100% of gamblers lose before they win. (Arcana Virus)
-
“Because it’s about the Arcana Viruses! I oughta help!” Kaita tried to explain over the panic.
(On his shoulder, Turboman wondered if his Operator had made the right move, but only for a moment. Everyone was following the same course now, after all, and the ride tended to be smoother that way. Besides, getting there faster was always better, in his opinion.)
At last, the ‘old man’ on the other end of the line regained temporary control of the conversation. Kaita listened intently, looking over at Lan when Wily addressed her in his explanation.
“‘Ancient crap’?” he wondered when Lan mentioned it, entirely earnest. “But, yeah. The way it got explained to me… it sounded like the program at the center of them was sucking up information from its surroundings, somehow. And that’s why they all turn out so different from each other.” He tilted his head. “But Meiru-san would’ve mentioned Dead Hand if she’d thought they knew about, y’know, the kinda stuff the Arcana Viruses have gotten up to since then…”
“Maybe they didn’t then, but they do now,” mused Turboman.
-
"She didn't mention them...?" Rock questioned, genuinely surprised. "I mean, I dunno what they've been up to since we went on our whole overseas trip, but it was still pretty suspicious that they were on the island at the same time as us." She crossed her arms, looking away from the PET; it felt bad to be having a normal conversation with Dr. Wily again, but there was really no avoiding it. "They were makin'... robots or something, right? So what the hell would these data-absorbers have to do with that?"
Lan narrowed her eyes, dots connecting chaotically in her mind. "Maybe they're trying to hide something," she speculated. "It'd make sense why they'd want the vaults back if they messed up, right? Maybe they got... like, loose, or something."
"If what your contacts say about the vaults is the truth, then that very well could be the case," Dr. Wily surmised. "Technology firms often have some very interesting things to hide. If anything, it would be wise to track this vault down... if only so we can pry for info on how to end this little problem of yours."
Lan grumbled, narrowing her eyes. "Okay? Whatever. Where is it, then?" she barked. "If we deal with it, then will you stop calling me?"
Choosing to ignore Lan's threat, Wily instead explained the mission. "The company they're suing is a gambling corporation. Their largest casino just so happens to be in downtown Den City," he said. "So it doesn't surprise me that one of those vaults could've crawled all the way there. I'd start by investigating that business. I'm certain they won't even care if you loiter around the premises, given our gambling laws. Ha, ha."
Lan immediately blanched. "C-casino... company?" she muttered, bad memories already bubbling up in her mind. Rock, similarly, was looking quite displeased. "Ew... ew... ugh."
-
“I guess we’d have to ask her about it,” was all Kaita could offer as an answer to why Meiru wouldn’t think of Dead Hand as a threat.
As Wily got down to business, Kaita nodded along. Turboman’s visor was displaying an expression somewhere between disbelief and alarm as Wily told the two kids to investigate a casino like it was nothing out of the ordinary. But it sounded like both the Net Saviors and Wily had plenty to gain from this mission, even beyond securing another vault...
“Got it!” Kaita said, not noticing Turboman’s discomfort… but immediately noticing Lan’s. There was probably no chance of her wanting to explain what was wrong in earshot of Wily, given how she’d been acting earlier. So he told their mysterious informant, “Shoot us the address and just leave it to us!”
-
Unfortunately for her, Kaita agreed to the mission before Lan could voice her severe disdain for the idea of getting anywhere within a ten-mile radius of a casino ever again. "Wh-whatever... It better be quick," she sheepishly mumbled as Wily nodded with satisfaction. It couldn't be as bad as Via Iracunda... right?
"Very well, then. The good news is that I'm sure you'll find a way to get into the network somehow, even if you aren't of age," Dr. Wily continued to explain. "The bad news is that I would expect their network to be rather up-to-date, given the money at stake. At the very least, scoping it out would be useful." He tapped his fingers on his chair. "I'll send the address to Rock, and then you can be on your way."
"Sure," Rock groused, begrudgingly accepting the incoming mail. The second she checked if the address was legit or not, she side-eyed the video screen. "'K, we're done now, right? We're done? Then, bye."
Rock didn't even wait for Wily to respond for her to forcibly hang the call up. It was a gesture that Lan certainly appreciated, given the pained groan she let out a few seconds later. "Whyyy," she grumbled to herself. "I guess... it's just something we dealt with before. It's fine. But why..."
"To be honest, I kinda forgot about the vault stuff," Rock admitted, crossing her arms. "But if they've been runnin' around like rats while we've been overseas... then that's gotta be bad news, right?"
-
Kaita waited for the call to end, trying his hardest not to fidget even though he desperately wanted to talk to Lan without Wily around. Finally, the old doctor hung up, leaving Kaita free to turn to Lan and ask, “Are you okay? It felt like you couldn’t trust him, and you got so upset when he mentioned it was a casino…”
“What about me?!” whined Turboman.
Kaita glanced over to shrug, “Well, I can guess why you’re upset—”
“It’s a casino, Kaita,” Turboman couldn’t hold back from pointing out. “It isn’t even a fun kind of place you shouldn’t be going.” In an undertone, he huffed, “What did he mean, ‘given our gambling laws’?”
“Maybe it’s okay for kids to go to casinos in this world!” Kaita brightly offered for an explanation. “If we’re just following the law of the place we’re in, there’s nothing wrong, right?” Turboman wordlessly sputtered, not quite able to piece together a proper rebuttal.
With that, Kaita turned back to Lan, waiting to hear her out with big, friendly eyes.
-
Rock immediately narrowed her eyes. "Sorry to burst your... uh, I guess it wouldn't really be your bubble, in this case, but there's no way in hell that a kid's gonna be allowed in a casino on a legal level," she explained. "I think what the old man means is that it'll be pretty easy for people to turn a blind eye to any chicanery. That, uh, nothin's actually gonna happen to us."
Lan, meanwhile, retreated as soon as Kaita checked in on her. "It's- it's nothing. It's nothing," she blubbered, her face turning red. "I don't like him, and I don't like casinos, either. It's just stupid... it's all... stupid." Her voice trailed off as Kaita's big wet eyes burned holes into her soul. Eventually, she stomped her foot on the ground. "Kaiiittaaaa, this suuuucks! I mean, we can't just do nothing, right?!"
With Lan failing to provide an adequate explanation, Rock turned to Turboman. "Some bad shit happened at a casino we were in a couple months back. Uh, not here. Somewhere else," she said. "Nothin' to worry about, now. It was another world. But... still. The hell are we supposed to do about this?"
"I don't want to go downtown! I don't like going downtown," Lan grumbled. "I guess I kind of, sort of know the train routes... a little... Ugh." She curled her lip at Kaita, then averted her eyes. "Sorry. I-I'm just being weird. If it's a mission, then we should do it, right...?"
-
Kaita’s sympathy only grew, hearing that Lan absolutely did not want to do this, on any level. It was a bit of a tough situation to think through for him; it was true that going after the vault was important, but also true that he ought not to force Lan into it. “…We’ll take the vault back to my world when we’re done!” he finally settled on. “If you don’t like that guy, then we don’t have to help him.”
The whole ‘going downtown to the casino’ part, which was non-negotiable, seemed like a much more troubling issue. “I…” Kaita decided, “If it’s to do with the Arcana Viruses, I don’t wanna leave it alone. But if something bad happened, then I don’t think it’s weird or stupid if you don’t wanna go, either.”
“You’re not going to be allowed in to begin with, according to Rock over here,” Turboman pointed out. “So either you’ve gotta take us in remotely, or you’re gonna have to ride some crazy luck…”
“You know that’s no big deal! I’ll use my Net Savior badge, like always!” Kaita said.
“Will that even work here?” Turboman asked. “We’ll be disqualified before the starting line with credentials that nobody recognizes…”
For a moment, Kaita could only blink into the middle distance. “…Then we’ll have to dress up as people who do belong there! Just like old times!” He beamed at Lan. “Don’t you think it’s fun to wear a crazy disguise? Though, the best place I know to find them is by having Mary-chan ask her mom…”
“Towa-san is a fashion designer,” Turboman explained for Lan’s sake.
“But, that’s my world…” mused Kaita. “Towa-san always says things like how you have to dress for your occasion, and stuff. So, who would we go to here who’d know what to do…?” He abruptly stopped, shaking his head. “But I can deal with that later.” He turned back to Lan. “I wanna find that vault… but if you don’t want to, you don’t have to.”
-
Lan grumbled uncomfortably as Kaita took charge of the situation. Giving the vault to the Ministry over Wily definitely sounded a little more appealing, at least. "It's... it doesn't have anything to do with the arcana-whatevers," she sheepishly clarified. "So... it's fine..."
"We've beaten a couple of 'em before. As long as we can get in the network, it won't be anything we can't handle, right?" Rock insisted, trying to look as chipper as possible for her operator. "But... there's no way that that badge is gonna work, and..."
Both Lan and Rock went completely silent for a moment as Kaita cooked up a plan that neither of them would have even remotely thought of. "D-dress... up...?" Lan repeated in utter bafflement, her expression looking like she'd just been told to drink mud. "I've... I've never done that in my life... What...?"
"Maybe you would've if you bothered to participate in Halloween, kid!" Rock added, sounding strangely petulant about it, as if her tone was pining for the spooky season. Of course, such a jab earned her a glare from Lan. "Ah-haaahh... Well, it's still a good idea, ain't it? Isn't that the whole idea in movies, stacking on top of each other in a trenchcoat and pretending you're..."
"I am not carrying someone on my shoulders," Lan interrupted. "That's not going to work. At all."
Rock averted her eyes. "Well, okay, fine. But if you dress fancy, it'll seem like you're supposed to be there, right? Like some rich jerk brought their kids along," she continued, giving Kaita a thoughtful glance. "As for here...? Hmm..."
Lan exhaled, closing her eyes. "Triese might know.... I guess," she reluctantly admitted. "I don't want to get anyone else involved... but she knows, like... business stuff..."
-
Once the group had moved to Triese’s house and the introductions were gotten out of the way, Kaita wasted no time calling Mary and arranging for her to join them. As Mary gingerly stepped through the portal, Kaita realized it was her first time traveling across dimensions, just like it had been for him. “This is amazing,” she whispered, looking around herself in awe.
“Right?!” Kaita happily agreed. “Meiru-san said the Fossa Ambiences used to feel way worse, but with the chatroom’s portals it’s really easy.”
“I didn’t feel a thing,” Mary said in agreement. “And now we’re in another world…”
“Awesome!” cheered Ring happily. She ran through the air around Mary’s shoulder, her arms raised wildly. “I’m in another dimension, guys! Check it out!”
“We’re all in another dimension,” Turboman flatly pointed out before turning to Mary. “Anyway, like Kaita said, we need your help!”
“That’s right,” Mary said. She turned to Triese. “Kaita-kun said something about dressing up for a casino party, right? How flashy are you thinking we ought to go...?"
-
With how suddenly the plan had been expanded, Triese looked like she had just ate her entire candy stash in a single bite. She was practically bouncing off the walls getting to meet new people - Lan had briefly mentioned Kaita and Mary before, and she'd probably seen the former in the chatroom once or twice, but now she had a chance to actually speak with them!! Wow!!
"Oh my gosh!! Your Navis are so cool and I can't believe you guys have to do this, like, okay, you're basically dealing with kind of an expert here because I just did the same thing in Reg's world and it totally worked and I got away with it, so!" Triese blabbered in a single breath. "It's so nice to meet you!! You're from the same place that the Netto Lan's super friendly with is from, right?! I guess this is the first time I've got to talk to you guys, so-"
"Hey, uh, we might be on a time crunch here," Rock interjected, taking the wind out of Triese's sails. "Who knows how much longer we've got until that vault starts causing major problems? I know you're excited and all, but..."
Triese curled her lip and recomposed herself. "Right! Okay... yeah, that makes sense," she muttered, though she sounded a little disappointed. Turning to Mary, she continued. "So, I-I mean, you wouldn't want to stand out, necessarily, so probably nothing too flashy, but..."
"...I don't want to 'dress up'," Lan grumbled. "I don't even know if there's a party, so... whatever lets us blend in with, um, the least amount of effort..."
"I mean, dress shirts should be fine, right? What do people who go to casinos dress up like...?" Triese suggested, hovering around Lan and Mary as she rambled. "I have a couple shirts that should fit you. Basically, you'd wanna look like with your rich parents or something, right? So, I guess... think like you're going to a wedding. Nice shoes... and, uh..." She paused. "Um, I've never been to a wedding."
-
Ring, of course, was won over the moment Triese called her ‘cool’. Much as Mary usually stayed vigilant against her Navi’s easily-inflated ego, Triese was so earnest about it that she didn’t want to ruin the mood.
“It’s nice to meet you, Triese-san,” Mary said sweetly once Rock had steered the conversation back onto Lan and Kaita’s mission.
“Yeah, it’s great to meet more of Netto-chan’s friends!” Kaita agreed.
With that, Mary considered Triese’s advice. “That won’t be difficult at all. We won’t even have to ask Mum for anything.”
“Nothing too flashy?!” groused Ring at nearly the same time.
“I’ll just go and fetch the suit you wore last time, Kaita-kun,” Mary said. “And then, if Triese-san is taking care of Netto-chan, we’ll be golden…”
She disappeared back into the portal she’d arrived in, then reappeared with a red satin suit. It had distinctive keycap-shaped buttons, since it had been made for a much more flashy situation. But since she hadn’t brought the avant-garde hat that went with it, and she’d substituted a normal white button-down shirt for the shiny black one it’d first been paired with, Mary figured it was normal enough for a casino party.
"Go on and change, Kaita-kun," Mary instructed with a smile. Once he'd stepped into Triese's bathroom to do so, she turned to the other two girls. "Now, let's see what our options are for Netto-chan."
"Yeah!" cheered Ring.
"We won't go too crazy, don't worry," Mary reassured Lan. "A nice pair of trousers should do."
"Aw..."
-
Triese got the sense that she probably didn't want to run over Mary conversation-wise, so she patiently waited for her co-conspirator to give her opinion. "It's nice to meet you, too!! I haven't really met a lot of the friends Lan's made, so!" she cheerfully responded. "Um, not that I'm saying that's a bad thing, Lan! It's just something I noticed, and... uh..."
"J-just get on with it," Lan stammered, completely embarrassed. "I didn't do it on purpose. It's just, you were at the beach when I was doing something else, and..." She shook her head, realizing she was the one who decided not to go to the beach to begin with, then raised an eyebrow at Mary. "Last time...?"
Triese spun around and ducked into her closet to search for clothes. The first thing she pulled out, a combo piece of a collared white shirt with a black skirt, was met with immediate disdain from Lan. Next, a sleeveless blouse to go with a nice pair of dress pants... which Lan was similarly resistant to. "You gotta pick something, you know," Triese couldn't help but point out. "I know you just like wearing jackets, and I wish I had a fancy jacket or something like that to give you, but that probably won't cut it, you know...?"
"Wh-whatever! If I have to wear fancy... then... just give me whatever's the fanciest thing. I'll deal with it," Lan blubbered, crossing her arms. "I-I don't really care... it's... it's just clothes..."
Triese couldn't help but lower her eyelids and smirk. "Oh?" she muttered, before ducking back into the closet and pulling out a purple-and-white dress with multiple attached bows and too many frills for Lan's character. "I bet you'd be cute in this, you know..." she taunted, having way too much fun.
"Sh-- shut--...!" Lan barked back, growling before she bit her lip. "F-fine... fine... I'll do it..."
Rock raised an eyebrow. "You... don't have to, kid, you know that?" she chimed in with... but her operator's silence told her that she had somehow made this a matter of pride. She was going to wear the dress, because she wasn't a coward!... Or something. It was easy to imagine her saying that...
-
“We had to get into a party for Densan’s underground artists once!” Mary explained. “So Mum made us haute couture outfits to get us past the bouncer.”
“It’s real fun to see you Operators all dressed up!” giggled Ring.
Mary then watched as Lan rejected reasonable outfit after reasonable outfit, only for Triese to call her bluff. “You really don’t have to,” she fretted, noticing how forced Lan’s acceptance of the frilly dress was. “It might distract you from what you’re there to do, if you’re not used to wearing a dress like that…”
“Noooo,” Ring said, just as impish as Triese. “The purple’ll go so well with Kaita’s suit! You’ll look like a perfect pair.”
Indeed, Kaita burst out, already having changed clothes, and came to a perfect halt in front of Mary so she could perform the traditional straightening of his collar. The purple and red did fit together quite well now that Mary was seeing the two colors next to one another, and the excessiveness of the dress made Kaita’s shiny satin seem perfectly paired in a way that a more subdued outfit wouldn’t have.
"See?" Ring said, giving voice to what Mary was too polite to point out. "It's gotta be that one!"
-
"Haha, a pair, I get it, it's like cards," Rock joked, almost reflexively. She blanched, like she didn't fully understand why she said it. Cough. "A-ny-ways..."
Lan only blushed harder once Kaita came out from the bathroom, especially since Triese lit up so brightly upon realizing the same thing that Mary and Ring did. "I-I... once we're there, it'll be fine," she protested, crossing her arms. "There's nothing wrong with it... I just can't remember the last time I had to dress up for anything..."
"Now we both got to dress up! It's like an equilibrium or something," Triese cheekily pointed out. "Anyways, you're just trying to act like you belong there, so it's not like you gotta waltz up to some ritzy adult and do a curtsy."
"...Yeah, I know," Lan admitted shyly, before eyeing the bathroom. "I guess... I should change, too..."
Lan didn't spend long changing, and she came out looking totally incongruous from her personality. As she walked out tentatively and Triese helped her straighten the dress, she held her bandana in her hands. "...This doesn't go with the dress at all. Ugh," she muttered to herself. Her hair was even more of a floofy mess without the bandana holding some of it in place. After stuffing it back in the bag, she said, "I'll have to carry around my bag, too... since it, uh, doesn't match the dress, either..."
"I'm sure it'll be fine. It's all about avoiding eyes," Rock pointed out.
Triese nodded fervently. "Yup! My dad can get you guys in, and then you can snoop around all you want!"
"...Your dad?" Lan repeated, before remembering that he totally had found about the chatroom. Because of her and Ellen taking it too far, no less. "Oh... I didn't think of that. I guess that makes it kinda simple, huh..."
"What did you think you were going to do...? There's no way you're gonna take the metro wearing that dress," Triese pointed out. "My dad'll drive you there. I wish we could come, but...! Our car's not big enough..."
"...You should really stay," Lan insisted. "The more people that come, the more likely we'll get caught."
-
After overhearing Lan’s plan to carry her normal backpack around, Ring was quick to dissuade her of the notion. “How’s that going to solve anything? If anything carrying your schoolbag around as a handbag will make the problem worse, not better.”
Shyly, Mary volunteered, “I’ve got something that’d match this…” and retreated into her side of the portal for a moment, only to emerge with a crossbody bag styled to look like a vase of flowers. “Just pack your essentials into here,” she explained.
“You can get purses shaped like other things?!” Kaita marveled. His eyes sparkling, he looked at Mary. “Do you have a car purse?!”
“I’ve got one, but I don’t think Turboman would like it. It’s too pink for his tastes,” giggled Mary. “I’ll keep an eye out for you for the holidays, though!”
“Yippie! Thanks!” Obviously excited to someday have a fancy bag of his own, Kaita rifled through his own incongruous backpack, pulling out a few tools to put into the jacket pockets of his suit.
Once he was done, he got to his feet. “Okay… I think I’m about as prepared as I’m gonna get.” He turned to Lan. “Let’s go!”
-
Lan always felt awkward around Triese's dad, if only because he was just so straightforwardly helpful that it felt weird. Why wasn't he asking questions about all this crap they were doing...? Why wasn't he trying to poke and prod for secret information she didn't want to share?! Maybe it was because Triese told him everything already...
She found the exterior of the casino pretty intimidating, if only because they had to have some ridiculous level of confidence to plaster that many gaudy neon lights with outlines of overjoyed humans on a building in the middle of a city. It was like it was screaming to her, "Come here! We do stuff that shouldn't be legal, but it somehow is!"
"Now, I have no intention of spending any money... You don't want to be put on these peoples' lists," Shen began to lecture as he parked the car. There was thankfully a secluded enough parking spot for Lan and Kaita to not have to waltz right in. Instead, the plan would be to wait for others to enter, and follow in after them to blend in with the crowd. "But these kinds of places will be on the lookout for loiterers. The faster you get into the network, the better."
Lan pouted as she climbed out of the car, still fretting over the dress and the bag that Mary had lent her. She could only fit so many chips in there... "Can't we just get Flammole to do, um, the thing he does?" she mumbled, not quite remembering the details since it had been so long. "To find wherever the vault is..."
"I'd certainly like to, but let me put it this way," Shen began. "I can easily explain away two children if they get caught in the network. If I get caught in the network, it won't be quite as simple." Lan immediately pouted. "I'd love not to foist it on you, Lan, but it sounds as if your friend has some experience, anyhow."
"You're a weirdo," Rock chimed in. "Can't believe you'd just trust the Net Savior thing right out of the gate. I think the kid's mom would kill her."
Much to both Lan and Rock's surprise, Shen was a bit flummoxed by the comment. "...How unflattering," he muttered under his breath, looking past the two kids into the distance. "Shall we get going, then? I can have my Navi pass along some signature masks, while we wait."
