiled and said "Hey Jeremy, welcome back heard you guys won the bet from KC."
"Sure did" Jeremy replied "although it was touch and go for a few minutes, Xanatos surprised us with a higher level security protocol then what was normal."
Clip hummed as he nodded "when admins take control of the security they can do that," He stated "but it looks likes you survived."
Aelita nodded "uh Clip we've got a question about a certain rulebreaker card."
Clip looked at her "I'm your guy to go too what do you ya got…"
Jeremy said "This…" and handed over the Dark Cannon rulebreaker
Clip blinked and stared at the card in slight shock "My word…" He said "You kids do well for your first attack" He commented
"What is it?" Jeremy asked
Clip said "What we have here is the Dark Cannon Card from the Darkness Within set. This card even though it's ranked silver is an extremely powerful and versatile card. You can use it in one of two ways. You can summon a Dark Cannon Virus to the battlefield to fight alongside you or you can equip it to yourself and gain the move Dark Cannon which does 40 damage with a Range of 3 but the catch is if you equip it and you're not a darkness element it takes 10 lifepoints for every turn you have it active."
Ulrich said "That is powerful but it comes with a cost."
Odd said "So someone like Xanatos could use it without the cost right."
Clip nodded "Yep…" He replied "and I wouldn't be surprised he had one of these cards up his sleeve the whole time."
Yumi said "So if he did have it why didn't he use it?"
Clip said "He likes pure matches ones that just uses the player own skill to beat opponents. He honors the idea that if the opponent doesn't use a rulebreaker card he doesn't use one even if it would have him win. It pretty much come down to pride of using his own power which if you don't know the infamous saying goes Pride comes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall"
Jeremy blinked and said "That's from the Bible isn't it."
Clip said "Yep…" He looked at everyone surprised faces "surprised that some of us programs believe in God"
"A little" Aelita admitted
Clip said "Do you really think humans created this virtual universe? Most don't even know of its existence. So if humans didn't create this then who did?"
Odd said "That's… a good question… hey Einstein any ideas"
Jeremy was in deep thought "Neither confirmed nor denied… was that what Kevin was talking about. Did he ask Guide if God created this and other worlds?"
Clip said "we don't know… after Kevin's final battle against the Dark Network he earned the right to ask any one question to Guide about the virtual universe. He never told us that question or its answer."
Jeremy said "hmm… it would explain a lot on how advanced this world is and where all the other worlds came from but logically it's impossible"
Clip said "Logically a lot of things are impossible because it can't be explained in simple terms sometimes it just takes faith."
Jeremy nodded "Yeah… hmm…" He was still in deep thought
All of a sudden Strawberry came up to the group and leapt onto the counter in a playful manner and let out a cute growl.
Clip said "Hey whoa…"
"Strawberry" Aelita scolded as she grabbed her "Don't run around like that…"
Strawberry growled in disappointment
Odd looked for his cousin "Hey Kat…" He called
Kat was busy dancing on DDR and couldn't hear Odd over the music
Odd sighed "She's busy…"
Aelita held Strawberry and said "I'll look after her for now."
Clip said "I should have mention pets are only allowed if the owner has them behave Strawberry seemed like a well behaved pet."
Aelita said "Usually Strawberry good but can get hyper sometimes especially over food or a shiny object."
Odd said "Oh by the way Clip take a good look at Strawberry does she look in anyway familiar to you like say a Pokémon species"
Clip took a good look "Yeah…" He replied "she's looks like a Furret although my daughter would be more an expert on that. She's into that type of gaming.
Ulrich said "huh…"
Jeremy said "That's draws up another question you didn't mention that Strawberry moves can't be modified to us before"
Clip nodded "Indeed I suppose I should have mentioned that," He said "most animal style creatures, basic programs, and several others can't have their moves changed around but the moves will upgrade to higher levels the more you use them in databattles" He explained "However the one exception to that rule is Viruses and Pokémon because outside of a databattle they use their moves in direct battle and learn new ones which tend to replace the weaker moves. This in turn affects the databattle moves just like when you remove various weapons or accessories that have different skills which give you different choices of moves"
Aelita said "Speaking of which I'm going to switch back my Angel Voice for the Shadow Band not that it wasn't useful outside of a databattle for the site but I realized that without my voice I couldn't heal people."
Aelita switched the Shadow Band for her Angel Voice and switched her databattle move from Cloak to Healing Song.
Aelita tested her voice by singing a soft note and said "That's much better"
Clip chuckled "So you guys discover anything new with your abilities during this hack"
Odd said "Oh yeah I had my Aqua Orb sub-slotted into my shield bracelet and found out that I could bounce by using a large bubble like shield around my body but to use it I had to jump first
Liz said "I also learned an interesting Fire Move where I could dash though the air while jumping and surrounded by a fire shield. It kinda of scared me at first but I managed to land without losing my balance"
Clip said "Ah the Elemental Jump moves, Aqua Bounce, and Blazing Jewel, Them along with Static Boost are useful air moves for either dodging or attacking depending on how you use them."
Ulrich said "Does the other elements have jump moves like Earth Ice or Wind."
Clip said "Wind's jump move is Glide where you use the wind to glide though the air, Earth's jump move isn't really a jump move but more like a recovery move it allows you to shoot out a vine while in midair via the Climb ability and if it attaches to a wall or another stationary object you can swing on it like Tarzan until you reach the wall then climb up it."
Odd said "Ulrich as Tarzan? Hmm that must make Yumi Jane." He laughed "I can just picture it now them swinging though a jungle like…"
Two knife like objects was jabbed slightly against Odd's back one a leaf kunai the other a small dagger shaped ice crystal. Yumi was holding the ice dagger while Ulrich was holding the Leaf Kunai "Enough Odd…" they both said
Odd gulped
Clip sighed "Put it away you two he's got the point."
Ulrich and Yumi put their daggers away
Aelita said "So what's Ice's jump move"
Clip said "similar to the climb ability the Ice Hook ability throws a solid pick which can be swung on but users tend to use it by throwing it up to the top of a wall while on solid ground then climbing up same as climb
Aelita said "So Earth and Ice have some common moves based on how they are used.
Clip said "Indeed well anything else you guys like to know?"
Liz said "uh Clip I was wondering what type of rulebreaker cards do you have available?"
Clip said "I've got various types healing cards, program cards, attack cards but I do also sell packs of cards." He made reference to several boxes on the shelves holding various packs of cards. "All things considered, it's cheaper to buy the packs then the individual cards, but you have to rely on luck to get something useful. There's always one high ranked card among the packs. Each pack cost 500 Zenny."
Jeremy said "hmm… we may buy a few so that we can use them in our later hacks."
Ulrich said "Speaking of Hacks Jeremy when are we going to do the next one?"
Jeremy said "We'll have to plan that out with how the rest of this week maybe this weekend if everyone up to it."
Odd said "and just when I was planning to relax…"
Diary Notes continued
When Odd said he was planning to relax, I was half tempted to smack him over the head and said "come on Odd this is serious business. We don't fully know what XANA capable of in his new form as it is." But I resisted. In any case we bought 5 packs from the Hacker's Basics Set and check them out. Each pack contained 6 cards 1 high ranked card and 5 regular cards for a total of 30 cards. The high rank cards were the following:
Step Recovery – (seen before) Restores 10 lifepoints to holder for every panel crossed.
Rank: Gold
Tower – Summons a Tower Program to the battlefield
Rank: Silver
EXP: 0/5
Program Name: Tower
Program Info: A program designed by the Agency to target and shoot opponents, related to the Sensor series.
Move Rate: 0
Life Points: 10
Attacks: Spot
Spot: Target all within range, 20 damage range 3
Hack – Summons a Hack program to the battlefield
Rank: Silver
EXP: 0/5
Program Name: Hack
Program Info: An attack program designed like a switchblade. Related to the Sentinel Series
Move Rate: 2
Life Points: 40
Attack: Slice
Slice: Slices a opponent with a knife blade 20 damage Range 1
Slingshot – Summons a Slingshot program to the battlefield
Rank: Silver
EXP: 0/5
Program Name: Slingshot
Program Info: A program designed by the Agency for far ranged combat
Move Rate: 2
Life Points: 20
Attack: Stone
Stone: Shoots a stone and hits opponents 10 damage Range 4
Mud Golem – Summons a Mud Golem to the battlefield
Rank: Silver
EXP: 0/5
Program Name: Mud Golem
Program Info: A program designed by the Agency for close range defense and power
Move Rate: 1
Life Points: 50
Attack: Thump
Thump: Slams opponent with a powerful punch 30 damage range 1
Seeker – Summons a Seeker Program to the battlefield
Rank: Silver
EXP: 0/5
Program Name: Seeker Program Info: A sniper type program designed to watch and shoot opponents
Move Rate: 2
Life Points: 30
Attack: Snipe
Snipe: Zooms onto an opponent and snipes them 20 damage Range 4
The last five of the high ranked cards were summon cards that Clip told us were useful to summon or equip at the beginning of a battle to put up a defense against multiple programs. The rules involving summoning programs were under Hacking Step 2 which I'll quote below.
At the beginning of a databattle during the upload phase, each agent can choose to enter the battle themselves or upload program cards that they have. The security controls how many programs may be uploaded per agent at the beginning however should the agent choose to enter this battle he may have only one program loaded at the start for support as long as the program has less then or equal to 50 lifepoints. Once the battle started the Agent may summon as many programs as he wants following the rules for summoning.
The programs would also level up as we do if we use them as a program gaining one EXP for every program destroyed while they were active. As such, he told us the Data Doctor Crystal gave me had 4 EXP and it would level up at 5 which was pretty close to leveling up. So with that in mind we decided to split up into two groups. I took Liz and Odd to Site #10 while Aelita took Ulrich, Yumi, and Kat to Site #11.