For whatever reason, Triese only reacted to Geo's second callout, rather than the first. Whether or not it was because she couldn't hear him, or because she was no longer thinking of herself as 'Triese', was unclear. "A-are we...? Friends...?" she couldn't help but confusedly mutter to herself, which Siren responded in turn by dialing up the anxiety in the back of her host's mind.

Unfortunately for the two of them, such a conflict left them wide open for the Stealth Laser. Triese was electrocuted by the triple-shot of static beams, and for a moment, she felt an uncharacteristic glee at having been inflicted with that kind of pain. That was her weakness! She had an Aqua-element body! She was just like a Navi, wasn't she?! She got to fight like a Navi, she got to feel like a Navi, she got to delete like a Navi...

"Push through it, my doll," Siren helpfully reminded, though she could sense Triese's bizarre masochistic glee. Why a human would feel that way was beyond her. Regardless, she kept her focus on controlling Triese, refusing to acknowledge the so-called hero chasing after them. She forced Triese to stagger backward and resume fleeing, controlling Siren Splash's arm to fire another curtain of bubbles to keep Mega Man at bay.

"I-I... um... S-Snowball," Triese stuttered, awkwardly throwing out a - who could have guessed - snowball that quickly gained traction and size as it barreled across the Wave Road. Geo wouldn't be able to see it beneath the visor, but Triese was feeling vaguely hurt and confused. "I-I'm... but I'm Siren Splash..."

Triese wasn't going to be conscious enough to notice that Siren was burrowing a little bit deeper into her, especially when she was panicking at Mega Man breaking free of her attack so easy. She stumbled to get out of the way of the Shuriken, before she reflexively shot her bubble buster at the ground, forming another bubble that bounced her up and over the incoming attack.

For a moment, she felt proud of herself for the maneuver! It was sort of like how she'd always known she'd fight if she finally got to transform... right? That meant that she couldn't allow the bad guys to take this away from her, right?! Th-there was no way she could back down from this fight... especially when she'd already made the first shot...!

As she made a break for it, she loaded a Battle Chip... Card?... to try and distract Mega Man. Oh, wow, that was so cool, she was just able to pull that up with her mind, there was no way she could let this go! "I-Ice Grenade!" she shouted, awkwardly overhand-throwing the projectile at Mega Man's location. The grenade exploded on the Wave Road behind her, freezing it up.

There was a tiny urge in the back of her mind to use the ice to her advantage, to freeze the opponent and then use a big breaking attack, just like she would with Lu- with Lure- where was Lurerre? Wasn't Lurerre-?

"Ah, don't falter now, my little doll," Siren interrupted, sensing that Triese's thoughts were spiraling out of control. A tone continued to hum through the conch-shaped receptors on Triese's head. "Remember, I'm right here with you. We can take any threat on, together. We, alone, have the power to stop this madness."

Triese's head lowered as she dashed across the Wave Road. "Y-yeah... yeah," she mumbled, choking up a little. "I-I'm going to fight... I'm going to keep fighting..."

Siren's tweaks worked like a charm, at least for the first few seconds that their opponent spoke. She took a step back, glancing at Mt. Belenus nervously... and then their mysterious assailant just to happened to specify his name. Something in the Wave Change snapped, and Siren couldn't help but recoil. "M-Mega Man...? Huh?" Triese muttered, her shoulders raising as she swirled back to face him. "B-but that... wouldn't that mean...?"

"What's wrong, my doll?" Siren immediately interjected, though she was having trouble keeping herself completely composed. Well, it was no surprise that Triese would have that sort of reaction to hearing the name of the supposed 'hero' of this wretched planet. "Ah, you didn't know? Yes, despite his reputation, Mega Man is quite the... unsavory character. Every wise Wave Changer knows not to cross into his territory..."

It was then that Mega Man raised his buster, and Triese began to panic. "N-no, wait that doesn't make any sense," she muttered to herself. "If he's Mega Man, then that means, he, he- Reg- he-" Her head twitched a little bit. "He... helps people..."

...What was she trying to say? Whatever. It didn't matter - Siren needed to get Triese back under her thumb before she figured out what was going on. A bass-heavy tone began to hum in Triese's ears, drowning out her thoughts. "Only the people under the Satella Police's thumb," she clarified, her voice lowering to a whisper. "But there's an easy way to beat him, my doll. We have to strike the very place he gets his support from. Only Siren Splash can do that... do you understand?"

Triese clutched her head, her oversized sleeve briefly drooping over her visor. "I-I'm... I..." she muttered, before she slowly took another step back... and raised her buster back at Mega Man. "I-I'm... Siren Splash..."

Suddenly, she fired a cluster of bubbles at Mega Man's feet - and then made a break for it, following Siren's directions to try and reach Mt. Belenus before they were crushed.

Triese immediately jumped as soon as a weirdly familiar voice called out to her, turning around to face the first actual EM Being she'd had the opportunity to encounter. "H-huh...?! Who are you?!" she reflexively barked out. "H-how do you know my name?!"

Siren let some of Triese's own panic overtake her the second she saw that Mega Man had caught her red-handed. Of course, this wasn't entirely unexpected... this girl just so happened to latch herself to a dangerous person, after all. But for Mega Man to come after them before they had even made it to WAZA... Well, her luck was certainly taking a turn for the worse. Luckily, she had just conditioned Triese with the very excuse she could use to turn the tables in her favor - and it was all the better that Triese didn't seem to recognize the person she'd been hanging out with, either.

Feigning a gasp, she began to speak inside of Triese's mind again. "Ah! Speak of the devil! They must have been tracking us down after all," Siren exclaimed, trying her damndest to sound worried so Triese would also worry. "That's one of the Wave Changers that sold themselves to that organization! I suppose we can't all be so noble..." Already, she was placing targets on Mega Man through their visor. "If there's any time to act, it's now, my doll~! Before he gets the upper hand!"

The idea couldn't help but make Triese hesitate even more, though. She couldn't run, and this person would probably chase her to that mountain in the distance, right? She raised her buster in a panic as she took a step back, but she didn't fire, not yet. "W-wait! Please! I'm just trying to help! I-I'm not doing anything bad, I swear!" she blubbered. "D-don't make me fight... because I don't want to... I promise!"

(She didn't exactly sound confident about it, though. Which was great for Siren!)

Triese twitched once Siren spoke up, having been hit with a bizarre wave of anxiety as she listened to her partner explain the situation. W-well, of course. All good things had to have a catch, didn't they? She'd always been warned about how the Net in ACDC was monitored, so this wasn't really a surprise. Staring at Mt. Belenus from afar, a strange feeling of deja vu overcame her - but the anxiety was slowly winning out, and she stepped forward on the Wave Road as if to get a better look at the peak on the horizon.

"Th-that's horrible," she muttered, putting a hand on her mouth - perfectly following Siren's script. "Wh-what can we do about them, if they're watching us? I mean, we can't just go in and fight them alone... right?" Nervously, she curled her fingers, taking a look around the Wave Road. That's right... no one like her was around. It was just a bunch of smaller maintenance programs... just like how her own Net worked...

"B-but what if..." She didn't want to imply that they were the 'only ones', because Siren was telling her there were other Wave Changers she had to help. "W-well... we have to do something! I can't be totally useless! We need to go there... right?! Sabotage something... at least!"

(Too easy.)

Triese was brave. She was getting stronger. Siren had gifted her power! She wasn't going to be a coward and completely ignore the problem, right...? If she Wave Changed back in her world, then she'd start taking down all the people she didn't like with no hesitation... right? Siren Splash would do that, right?! No... would she...? What was she thinking...?

She continued to step forward toward the silhouette of Mt. Belenus in the distance, as if she expected it to whisk her away at any moment, but her anxiety was slowly turning to hesitation and panic.

Triese felt a mixture of emotions as she saw the vault split open - it was mostly the sight of the rare Battle Chips (cards? Were they the same...?) that made her hesitate. It was so hard to get something like a Giga Chip, so much so that a few falling into her lap this easily just seemed... wrong. W-well, she didn't need them, anyways. She would earn them... from her hard work... like she usually did...!!

"Y-yes! Um! Okay!" she nervously responded, nodding her head as she ducked into the vault. They would have to hurry, wouldn't they?! She wasn't completely sure why they were under a time crunch, but she just knew that it was true intuitively. After she took Siren's suggestion and pocketed the Sticky Rains and the familiar Ice Stage, she searched for any other Aqua cards she could find. She didn't really have time to ask what any of them did... so she was running off of a lot of assumptions, but...

Wait! Wait! If they were getting Battle Chips out of the vault, then did that mean she got to use them?! It really was like Cross Fusion...! Oh my gosh, she had to pick the cutest ones and then use them as soon as she could!! There was a card with a shark on it that seemed kind of familiar, and another with what looked like a yeti virus on it, and one that kinda looked like an Ice Seed, th-there was this really cute bunny oh my gosh...

"I-I don't want to take too much, because it kinda feels weird if I do," Triese voiced as she backed away from the vault. "I'll do my best with this, anyhow!" She bounded across the comp and to the exit pad, returning back to the main Wave Road above Echo Ridge. Giddily, she bounced in place, staring at the sky in lieu of actually being able to see Siren. "Okay! What next, what next?! This is so awesome!!"

Triese narrowed her eyes at the virus standing guard in front of the vault. “H-hey, you’re right! What’s a virus doing here? W-we can’t let it eat that data!” she exclaimed, raising her buster. She… hesitated for a moment, overcome with a strange feeling of nausea, a hyper-awareness of how light and hollow she was - but it quickly passed. She wanted this! It was supposed to be this way!

“People die all the time. Data gets eaten up all the time. It’s really sad,” Triese couldn’t help but mutter in response to Siren’s reassurance. “W-we have to be as strong as we can… so that doesn’t happen as often, right? So we don’t lose everything again!”

She took another step forward, calculating her battle plan in her head. With Siren helping her out, it felt even easier than she thought it’d be. One confident grasp of her bubble arm later, and she charged up a triple-spread of shots, making up a call-out on the fly. “S-Siren… Spreader…!!”

The centermost bubble flew straight for the virus in front of the fault, trapping them in… well, a bubble, while the other two nailed some of the vault’s weak spots. Almost automatically, Triese then swirled forward and blew a kiss, manifesting a little note made of water to swirl towards and finish off the virus.

(This was so cool! This was exactly what she wanted! And it was all because she listened to Siren! S-she should… always listen… to Siren!)

"W-well, yeah, of course, if you're mean to viruses then they're going to..." Triese began, before her head dropped with a bit of a lull. She really liked viruses... but there were a lot of scary ones out there, weren't there? Siren was looking out for her... so she'd better play it safe, so that a particularly nasty virus didn't end her career so early. Reg had to fight viruses, too, after all. "Yeah... yeah. I mean, th-that's what people like us do, right? We have to bust viruses to keep everything safe!"

When Siren sent a ping to Triese, she already began to float toward their destination, like she was a cat following a laser pointer. "W-woah, um! What kind of place?" she couldn't help but ask, sounding entirely too sincere for such a strange request. "Well! Um! I'm not scared! I can take on a tutorial, no problem! It'd be stupid if I couldn't!"

Triese seemed to remember the way they were going, for whatever reason, but that didn't really matter. She leaned toward the antenna, and before she could even ask any questions, she found herself getting pulled towards it. It kept pulling and pulling, and then... she was off the road, into the antenna, and... and...

It was a really weird feeling, teleporting from one place to another. It made her a little dizzy - Reg was probably used to stuff like this, wasn't he?! "Okay, okay! What's next?!" she said, once she'd regained her bearings and surveyed the area. This was... a small computer, wasn't it?! Just like one on the Net! It really was just like the Net! She was fighting to protect the Net!!

Triese was very easily swept up by Siren's sales pitch; the very revelation that she'd gained water-based abilities made her feel even sillier for worrying to begin with. That was what she always wanted!! Why was she being so weird about this?! Something she'd dreamed about for years had finally come for her, and she thought she had a right to worry about it?! Silly! Just silly!

"W-wow, um! Well! I really love Net..." she began to respond, before cutting herself off. Wait, was it still a problem that she was a time traveler? All the battling tips she knew were about something that might not even exist here... but if she was being offered to play out her dream, did it matter that much...? "I watch a lot of TV, so I think I know what you mean! O-oh, oh man, it's like a Bubbler, uhh..."

The crosshairs were like little fireflies in her vision. She thrust her arm forward like she imagined how it'd feel to load a Bubbler for herself... and sure enough, a bubble formed around her hand. Her mouth popped open with joy, and she fired a bubble at the closest crosshair, the water flowing underneath her catching her before the recoil could make her fall over.

"I-it's real, it's real, oh my gosh," she muttered to herself, loading up another shot. Triese did not particularly pay attention to what she was firing at - all that mattered to her was the super-awesome abilities she'd finally earned!! Each shot was made with more and more precision, as she slowly gained her bearings and internalized how it felt to become something else. "I can't believe it! Th-this is awesome, Siren!!"

The feeling of being whisked away and opening her eyes to find herself in an entirely different world was weirdly... familiar. But she knew she'd never Wave Changed before, so why would she even think that? Maybe it was just a sign of how right for her this was. Now that she was standing on the Wave Road, and seeing all these colors the way she was meant to see them, her trepidation were finally melting away.

"I-I..." she muttered to herself, her gaze slowly dropping to her feet. Her dress billowed out now, and it was surrounded by what almost looked like a floatie made of water, wrapped around her knees like it was a giant bracelet. The dress also came with comically oversized sleeves, nearly covering her hands. She couldn't see it, but she was also definitely wearing some kind of helmet with visor attached now, and the sounds of the Wave World around her were being broadcast into her mind in obscenely high quality.

"O-oh my gosh," she muttered to herself, surveying her new form. It... reminded her of how Reg looked, didn't it? That meant... she'd transformed! Just like Reg! She was a hero like Reg now! "I-I did it! I transformed! J-just like in a show or something!" She waved her arm to the side, which incidentally commanded a little note made of water to fly around her wrist. "Wh-what can I do? What should I do?"

She tried to skip forward, but her complete lack of body weight meant that she accidentally launched herself into the air for a brief moment, giving her a beautiful view of how the Wave Roads twisted around just like the Net did. It was a lot like the Net, wasn't it?! She'd transformed and entered the Net!! But from the future!! And it was all because Siren helped her... Why... why was she even worried...?!

Something was... wrong, wasn't there? Triese's breath was quickening, and she felt like she couldn't go anywhere else other than the exact place she was standing right now. She flinched when Siren poked her, but she couldn't bring herself to run away. Instead, she leaned closer, unable to tear her attention away from the EM being. What? No, there wasn't anything wrong. All that she needed to worry about right now was the lovely song surrounded her... she thought.

"U-uh," Triese blubbered, nearly falling into Siren before she managed to right herself up in time. "I-I don't... I don't want to... be a loser. I don't want to close myself off." She didn't want to be left behind, did she?! She finally had what she wanted... She had friends, and the people who'd made her miserable had been beaten back for now. But she couldn't help but wonder... how fast that would get torn away... once Lan decided she didn't need to hang around her anymore...

What was she opening her heart to? It had to be some kind of power. A really cool power, that would make her stand out. That would make her a hero, like she'd always wanted to be. Right? Right?! It had to be that! All she had to do... was... listen... to Siren... and she'd be able to do so much more.

"I-I want to see," she muttered, her voice sounding a little strained. Slowly, carefully, she took Siren's hand. "I-I just want to know! I want to be something!" Her eyes had become glassy, like she was desperate for something. "I-I want to... EM... Wave Change..."

Triese couldn’t help but flinch at Siren’s insinuation - and maybe the slight change in tone, as well. “U-um! It’s not that I’m scared!” she immediately clarified, finally taking a step back forward. “B-but… but-“

Wave Change. She knew what that was. She’d learned about it at the beach… as something that was kind of like Cross Fusion, right? But she had no illusions of ever being able to perform something like Cross Fusion… even though it sounded awesome. Right? She’d never be able to do it. She wasn’t strong enough for that.

…Yet here Siren was, offering it so casually. It was hard to resist her own curiosity. “U-up there… with viruses…” she muttered to herself. “N-no, but… I’m not… scared at all! I don’t want to fall behind! If I… if I did this Wave Change… if it’s easy, like you say…”

Something was wrong. There was the smallest bit of Triese’s mind that was trying to inform her of some disconnect between the way she was feeling and the actual words coming out of her mouth. But the constant lovely hum that Siren emitted was drowning it out, and Triese was too confused and overwhelmed to be fully aware of that. She just knew that she had to keep listening… and then… and then…

Triese's heart couldn't help but flutter the more Siren talked to her. She couldn't tell if it was just nervousness, or there really was some truth to that resonating thing. If she focused, then... she could feel Siren from where she was standing, couldn't she? She hadn't felt anything like that when she was in Reg's world... Not even when her own Navi manifested in front of her.

For a moment, Triese felt like she had a cork stuck in her throat. "I-I...?" she eventually blubbered, her face flushing out. "I-I don't want anything... I-I mean, I don't really understand what you mean..."

Up close? Was Siren just going to lift her up there? Those kinds of waves... weren't even solid to begin with, were they? The Mettaceans just passed right through her, after all... so what was Siren even talking about? Unless... what she was offering... was... something... like...

No, no, what? No. That was ridiculous. It would be kind of suspicious if someone was randomly offering something like that, though, right? Silver wasn't anything like Siren. "I'm, uh, I think I need to... know more, I think," she began to incoherently babble. She truly had no idea how normal what was happening to her was, and she had a creeping suspicion in the back of her mind, driven by memories of conversations she couldn't fully remember. "I don't... I don't really need power... To be honest, it kind of scares me," she admitted, continuing to keep her distance as her face went red - though she refused to take her eyes off of Siren.

Well. Triese sure was blankly staring at this mysterious being for an uncomfortably long amount of time. With how fast she was talking, she couldn't help but find herself stunned for a few seconds, stuck unable to think about anything other than the weird tingling feeling on her skin. Wizard? Huh? Wasn't that the kind of... future-programmy thing that Pat and M had...? What was a 'Wizard' doing talking to her like this...?

"Wh-what...?" she couldn't help but mumble as soon as 'Siren' was done talking. She took one step back, reflexively holding one of her arms in front of her chest. "H-hold on... I don't understand. L-lonely song?" She couldn't help but narrow her eyes suspiciously. "...Power...?"

Something about this seemed really off. Was she getting offered power like the start of some TV show? W-well, she did always want something like that- but- no, no, that's stupid! Why was Siren talking to her like that?! Why was this happening so suddenly - and right when Geo left, too?! ...What was that weird hum that she could hear...?

But didn't she have to take this seriously? What if this was normal here, and by questioning it she'd expose herself as a time traveler? Why did Lurerre have to not be here at a time like this...?! "Okay! Wait! So! You've been watching me?! What does that entail?!" she couldn't help but pry. "Wh-what could you even know about my dreams, or whatever? I-I don't want to be suspicious, but, uh, coming in out of nowhere like this is kind of a little suspicious, isn't it?" She paused, a little bit of fear flickering in her eyes as her gaze darted to the side. "Wh-what do you mean, no one else can hear you...?"

Despite how smoothly Omega-Xis' lie came out, it was pretty evident from Triese's expression that she didn't entirely buy it. In fact, his clarification, if anything, made the lie more obvious. If Omega-Xis was "activated", then why'd you ever accidentally act like he just manifested from nowhere? Well... maybe it wasn't that weird. Maybe she was just overthinking it. It was hard not to try and read into everything someone was saying when you were friends with someone like Lan...

"Weeellll...." Triese began, curling her lip as she eyed Geo suspiciously. But... it'd be pretty rude to question a new friend like that, wouldn't it? Geo wasn't as outwardly... prickly, as Lan was, but did anyone really like being poked and prodded? Lurerre did get on her case for intruding on peoples' privacy a little. "Okay! I guess I haven't really eaten anything all day, huh? Th-thanks!!"

She waved right back at Geo as he scuttled down the stairs, though she couldn't help but feel a little... sad, as he disappeared out of view. Well, the sunset was always kind of an emotional time of day. But now she was alone, with just her bag with her. Now would be the time when she'd talk to Lurerre... but she wasn't here. Of course she wasn't. The only reason she wasn't here right now is because she broke her PET - probably because she was messing around with things she didn't fully understand. Stupid.

Was Geo hiding something from her? Was that why he walked away, and made that weird face at her? It wasn't like she really minded it if he was, but it only made her feel more useless than she already was. All she'd done was cause problems today. Sure, she made a new friend, but... Couldn't she make friends without them having to swoop in and save her? That was what happened with Lan, too. No, no- that was irrational. That was stupid.

Sighing, she leaned back, fishing her Visualizer out of her bag. She slid on the glasses to view the Wave Roads again, if only to soak it all in before she had to go back to her own world. It really was like watching a diorama come to life, wasn't it? A super-lively Internet, except it was floating up above her head. She could only imagine what it was like to stand up there. Float? Most of the beings up there seemed to float. Weren't those Hertzes? She'd seen those before in the chatroom, hadn't she? They were kinda cute, weren't they...

...Stupid.

"Oh! Well, how kind of you," Haruka responded in turn, though she still looked a little confused. She eyed the source of the voice reminding Kaita of his manners, apparently surprised that another Navi was present. "Lan shuts herself in a lot, so I'm glad she has friends that will check on her. Come to think of it, you haven't told me much of anything about your friends as of late."

"Th-there isn't anything... to say," Lan answered awkwardly. She wriggled around a little bit, attempting to slip into her poker face as Kaita walked up to her. It was hard to really him away when he was looking at her like that... but her mom was right there, so it wasn't like could say everything.

Haruka walked back into the kitchen, but continued to engage with the so-called conversation from across the house. "The trip over... Hmmm, you must have met over the Internet, then?" she wondered out loud. "Where are you from, if it's not Den City?"

"...Yeah, it's another city," Lan immediately interrupted, before Kaita could say anything would get her in even bigger trouble. Leaning closer to Kaita, she lowered her voice. "W-well, you did it. I mean, there isn't anything that would've broken it, or whatever, but..."

Rock's hologram appeared on her operator's shoulder, interrupting her train of thought. "You guys should sit on the couch or somethin'," she suggested, perhaps as part of a ploy to give them a little privacy. She figured that Kaita couldn't lie even if he tried... but she still needed to keep Lan calm, lest she blow up over recent events yet again. "Can't tell you how glad I am that it was you at the door. The kid's been having a hard time lately."

"Rock!" Lan hissed, and her eyes wandered just in time to notice an eyebrow raise from her mother. Lan didn't want to say anything! She had the right to remain silent!!

Haruka blinked for a second, pausing just long enough for the thought that he had said something wrong to perhaps cross Kaita's mind. "Oh! Oh! Hello!" she greeted once she'd composed herself, brightening up considerably. Standing up straight, she opened the door more. "She didn't mention that anyone was coming over! Ah, she doesn't really have anyone over, now, does she...?"

It was then that Lan peeked around the corner and spotted their unexpected guest. Said guest was so out of the blue that she couldn't help but give away her position, stumbling out of the staircase hall and into the living room directly adjacent to the kitchen. As her mother peeked behind her shoulder, Lan curled into herself and pointed across the room. "Kaita...?! What are you doing here...?!" she couldn't help but babble, which immediately threw any hope she had of lying about him visiting right out the window. "U-uh... uhhh..."

Haruka smiled at Lan and beckoned her over. "You never mentioned a Kaita. Ah, you really ought to tell me about these things!" she said, to which Lan immediately shied away. "I knew this had to be a surprise, though. You never invite anyone over..."

Lan held her head low in shame as she scurried over to the door, hanging off to the side to let Kaita in. "I-I don't want to," she mumbled to herself, before eyeing Kaita with a bit more of her usual fervor. "K-Kaita, seriously, though, I hope nothing's wrong..." Both she and Rock were seriously hoping that Kaita had not been sent to check on her after the former's meltdown in Netto-san's office. Netto wouldn't have told anyone else about that... right? Lan really, really hoped so.

Lan had made it halfway down the steps just as the doorbell rang, making her freeze up. It had officially crossed into too late territory before she could even say anything... especially since she quickly realized that her mom, in fact, was still in the kitchen. She could feel her own doom encroaching as those footsteps trailed across the floor, the door threatening to be answered at any moment now. "N-nooooo..." she couldn't help but whine to herself, as she scuttled down the rest of the steps like a strange bug, slowly peeking around the corner and occasionally ducking behind it.

It took a few seconds for the door to be answered, like the person on the other side was hesitating even answering it to begin with. Maybe they were peeking through windows on the other side - it wasn't like Kaita would be able to tell. Eventually, the door unlocked, and Kaita was presented with someone he would surely recognize. The Ms. Hikari of this world definitely looked a little younger than the one he would know, but in exchange, her clothing was a bit more formal, there were shades under her eyes, and her expression was confused and vaguely unwelcoming.

"Oh, er, hello," Ms. Hikari answered, her expression slowly shifting to better suit the fact that she was talking to a child. "Is it that time of year? Are you making the rounds for a fundraiser?"

Triese curled her lip as Geo responded to her, her eyes shimmering a little with emotion. "Ahaha... um, yeah, I guess it sounds kinda obvious when you put it that way, doesn't it?" she couldn't help but awkwardly respond at first, scrunching her hands in her lap. "I guess I've just been feeling a little overwhelmed, lately..."

...Well, it was hard not to be. It had been a few weeks since they'd returned from Netopia, but it was obvious that the specter of all that nonsense was still looming over everyone. Even though she'd gotten exactly what she wanted, she couldn't help but feel inadequate about herself, just because the scope of the tragedy they'd run into felt like it would swallow her whole if she poked at it too hard.

But to Omega-Xis' credit, his advice was a little better than Geo might have expected. "Geez, you sound like my dad," Triese couldn't help but giggle. Geo's offer of friendship earned him a particularly warm smile, and she leaned forward ever so slightly. "M-man... it feels really nice that people can just say that to me. We've barely even met each other, but..." She paused, holding her head toward the sky again, before she snapped right back to smiling at Geo. "I-I mean, of course I'll be friends with you! I love making friends!"

There was one obvious question on her mind, though, and perhaps the fact that she craned her neck toward Omega-Xis would warn Geo what it might be. "Though, um! That reminds me," she began. "You just showed up? I dunno if I get what you mean." She waved her hands pre-emptively. "W-well, I mean, it's obvious why you two are friends! But not every Navi... or, whatever else... just shows up..."

Triese was a lot more immediately enthusiastic about Vista Point than Omega-Xis might've assumed, but to be fair, Triese kind of got excited about absolutely everything here. She felt really weird about getting back on the train and leaving Lurerre at WAZA, but... well... this kind of made it worth it, didn't it?! "W-wow...!! This is a really good view! I don't think there's anything like this where I'm from!" she excitedly observed, bouncing up and down. "Everything's just flat and cloudy where I am... Uh, it's really boring."

Well, it was kinda nice where she was, and really nice where Iris was... but a lot of ACDC Town hadn't been renovated or repainted at all in the past ten years. Something about it was just weirdly grimy to her. Echo Ridge wasn't like that at all... and that kind of gave her hope for the future, because every depiction of the future she'd seen in movies was just this lame grey mess of skyscrapers! But this was cool! And green!

Admittedly, though, her energy was starting to run out. As soon as Geo sat down, she blinked slowly and let out a sigh. "I... well... I'm a little worn out, yeah!" she said, taking a seat right next to him. "It feels weird to have to lie to like, big-name scientists... but I don't want to cause a time paradox or something, so." She frowned. "I hope Lurerre's okay. She can't really just appear like Omega-Xis can, or have some super-special battle skills, she's just... she's just really important to me."

She couldn't help but stare blankly into the sky as she ruminated. "Ah, uh, I just feel silly," she muttered to herself. "I feel like I'm punching above my weight. Like all this is totally out of my league." She leaned on her fist, pressing her cheek to it. "It's like I'm trying to tell myself that I should've, like, solved all my problems before I could enjoy being here with someone like you... which is stupid, isn't it?"