The Bronze Sword
By Zoram Selrof
Prologue: Sinister Deals
08:19 AM (Barcelona Time), Sunday December the 4th, 2006…
"… Huh? Our buddy is calling… Heh, heh, heh…"
Someone picked a cell-phone from a table and picked the call up.
"E che passare?" ("What's up?")
"Capo. Già incontrare quello uomo." ("Boss. I found that man.")
"Bene, bene!" ("Good, good!")
"E dare la pasta." ("And I gave him the money.")
"Buona lavoro. E decire la plaza e la data?" ("Good work. And you told him the time and the place?")
"Claro, Capo." ("But of course, Boss.")
"Bene. Venire a la casa e discutire la otra parte dil plan." ("Good. Come to the house and we'll discuss the other part of the plan.")
"Si, Capo." ("Roger, Boss.")
"Non tardare, Luigiano." ("Don't be late, Luigiano.")
"Ciao, Capo." ("Good – bye, Boss.")
"Heh, heh, heh… It was so easy!" They muttered in Japanese with a hint of amusement.
"Obihiro Shun – sama?" A voice called out.
Obihiro Shun looked up from a wireless phone he had on his right hand.
He wore a cyan top, blue jeans and white / red sneakers.
He was standing inside of a living room somewhere which was slightly lit by the fire burning on a stone fireplace.
A sofa occupied the whole length of the north wall and faced some closed balcony doors.
A table had been set in front of it and it had a black laptop along with a purple Link PET set on it.
The Link PET's holographic projector was engaged and a Navi was displaying.
Black shades hid his eyes while a sturdy ivory helmet protected his head: three levels of reddish curved stripes circled its whole diameter.
His body was mainly colored ivory although his boots and forearms were colored in a forest green color: some random black-colored diamonds were scattered across his forearms and legs.
His emblem was a simple hollow diamond set in the midst of a cross which was colored red: the inside of the diamond was colored ivory.
The Navi's right arm ended into an integrated one-barreled pump shotgun which had some thin greenish stripes running across the length of the barrel and which were glowing with a slowly increasing and fading greenish glow.
His boots were colored light brown and had two round circles set there.
"What's up, Hunter Man?" He asked him.
"I am making on progress on the front." He reported.
"Good, good! Heh, heh, heh. And even if that fails… We have the backup plan which is on the works. Luigiano, my secretary, is working on it. It was a good idea going by the Godfather cliché." Obihiro brought a hand to his chin.
"It'll be entertaining to see those persons breaking down. Maybe we could turn take advantage of it to manipulate them." Hunter Man exposed a course of action.
"Hum… Indeed… I like the sound of it. It's logical." Obihiro had an evil grin on his face.
"And we could use it to force them to do wet jobs for us as well. We'd have two powerful pawns on our hands. What do you think of it, Shun – sama?"
"It's a deal. Keep working on it."
"By your orders, Shun – sama."
Hunter Man returned inside of the Link PET while Obihiro stretched and walked into an adjacent kitchen: he prepared a cup of hot chocolate and brought it to the living room as he sat near the fireplace.
"The weather forecasts were not off the mark! And given my proximity to the sea then it's no wonder temperatures are around 5 Celsius degrees by now…" He muttered.
He drank some of the hot chocolate and then relaxed.
"It's been almost two months… And I still don't know anything about Ivan and Sergei. They must be hiding very well and hoping everyone will just go and forget about them. I'm still a bit unsure about going with the backup plan, but… Can't be helped! I gotta prove my little Bronze Sword organization is serious. I won't be as big as Silver Arrow but size doesn't matter here: what matters is what we can achieve." He sighed and sounded somewhat unsure.
He typed something into the PC and read a list of names that scolled down from the bottom to the top.
"All of the freelancers have been caught. But it matters not: they were all expendable, anyway. And I'm not gonna do the same stupid mistake they all did: no "Dark Chips". Not like I need 'em, anyway…"
He switched to another screen and brought up another website with a list of online manga to be read.
"Let's see… Yeah! The newest chapter is out. There was a two week break, but this one was worth the wait. Heh, heh, heh. I may be a genius who could even be in middle school, I know… But I still have a normal boy's hobbies… Hmmm…" He looked interested.
He leant back on the sofa and began to read the pages while writing notes on a sheet of paper: he was finished after a little while and he finished his hot chocolate.
"Let's see tomorrow's weather forecast… Snow is expected on the northern areas and spots over the 300 meters height quote… Well… No big deal. I should remember tomorrow to order the deliveries… Heh, heh, heh, heh… The Net Police won't be able to find me here: Ivan and Sergei were way too smart for you guys… And we still have a pending score to settle, Hikari Netto… I'll bring upon a nightmare which not even Gauss Magnets could come up with back when he worked for Gospel… Heh, heh, heh… I'm a genius!" He muttered before he began to smile.
"… So?"
"Unfortunately, sir… There has been no progress. But we believe to have narrowed down the cause of the failures…"
"Oh? Tell me."
Someone was kneeling inside of a circular chamber which had no ceiling: one could see purplish skies with clouds moving across them accompanied by some faint reddish glows which seemed to come from outside and below the room.
The room's floor was made of crimson square tiles arranged like a mosaic across it and the walls had some fluorescent patterns drawn into them.
The only other object in the room was a black onyx throne connected to ground level by three stone steps facing forward.
"Yes, Yamikawa – sama."
A guy was sitting on the throne: he appealed as being around sixteen years old and over a meter and sixty in height.
His hair was colored silver and had a messy style to it while his eyes' irises were a mix of red and golden.
He wore a simple black tunic with a shooting star emblem colored purple placed on the exact center of the tunic's torso.
He sported black leather boots and black leather gloves.
A purple cape hung from the back of his shoulders and reached all the way to the feet.
"Expose the reasons." He commanded to the other guy.
The other guy could be slightly shorter in height and younger: he did look around thirteen or fourteen years old and being just over a meter in fifty in height.
His helmet had the Kanji "Yami no Oukoku" or "Dark Realm" drawn into them using blood red color and set vertically on the forehead.
Some silver-colored hair could be seen coming from behind the helmet and his eyes' irises were red and golden: they currently displayed calm and obedience.
He had three parallel thin vertical blood red lines traveling down his body from the neck and shoulders to the hips.
His bodysuit design had a jet black color to it while the forearms and boots were colored in a purplish color: some blood red-colored DNA-like patterns were set on them and travelled across their length.
His emblem was a silver-colored bow arrow aiming NE surrounded by a bronze edge and set against a black background.
"Our world's environment is not suited for proper stabilization and repairs of the data. We tried using a "safe zone", but we had no result either. I believe it will only be able to be repaired within the outside world. We'd be in need of a powerful programmer."
"Hum… I see."
"Does Emperor S – sama know anyone capable of such a feat?"
"I know one. I was planning on approaching him one of these days and make sure he became useful to us. And his turn to shine has arrived. He's gotta be bored to death, anyway." The teen named Yamikawa replied while looking amused.
"Then… Am I to approach that person?"
"Yeah… Sidier. He might mistake you for someone who I used as base to design you, but tell him you work for me. The announcement will set his mind straight. He won't refuse: he knows to fear me." Yamikawa made a sinister smile.
"By thou orders, my Lord."
"You won't deny that our little "expedition" was worth it, eh?" Yamikawa seemed to switch topics.
"Yes, sir. I now have more confidence on my abilities." Sidier confirmed while saluting.
"Good! A warrior must know how to use all of his skill to ensure his absolute victory. Anyway… There's no rush, really. Go and rest for a while before approaching him. I'll give you his address."
"Roger."
Sidier bowed and stood up before he walked down towards the door and stepped through it: Yamikawa stepped down from the throne and stretched before making a smug smile.
"Obihiro Shun… Your turn has finally come. You will make a good show under my guidance. And you will soon realize how far my hand can reach to… I'm eager to know what the heck that broken data which we found a week ago is… It's gotta be totally worth it!"
"… Yo! Sidier. What's up?"
"Ah. Kuroumi – dono. Good morning, sir."
"Why don't you go and call me "Solo"? The guys at the Fortress Temple do it anyway."
"Ah… If you prefer to… Solo… Eh… It sounds rude."
"Not at all."
Kuroumi Solo appealed as being around the same age as Yamikawa was.
He had white unkempt hair and a pattern which looked a trail of lighting painted on his right cheek, running down from below the eye: his irises were also red.
He wore two strange pendants reminiscent of an ancient culture which were attached to his ears.
He wore a simple black tunic with a purple drawing set over the chest: that drawing consisted on two "S" letters with a slight inclined segment originating at the end of it.
Both were colored purple and set parallel to each other: a small vertical rectangle was placed in the space between the start of each symbol.
"Eh… But… Hum… I mean…" Sidier seemed to be at a loss for words.
"Jeez. I'm not your boss! I'm just your neighbor! Gotcha, man?" He rolled his eyes.
"Tee, heh, heh. Mr. Mannerisms strikes back." A girl's voice rang out.
A girl walked up towards them while coming out of a wooden door labeled "Kagehi Somari".
She wore the same type of tunic with the lowered hood and had a purple musical note drawn on it.
She had reddish-colored hair and her eyes' irises were red but her face didn't have any signs unlike Solo's.
She had a big grin on her face.
"Ah! Kagehi – dono. Good morning to thou grace."
"Jeez. Why can't you call me "Somari – chan" like Solo here or Saruba, your boss? We're all in the club!" She told him with a hint of annoyance.
Both men suddenly gulped and began to sweat as they took one step backwards upon seeing a twitch appear near Kagehi's right eye.
"Sidier… You screwed it up!" He scolded him.
"I – I am sorry!" He kneeled and bowed.
"Hmpf! That's somewhat better." She put up a smug smile.
"Thank you very much."
"Sidier… There was no need to do that!"
"Oi, oi! What's this scandal this early on the morning?" Yamikawa demanded as he stepped in and looked annoyed.
"Your little mouse, Saruba, is still old-fashioned. When are ya gonna fix that for good? I don't need a Sengoku samurai." She told him with a hint of annoyance.
"Eh… Sidier… I thought I'd told you there was no need to kneel in front of them…" Yamikawa gulped and whispered to him.
Sidier had stood up and was saluting in a military manner.
"But that would create a conflict with my manners protocol, Yamikawa – sama…" He brought up.
"Man. I need to rewrite it, then! Come with me: we better fix this NOW or we're gonna get the "a – le – le" punishment." He slapped his own face in defeat.
"Y-yes, sir!" He quickly saluted.
Yamikawa opened his room's door (set in front of Kagehi's) and both he and Sidier stepped in before closing it: she grinned and Kuroumi gulped.
"Tee, heh, heh. See ya."
"O-okay."
She ran out towards the south while Kuroumi sighed in defeat as if he was too used to such scenes.
What a morning!
"Oh! By the way! Solo~!" She suddenly returned.
"What?"
"Are you gonna ride on the Millennium Falcon?"
"For the last friggin' time! I ain't Han Solo!"
"Tee, heh, heh. I like pestering ya~."
"Man. Luckily enough you're not a sadist."
"No. Ophiucus Queen DS isn't either but she likes playing "dominatrix" with the Gemini Spark DS twins." She giggled.
"And Dia Iceburn DS loves to sneak on guys from behind and place a lipstick mark behind their right shoulders." He groaned.
"Tee, heh, heh, heh."
"So! Wanna speculate?"
"Speculate? About what?" She was surprised.
"About what they'll pick for the 3rd 4th gen edition… We've had Pikachuu, Crystal and Emerald. Now we've had Diamond and Pearl. I know the 3rd edition won't be out before 2008 if they follow their pattern but… What do you think? What'd tie in with Diamond and Pearl?"
"Well… Dunno… Marble?" She tried to guess.
"It's not crazy."
"Onyx?"
"That could do too but… Wait a minute… I think that Iwark, the Stone-Type serpent-like Pokémon from Kanto has a similar name overseas to begin with… Maybe Marble would do, yeah."
"Do we need to bring out the pantosymanos?"
"What's that?"
"My new motto: espantos y manos!"
"… Huh… "Scares & hands"…?"
"Tee, heh, heh, heh."
"That supposed to scare the guts outta someone?"
"Guess that, Mr. Basilisk."
"Mr. Basilisk… Oh come on." He groaned.
"I know! Adamante!"
"What? That sounds too forced. It doesn't sound catchy. And take into account that Dialga and Palkia's names are derived from Diamond and Pearl… That Giratina guy I'm not sure of their name origin but…" He trailed off.
"That of Mr. Basilisk is 'cause that Giratina guy looks like it." Somari giggled and came up with a silly joke on the spot.
"Could be, yeah…"
"… Do you think Saruba will doggy-style Sidier?"
"What? No! Saruba wouldn't do that. I'm the one who usually is on top to begin with." He admitted with a sigh.
"Tee, heh, heh, heh."
"I heard that, Somari – chan!" Yamikawa protested.
"What does "doggy-style" mean, sir?" Sidier asked in a hushed tone yet loud enough to be heard.
"Need Not To Know!" He snapped back with obvious annoyance.
"E-excuse me, sir."
"Huh! My bad. Somari – chan makes me get nervous. You're not to blame for anything, Sidier." He sighed.
"Well then… Enjoy. Bad boys. I'm off to the Bog Temple." She grinned.
"That girl…!" Yamikawa grumbled aloud.
"Trouble… I guess…" Sidier timidly ventured.
"Huff. You don't know half of it, man." Kuroumi fumed.
As I said… What a crazy morning!