The Shunoros Campaign
By Zoram Selrof
Chapter 1: The King's Treasure
22:47 PM (Thailand Time), Sunday June the 9th, 2011…
Heh, heh, heh… I found it! I found it…
A storm had broken out some hours before in this spot and obscured the whole of the skies: violent thunderbolts fell down and illuminated the bleak mountain range landscape while thunders echoed within the area accompanied by a bone-chilling wind and heavy rain which formed large torrents of water sliding down rivers and hills thus forming large puddles of brownish water.
Come on! I'm very close by now. Heh, heh, heh!
Someone was climbing up a rocky ramp and heading towards a small square-shaped building built in an alcove of a mountain which was made of grayish stone and its entrance had four columns supporting a triangle, not unlike the Greek and Roman temples: various faded out characters of some unidentified idiom were engraved on it while a set of four steps climbed towards the two main iron-built and heavy-looking doors.
There it is! Took some time… But they won't see it coming!
The person heading towards there was covered by a pale brown tunic with a hood which reached all the way to the ankles only exposing his black rain boots: the person seemed to be roughly a meter and eighty tall in height.
Rain and wind: I don't mind them! My resolve is strong: no forces are going to oppose me!
The figure looked up at the triangle and the characters written into them once they'd climbed the first two steps: they lowered their gaze and looked towards the doors while letting out a small and barely audible chuckle.
If only they knew… Hah! This will make it worth the three months wait before jumping into action… We're ready!
The person climbed the stairs and took out a lock pick tool from inside of the tunic which was used to pick the lock closing the two pieces of the door: they opened and the person pushed both doors inside thus making a loud creaking noise.
I'm inside! Too easy! Too easy, by Moriarty!
The inside of the building was simple: a narrow stone corridor spanned across the two ends of the square-shaped room which seemed wide enough to allow just one person to pass through it while two endless pits opened on both sides of it: the interior was illuminated by some artificial torches which had obviously been placed there on recent years.
Che. They've shunned this shrine's pride and honor… These barbarians obviously have no idea of what this shrine meant to us.
The person kept on moving forward until it reached two stone steps which climbed towards another set of iron-made heavy-looking doors which were also locked but they used the lock pick again and pushed the doors inside.
Here I am! The treasure!
This new chamber was obviously built inside of the mountain given its rocky composition and irregular terrain and it looked like it was a natural cave which had then been protected by this building: the walls contained large chunks of a pale green and fluorescent mineral and there was a small stone pedestal with an irregular piece of it standing atop it while an explanative plaque had been placed at the base of it and had the same message written in several idioms.
"…"All records which have survived to our days regarding this construction name it as the temple in which the King's Treasure is preserved. Only someone of the Royal Family or a high-ranking Religious Official could be allowed to enter this place."… Well! I'll give them some merit for having figured this much out…"
They made a little chuckle and then resumed reading aloud without being worried by the echoing of their voice in the cavern.
"… "It has by now been established that, by "Treasure", they did not mean the usual gold, jewels and other items which are found in other civilizations' temples or graves (Egypt would be an example) but, rather this mineral. Given its fluorescent properties then it's no surprise they might have thought it was something divine or granted by supernatural forces. Therefore, they revered it as a "treasure" because they possibly didn't know any other mineral with such capabilities. It seems to only originate in this cave and has no peculiar properties whatsoever. It's unknown if they ever named it or always used the same title for this mineral. Geologists can't reach an agreement as to if it should be named or not."…"
The figure stopped reading aloud the English version of the text and looked around the room before erupting into triumphal laughter which echoed inside of the cave.
"What a herd of fools! Even 4,000 years later you still haven't figured it out, have you? But! Whatever. My device will energize these "power sources" using their peculiar atomic structure once I chant the necessary passwords to run the program…"
The figure took out the right arm, which was funded in a black leather glove, and made a gesture as if he was to seize the rock fragment.
"Kaiko… Shinien… Kaiu… Modeuntos… Akunu… Fusheka… Organo… Somateu… Hefushuke… Amera… Astrora… Hainomeo…"
Something on his backpack glowed with a dull grayish light and then the mineral fragments began to shine with green brightness as electricity travelled across them before fading away but retaining this new increased brightness.
"Good! Let's place the dummies in place and take these. Thanks to these I'll be able to build a new weapon… And topple our foes!"
The man exploded into triumphal laughter…
18:47 PM (Japan Time), Monday June the 10th…
"… The utterly crazy Harley-Davidson biker and collector, the utterly genius of jokes, the utterly great foe of chickens and Uncle Merton's favorite nephew has arrived! Its name… Superintendent Oda!"
Superintendent Oda of the Net Police walked inside of the Net Police's Cyber CID HQ room and the air was suddenly filled with sighs of defeat, murmurs of annoyance, and quick footsteps of people running for their sanity.
"Heh, heh, heh! The classical entrance is a success! By Merton! Let devil bite me… Our fellow conspirers are back at it! Let's go greet them, by Merton. Uncle Merton would rather say they've been trying to figure out what Uncle Moriarty is up to. Maybe Uncle Moran gave them a helping hand, too."
When he inspected the room he only found three persons gathered around a table which had a Sony VAIO laptop on top of it which was open and displaying some graphics.
"My! Obihiro – kun. Beat Steve Jobs to hacking, have you come to, my fellow conspirer?"
"No, sir!"
Obihiro Shun (aged fourteen years old) had grown until he'd reached the 1'55 meters of height mark: his hair kept on being gray and his eyes' irises red.
He sported his usual jumper with a hood over a shirt and his favorite pair of jeans plus white sneakers.
"My! Hikari Jr. – kun. Beat Ijuuin – kun to Net Battling, have you come to, my fellow conspirer?"
"No, sir!"
Hikari Netto (sixteen years old) now stood at about a meter and seventy tall: his hair was as messy as always and his eyes' irises were the same brown color they'd always been.
He sported his usual bandana yet he had a typical middle school uniform on today.
"My! Hikari Sr. – kun. Beat Holmes to deducting, have you come to, my fellow conspirer?"
"No, sir!"
Hikari Saito was the third member of the small group.
He looked about one or two inches taller than Netto while his brown hair was neatly combed and had a symmetric-like style to it and his eyes' irises were green emerald.
Like Netto, he also sported a middle school uniform.
"The Conspirer Trio, you call yourselves, my fellow conspirers?"
"NO, SIR!"
"So! Obihiro – kun. Uncle Anderson rang?"
"Uncle Anderson? No, sir." He frowned.
"So! Hikari Jr. – kun. Uncle Baldwin rang?"
"Uncle Baldwin? No, sir."
"So! Hikari Sr. – kun. Uncle Sylvius rang?"
"Uncle Sylvius? No, sir."
"Heh, heh, heh. Then Uncle Meijin fell down the stairs."
"What? When?" The twins gasped.
"Three months ago." Obihiro admitted.
"Was it grave?" Saito asked.
"Oh no! He simply tripped with the shoe's strings."
"Ah! For a moment we thought it'd been serious." Netto sighed in relief.
"No! He was just running down the stairs."
"Going to rumble and shake tonight?"
"No, sir! Tomorrow's a Tuesday so we need to go to school." Netto protested.
"Ijuuin – kun went to fish Uncle Dixie."
"Uncle Dixie? Where'd you get all those names from?" Obihiro looked slightly annoyed by now.
"Why. Doyle provided them." He laughed.
"Sherlock Holmes, huh." The three of them muttered.
"I'm going to say… Let devil bite me if…"
"If what?"
"If Ninja Man will be the protagonist of Ninja Gaiden 3."
"Oh come on." The three of them groaned.
"The Synchro Trio has come, then?" He grinned.
"NO, SIR!"
"So! Obihiro – kun. Where did Uncle Moriarty and his troupe go off to back in March? To the Bermudas?"
"No, sir. I don't know, sir." He sighed.
"My. I thought you were unbeatable."
"No, sir! And not even Golden Star figured it out, sir."
"That could be because they ran out of luck."
"Oh by all the…" Obihiro cursed.
"Hammer the hammering hammers!" He laughed at his motto.
"I prefer one of Video Man's, Burner Man's and Needle Man's radio broadcasts to these." Netto grumbled.
"Who wouldn't?" Saito fumed next.
18:54 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Speak."
"I-I know n-nothing!"
Blues had cornered a well-known underground Net Navi and was interrogating him by placing the side of his Long Sword next to the Navi's neck.
"Where are they and what name are they using?" Blues demanded.
"I d-dunno! B-besides… Shouldn't those Golden Star guys know? They're supposed to be the know-it-all!" The guy replied in a rush as if he was trying to shake Blues off him.
"I already asked them. But since those guys seem to be somewhere sans Network technology it's not possible for they to know." Blues let out.
"T-then… It ain't my stuff, either! I only know 'bout the small fishes!"
"Hmmm… Then who was the one who stole five millions from them two weeks ago?" Blues questioned.
"F-funny that ya mention it… One of them asked me the same thing yesterday night…" The guy admitted.
"Did he have a drawing of a thunderbolt?" Blues guessed.
"Y-yeah! He had this creepy look to 'im!" The guy let out.
"Hmmm… So! They don't know, either. Fine. Scram."
The guy didn't think it twice: he ran away into the depths of the Reverse Internet and Blues lowered his blade.
"What is your take in the matter, Enzan – sama?" He asked.
"Hmmm… If Gray was looking around… Then it was no ordinary grunt. However! It'd seem they've gotten smarter at dodging the "nodes"… They shift their frequencies so that they cannot be picked up by the "nodes"… That's why they've been going through this place without Golden Star realizing the fact." Ijuuin Enzan calmly exposed.
"What should we do?" Blues politely asked.
"Hmmm… Let's try looking further in, but I doubt finding anything." Enzan suggested.
"Roger."
"Yo! Ijuuin – kun. The hound of Densanville tracked you."
"Superintendent Oda? Oh how great!" He groaned.
"Ms. Unknown has lumbago." Oda announced.
"Oh come on."
"Jeez." Blues grumbled.
"Oh heck." Punk, Meijin's Net Navi, cursed as he dropped there.
"Punk. Any luck?"
"Nope! Those screwing jerks aren't anywhere to be found: I only found a road mined with Stealth Mines." He fumed.
"Mr. Brown can't stand the sight of blood."
"How stupid."
"Hong Kong plays Ping Pong."
"No way."
"The underground dweller doesn't scare the old banker."
"How silly."
"Hype has more hair than a hippy."
"Fuck. This is gonna drive us mad!" Punk cursed aloud and looked like he couldn't bear that anymore.
"Join the club." Blues sarcastically replied.
"Got the catch, yeah."
"The yummy candy will burn."
"What?"
"The howls will fly across the sky. And Potter's broom will run out of gasoline."
"No way." Enzan cursed.
"Superintendent Oda…! Please stop already…!" Meijin begged.
"Yo! Meijin – kun. Coffee Man drank your coffee?"
"Of course not!"
"The "Thing" will make you faint."
"That's impossible." Meijin shot back.
"Bungalow Man will give you a bungalow?"
"Why would I need a bungalow?" Meijin questioned.
"They say it's fashionable." Oda smiled.
"I couldn't care less!" Meijin growled.
"Flower Man will flower your garden."
"I don't have a garden!" Meijin protested.
"Don't have, didn't have and won't have?" Oda laughed.
"Oh please. See! There! UFO! UFO!" Meijin seemingly improvised something to shake him off.
"Oho! UFO, eh? Uncle Mars is back from his vacation! I'm off to greet him Oda Style." He laughed.
"Phew. Thanks, Meijin. I owe you one." Enzan sighed in relief.
"Next time come up with one of those." Meijin whispered.
"Sure. Or else we'll go mad." Enzan grimly muttered.
"That guy's nuts." Punk cursed.
"Totally." Blues sighed.
18:03 PM (Philippines Time)…
"… Heh, heh, heh. I'm making progress. These things will soon be ready for field testing."
"Yo. Aibou. Come back from the trip, have you?"
"Ah! Gray. Yeah, I did."
"Brought a souvenir, have you?"
"Yeah. A very special one, too."
"Man! That's a teaser!"
"Right on the mark."
The cloaked man had been standing inside of a small unlit room (save for a small portable lamp set on the NE corner of the table) while he was leaning over a small square table containing some objects similar to Battle Chips but colored yellow instead and their drawing squares were blank and had no drawing yet a figure popped up in the threshold.
"Lemme have a sneak look."
"Be my guest. But it's not finished yet."
The man named "Gray" walked over to the table and had a look: some pendants having a narrow metallic-colored vertical hexagon shape and containing a small jewel-like object which seemed to be a processed fragment of the mysterious fluorescent stone the man had picked from that cavern were set on the table: the pendants' north end had a carved miniature human skull there and there were five of them.
"Cool. Hey! What's that?"
"Oh, that. Heh, heh, heh. I won't say yet."
"Teasing me! Eh, aibou?"
"Sure thing."
"Heh, heh, heh. Hum! Intriguing, by Moriarty!
There was a drawing on a piece which was a circle having some unknown symbols drawn inside of it, twenty-two in total, which seemed to make a sentence which was repeated twice: this circle was colored in the same bright green color the stone emitted: a compass and a ruler were placed nearby as well as a green font pen.
"Cool. Hey! Hey! I recognize this!"
"I was sure you would."
"Oho. So… Your tribe came up with that in their age?"
"Yeah. They did. Then some modern idiot claimed having invented it but he simply copied it. And then those anime guys began using it and making up a tale about it but nothing less far from reality…"
"Obviously… I now remember having seen this in the entrance of a dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: Triforce of the Gods."
"I see."
"And the Ameroupe guys erased it."
"Why?"
"Censorship to avoid trouble with the religious authorities: they're very conservative there with that, unfortunately enough, and some titles of the card were altered too or censored. They always use stupid arguments saying "it isn't appropriate for children" but that's because they're too soft while we're raised to be tough here and accept blood, death, monsters and such from early age." "Gray" replied with a sigh.
"What a herd of fools. And then they advocate being the ones defending freedom of speech and expression… How they contradict their boasting with their own hands! The original will always beat the alteration no matter what… Localization! Hah! Let me laugh at it. It's a scorn directed to the original names."
"Totally. But, say… This will work?"
"It will work."
"If you say so, then…"
"Why? Are you doubting of my word?" The cloaked man asked "Gray" with obvious surprise.
"No, no! It's just that I tend to be skeptical." "Gray" admitted.
"If that's it… How's the morale?"
"High, as always. Some of them are engrossed in continuing their studies using virtual tutors. They're all getting high scores and proving their intelligence." "Gray" described.
"By the way! Would you allow me to have a rematch with you at the card game one of these days?" The man asked.
"Hum… Oh yeah! I remember: the current score is 8-6. So you want to turn it around, eh? Come anytime, aibou." "Gray" seemed to be grinning and sounded amused.
"Thanks. Heh, heh, heh. That's a game which forces you to decide and be prepared… Or else you'll be met with trouble…"
"Truly."
PONG! PING! PANG! PUNG! PENG!
"That alarm again?" The man exasperatedly asked.
"Sorry, I can't part with it 'cause it sounds so funny…"
"Next time put on an earphone." He fumed.
"Sorry, sorry. I'll go fetch it, yeah. I'll leave you to your work."
"Ah! Have this. But don't show it around yet. They'll be ready by tomorrow." The man added as he tossed him a pendant.
"Heh! Cool! I rock 'em all!"
"You sure do, Gray. But remember! Don't say anything yet."
"Count on me. Those guys are about to get a fright from which they won't recover so easily…!"
19:44 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Heh! Shah, shah, shah! Slice and dice~! I'm so gonna remake this dummy~! Shah, shah, shah! Needle Man wins!"
Needle Man was fighting against a straw dummy while laughing aloud.
"Shah, shah, shah! This is Purgatory! Golden Star's HQ! The ultimate HQ, I'd say! Shah, shah, shah! Phew! Enough… Let's have a look around the place! Let's make sure the "Thing" didn't drop by today either! Shah, shah, shah! Huh? Hey! What's that noise…? Off-board engine motor? Ah! We've got visitors, then! I better go check out: it surely is one of the club's guys but one never knows… Shah, shah, shah!"
Needle Man looked around the area which was a large ship-like deck filled with small buildings and structures: there were two gigantic retractable covers colored in a dull metallic green color suspended over the deck and which looked like they could encompass and seal all of it if needed: Needle Man was standing very close to the bow of the ship.
"From there…"
He headed over to the southern handrail and leant on it to scan the sea around him: he spotted a row of off-board engine boats hanging from a pair of cranes each on both sides of the hull like life-boats: he now spotted a new boat coming from the SW.
"Yo! Needle Man! Ah! Kage Miquel and Andy! Hey! What's the code?"
"The ruffian is on Calculta: because he gotta be living like a Mahajarah with the money he has!"
"I'd even say more: M's "deduction" was right on the mark!"
"Good, good! Shah, shah, shah!"
The boat halted right beneath Needle Man's position and the cranes seized it to lift it over the sea and then swing it to rest five centimeters over the deck: two guys jumped off it.
"Your cool guy, Kage Miquel, showed up!"
Kage Miquel appealed as being over a meter and seventy tall: he had neatly combed blond hair along with soft facial features.
He wore a brown overcoat, a pair of jeans and black knee-tall boots plus a black bandana with a five-pointed golden star set against a black background inside of a silver circle drawn on the center of it: he also had sunglasses on.
His Link PET was colored golden and silver together with the same drawing in the bandana set on it as emblem.
"And Andy, the Vice Admiral, showed up."
Andy's whole body with the exception of his forearms and boots was painted in a bright silver color.
The boots and forearms, however, had been tinted in a slightly rusted bronze color and a bronze-colored thin vertical stripe ran across his body from the neck to the end of the crotch crossing over his silver-edged chest emblem.
His eyes' irises were a mix of blood red and golden: some silver-colored hair could be seen emerging from beneath his helmet as well.
Overall he was about five centimeters taller than Kage.
"So! Did ya forget something?"
"Well… Yeah. I forgot my novel." Kage admitted.
"And I happened to forget my Halo Reach copy too."
"Man! What happened? You had to go back in a rush?"
"Well… Yeah. I had an appointment with the dentist."
"And we'd forgotten it. Shame on me."
"Man! That's some back luck. But go inside, anyway."
"Thanks. We'll be looking forward to the next broadcast."
"Rock 'n roll!" Andy laughed.
They strolled along the deck and potted a central tower rising above them: it had several cylinders which could be periscopes or radio antennae emerging from it: Kage's bandana drawing was painted in the flanks.
"There it is!"
They spotted a thick blast door like the ones in ships which had a red wheel which allowed opening and closing: they stepped past it and into a small room which only contained a cargo elevator's doors: they called for it and it climbed up with a ping: they stepped inside and it headed down.
"Let's pick the stuff and go back. I want to have dinner and be on the bed before 10 PM to be ready for another virtual tutor day."
"Sure."
They stepped out of the elevator into a corridor which led to a cafeteria-like space yet there were two doors placed opposite each other labeled "VICE PRESIDENT NOIR OFFICE" and "PRESIDENT HADES OFFICE" and each one having an adjacent code-inputting panel plus a built-in interphone: they walked past it and into a closed down cafeteria before entering the continuation of the corridor which had several more armored doors with the code panel and the interphone and each one was labeled: one towards the end and in the right side opened up and a guy with his Net Navi stepped out.
"Ah! Kage. Been a while."
"Well! Not that much, really. Atarasei Oscar."
"Hey. Alex."
"Yo. Did you forget something?"
Atarasei Oscar was a guy who could be around Kage's age and had the same approximate height too: his body was thin, athletic, and had good build to it which was proof of his apparently continuous exercises.
His jet black hair was a wild flock which knew no order or pattern and extended until the base of his neck: his eyes were hidden behind a pair of sunglasses.
He sported a black sleeveless shirt with the white letters "NYC" plus a drawing of the Chrysler Building's silhouette along with a pair of navy blue jeans tightened with a black leather belt: a pair of wool socks covered his feet and he used black sneakers for footing.
"Oh yeah. By the way… Did you write a new epigram?" Kage suddenly asked.
"Write a new epigram?"
"Oscar Welles."
"Hey! That wasn't funny."
"So, Andy… Any gossips?"
"Not really, Alex."
Alex was a Net Navi who could be about a meter and seventy tall, three to four inches taller than Atarasei.
His helmet had a golden-colored "Alpha" drawing set on its forehead and it was colored in an azure color with golden bands circling the ear-pads and the edges of the helmet: some azure hair popped out from behind the helmet and stretched until the base of the neck.
His face was shaped to look like that of a guy on his late teens: his eyes' irises were azure and he had an air of "elegancy" to him.
His chest armor had a silver vest built over its surface which appealed as being a layer of extra armor and which ended at the height of the chest emblem: the emblem had a bronze-colored edge and its inner color was platinum: it contained the "alpha" symbol on its very center.
His shoulders were covered in sturdy black armor from which some yellow-colored lines originated to travel down the arms' length: his forearm armor only encompassed the forearm and not the elbow to seemingly allow for further movement: four red circling bands spiraled around its length and ended at the knuckles of his fingers: both arms' color was navy blue yet the forearms and fingers' choice of color palette was sky blue.
His legs' knee protections had been painted white but they had diamond-colored circles varying in diameter set on them: three circles in total spread from the centermost point of the knee protection.
The boots had three pearl-colored bands circling the upper edge, the ankle, and the start of the toe fingers: their general color kept on being navy blue.
"Que se passé-t-il, là haut?" A soft French voice asked close by.
"Hey! Boss." Kage grinned.
"VP Noir!" Atarasei greeted.
The new character named "VP Noir" was a fellow whose height was around the same as Andy's yet there was something peculiar about his persona which stood out.
That "something" happened to be the fact that he was clad in a black European monk's robe with a heavy hood which hid his face: his hands were inside of the long and wide sleeves and the tunic hid his feet as well so only the voice told that he was a male: it was soft.
"Legato!"
"Commander Legato."
"Why, Andy – kun. Did you forget something?"
"Yeah. We did."
"Thought as much: else you wouldn't have come on a Monday of all days."
"Obviously!"
Legato's main "skin" color was black, yet his upper torso had red blood armor built over it: there were two black shapes drawn over the shoulders having a golden rim and a thin black line spread from the base of the neck to the lower edge of the armor.
His helmet's main color was blood red as well, yet the inner edges surrounding his thick red shades had a tint of purple to them.
An emblem with a black edge was set on the chest: it consisted of white and black halves split by a thunderbolt-shaped line: white was golden and silver was right.
A purple band formed on the forehead and circled the whole diameter of it: two valley-shaped cavities had been inserted into the sides of it and they ended in golden circles: a "fin" sprouted from the top of the helmet thus giving it a menacing-like look.
The forearms were colored blood red and had two purple-colored parallel formations which originated at the sides of the emblem atop each hand's palm: they spread over the edge of the forearm while forming a pyramid-like shape.
His right forearm currently held a purple-colored Long Sword with a customized hilt.
The central body of the forearm was now colored metallic gray and had two purple circles colored yellow inside: a purplish-colored blade emerged around a cone-shaped purple-colored formation: the blade looked sharp and menacing for some reason or another.
His boots began slightly below the knee and had purple-colored diamond-like shapes which extended as high as the knee: they were colored blood red as well: the soils were colored purple, too.
Lastly, a wild flock of silver hair came out from behind the helmet and covered all of his body's back.
Overall, he looked like a revamped Blues.
"Ah! By the way… Miquel – kun, Andy… Would you mind coming for a moment? There's something I want to discuss."
"Alright. See you."
"We're going to see the sunset." Atarasei announced.
"Later." Alex waved at them.
"Good luck." Andy smiled.
"Enjoy."
The four of them undid the way they'd walked earlier and Noir punched an access code in the door's adjacent panel: they stepped into the office room which had a desk, two chairs for visitors, one for him, and a canvas depicting a German u-boot surfaced in the middle of a lagoon somewhere which seemed to be somewhere in South Ameroupe.
"Sit down." Noir told them.
"So… Enzan called us a while ago to tell us that Gray was wandering in the Reverse Internet looking for that money robber… Do you have any more info?" Kage asked Noir.
"We've already identified the guy: a Sharo rich guy living outside of the Motherland, aristocrat, you know the drill. It'd seem he's financing some underground activity in his region to gain huge profits and apparently had been aware of the Seraphs for some time… So, given what happened in February… He took the chance to sneak some money outta they just two weeks ago. He must've though they wouldn't need it anymore but didn't realize about Gray & co. fleeing and starting a new business." Noir detailed.
"I'd say we don't get much involved… Is the local police reliable?"
"Not quite, see. Some of the big fishes have been heavily bribed by that man. He has several skeletons in his closet."
"Yet… Where exactly does the guy live at?"
"Some village in Latvia…"
"Latvia, huh."
"But we'll think of something: maybe by leaking data from Zero to Riga's police something can be done…" Noir shrugged.
"Fine. You handle that: we'll pick our things and be back. Maybe we'll have thought of something by the weekend." Kage replied.
"Good luck."
"Thanks… We'll need it. But I'm worried about Gray and the others: they're no longer rookies to battling and if beating them when they were still rookies was hard I can't imagine how harder it'll be by now."
"Don't be so pessimistic, Boss. They aren't invincible!"
"Uncle Moran backs us up with his motto: dance the crazy dance!"
The four of them chuckled or giggled at Andy's joke yet it didn't help to shake the bad feeling in the air.
"Oh well. Gotta go back." Kage stood up, sighing.
"Yeah. Sorry for wrecking the mood but…"
"Reality is reality." Andy shrugged.
"I know." Legato sighed.
"Well. See you on the weekend, Boss."
"Take care. And don't try to skip homework."
"Sheesh. If I skipped homework I wouldn't have made it this far."
"A warning's a warning."
"Fine, fine. You and Andy are so alike in that aspect. No wonder."
"Is that one of your complains?" Andy rolled his eyes.
"I take it back, there." Kage grumbled.
"This tension isn't good." Legato muttered.
"Like it ever is good." Noir fumed.
"Fine, fine! Let's calm down, guys!" Andy tried to calm them down.
"I know that! It's just that… Oh well. Maybe I better think of some M&F gag along the way or some joke to vent it off."
"We can do this, guys. We just need to calm down. And do Awa Dance."
The guys chuckled under their breaths at Noir's joke…