"So tell me," Yumi asked, glancing over at Black beside her, "what's the latest on the plan?"
"The plan?" Yumi gave him a look, knowing he wasn't that drunk yet. "Oh, the plan." He smiled patiently at her. "Well, the more important supplies have all been gathered. The plant's still ready to go. We just need to go over who's doing what, but that's better saved for the meeting."
"Can't you give me a hint?" she teased. "Just a little one?"
"Nope," he said cheerfully before taking a swallow. "This is great," he said before taking another. "Why don't you try this sometime? It's kind of spicy, but kind of... itself."
"I prefer sticking to the tried-and-tested menu," Yumi said, sipping her margarita to back her opinion. "I have never seen one of those funny drinks last longer than half a year."
"That's why you have to try them," Black said. "Because you may never again get the chance to find out what a bunch of random things in alcohol taste like."
"I don't want to know when it comes to some of those things," Yumi said ominously.
"Aw, come on!" But Black didn't press her. "I guess part of why I can't say much now is because it's not all worked out."
"Typical," Yumi said. "You always leave the details for the last minute, or is this special treatment?"
"Both?" Black grinned sheepishly. "Atsuki's better with that. He's been suggesting things, I've been considering a few."
Yumi's eyebrows drew a little closer. "I thought you two were on the outs?"
"He helped me out of a bad place once," Black explained, swirling his drink around his glass. "I could never really turn my back on him, not completely."
"Won't you have to?" Yumi asked. "If he's not on our side in time, the Boss won't let him stay."
"You really think everything he says'll come true?" Black asked before taking a sip.
Yumi set her glass on the table. "Don't you? I mean, it's because of you that—"
"Of me?" Black seemed almost disturbed by that. But when Yumi looked again, it was definitely amusement. "Me, of all people? Why me?"
"You've got plans. Smarts. Things are starting to happen here, and I—" Her eyes slid down to the ice sitting in her drink. "I never really believed that was possible before now," she said quietly.
"I see." Black lifted his glass, smiling wryly. "Remember: in a crisis of faith, always go with the winning team."
Yumi looked up, a smirk safely fixed on her face. "I'll drink to that," she said, and clinked her glass against his.
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In the weeks that had gone by since Nova's increase in activity, Turboman had noticed that its members attacked for a variety of different reasons. Sometimes to make a scene, sometimes to actually accomplish something...
And sometimes, like today, for no reason. "Come on, just one Netbattle!" Black pleaded from his window into Internet City.
"Nope! I'm doing research for my paper," Kaita said from a similar window. He was safe in the comfort of his own bedroom, having sent Turboman to peruse the search engines in the digital metropolis. "Let Turboman go, Punk!" Turboman was trying to get his arm untangled from Punk's cable. Unfortunately, Punk was the stronger of the two, and Turboman was getting tugged in the rust-red Navi's stead.
"That's boring," Black said flatly. "The Net Colosseum's just a block away. You can do the paper tomorrow."
"But it's due in two days! I don't want to have to do it last-minute!"
"Kiddo. Look at me." Though he couldn't speak for Kaita, Turboman managed a glance between attempts to get Punk off his arm. Black looked even worse than usual; it was obvious he hadn't been getting enough sleep. "I have been holed up in my office for three days now working on things you don't need to know about yet. I need a change of pace."
"Then take a nap," Kaita suggested.
"I'm too awake," Black said, undeterred.
"Go outside. Run or something."
"No. I suck at exercise." Black smirked as Kaita sighed. "And don't try losing on purpose, or we're going for best two out of three."
"Okay, okay..." With Kaita semi-convinced, Black snapped his fingers, cuing Punk to release Turboman. He stumbled backward, rubbing his wrist as his Operator continued, "But if you lose, you have to help me look up stuff on ecosystems."
"No way," Black said petulantly. "Bad guys don't do homework."
"I could just plug out right now..."
"Okay," Black said grudgingly. "Deal." Punk and Turboman stepped through the Net Colosseum's entranceway, teleporting them up to the stands. As it was a weekday, Turboman doubted there would be a long list of Netbattlers; sure enough, Black's window re-opened with a blip for him to announce, "We're next. I hope you're ready, 'cause I know we are."
Kaita's window appeared for him to respond, "Of course we're prepared! Right, Turboman?"
"Right!" Down below, the previous fight ended. To Turboman's surprise, as he hopped the stands' wall to drop towards the battlefield, the ground flashed white. "What the heck?"
"I felt like a little extra challenge," Black explained. "Don't tell me you forgot about this feature!" The generic green battlefield that Turboman was used to seeing in the Net Colosseum had disappeared when the light vanished, revealing a winter wonderland mostly covered by an iced-over pond, with snowdrifts placed throughout and a ring of snowy ground lining the outside. Upon landing on the ice, Turboman slipped and fell on his backside. Next to him, Punk made a perfect landing before pushing off to slide to the other end of the field. Carefully, Turboman got to his feet just in time for the words Battle Start to flash between him and his opponent.
"All right, Turboman! Here we-hey!" Before Kaita could send in a chip, Turboman found himself flat on his face in an attempt to evade Punk, who was only faster with the ice to skate on. He pushed off against Punk's boot before the other Navi's mace arm could come down on him, sliding until the ring of snow stopped him. "Give us a second!"
"It said 'Battle Start,' not 'Battle Wait!'" Black chided."Senshahou, slot-in!"
"Reflector!" Punk's cannon blast of energy shot straight back at him thanks to the hard hat that dropped over Turboman; while the red Navi was still covered, he gingerly got to his feet. Though the ice was slippery, he was fairly sure he wouldn't fall again as long as he kept his balance.
"Okay. Let's ride," Turboman said to himself as the Reflector wore off. He bent his knees before pushing off, skating along and picking up speed so fast that Punk's attempt to smash a fist into his face was easily ducked. "Now, I've just got to get a handle on attacking," he realized as Punk began to come after him. The larger Navi couldn't match Turboman's speed, though; the car-like Navi hung a sharp left and quickly got on Punk's tail, leaping for him in a kick. Punk turned and blocked, pushing Turboman away to slip across the ice.
"Spread Gun, slot-in!" Turboman shot at Punk with the small bursts of energy; while they didn't do much, it gave Turboman enough time to regain his balance and build up a little more speed. "Silver Fist, slot-in!" Turboman aimed a punch at Punk's face; however, his target caught it and yanked upward, sending Turboman flying. Punk jumped up to meet him, kicking him sideways and making sure he had plenty of cable tethering him to his foe. Turboman went skidding across the ice, ending up with a faceful of snow. He didn't get a chance to reorient himself before Punk started pulling him back. Turboman tried to stumble to his feet, but one of them was caught in Punk's cable; he couldn't regain his balance. "Boomerang, slot-in!" Punk dodged the boomerang by jumping toward Turboman, fist outstretched.
"Gold Fist, slot-in!" Turboman scrambled to the side, barely moving on the slick surface. It wasn't enough to dodge Punk's gold-plated gauntlet smashing into his head. A Wide Blade appeared on his arm without warning, and he wasted no time blindly slashing at Punk's side, forcing the larger Navi to disentangle his arm and leap away.
Right when Punk was on his downward arc, Kaita yelled, "Turboman, melt it!"
"Turbo Wheel!" Turboman hurled them toward the place where Punk would land. The flame-covered tires punched through the ice as if it was a piece of paper, leaving a good-sized hole. Punk had nothing to stop himself from splashing down as Turboman's tires finally re-materialized back on his shoulders. "Gotcha!" But the battle wasn't over yet. Seconds later, Punk's cable punched through the ice and twined itself around Turboman's ankle, pulling him down into the water as well.
"Turboman!" Kaita cried, horrified.
Turboman's concern was primarily with finding Punk in the dark water; he didn't have time to explain that he was fine, but Black did. "Navis don't have to breathe, dummy," he pointed out. "Now, it's an underwater fight!" Below the water, Turboman saw the mace stretching out from the gloom, and frantically hurled a tire at it to knock it off its trajectory.
"Right," Kaita said. "In that case, Long Sword, slot-in!" Turboman got a better idea than just cutting the mace—he grabbed onto it with his free hand, keeping Punk from doing whatever he wanted with it. Turboman soon found himself being reeled deeper. Punk was standing at the bottom of the lake, barely visible in the gloom. Turboman readied his sword, slashing at the Navi. But it wasn't just Punk's speed that was slowed in the water—Turboman's sword swing took considerably more effort, leaving Punk able to sidestep.
"Brace yourself, Punk—Elec Circle, slot-in!" Punk cut his own cable arm and popped into his Mad Roller shell just in time. White-hot pain surged through Turboman as Black's Battlechip electrified the water and anything in it. Before Turboman could recover, Punk's cable had entwined him, and the rust-red Navi's hand was holding the spiked edge of a discus to his throat. "Yield."
"Turboman!" Grudgingly, Kaita admitted, "Okay, you win." The battlefield faded away. Turboman sighed in relief as he felt the hit points he'd lost return to him.
"You're still holdin' my arm." Turboman nearly jumped at the sound of Punk's voice. He looked down to see that he was still holding the severed mace from the battle, and hurriedly dropped it so it could harmlessly disappear. Punk laughed, "Novice."
"Yeah, well, I did pretty well!" Turboman countered as they began to walk toward the Colosseum's front entrance. "I didn't see you cruising to victory so easily, either!"
"An' you shouldn't—you don't have time to pay that much attention to me when you're tryin' so hard not to lose," Punk said coldly. "You've got a long way ta go before you can really try to beat me, carboy."
"Oh, sure," Turboman said. "Kaita-kun and I won last time."
"Black gave it up early," Punk said. "We coulda won if we'd wanted to."
"Actually," said a third Navi, "I thought you two both looked pretty strong." Turboman and Punk looked over at the new Navi with some confusion. He was a solid-looking, orange-armored Navi with tough-looking plates around his shoulders and on his gloves and boots. A bright yellow construction tape pattern cut through the center of his Navi symbol. "The name's Concreteman. I'd like to ask a favor of you, if you wouldn't mind."
"A favor?" Black asked, his window appearing. "What kind?"
"I need to retrieve a special file from a heavily protected area, and I can't do it on my own," he explained. "I'm more of a secretary and a machine operator than a Netbattler."
"Right," Black said. "And this special file is...?"
"Let me link you two to the site, and then I'll explain," Concreteman said.
"Well... okay, I guess," Turboman said. With that agreement and Punk's nod, the three Navis were surrounded by blue pixels before they vanished from sight.
When they reappeared, it was at the edge of a massive hole in the ground. Concreteman looked around before explaining, "My Operator passed away two nights ago."
Turboman sucked in a breath in sympathy. "I'm sorry," Kaita said.
"Thank you for your concern." Concreteman explained, "He was the president of a contracting company, and he was always very careful with his will."
"Contracting?" Kaita wondered quietly.
"He had money and a position that makes it," Black explained.
Concreteman continued, "Even I didn't know where the will was hidden. But because he passed away so abruptly, he never had a chance to tell anyone where it was. Right now, his relatives are trying to find it, however..." He turned to the tunnel in front of them. "We're in the system of my Operator's home. This tunnel leads to the deepest area, with the most security—mostly viruses. There's no Navi among us that can make it through. Even I can't get by unscathed without his confirmation."
"So even if you're taken over or copied by a rival business, you can't be used against him. I like this guy—he thinks of everything. Too bad he's dead." Black continued, "Since I'm guessing our Navis got scouted for looking experienced, I'd also guess that our goal is to get down there and find that will."
"Correct." Concreteman said, "I can walk you through to the place where I'd guess it's hidden, but virus busting will mostly be on your shoulders."
"Fine with me," Punk said. "Blowin' off steam like this is my favorite thing to do! Just don't get in my way!" With that, he gleefully jumped into the tunnel.
"W-Wait!" Turboman followed after, Concreteman at his side. When they landed, it was in the midst of what seemed to be an unending mass of gray tiles. The sides and ceiling of the area were gray with the occasional orange stripe. Punk was already fairly far ahead, so Turboman dashed to catch up. "Will they just show up out of nowhere?" he wondered aloud, looking around at the area. He got his answer a second later as seven Metools materialized and fired shockwaves at the intruders.
"Is this all?" Punk wondered, leaping low and to the side. He landed in a crouch and hurled a shoulderplate at an angle, deleting them all in one move. "This's hardly a challenge!" he complained as his projectile returned to his hand with a metallic clang.
"They'll only get more numerous the longer we're here," Concreteman explained. "And considering we don't know where the will is, we could be down here for some time."
"Right," Turboman said. "Say... where do you think he would've hidden it? I mean, what was he usually like with important stuff?"
"Careful," Concreteman replied. "He was always careful with anything he cared about. Even with his business, he only took risks when he was almost certain they were the right moves to make." His rugged features took on a more solemn look. "I don't know what's going to happen to the company without him. I only hope he's left it to someone dependable. And as for me..."
"Don't talk like that," Black said, opening his window. "You're not like the average personal Navi with no skills. Government facilities'll take in Custom Navis with skill sets and experience like yours. There's no need for you to worry about what you'll do next." Turboman took his attention off his surroundings to look at Black's window, surprised at how quick he'd been to respond. But then, being a criminal wasn't the safest job on earth; he'd probably looked into this on Punk's behalf.
"Got 'em!" Turboman was startled out of thought by Punk hurling his two shoulder plates at the next mob of viruses. Swordins and Canodumbs fell quickly, and Turboman cleaned up the bewildered Metool left standing in the middle. "Y'seem surprised that we're talking about death while we look for a will," Punk said sardonically.
"It's not that," Turboman said, annoyed. To Concreteman, he said, "I just kind of know what you're getting at. I don't know what I'd do without Kaita-kun, even though I'm sure I could find a company or facility that would make good use of me."
"Oh. But... I don't know. This feels kind of weird, Turboman," Kaita said with a nervous smile.
"That's fine with me," Turboman said. "You're still a kid, and you're perfectly healthy. Nothing's going to change until you're an adult," he pronounced, arms crossed.
"But he wouldn't want you pining away after him. Isn't that right?" Black asked. Kaita nodded, and Black continued, "I know I'd want any Navi of mine to move on once I died. It's a waste to keep someone waiting around miserably if you're not coming back." Punk managed an amused look at that.
This time, Turboman was better prepared for the next wave of viruses; he mowed down one side with his tires. On the other side, Punk got creative, lassoing Metools to smash into Canodumb bases and kicking viruses into the walls and each other. "Think we're any closer?" he asked Concreteman.
"We're approaching the center," the construction Navi replied.
"Right," Black said. "How do you feel?" he asked Concreteman. "Not about this whole turn of events, but physically."
Kaita asked, "What does that have to do with—?"
"Ssh," Black said quickly, holding up a hand sideways near his mouth.
"I..." Concreteman explained, "I feel... strange. Like there's something I need to say, but at the same time I feel like I shouldn't say it unless I absolutely have to."
"Gotcha. Thanks," Black said.
"You sound like you know something," Kaita said suspiciously.
"Then you figure it out," Black said with a smirk.
"Geez..." Kaita huffed. There was a large plinth just ahead. When Turboman caught sight of the wall of viruses that materialized in front of it, he got a feeling that he'd need a few Battlechips to clear it. "Boomerang, slot-in!" Turboman sent out the tan weapon with a shout, clearing out most of the first wave and exposing a second just behind. "Reflector!" Turboman got in front of Concreteman as the Metools reared back. Cannon fire and shockwaves swept toward the red Navis, Punk blocking it with a built-in shield while Turboman's Battlechip-generated one picked off a few attackers. While Punk hurled his already-in-hand shoulder plate at the mob, Turboman sent his tires at the furthest-away attackers that had been out of range of the Reflector attack. Before he could get rid of the stray Metools dotting his end of the field, Punk's other shoulder plate tore through them.
"Hey! I had those," he complained as Punk's shoulder plates returned to their owner. Punk replaced the one that returned to his hand, then neatly plucked the other out of the air with his cable arm and twirled it around his mace.
"Then get there faster," he advised, giving the free shoulder plate one last, lazy twirl before placing it on his left shoulder. He walked ahead to the plinth, while Turboman stayed close to Concreteman in case of a virus attack. "And hurry up, or I'll be the one pickin' up this file!"
Turboman and Concreteman jogged over to where Punk was standing to find a document sitting on the plinth. "That must be it," Turboman said.
"Perhaps," Concreteman said. "I think I should—" He didn't even have time to run a scan before it burst apart in his hands.
"Mm-hm." Black explained, "Considering how soon we found it, I thought it was a little hard to believe."
"Then let's go deeper," Turboman suggested.
"If you insist," Black replied noncommittally.
"Wait a second. It's not in here at all, is it?" speculated Kaita. "Even putting it as deep as he could in his own network wasn't safe enough for him. He had to stick it with the best guard he had—wait." He wheeled his window around to face Black's. "Can you do that?"
"With a little time and patience, you can do anything," Black said, confirmation enough.
"I'm the best guard he had," Concreteman realized.
"Yes." For the stunned Concreteman, Black explained, "You've been what you're looking for this entire time."
"Of course! That word on the tip of your tongue—it must be connected to this somehow. Like a password, or something." Black nodded, smiling. "But—how does that even work?" Kaita asked. "Is it just sitting in a pocket or something, or—?"
"Nope. That would be too easy." To Concreteman, he said, "You might as well take Punk and Turboman back up. We don't need anything here, especially not those virus interruptions you promised." The construction Navi obeyed, causing the world to dissolve into blue around Turboman before reassembling into the lip of the entry tunnel.
"Kiddo, let me tell you a little something about programming. In something as complicated as a Navi, you've got many, many little objects running together to form the complete picture. An attack object, all manner of decision objects, a recollection object, a frame object... It's not easy to keep track of what all's in there or what needs to be in there, especially when you're not the one who wrote the Navi. And that's why if you want something to be tucked away safe and assemble itself correctly when it's needed, one method is to first stick in the thing that needs to be hidden and then plant a keyword that'll unravel the Navi and push these little fragments out in the correct order. As it is, this Operator's will could be embedded in many different, necessary parts of Concreteman's code."
A little unnerved, Kaita said, "So it deletes the Navi and assembles him into the other stuff."
"Exactly. It's pretty common in certain circles, a good way to keep things safe—I've stuck all kinds of things into Punk in case I kick it, though it won't delete him when they activate. Anyway, with the will all split up like this, the average guy couldn't just scroll through and decode it. But I'm not the average guy, and I'd prefer this to have a happy ending, so the choice is up to you." He turned to Concreteman. "Either you can use this keyword and cease to exist, or I can look you over and piece together the stuff that'll make up the will. It's up to you."
Concreteman considered it. "I… would rather continue to exist," he said. "As long as you're certain your method won't alter the will's contents in some way?"
"Positive," Black said. "I don't see how it could, at any rate." The sounds of rapid typing filtered through his connection. "You're about to be forced into sleep mode," he notified Concreteman. "Right about now—" The Navi slumped over, nearly falling to the ground before more commands from Black suspended him in mid-air with a pair of rings circling him. "Diagnostic mode," he explained to Kaita.
Kaita stared in bewilderment. "How do you know all this stuff?"
"Memorization and necessity, mostly," Black said. To the Navis, he said, "Say, you two, would you mind making a first pass through his code? I want to go through the attack portions myself, but you can handle the more general areas. Anything that looks out of place, highlight it."
"Sure thing!" Turboman said.
"As long as you don't screw it up," Punk added.
"Hey!"
While the two Navis got to work, Kaita turned his window to face Black's. "That was really nice of you," he said.
"Don't make too much of a scene about it," Black cautioned. "Besides, I don't know of many other programmers who could pull off something like this."
Kaita made a face. "If that's so, then how come you're in Nova?"
Black blinked. "Huh?"
"I know that when it comes to auto shops, people seek out places that can do stuff that's more complicated or specialized," Kaita explained. "If you're one of a few, your services are worth more. If it's the same with programming, why don't you just hire yourself out to make money instead of doing stuff you obviously aren't that into?"
"Are you saying I'm not into evil?!" Black asked, affronted.
"Of course you're not! Your idea of evil is llamas, and meanwhile Atsuki's setting people on fire! You're just being annoying, he's the one who's evil!"
"Well, damn," Black said, running a hand through his hair. "When you put it that way..." He sighed, thinking over his answer. "It's not about money, that's all I can say. Consider it... an obligation."
"An obligation?" Kaita repeated. "What's that supposed to mean?"
Instead of answering, Black grew more somber, his face almost seeming blank. "Stay away from the Ministry of Science, kiddo," he said after a moment. "It's not your fight."
Though Kaita was initially thrown by the subject change, he got back on track soon enough. "What are you going to do there?"
"All I'm saying is, it's an important government building. It's no place for children." Black looked over as Punk and Turboman ran up to their Operators' windows.
"We've gone through everything," Turboman reported.
"Good work," Black said. "I guess this is where we part ways for now, kiddo," he told Kaita. Cheerfully, he suggested, "We should have the next one of these conversations at a coffeehouse or something. I'll steal the last of the Jawaiian Blend."
"I don't drink coffee," Kaita shot back as Black closed his window. He turned his attention to Turboman. "Well, I guess you should head back," he said. "Plug out, Turboman!"
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Once he'd disconnected from the computer, Kaita flopped back on his bed, thinking about what had happened. "I wonder just how much you can hide in a Navi?" he wondered. "Like, wouldn't someone notice after a while? Would it bloat the Navi's code, so he'd look like he'd eaten too much or something?"
"There's no reason for you to wonder about that stuff now," Turboman said nervously. "You're twelve. Nobody's really going to kill you over anything. Nova may say stuff, but they're Nova! I mean..."
"Turboman, it's fine!" Kaita said, sitting up to get a better look at his Navi on the computer screen. "I was just curious, that's all. I don't think I'm going anywhere, either."
"Good," Turboman said. Suddenly, his eyes went wide. "The ecosystem paper!" he realized.
"Oh, no!" Kaita quickly checked the time on his PET. "I should have just enough time before bed! Let's hurry, Turboman!"