"Can you see the pattern yet?" Grigory Malenkov asked firmly, pointing to the battle chip on the laptop screen, carefully placed on a small table.
Raika bit down a frustrated reply to his father. Once again, his honorable net police chief uncle had wanted his nephew to visit his parents, who were once again home from an elongated work period. He had (very) reluctantly obliged, and he was yet again subjected to his scornful relatives that while did notice and somewhat praise tasks that he had done correctly, but more often belittled for things, including some that seemed unnecessary, utterly pointless, and even on the verge of sheer irrationality.
Sometimes he even wondered if there was some sort of mental or other illness. Of course, his parents generally acted very sensibly around others, including his high-ranking uncle, so he said nothing- as usual.
He had nothing else to compare it to, anyway.
Raika squinted hopelessly at the screen, seeing utterly nothing than the same chip than as before. The picture was not one that he knew, but of course, he did not know of every single chip that had been produced. There were many common ones and even lesser known ones that he had learned about and was familiar with through his military academy training, but there still were many that he had not yet seen. He had even learned about and used several more that school year. Even some civilians his home country of Sharo before had used battle chips that even his navi Searchman had not witnessed before.
He shook his head, wondering how long his (insane?) father would keep up the pointless task about the chip. "I still see a navi prototype holding an axe," he said, somehow embarrassed even though there could not be any other image.
His father shook his head, full of dark hair that strangely resembled the hue that Chief Malenkov's had been before turning more gray, even though they were actually not related by birth. "No, beyond it," he insisted.
Raika sighed inwardly and squinted again, even letting his eyes slightly unfocus as civilians might for entertainment with three-dimensional imagery patterns. Nothing changed- the navi stayed a consistent position, his armor-covered hand and arm hoisting the large, but regular type of steel axe.
He never could understand the exercise, though it was certainly not new, dating before he had joined the military. Even the seemingly strange drills at his military school had all been revealed to have a purpose- to strengthen the inexperienced cadets, so that they would learn and grow stronger to help their home country in any way.
However, this task about the chip and other patterns on a mere computer, or laptop as it was this time- even an image projected onto a wall- seemed idiotic. There was no outcome that he could fathom that anything was useful; there was nothing that could be possibly learned with it. The task was utterly impossible. He had never accomplished it (though he faintly remembered a few times when he thought he had seen something else. But perhaps it had been due to mere tiredness, and nothing had changed, after all).
A few times, they had even asked Searchman to complete the task. Of course, Searchman had a natural ability to see invisible data, including viruses. However, even his navi had never been able to be successful. The result was always the same- nothing besides the image was seen. There simply was nothing else there, unlike what his strange parents insisted.
"Focus!" his father insisted sharply. Beside him, his mother Dinara, nodded, her face as serious as his father's.
Raika frowned. He had not stopped concentrating due to a lack of interest. Merely, he did not know how to complete the very queer exercise. He had stopped quite a few years ago asking why he was to perform the task, or how to even go about it. He was to do it- somehow, like arranging other unknown chips into piles (he had never gotten them correct); correctly wipe off a counter; correctly sweep the invisible dust on the floorboard (or even the ceiling, as his father had strangely said before, even after he had just done it).
Unlike his military academy, who also seldom gave praise, he did not know how to accomplish a high enough standard to properly move on to another task. Even the superiors there might reluctantly state the proper method for something if he had not figured it out for himself, before punishment and trying again.
The phone then rang, shattering the silence. Raika gratefully looked up from the screen, the after-image of the chip imprinted slightly in his vision for a few seconds.
His father frowned, but went to answer the landline phone in the kitchen. Raika heard him speaking in the native language of Sharo, instead of the ancient Sharian that he had been just a few minutes ago. The conversation apparently was amusing- his father actually laughed. His mother went to the kitchen also, and soon, she chuckled about something apparently that had occurred in the small village that they lived in.
Raika sighed slightly. His parents- not that he remembered- had never laughed due to him, unless it was with other people. He simply could not be good enough for them.
He clenched his fist. He could not be good enough . . .
Soon, the conversation ended, and his parents came into the room, the laughter gone from their faces, which were as serious as ever.
"Try again," his father demanded.
Raika attempted to oblige him, but as usual, there was the same thing there, as always- absolutely nothing.
Raika frowned, bringing a tray of fruit from the kitchen. The crowd in the living room was small, and no one that he knew, but apparently his parents certainly knew them as they conversed, sometimes with a small chuckle or smile. Of course, he rarely saw his parents, so it very much made sense that he would not know even close to everyone that they knew.
He set the fruit on a small table, then picked up a nearly empty similar tray with only a few trails of juice, as well as a few toothpicks. The plate was easy to clean in the large sink, and he did so, placing it to dry on a draining board beside a few others that would not be used again later on. He cleaned a few more trays, not truly thinking about the task, but about the fact that he would be at his "home" still for more than a week.
He was grateful that Searchman was still with him, silent, but ever watchful from his PET. There had even been times before when his PET had been confiscated for small periods, or even overnight, when he had failed some task. Only his navi truly understood how much he wished to be at the strict boarding academy instead of with his family, and most likely would be the only one that ever could.
A few minutes later, he heard footsteps coming toward him. Raika cringed slightly, knowing that it was most likely not one of the guests. He turned to see his father, who, as usual, was not cheerful when around just him. He despised almost fearing his father, but he did not know how to impress him. Almost nothing did. Even his stern chief uncle made more sense, despite also being hard to please.
Instead of another insult, though, his father just merely pointed to the open doorway of the kitchen. "Come out here," he ordered.
Raika nodded, drying his hands on a towel before replacing his uniform gloves from his academy. He followed his father through the doorway, surprised to see a small navi portable battle arena in the middle of the room. It was strange how quickly and silently it had been set up- even simple ones would need at least a bit more time. That had occurred more than once before, though.
He did not revel in the oddity as his father, once again, gave him the task of arming strange navis with chips. Sometimes he did it with just his parents watching; other times it was a crowd such as this one. Raika never did quite understand the reasoning behind it, but he usually did it anyway.
He walked over to the small clear dome, where a dark blue navi was already waiting. He did not know the navi, but it did not matter. Perhaps it was one of the navis from his parents' current companions, who were maybe even wanting a bit of entertainment.
"Is he actually going to do it right?" one curious female voice piped up from behind him.
The voice that answered was male. "Meh, who knows. It is difficult, even if you know what you're doing."
Another person laughed. "Depends on what you're doing, I guess."
There was a bit of laughter, but Raika failed to see what was amusing. Sometimes he had wondered if his parents' friends were as lackwit as they appeared to be at times.
His father handed him pack of chips, as well as a plain brown PET. "Use any of these, until they are all used," he ordered.
Raika silently nodded. He did not bother stating that he would rather just battle with his own navi, with his own chips. Surely he could put on a better "show" than with many unknown variables. He did not even know if the dark blue navi would even attack the data cubes or whatever "enemy" that would be present.
Raika set the pack of battle chips on the table, grasping one from the top. It was not one that he knew, but there was an image of a purple sword on the front.
The navi turned around, and scowled heavily in his direction. Raika did not favor the cyber being with any sort of reaction- of course he was not the navi's net op, or anyone familiar.
Raika entered the strange chip. Sometimes the chips acted in ways that were familiar; other times they did other things that he was completely cut off guard, such as the lightning that had seemed to attack the navi, who had barely managed to dodge it.
Thankfully, this chip just formed on the navi's arm, akin to a regular cyber sword, albeit with the unusual coloring. A large data block formed about ten feet from the navi, which was obviously going to stand in as the navi's "opponent."
The navi did not attack, but turned around again with a heavy frown, before returning to face the data cube again. Raika heard amused tittering from behind him.
"Wow, he really does not know what he is doing," a hushed male voice commented. "And this is supposed to be someone from the military?"
More chuckling ensued. Embarrassed, Raika opened up the command file on the PET for the chip to tell of the functions. It had seemed before, though, that there were commands that even had forgotten to be properly written into the chip's main file. This one, also, was mostly blank. A few times before, there had been a few helpful hints, but this time, the program was blank other than generic information for a simple head on attack. There was not even information written for combinations that were possible. Of course, not everything was written in the basic main file, but it was quite frustrating that he could find nothing to progress with the task.
Even urging the navi to attack the cube availed him nothing. The navi simply stood there, obviously waiting for a certain type of command, or even chip combination.
Raika opened the pack slightly to see the others on top, but nothing seemed familiar besides a regular cyber sword. He let go of the top of the pack, and drew out another unfamiliar chip. This one held the image of a navi with a long cross bow, tinged with red and blue.
He armed the navi with the bow, amongst more chittering from the small crowd. "There was a bit of movement after that one this time," someone commented.
Raika frowned at the navi, but he was still just standing there.
Futilely attempting to rid the heated blush on his cheeks, he inserted the cyber sword. This time, the navi actually acted after receiving the weapon. Raika wondered if the cube was one that would even attack the "enemy" once it was hit. Such an incident had occurred before, including here and at his school.
The cube merely dissipated, though, bursting into small fragments of data. Apparently the target was not even very hardy, which he was glad of.
Another cube took its place as the navi returned to the original position, obviously waiting for another chip as he undid the cyber sword. Raika quickly opened the pack again, and spread out the chips on the small table so he could better see all them at once. There were a few familiar ones there, including a shield chip (was the cube supposed to attack?), and a few water tower ones.
All of the other battle chips were not ones that he knew of, and he could not immediately see any sort of pattern in them. They all just seemed to be random chips chosen for an unprepared battle, though there were at least both offensive and defensive chips, at least from the pictures on them.
A few more chips later, the navi again refused to move, unlike the previous attempts. Raika scowled, and entered another sword chip, hoping that it would form- something. He despised being so unprepared, and so helpless in a net battle. He was glad that at least Searchman also was not in a similar clueless position in the battle, but safe in his PET from the dissatisfied murmurs in the room.
"Ooh, lots of fireworks with that one!" a voice called out.
"Lots of interesting things there," someone added.
Raika looked at the navi again. He was not moving.
Several more chips later, the chips had effects that he was able to properly react to. One chip formed a sort of web that crushed the ever still data cube. Another formed a small lightning ball that zoomed around it several times before Raika entered another chip that caused it to rapidly grow and crush the "opponent." Several times, there were some effects, but other ones that were so faint that Raika had to squint to see them before being able to use them to defeat the target.
A short while later, though, the cube suddenly moved, floating above the ground. Raika frowned, wishing that he had anticipated the target moving, as it had before in other strange battles in his parents' home and elsewhere. The dark blue navi, armed with a simple rifle, fired at the moving cube, only for the data block to move on as it nothing had hit it.
"Why doesn't he actually hit the target?" a voice from behind him moaned as the navi futilely fired several more times in succession.
Raika squinted at the small arena, but saw nothing that would be able to stop the "enemy's" steady progression. He wished that he could ask Searchman, but of course that would not be allowed in this battle. Then again, Searchman had always been as baffled by the queer battles as he had been. Perhaps there were always data illusions or weak spots that he simply was not good enough to notice somehow.
He ordered the navi to aim by the sides of the cube, then the bottom, which the navi ignored before dodging the cube before it would collide with him. Raika hoped that the navi would not end up underneath- surely the large block could easily crush him.
However, after more near misses, the cube simply sped up, and despite a shield that actually acted as a shield (the latter one had turned out to be some sort of axe; he had wondered about a mislabeled picture or some defense function that yet again he did not know how to activate), the navi was shoved against a wall hard enough that he slid down motionless onto the ground.
Raika grimaced, but the navi did not stand again on the tiled flooring. Part of him was glad that the strange battle was over, but he mostly felt remorse that he had not achieved much more. Even he could see that the fight had been mostly severely disappointing. The audience obviously agreed, chattering discontentedly among themselves.
"That is enough," his father stated severely.
Raika winced, knowing that he would receive some type of punishment later. Retribution for failure was common at his school, but he had never gotten used to it at his home for the odd tasks he had been so often assigned somehow.
He mutely logged out the navi and handed his father the full chip pack after hastily placing them inside.
"Go to the kitchen to prepare some more fruit," his mother ordered, coming beside his father.
Raika obeyed, glad at least to be away from the crowd. By experience, his hands did not shake while slicing the fruit even with his tumultuous thoughts. He had failed- again. Perhaps he would just always be a failure, in his parents' home and even in the academy.
He was then surprised as Searchman then spoke up, his voice quiet. "Raika, I did not understand the battle, either," he stated. "The battle did not seem to hold any sort of logic, nor again did I sense any hidden devices. It also again did not help that they are as unknown to you as they are to me."
Raika shook his head. He did not understand, but surely there was something that he, the supposedly trained net op, had missed. He supposed that at least there were not any chips that the nameless navi had not been able to control this time, though, such as a sword one that had actually jumped away from the navi's hand, and the being had to chase it before it had divided into two and sent the navi flying backward a few feet.
A few hours later, (and no more battles- the arena had mysteriously disappeared as quickly as it had been set up) the crowd finally left. Even though the battle was over though, and the people that had obviously not enjoyed it, he was also pained that he would be, once again, left alone with his parents. The crowd had been others that were mostly the focus for attention.
Raika swept the room, glad that at least his father was not telling him to clean the area more than once. Before he could return to his old room to study, though, his father came into the area with a small bag. Raika winced to see a few obvious chips on top.
His father set the bag of chips on the floor, taking out fourteen of them, seemingly at random. "Sort these," he said. "And do it properly."
Raika sighed inwardly. He despised the chip "sorting", even more than the image "seeing" and the strange battles. He did not know why- he had been certainly chastised at his school for failing battles more than he had been for sorting unknown chips, to say the least.
He sat onto the floor facing the odd chips that he did not recognize. Some of them were sword types; others were guns or rifles. There was also a water tower, as well as an attack that, from the picture, would let the navi turn invisible. There were a few other attacking chips, and one defensive one.
Sighing slightly, he placed the chips in the obvious choices, placing the similar ones with each other.
"Incorrect," his father stated severely.
Raika winced, even though he had generally never gotten the "order" correct. He almost wished that he could contact Chief Malenkov for the mysterious chip order, but knew better than to contact the high ranking chief with such a trivial inquiry. Instead, he rearranged the small chips into another set of logical placements.
"Also incorrect," his father said, his voice quite stern. "Really, you ought to know better."
Raika scowled inwardly, but went on with the strange task. His new attempts for the next half hour also proved futile. Raika blinked, his eyes tired. The night before, he had had to stay up for hours cleaning the attic, which had already seemed clean. Of course, not all dirt was visible, and he had seen a few small smudges closer up, but he had wished that he would be more rested for any possible net saver missions instead.
He did not know if he could ever be good enough for his father, his mother, his entire family. Perhaps even Chief Malenkov had never even approved his entering the prestigious military academy in the first place, knowing that he would only ever fail.
Completely desperate, he shoved the chips in a random order with his eyes closed, knowing that they would be as wrong as ever. Nothing else could. He just wished that the task would stop-
"Correct," his father stated, his voice still as stoic as ever.
Raika blinked, wondering if he had heard correctly. Surprisingly, his father came toward him and gathered the chips before handing him another small bag.
"Now put these in order," he demanded.
Raika frowned, the feelings of the task being too strange to be completed (and his parents' oddities) returning somewhat. There seemed to be no sense in anything that they asked . . .
Again, he placed the chips in a random order, and strangely enough, each time, his father stated that the task was correctly done. He was rather confused, but knew that his luck could not last (and despising that he somehow, even with the strangeness of it all, was failing in actually knowing the correct order). Somehow, though, he managed to somehow correctly fulfill each group of chips given to him. The random order "worked" somehow, or perhaps his father was just tired of his only son failing repeatedly, and would perhaps properly punish him the next day.
A bit later, the same laptop was placed on a table. Once again, Raika was to "see" something else than the small chip.
He sighed, blinking at the chip that merely showed a navi wielding yet another sword. There was nothing else there, as usual, but he tried hard (as he had before, out of desperation), as if he could suddenly use Searchman's viewing ability.
Suddenly, the image shifted. Raika blinked in astonishment, not breaking his focus. There was actually something there besides the chip- no, there was something there entirely. An image of a lightning web in a dome shape came into view. Several navis were inside, holding the lightning, about to attack each other, or perhaps there was something he did not quite understand about the picture.
He blinked, and the image shifted back to the simple green cyber sword. Raika stared at the image, wondering if he truly was so tired he had managed to fall asleep for a bit. However, his father did not berate him, and a bit desperate again, like with the chip "order", he told his father about the odd picture.
His father nodded slightly, as if the description pleased him. Raika was still frustrated- surely his answer was quite illogical.
"What else was there?" his father then questioned.
Raika frowned, not having expected the inquiry. "I am not sure," he hesitantly stated, waiting for another insult.
"Try again," his father stated. "Surely you can do better."
Wondering again at the sheer insanity of the situation, but still very frustrated with himself, Raika focused ("focused?") again on the picture. He almost gasped as the image again shifted to again show the lightning dome and the two navis. He almost did not care if there was insanity of himself actually occurring somehow. He strained, wanting to "see" more, but only a few faint lighting streaks showed from around the edges of the dome and on the navi's now visible swords (how had he missed that they had swords on their other arms?).
The image then fell away to the chip again. A few more odd images later that his father was forever dissatisfied with him not "seeing" more, Raika slumped, suddenly a bit weary.
"That is enough," his father stated.
Raika nodded, wondering why he was tired so suddenly. Perhaps he had been in front of the screen longer than he had thought. He then frowned slightly. Surely he would just be berated more the next day even more, despite the "victories."
He was then ordered to help his mother prepare part of a meal for the next day. Raika was glad that apparently it seemed to not be for another crowd, and that the tasks were much more of a regular type.
His father then received another phone call, and a few minutes later, had asked his mother to accompany him to visit someone in the village.
Raika scowled inwardly, knowing of the probable outcome. "May I also attend to the person in need?" he asked, despising that his voice sound even a bit timid. He never knew when he would be berated for odd things, though. "I have experience from-"
His father turned around, his face suddenly furious. Raika did not understand the sudden emotion, since he had not even failed yet again at something.
"You are old enough to stay home by yourself for a few hours," his father spat. "I should think that you would know that."
Raika blinked, profoundly embarrassed, but tried again. "With the new protocols due to the merge-"
He did not get any farther before being interrupted again. "You, a cadet trained in the military, can very well take care of yourself! That 'merge', as you say, is nothing that should harm anything or anyone, and certainly you can do well enough alone."
Raika then did not stop himself from wincing, not only from the words that should have been true, but the various times where he had as usual, done nothing to stop himself from causing harm from idiotically thinking that he "should" only be a cyber being. There had been other problems, of course, but those had all seemed to be the most problematic.
He did not attempt anything else to attempt to convince his parent of otherwise, though. Raika just merely accepted the multitude of tasks given to him to complete while they were away, and watched his parents leave through the front door.
Raika, frowning even though he was not quite sure who to obey currently, shakily went to the phone and called a few people in the village. Unfortunately, the one person that he appreciated the most was not home, and a few other trustworthy ones were unable to "baby-sit" him, so to speak. Desperate, Raika called a few other people, even offering to come their homes himself, but all of them either scoffed or thought it some sort of prank.
Raika replaced the receiver, disgusted with himself. His parents were most likely correct (as well as Chaud, a net saver from Netopia that still was not speaking to him other than for net police duties). He really should be able to control the merge, somehow . . .
Numbly, he set out to perform the various tasks given to him, only a bit glad that his parents were not there to tell him to repeat them more than once. His parents were still not back, and he resorted to studying in his room.
He later got ready for bed, thankful that he had not been assigned more queer duties by email or otherwise. Just a few minutes later, he heard his parents come through the front door. Raika tensed a bit, but relaxed slightly as no one came into the room after a while.
He then stretched out his hand toward his bedside table for his PET, even though he knew that he was supposed to be sleeping and that the military would never stand for even such as small action if it was not needed.
Raika opened the top to see his navi there, as stalwart and attentive as ever. He was glad that someone, at least, appeared to still be sane.
"I did not . . . quite understand the exercises," he started, not quite sure how to continue. He had told that to Searchman many times, but his navi never seemed to mind.
Thankfully, Searchman nodded. Raika was relieved, knowing that he had not been the only one to know the oddity of the day.
"The tasks always seem very peculiar, at best," Searchman agreed. "I still know that none of the failures are your fault. You simply were not given enough information to succeed, nor did I know how any sort of victory was achieved. And again, I do not think you were rightfully reproved for many of the tasks. Also, as for being home alone, you did attempt to warn them."
Raika nodded, but not truly accepting the words. He wondered if he should have even called his chief uncle about his parents leaving him alone. The idea seemed rather ludicrous, though, and most likely the chief would have told him to rectify the situation by himself.
As always, he could have done much better. Even in the military there were unknown factors in several tasks that he was supposed to discover. However, that day had been different in that he had, as Searchman had stated, somehow managed to "win" at some of them in his parents' home for once. Perhaps they gave it only for false hope, and would conveniently forget the "victories" the next day.
He would, though, as always, only just have to wait until he was able to return to his actual "home" at his strict military school instead.