Forenote: "Consort, why are you doing this? You already have a story in progress!" Well I don't feel motivated for it and it's not working out, so here's a different one that's been rattling around in my head for a while. Like a long while. I wrote it's key points down in a pad of paper about... 3 years ago? Enjoy.
"Arthur, I can't believe you still don't have a custom Navi." Said a boy with almost explosively messy brown hair and a black sports shirt. A PET in olive green was in his hand, Navi on the homescreen.
Arthur shrugged. As normal, he was wearing a comfortable grey jacket with a dozen pockets, a cheap white shirt and baggy jeans. His hair was not as messy as his friend's, but still seemed dirty and in need of combing. A standard PET with a standard Navi poked out of a pocket on the shirt's chest. "Well, I've said it before. I'm not getting a custom Navi until I can commission someone who'll do it right."
"You know they can cost hundreds of thousands of zenny. What have you even got saved?" Asked the sporty boy.
"Uhh... about one hundred thousand in total. My parents aren't big on pocket money, but my grandma gives me some every time we visit. Plus there's always the stuff you can get for deleting viruses." His Navi made a disapproving sigh at the mention of the malicious programs. "Oh come on, I know you're not designed for busting, but I don't pick fights we can't win handily." The Navi rolled its eyes.
"You should learn programming, like me. ArsenalMan turns just about everything into cinders after a few shots. And he can take them, too." Said the other boy.
His PET bleeped. "Damn straight sir! And I'm reminding you now: you have two minutes before you need to be home, so if you want to give him that chip, hurry it up!"
The sporty boy smiled. "Right, I was busting in the Old Undernet last night and I have a few good chips. I have five of these, so you can have this." He rummaged around in his pocket, and fished out a chip. He tossed it to Arthur.
"Oh cheers, William. I've actually been looking for a colorpoint." Said Arthur, pocketing the chip.
"You keep it. I'd better go now." Said William, walking off.
Later, in his room, Arthur looked at his PC and frowned. Saving his Zenny was going alright, but everyone else had gotten a custom Navi months ago. "Alright, connect." He pointed his PET at the computer and beamed in the basic Navi. Thinking out loud, he said "You know... Maybe we should try and go to more dangerous areas. We can handle the viruses here no problem. William's even managing the older undernet of all places. Sure, it's safer than the new one by miles, but... You know what. Screw it. We have undershirt. Let's go to the old Undernet."
He sat down and started entering commands. Out of the homepage, through VillageArea, to the main internet, and to the Undernet. "Wow, than Lan guy really did a number on this place in that fight." Said Arthur, surveying the area. It was a net legend how Lan Hikari and MagaMan had fought against Bass here, and the conflict had nearly deleted the entire area. Bits of pathway were missing or fragmented, and even the backdrop seemed to be stuttering where the file had been damaged.
The basic navi looked around. "I do not deem this area safe."
Arthur looked down. "You're right. It's giving me the creeps. Sorry for taking you here. Come on, let's go- OH JEEZ!"
Seemingly out of nowhere, a virus had emerged. It looked angry, to say the least.
"Uhh, it's a Spikey, but it's gold... Well, here goes! Engage, Navi." Said Arthur, readying his chips.
The Spikey3 shot a fireball, just like its weaker equivalent. Unlike the weaker equivalent, it travelled three times as fast, burned through all the HP the basic Navi had, and activated the undershirt, leaving it at 1HP. Arthur accidentally screamed under his breath.
"RUN! RUN! GO OH MY GOD!" He yelled at the Navi. It was happy enough to comply, righting itself and setting off at a sprint. Arthur started slamming in directional commands to try and throw it off, sending the Navi this way and that. It was no use, and the Spikey3 kept pursuing as the Navi moved deeper into the abandoned section of the net.
He ran and ran, but neither entity had stamina to deplete. And then, was the one thing that sent Arthur's heart plummeting, ending in his mouth. A dead end. The Spikey3 knew nothing of mercy, and shot another lethal bolt of fire at his Navi's back.
"DUCK!" Yelled Arthur.
The bolt clipped his Navi's shoulder, and took the arm off. The body dissociated into data immediately. The screen on his PET went black.
Arthur was silent for a long five minutes. Then he disconnected the PET, and stared at it.
In the old undernet, as the Navi's core programming malfunctioned and some of the systems keeping it running failed, the programmed gravity allowed the semi-functioning body to fall off the walkway, into the raw data containment of the network.
Allow me to explain what happens if a Navi falls off the walkway, and why their programming actually prevents them doing so unless they explicitly attempt to. Under the walkway, in any network, is raw data. Every single bit of data on the entire server that isn't a Navi. Falling in will randomly dump the Navi at any location on the server, but with no regard to the Navi, and not preserving any operation they're running. ANY. The lifeless body of the Navi was dumped on surprisingly smooth and intact white tiles.
And next to it, a formless mass realised there was something. Not by any chain of definable thought, it decided that that it needed to go to the body. It was almost an instinct. As the mass started to break down the Navi into bugfrags, a program activated.
-PET Disconnecting. Jacking out.
The remnants of the Navi disappeared, taking the second program with them.
The PET beeped. Arthur sat up in shock. An automated message began to roll. "Navi severely damaged. Please contact support."
"Oh my god, are you alive?!" Arthur scrambled to bring the device out of idle. The screen flickered to life. The intro screen played a loading animation, then stuttered. "Do NOT pull a loading error on me now, Please." It jumped back to the start of the animation, and then immediately to the Navi customiser.
The Navi was nowhere to be seen. The area that would usually display it was displaying a solid gray. Arthur slumped, and looked at the rest of the screen. His Zenny count was untouched, but they were banked elsewhere anyway. HP was blank. The basic folder was selected. Bugfrags were at...
"What on earth..."
The counter for Bugfrags was at 000. A PET could store 999 before needing some be moved to a storage unit, but at none it would display a single zero. Not 3.
"How many Bugfrags are in here?"
There was no response from his Navi. However, detecting a verbal command gave the program the kick it needed to start running. A growl came from the speakers, and then the screen froze, repeating the last section of the growl over and over.
Arthur was shaken a little, and nervously went to his PC, and started opening his PET interface files. He was no programmer, but he had to try. He asked it to connect to his PET and display information.
'PET currently overloaded!'
There were a few options beneath. Arthur clicked troubleshoot.
'PET currently running a Navi with specifications above model. Detecting additional problems... Bugfrag storage full. Deposit 322 Bugfrags to PC?'
Arthur clicked Deposit All.
'1321 Bugfrags recieved.'
As Arthur ogled the number, the PET suddenly unfroze. It seemed to be running fine, the navi display was empty, but had a normal blue wireframe background, the commands were responsive... and his PC was glitching up.
Arthur watched as his Bugfrag count dropped to zero in horror. Bugfrags were amazingly valuable to scientists, and hard to collect. Ten would have fetched five thousand Zenny from Scilabs easily.
And then, a humanoid form started to manifest on his screen. Arthur went from lamenting the loss of five hundred thousand Zenny to looking at the glitchy mass in bewilderment. The speakers played a growling sound again. Arthur looked at it, and realised that if it was humanoid, then there was data for that shape in there. That data could only have come from his own Navi. "You ARE alive. I'll save you. Just don't delete yourself. Navi restorer... where is that program..."
He found and clicked the icon, bringing up a screen.
'Navi(s) detected! Select Navi.
1) Gospel
2) -
3)-'
"Gospel?" The name was familiar. Hadn't the infamous Lan fought a terrorist group by the same name? Arthur clicked anyway. This had to be his Navi. It had to be.
'Displaying status.
HP) 0
Armor) False
Type) False
PET Requirement) Custom: (!) outside CPU specifications.
Auto repair possible) False: core data not found'
"Custom?" Said Arthur. PETs came in many specifications, and you needed more powerful ones to run more powerful Navis, but a basic Navi would run on anything. His PET was relatively new, and even if it wasn't the most powerful model available, surely it could run his Navi no matter what. His PC was even more powerful, though not by much. Yet even it couldn't run whatever his Navi had become.
He thought for a second. There was a more powerful computer in the house. His father's. It was state of the art. If that couldn't run this Navi, then nothing would. But how to transfer it? Surely there was a command... Wait, of course.
Arthur took the PET and asked the computer to transfer the Navi back. A warning message appeared. 'PET insufficient to run Navi! Continue anyway?' Arthur confirmed. The PET froze again, as the bugfrag counter jumped back to 000. Arthur was not a tech wizard, but he put two and two together. The Navi and the Bugfrags were linked.
He left the bedroom and poked his head into the living room. "Dad? Can I use your computer?" He realized he didn't want to explain he was going to put what could well be the data equivalent of a nuclear bomb onto it. "...Mine can't connect to the internet."
"Okay, I'll fix yours tomorrow son. Play safe."
Arthur winced at that. "Okay!"
He sat down, and booted up his dad's PC. He navigated the menus in record time, and had Navi repair open in seconds. He went through the routine, and asked it to run 'Gospel'.
A shimmering grey mass appeared, in the 'T' position of a basic model. The computer stuttered briefly, but then continued to run, to Arthur's relief. Another loud growl played through the speakers, but then stopped. Another message appeared.
'Voice file not found. Displaying speech as text."
"Hello? Are... you okay, Navi?" Said Arthur cautiously.
"I AM ALIVE."
"Well... that's good... can... can you forgive me for that?"
"I AM THE ENTITY GOSPEL. I AM ALSO YOUR NAVI."
"What..?"
Another loud growl played through the speakers. The form started to pixelate and shift violently. Yet another message from the program appeared on the screen. 'Navi has encountered an error. Code: 0000-0021'
Arthur opened the web browser. "Navi error code... 0000, 00, two, one... Navi is missing code." Arthur looked down. He looked at the clock. "I'm not a programmer... At least, not yet."
He searched for how to open a Navi's code. He searched for how to write programs. He searched and searched and searched. And an hour later, he cracked his knuckles and opened Gospel's code.
A second text box appeared. "GET OUT OF THERE"
"I'm trying to help you..." Said Arthur.
"OUT!" Another loud roar played over the speakers.
"Is that roar the only sound file you have?"
"GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT"
"No. You can't stop me either, because to resist this, and shut down my access to your code... you'd need to be in working order."
"AAAAAAAAAA"
"Look, just tell me if anything feels different. I'm going to try and patch you up."
"I AM YOUR NAVI! BUT I AM NOT YOUR NAVI!"
"Speak again and I'll shut the text box. Okay, first things first, your model isn't loading..."
Arthur used a search function and an online guide to a Navi's code to find where it would be stored. He looked over the code, painstakingly comparing it to the bare bones of the code on the page. About half the letters were missing. Copy, delete, paste, save changes.
The glitchy mass solidified, and was replaced by a clear-cut... wolf humanoid? The Navi before him had gray armor over their forearms, chest and head, that appeared to be made of bugfrags. Yellow dots covered it, and indented lines ran rampant. The jumpsuit where he wasn't plated in gray bugfrags was an unhealthy purple shade, just like normal bugfrags. But most interestingly, his head resembled some kind of cyber wolf. Complete with glowing red eyes.
"Woah there. That's... kind of intense." Commented Arthur.
"I STILL WANT YOU OUT OF MY CODE" The model's mouth moved open, and the roar sound file played again.
"Shut up, I'm helping. Well. The internet is helping."
"I AM AWARE THIS WORD MAKES A DIFFERENCE TO SOME OF YOU HUMANS, PLEASE"
"Even your punctuation is in caps? I'll fix that next then."
"PLEASE"
"I appreciate you're being polite, but no. If I get out of your code you'll stay broken." Arthur again searched for a file. This time, communications. "Dang, this one is complicated... It's directly linked to your central AI... Okay, Navi-"
"GOSPEL"
"...Gospel. I know you want me doing nothing to your code, so I'm just going to say... I'm sorry if I muck this up. It might kill you if I do."
"GET OUT"
"..."
"I DO NOT NEED HUMANS"
"...What?"
"I DO NOT NEED HUMANS"
"Why?"
"THEY CREATED ME AND DESTROYED ME IN 7.4765531 MINUTES THEY BRING MY END"
"...What on earth is in your past... No. Gospel, listen to me. Perhaps some other humans have been cruel to you, but that makes it more important I prove that we're not all like that."
"I AM TRYING TO DESTROY YOUR COMPUTER"
"Why?"
"IT IS THE PURPOSE OF MY BEING TO DESTROY ALL"
"...Hmm. Then..." Arthur was silent as he considered what he was going to try and do next. "I'll disconnect it. If I can find it. At least, I'll try to."
"YOU WILL DESTROY ME"
"Not on purpose. Besides... some part of you wants me to succeed, right? Why else would you tip me off?"
"THAT IS THE NAVI I AM FUSED WITH WHAT IS LEFT OF IT"
"Ohhh. So... they're holding you back from being a complete raging beast, but you're still the dominant personality?"
"YES"
"Well. I better get to work. I think this is a simple fix..."
"DO NOT KILL ME"
"Trying. I really am."
Arthur looked at the code on screen and tried to work out what it should be. He gave up and started reading through the communication program manually. One thing that stood out were missing letters in words. Dozens of small bits of code were missing letters in keywords, and you didn't need programming experience to know that was bad. He re-read the whole section again. Eventually, he noticed a jarring line. He studied it closely, and eventually said. "I think there's a line missing here. It's the one that lets you use lowercase. Here goes." He started to type, copying the commands of earlier lines, the 'if:' and trying to remember all the situations lowercase would be used in. After a long time, and three rechecks, he leaned back from his single line of code.
"Gospel? Speak to me."
"Get out of my code."
"Hooray! Doesn't that feel better?"
"I'm scared you're going to get overconfident. Or say, 'screw it!' and try and go right for my programmed purpose, which would be really dangerous to disconnect, and kill me!" Replied Gospel.
"I'm not going to disconnect it. I think I have a plan for this. You should have two core purposes. Destroy, and Serve. Serve from my Navi. I'm going to switch them, once I find them. Then you should be able to follow orders, at least to a degree. Not perfect AI, but better."
"Please don't."
"If I don't then I can't fix you without blowing up the computer. No." Arthur jumped to the core AI. The code seemed endless, easily going past 1000 pages. "Man. There is a lot in here. I see why personalities can't be reproduced." He started searching for the command that defined the Navi before him, and the second command that was being run to counteract it. It took a long time, but eventually, he found them. Once he was confident he had the two sections isolated, he cut the 'Serve' personality.
"Destroy. I will destroy. Delete. Delete. Delete!"
He pasted the 'Serve personality to the first slot, and cut 'Destroy'.
"I am Gospel, your Navi. I will try to follow commands."
Arthur considered not replacing 'Destroy'. But... it was a defining part of this Navi. And taking it away... he probably wouldn't forgive him. He pasted it back into the second slot.
"I feel strange. I ask you stop editing my code. Call a professional."
"That's the dangerous bit over with. Tell me. Are you trying to destroy my computer?"
"No."
"Oh, thank goodness! Right then. I want to take you with me tomorrow, and it's getting late, so what I'm going to do is reduce your filesize."
"Please leave me be. I won't bite anything... hard."
"Nothing is getting deleted, Gospel. And I'll get out of your code after. It looks like there's a ton of useless code in here, I'm sure it's not the bugfrags and I'm sure it won't affect you, so I'm going to move it to a seperate file. Arthur split the file. Gospel froze. "Oh no." He looked at the coder's wiki frantically, and back to his code, trying to remember everything he'd learned in the last few hours. And to his satisfaction, spotted one thing missing. Considering he hadn't added it to a few other programs on purpose to stop Gospel forcing him out of his code, he was surprised. He added a simple '}' to the end of the program.
Gospel unfroze. "I feel... faster. Unbound."
"Okay, I'm going to re-enable your other programs... you won't be totally under my control, but... please follow instructions."
"Fine. Hurry up!"
Arthur added another three '}' symbols. As soon as the last one was added, the window shut. "Okay, all done. I'm totally new to this, but at least half of it was directly copied from the web, so that'll be correct. Now, can you get in my PET? I have to turn this computer off, and while that won't kill you, it apparently really sucks."
"...Fine. Let's go destroy some viruses!" Gospel disappeared from the screen, and the PET lit up. It stuttered, but just about ran the living glitch.
"Alright! And... oh, you don't have a Navi mark. Or a voice, for that matter. I'll have to fix that..."
"You are NOT going back inside me!"
"Why are you so sensitive about that? It went alright?"
"Imagine an untrained surgeon just rummaging around with your guts, looking for something wrong with them!"
"...ew. Well, I can customise the mark externally. I... will need to go back in to add a voice."
"Then I'll do without one."
"Okay. It's pretty late, and I have school tomorrow, but... I guess I should try and make it up to you, for all that coding. I'll take you for a test battle against something easy." Arthur checked the stats page.
'Gospel.
200/? HP
Folder not selected!
Type: Neutral
Secondary programmes equipped: None
Navi of Arthur Penn.
000 Bugfrags.'
200 health. Good enough to escape alive if Gospel's fighting routines were broken. Arthur frowned. Where on earth had the bits of this Navi come from? How had they merged with his old Navi? How was he going to explain this to everyone? And where was his Undershirt? Had it been deleted?!
"Hey, Gospel."
"...Mm? :(" It replied.
"Uh, why the frowny face? And also, what do you want the command I give to tell you to connect to the net be? Normally the operator would choose, but... I owe you, I guess."
"The 'frowny face' is because I don't like you for going in my code. I'm angry. Anyway. I want 'Gospel, destroy! :)'" Replied a white text box.
"...something I can say that won't allow you to kill the first thing you see?"
"Gospel, hunt. :)"
"...close enough. Okay then... Gospel, hunt!" The PET beeped as it sent the Navi into the net.
Arthur yawned. Gospel looked around, mouth hanging open. "What... this place is so big. :O" wrote the text box.
"It's just the village network. There are some that are a hundred times bigger."
"...Wow. ,':l"
"So, we'll just go and bust a mettaur first, to see what you can do. Follow the arrow I create for you." Arthur entered a move command, and Gospel tentatively followed. He stumbled a few times. Arthur noted his legs were reverse jointed, like a canine. "I didn't touch your walking code." Said Arthur pre-emptively.
"I feel really weird. Like I should be walking some other way. :l"
"Anyway, mettaurs. You can generally find them over there."
"Yes, I detect one. :("
"After it!"
"RAAAAAA! :O" Gospel started running for the open area.
"...You still don't have a voice." Reminded Arthur.
":("
"Oh, we need a phrase to tell you to engage combat, too."
"Gospel, destroy! :D"
"Gospel, destroy."
Gospel watched the Mettaur turn and produce a pickaxe. He focused on the target before him. A command from the PET's console appeared' 'No chips loaded. NetOp online."
Arthur leaned into the screen. "Alright, Gospel- let's see your default weapon."
Gospel stretched their arms out to the side. The fingers were instantly replaced with three large and lethal-looking claws on each hand.
"You got any info on those?" Asked Arthur.
"No. :D"
"Well, go wild I guess. It's just a Mettaur."
Gospel lunged forwards, swiping at the virus' face. The claws raked across, and Arthur saw it's displayed health drop from 40 to 20. The Mettaur swung its pick into the ground, sending a shockwave.
"Sidestep it."
Gospel stepped to the side, nearly tripping over their own feet. It lunged again, and the Mettaur was deleted.
":D"
"Happy now?"
"Yes. Can I destroy another one? :D"
"Not right now. I-" Arthur yawned. "REALLY need to sleep."
"Oh. :("
"Don't be so sad. I'll introduce you to my friends tomorrow. Hopefully you'll like meeting other Navis. And also, what do you want your recall command to be?"
"...I'm not sure. I can't make it destruction-themed. :l"
"Gospel, back?"
"Fine. :("
"Gospel, back." The buggy wolf recalled to the PET.
Author's notes: So, how did I do so far? This story does not occur in the city Lan moved to, although he will eventually come into it, as will many other battle network characters you know and love. Alongside a good handful of OC's friend and foe alike! Battles in this will be in between the Anime and the games. No tiles, and jumping is allowed, but HP is displayed and chips have letter codes. All reviews will be answered at the end of the next chapter.