Eclipse's Influence
By Zoram Selrof
Chapter 1: Cloaked samurai
12:22 PM (Japan Time), Tuesday August the 2nd, 2012...
"... Alright! My gals and guys enchanted by Yaito – sama~!"
"What next, Yaito – chan?"
"Don't be so impatient, Meiru – chan. I've got a QUIZ!"
"It better be intelligent."
"You're constantly teasing us to begin with."
"Someone save my sanity~...!"
"Calm down, Glyde... Sheesh."
Hikari Netto, his brother Saito, Sakurai Meiru and Ayanokouji Yaito were talking as they were enjoying a bath in Yaito's pool.
Netto and Saito (aged 15) wore blue and green swimming trunks, respectively, while Meiru sported a crimson bikini: Yaito wore a pink one-piece swimsuit and used a yellow flotation ring with duck faces drawn on its surface: Glyde, Yaito's Navi, was groaning inside of the Link PET (left atop a nearby round table covered by an umbrella) while Roll (whose Link PET was next to Glyde's) was trying to calm him down.
"Someone goes somewhere. The question is… Where's that somewhere? Answer 1: somewhere out there. Answer 2: nowhere in here. Answer 3: dunno." She laughed.
"It's - STUPID!" The twins and Meiru complained.
"It's - INNOVATIVE! Troll F guarantees that!"
"I'm convinced Forte isn't involved this time around." Netto fumed.
"I have that hunch too. That you made it up yourself." Saito added.
"Totally. She sounds like it." Meiru affirmed.
"Now, now. The correct answer was… "Dunno!"… Heh!"
"Sheesh."
"My sanity~…" Glyde groaned.
"Oh come on. You're not gonna go mad out of that, Glyde. Stop being SO defeatist!"
"Were it so easy, Roll – san!"
"Too bad most of the club is away, though!" Yaito made an exaggerated sigh.
"Yeah, we know. Hiro got invited by Zarashe to Shikoku. Noa – kun went to Kyushu with his father. Dekao and his family went to Nagoya. Tooru – kun went to Kansai." Netto calmly listed.
"And we'd gone elsewhere but Papa is, as always, engrossed with his researches and listens to no – one." Saito fumed.
"Yeah. My parents went off on their own and left me behind because they felt like it. I'm not a little girl anymore!" Meiru complained.
"Well! Relax! Here you've got the pool of luck and blessing!"
"HUH? Oh come on."
"By the way! Has there been… something?" Yaito teased.
"NO!" The tree of them energetically protested.
"Pity."
"Life isn't soap operas, Yaito – chan! What about your future duties as the successor president of Gabcom? You don't look like you're taking them too seriously." Meiru scolded.
"That can wait!"
"It won't!" A voice grumbled.
"Yikes! Papa!"
Mr. Ayanokouji showed up there while looking pretty annoyed so all color left Yaito's face.
"10 more minutes. After that the economy teacher will come and you'll have a 2 hour lesson! There'll be an exam afterwards to check if you've been paying attention or not!" He ordered.
"NO WAY~!" Yaito shrieked.
"You will become a RESPONSIBLE daughter! Not some classical spoiled child: look at how Ijuuin – kun has been working as VP for years and is constantly working!"
"KI~H! ENZA~N!" She complained.
"Complaining won't change anything! 9 more minutes! The maids will come pick you up and escort you to the house."
"I can go there MYSELF!"
"Hmpf. Something tells me you won't. You've been constantly trying to slip away!"
"It's August!"
"So what."
"HUH? So what? I've got the right to some vacations!"
"Once you finish the job!"
"No way!"
"Way! I'm going back to greet the teacher and show him to the room. In 6 minutes you MUST be back on the mansion!"
"But…!"
"Your friends? They can continue using the pool as long as they want. I think it'll help them calm down because you always seem to want to purposely annoy them."
"I don't!"
"Don't lie. I've seen and heard it."
"Life is a disgrace~!"
"You've got no right to say that."
"HMPF!"
"Playing prideful won't change anything. 5 minutes."
Mr. Ayanokouji headed back into the manor and Yaito fumed while the others remained silent and were unimpressed: Yaito headed for the stairs, climbed up, and took off the flotation ring before picking the towel.
"Why me?" She complained aloud.
"Because you're too spoiled. And it's about time we fixed that or you'll never be successful in life." Meiru replied.
"Why can't I have some secretaries do the job for me?"
"Because then no – one will take Gabcom seriously. If the president doesn't prove that they're serious and responsible then… Investors will soon lose trust on the business… And there'll be consequences." Meiru scolded her.
"E~H?" She turned white.
"Reality is strict, hard and cruel."
"Yaito – sama. We will escort you to the manor." Two of her maids bowed once they reached the pool.
"Huff. Fine! Just you wait, Papa! I'll show ya how I beat that lesson and get 100 points on it! Piece of a cake!"
She put on the sandals, picked the PET and headed back followed by the 2 maids: the 4 of them (Roll included) sighed in relief.
"At last!" They all sighed.
"Yeah… Someone had to put a stop to her." Meiru fumed.
"I totally agree. Poor Glyde is having such a bad time…"
"By the way, Meiru… I hope you'll behave regarding "that topic"… We did tell you about it: you should be satisfied, no?"
"I am, and I'm sorry. I got a weird mood back then. But you guys' mother made me realize I was being a criminal by using that to pressure you guys into telling me. Really. I can be so stupid from time to time."
"That's not being stupid, Meiru – chan. It's that the temptation was too strong…" Roll replied.
"Guess that. I still have a long way ahead of me if I want to make sure my emotions are stable. You haven't had any news from them since then?"
"No. Guess they've gone back there for now." Saito replied.
"That's a symptom that things over here are stable."
"Oh well. I'm going to check out Internet City. Will you join me later, Saito – kun?" Roll asked Saito.
"Sure, Roll – chan. I'll be there in a while."
"Thanks. Let's meet in 30 minutes at the Central Plaza."
"Deal. In 30 minutes."
"Well then, I'm going. Later."
"Later, Roll. Oh well. Guess we should be leaving because it'll soon be lunch time." Meiru suggested.
"Ok. Let's go, then." Netto shrugged.
The group climbed out of the pool and dried with their towels before putting on the sandals and heading back for the manor: a maid opened a door and they headed inside of a small corridor: there were a couple of guest rooms to the right and a couple of bathrooms to the left: Netto and Saito entered the right room while Meiru entered the left room: Saito shut the door behind them while Netto opened a cupboard and grabbed a gym bag which he opened: it had his usual clothes neatly stored there.
"You go change back first, niisan." Netto invited.
"Thanks, Netto – kun."
Saito picked his bag which had a copy of Netto's clothes yet his vest was blue instead of orange and there was no bandana: he headed into the bathroom and made sure to lock the door from the inside before pulling down his swimming trunks and twisting them to get rid of the water on its body: once he was done he put on a couple of white boxers followed by brownish shorts, a white shirt and the blue vest: he stored the towel and the trunks on the bag and then headed back into the guest room.
"Your turn."
"OK!"
Netto exited while Saito sat on one of the two guest beds: he drew the PET from the shorts' right pocket (colored green) and turned it on: he spotted nothing odd onscreen so he shut it down.
As we said before… It'd seem things are stable. Good. Let's go back.
12:51 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Huh? There's someone in front of our house, niisan."
"Hmmm… Yet the "Committee" gentlemen haven't acted. So they must've judged they aren't a threat."
Netto and Saito had been about to reach their home when they spotted a figure standing in front of it: Saito glanced at a nearby azure Honda parked there with 2 occupants.
"… Seya~h! De masu! The glorious Koutarou has come! I defy thee to a battle with thee pride at stake~!"
"HUH? HIGURE – SAN?"
Indeed: the figure turned out to be Higure Yamitarou who wore a rugged brownish cloth and a worn down straw hat: he drew a broom and began to speak in samurai register.
"Yamitarou. Stop acting like an idiot. You got engrossed seeing The Last Samurai yesterday evening." Number Man grumbled.
"Seya~h! Ya~h!" He began to swing the broom.
"Hence why they didn't treat him as a threat." Both sighed.
"Threat? Where? Where is that evildoer? De masu?"
"In your imagination." Number Man shot back.
"W-what does that mean? De masu?"
"THE STORE'S EMPTY: CUSTOMERS ARE WAITING!"
"UWA~H! CUSTOMERS? SAY THAT EARLIER BY KOUTAROU! DE MASU~!"
"YAMITAROU!"
"KOUTAROU! DE MASU!"
Higure rushed away while discussing with Number Man over a name change he'd done to himself: both felt curious and followed to Higureya: Higure rushed in and jumped over the counter while tossing the cloak and hat away: he clasped his hands and offered his best welcoming smile to the perplexity of a customer who was there.
"Sorry for the wait, de masu. I had to repel some evildoers, de masu."
"Huh… Yeah? Ah… Well. Do ya have Elec Swords?"
"Plenty of them, de masu."
"I want 2 of them."
"Immediately, de masu."
The customer was a teen about the twins' age: he was clearly over a meter and sixty centimeters tall, maybe closer to a meter and seventy.
His face had a smooth form to it, along with a sharp nose.
He wore sunglasses over his eyes.
His green hair was totally messy and grew until the base of the neck while having a purple-colored plastic piece forming an arch starting over the ears and extending backwards but which didn't contribute to keep the shape but rather seemed to be an accessory to appeal as "cool" and fashionable.
His clothing was something rather new and innovative too and seemed to be self-made.
To begin with: his shirt's color was a shade of bright gray and it had a partial vest integrated with it colored using two shades of purple, one brighter and one less bright.
The brighter bands of purple ran across the sleeves starting atop the shoulders and extended until the wrists while also drawing an external edge for the partial torso-only vest.
This vest started at the neck and shoulders but only reached until a third across the height of the upper body: seen from the front it had a form reminiscent of the Alphabet character "U" turned downwards by 180 degrees.
His vest also was innovative in the fact that it included two small yellow squares with what could plastic clips colored orange/red attached to their lower end from below.
His pants were plain and didn't stand out too much save for their purplish coloring and the gray knee protections.
He wore fingerless grayish gloves over his hands as well.
The sneakers, however, were designed to incorporated gray soils into them while the main body was white in color: their design was plain and had no Velcro straps or strings plus a thin yellow stripe running across it climbing upwards as seen from the front edge to then climb downwards.
He lastly carried a silver and purple-colored Link PET the emblem of which was a gray-colored spheroid of energy with thunderbolts emerging from it and aiming for all eight cardinal directions: its rim was painted in a black color as well.
"Good. Do you wish a member card to have access to occasional offers, Mr. Customer? De masu?"
"Sure, why not? Eisei Aaron. Yeah, as in "satellite". Aaron is in katakana with a prolonged "a"." The customer instructed.
"Roger that, de masu. Here it is, de masu. And the Chips, de masu."
"What was with that hat and cloak, anyway?"
"I am the Samurai of Light, Higure Koutarou! De masu!"
"I thought your name was Higure Yamitarou?"
"That's my brother, de masu."
"Don't lie! Your name is Yamitarou and you've got no brothers. You're trying to rhyme with the "samurai of light" thing because "hikari" can be read as "kou" when it's fused with one or more kanji!" Number Man scolded.
"Don't rob of my climax! De masu! Seya~h! Bring out thou blade, Samurai of Numbers! De masu~!"
"WHAT NONSENSE IS THAT?"
"Eh… Here's the money, so…" Eisei called out.
"It's alright, Mr. Customer. Have a nice day. Sorry for the show."
"I said draw thou blade! MASU~!"
"Man. The rumors were true." Eisei muttered.
He sighed in defeat and walked away without spotting the twins who were looking on from the opposite lawn: the twins then headed back and rolled their eyes.
"Man. Higure – san can turn SO weird when he feels like it."
"Yeah. Totally."
"Did something happen to Yuuyami – sama?"
"Huh? Forte? Whom do you mean?"
"Heh, heh. I found something amusing."
"Grawl."
Forte appeared on Netto's PET and he sounded amused: a smaller version of the "Gospel" beast could be seen on the background too.
"Do you know "baaroo – sama"?"
"Edogawa Conan, you mean?" Saito guessed.
"Yeah. Well, there was a game about 3 years ago for the DS… A cross-over with the "Kindaichi Case Files" series… The stage was "Yuuyami", or, rather "Twilight" Island… And there was another mysterious island named "Higure" or "Sunset"… Hence why I thought of this joke!"
"Ah. Twilight and Sunset… I see. Well. Problem with Higure – san is that he's gotten obsessed with The Last Samurai and now believes he's the Samurai of Light. To the point that he names himself "Koutarou"."
"Oho. OHO. This is amusing."
"On the contrary, man. It's maddening!"
"Heh, heh! Maddening man dropped by with the 3:33 PM express from Shinjuku?"
"Why Shinjuku of all places?" Netto frowned.
"Maybe because the Metropolitan Police is there? And everyone's favorite Megure – keibu too! BAKAMON!" He imitated the character's voice.
"Alright, alright." They sighed.
"And then… Something happened!"
"What happened?" Both asked.
"Nothing happened."
"Oh come on. That's a horrible teaser." They groaned.
"Charmed."
"So? Did you make sure there are no grunts to chase?" Saito asked.
"Don't worry! They're all buying Hugo Grunt."
"The "Hugo" joke again? Sheesh."
"Grawl."
"What's up, "Gospel Jr."? Oho. It'd seem he's caught some "Hugo Bubble" close by… Which means…"
"Puku! The Anti Heat Mania is completed, de puku! If ya use it then the heat goes away and the cold comes in! De puku! For only 1000 Z! It's a bargain price! Puku!" Bubble Man's voice rang out.
"GRAWL!"
"PUKU~! RUN FOR YOUR BUBBLES AND GADGETS AND WORKSHOPS! DE PUKU~!" Bubble Man ran off.
"Heh, heh! Good job."
"Huff. Another scam." The twins sighed.
"Of scram and can." Forte made up a bad pun.
"How original!" Netto complained.
They'd reached their bedroom on the meanwhile and left their gym bags on the ground.
"Well then. I'm going off to check on Ou – sama and company. I'll bring back blessings and hissings." He made another horrible pun.
"At last!" Netto sighed once Forte left.
"Really… Oh well. I'm going to get moving: I don't want to be late to the appointment with Roll – chan… And don't tease us, Netto – kun." Saito warned him.
"Have I ever done that to begin with?" He asked back.
"No. But you never know."
"Alright. We'll not fight over that."
"Of course not. Well then, I'm going there."
13:01 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Hi. Sorry if I'm a bit late. Forte held us up."
"Thought as much."
"Hey. Rock Man and Roll… What's up?"
"Ah. Zero. Not much. The usual."
"Good. I'm rounding up some thieves. See you."
"OK!"
Rock Man met up with Roll in the main square of Internet City: Zero crossed through and they exchanged a few words before he headed elsewhere: they then heard a sound and spotted Blizzard Man skiing down a trail of ice he'd made.
"Yahoo~!"
"Blizzard, you moron! No time for skiing! Time to soar and roar!"
"You're one to talk, Cloud!"
Cloud Man was flying parallel to Blizzard Man and he made up a bad pun so Blizzard Man got annoyed.
"You 2. What happened to the mission?" Cosmo Man suddenly showed up in front of them, fuming.
"Yikes! Cosmo! W-well, it's over!"
"W-well… The grunts surrendered on the spot so…"
"How odd."
"It's not that odd, Cosmo Man… They surely have heard rumors of us and must think we're very powerful…"
"Ah. If you say so, Red Sword…"
A Navi named Red Sword joined them: he had a wild flock of silver hair which came out from behind the helmet and covered all of his body's back.
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.
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.
They ended in golden circles: a "fin" sprouted from the top of the helmet thus giving it a menacing-like look.
His 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.
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.
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.
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.
They 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.
"You again!" A familiar voice growled.
"Well, ani – ue, it's not like I intended to get in your way."
"I hate that naming."
"Blues…! Be rational…!"
"Huh! Yes, Enzan – sama!"
Blues happened to be crossing through that spot but got annoyed when he spotted Red Sword and Red Sword addressed him: Ijuuin Enzan opened his communications window and sighed to complain so Blues quickly looked at him and saluted.
"Go get the data from the research lab. That's it. Get it?"
"Roger, sir."
Blues headed back and apparently decided to go through another route to avoid meeting them: the quartet shrugged and headed away too: Rock Man and Roll walked and entered the Official Square: they spotted Guts Man jumping and dancing while Ice Man looked on, unimpressed.
"Guts, guts! Rock Man and Roll – chan! De guts! Guts Man's become a legend! Beat the "S" License Exam!"
"It's a lie. Desu." Ice Man complained.
"Huh! Guts!"
"Obviously."
"He tried to challenge the "A" License Exam. Desu. But couldn't get through the 5th battle. Desu. I did pass it 2 days ago. Desu." Ice Man detailed to them.
"No way, guts. Ice Man passed and Guts Man didn't pass? Guts?"
"Brute force won't do. You need to THINK." Roll sighed.
"Think? Of what? Guts?"
"Of how to beat them!"
"Guts? But Dekao – sama says "Guts Man Infinite Version is the mightiest Navi ever!"…"
"Oh come on. Dekao got arrogant again." Netto groaned.
"Guts… Guts Man's going back, guts…" Guts Man sighed.
"Tooru – kun sends greetings, desu." Ice Man smiled at them.
"OK! Send him greetings from us, too." Roll requested.
"Yes, ma'am! Desu! Goodbye! Desu!"
"Huh? Ah! That's you, Rock Man. Good timing." Gate Man walked up to him.
"Did something happen, Gate Man?"
"Well…" He sighed.
"Papa?" Rock Man guessed.
"Yeah. Meijin tried to convince him again… And he pretended there was no-one there. The security guard saw him working until 3 AM. And he was back at working at 6 AM."
"He only slept 3 hours? Oh come on! Papa! He's going to collapse from lack of sleep one day." Rock Man groaned.
"Yeah… That's what Mejin fears right now…"
"That won't do. I'll go there with Netto – kun and Mama and see if we can convince him between the 3 of us. Even if that means dragging him away from the work desk and bringing him home by force. This has to end: it's turning ridiculous." Rock Man grumbled.
"Totally! Let's go this afternoon after lunch. Nobody questions that Papa is an excellent researcher and he doesn't need to overwork to demonstrate that." Netto suggested.
"Sure."
"Thanks."
"Don't mind it: this topic involves us to begin with."
"Alright. See you later."
Gate Man ran off and Rock Man sighed along with Roll who hadn't said a word: they headed back to Internet City as if to have a change of airs and get rid of their gloomy mood.
"By the way, Rock… Aren't those the Maha Ichiban's Navis?" Roll asked.
"Hum. Yeah. And I can see some Police Navis keeping an eye on them. How odd for them not to be at the restaurant… Huh? There seems to be some kind of speech: a Normal Navi is atop a stage…"
"…national glory!" The Navi finished some speech.
Most of the audience didn't react and only 2 or 3 Navis raised their fists but quickly lowered them when they saw they were the only ones: the speaker seemed to lose all confidence on the spot.
"I repeat! We need a real army! Not some meek imitation! It's for the sake of national glory!" The Navi repeated.
Most of the Navis began to disperse and the Maha Ichiban's Navis (Fire Man, Elec Man, Colored Man and Magic Man) left as well, followed by the Police Navis: Roll suddenly made a grimace and closed her eyes while she tightened her fists: Rock Man said nothing as well but he had a faint glitter of anger on his eyes.
"Eh… I know! Peek Achoo!" Netto tried to animate them somehow.
"What's that supposed to be?" Rock Man frowned.
"A pun on Pikachu?" Roll asked.
"Yeah! Peek Achoo!" Netto laughed.
"Hmmm… Fushigidane is very mysterious indeed." Rock Man seemed to get animated and made a pun as well.
"I played White 2 along with Meiru – chan and we managed to clear the League. Now we're shiny-hunting." Roll admitted with a giggle.
"I see. I haven't completed it either but now, thanks to the PTS, you can easily get PKMN from older games."
"Yeah. It's true. And raising them for online matches to have perfect IVs and EVs is quite an effort too."
"The Archduke of Kabigon!" Forte suddenly showed up of nowhere.
"HUH?" Both looked perplexed.
"Heh, heh! I heard you 2 talk 'bout PKMN so I thought I could improvise some joke along the way while I was at it."
"Alright, alright. Now… Will you leave us in peace, Forte?"
"Of course. See ya and beware of the Dalton Bros."
Forte giggled under his breath and ran off: Roll frowned while Rock Man was confused.
"I dunno what the point of that was. Should we go, Roll – chan?"
"Sure, Rock. Let's go check out the e-book store."
"OK. Maybe I'll find something interesting there."
Oh well. Let's walk a bit more, go have lunch and then we'll go convince Papa that he needs a vacation. If only he weren't so stubborn…!
