The Obscure Legion
By Zoram Selrof
Chapter 1: Of nicknames and madness
08:31 AM (Japan Time), Tuesday September the 17th, 2009…
"… Well. Another day begins."
"Let's pick Nelaus, as usual, and be on our way."
"To the Abode of Annoying Fellas!"
"Sigma. That nickname is LAME."
"Did ya say somethin'? Bloody~ Shadowy~?"
"I give up."
"No wonder. It's a miracle we haven't go mad already."
"More like dumb luck."
Hikari Netto, aged 16, was talking with his twin brother, Saito, as they walked down a street of Akihara Town: given how they were wearing their middle school uniform it was obvious that they were heading to class: a couple of Navis (inside of their PETs, with Saito's being colored green) were taking part in the chat too.
"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Sigma the Magis strikes back!" Netto's Navi laughed.
"That's a corruption of "Magi" or "Wizard", Sigma, and you know it. Quit fooling around." Saito's Navi sighed.
"As expected of Samus Aran's lil bro~!"
"Enough of that. Boss designed me using Samus Aran's armor as model, yeah, but that doesn't mean I've got something to do with the lady. End of the tale."
"And start of the tragedy sponsored by Rush!"
"How will Rush sponsor a tragedy, anyway?"
"By rushing it all!"
"Huff. How lame." The twins muttered with some annoyance to their voices.
Sigma activated the hologram projector and appeared outside of the PET on that moment.
He was a Net Navi about two meters tall.
He was colored jet black: a red spheroid could be seen set on his chest area and it seemed to be missing the armor over its mass.
His face had two red eyes and one shone brighter than the other: two horns, one of which was almost erased, were set on both sides of his head and added a "demonic" look to him.
Green data flows moved around his body and he held a massive black and green sword in his right hand which he was currently aiming at the floor in lazy manner.
"Sigma the Magi! On the scene! By speeding thunders!"
"Speeding thunders?" The twins sighed.
"Yeah, fellows! Right, Bloody~ Shadowy~?"
"That nickname's way too old by now. I'm Blood Shadow."
Blood Shadow, Saito's Navi, used red as his main body color.
He sported black shades and a flock of messy reddish hair came out from behind the helmet given how it only covered the face and the front of the head: his ear-pads had two purple "V" letters drawn inside of them.
His armor had the purple letters "BS" engraved on the chest area while his legs were colored black and had two red stripes running down the legs' sides in a parallel manner.
His right forearm was covered by a device colored red coupled with a piece of it which was colored transparent red.
A small indentation near the wrist had the same "BS" initials engraved there: and, where the hand would be, a large double-barreled shotgun emerged instead.
Overall, he seemed to be about Netto's and Saito's age.
"Hey. Guys. Morning."
"Ah! Nelaus. Morning."
"Is everything OK, Isaac?"
"You know me. But it's picking me… This lack of activity…"
"True."
The twins had reached a nearby house and a guy came out of it to join them.
The guy, Nelaus, was about the twins' age and maybe some inches taller than either Netto or Saito.
He had neatly arranged blonde hair which ended at his neck's base and his eyes' irises were green emerald.
His facial features were rather smooth and suave, thus making him stand out somehow.
He carried a Link PET arm strap: his Link PET was colored golden and purple: its emblem was the Alphabet letter "I" colored purple.
"They're striking a strike!" Sigma laughed.
"How lame." Blood Shadow sighed.
"Sigma. Quit it." Isaac, the Navi, grumbled.
"And what if I don't, Israel Hands?"
"What did ya say?" He got further annoyed.
"Oh come on. That's how we start a day?" Netto sighed.
"Jeez." Saito grumbled.
Isaac, Nelaus' Net Navi, had a unique design and was about a meter and eighty tall.
His face was young and looked like a guy on his teens: his eyes' irises were purple and they had a hint of amusement to them.
His helmet had a central ruby jewel over the forehead shaped like a cross having four triangle ends: eight lines radiated from the central of it and spread across its surface.
The helmet's main color was navy blue and it was also filled with small round and random green dots.
His ear-pads had a white edge and a reddish central body: the Alphabet "I" letter colored purple had been printed there.
His neck had a piece of armor shaped like the Alphabet "V" protecting its base before the start of the chest: it had a cyan edge which split it into two halves the insides of which were colored yellow.
His shoulders were slightly curved square pieces with brown edges, a central silver matrix and five bronze paws forming out of the southern edge which weren't even 5cm long.
His main body color was blue and a central thin purple line spread from the neck's base until his waist, being interrupted by his chest emblem which had the same design as that of his ear-pads.
Some small jade-colored pieces made of two triangles aiming in opposite directions fused at their base were set in columns along the sides of his upper body: none of them were taller than 2cm.
His waist had a belt with three converging rectangular stripes of white edges and black body.
These fused in a diamond having a gray body plus a repetition of his Navi emblem on its center.
His arms had purplish DNA imprints painted over their surface.
His forearm armor had a magenta matrix on them.
His wrists were colored in a bronze color.
His hands were blue in color too and they had a circle with a white edge the insides of which depicted the Katana "I" colored purple: some "stars" were drawn at random over the background of the symbol.
His legs had some round dots set along their height which contained a drawing: the edge was brown, the core of it was purple and eight slightly curved lines painted red stretched from the core: the gaps between each one were colored blue.
The knees contained a circling bracelet colored mahogany and having those two fused triangles on the front colored golden.
The boots were colored purple and had an eight-pointed sapphire set on the inward side just below the ankle
Eight thin indigo lines spread from each spook of the sapphire and across the boot.
Overall he was very cool and looked advanced.
"Let's get to the school. And, Sigma… Behave or else Omega will come punish you again." Netto warned.
"Yikes!" He gasped.
"The guy's too predictable."
"But, like I was saying before… The lack of activity from Neo Gospel is picking me… Not even Cloud Man has shown up to try to pull some lame prank on us…" Isaac brought up.
"Well. Seeing how they came up with that deal back in August, it's not surprising. They must be running out of ideas. And now they don't have another party to take the spotlight while they plot something behind the scenes." Nelaus shrugged.
"But we mustn't lower the guard. Or else we'll end up like how we ended up in August." Netto warned.
"True." Saito grumbled.
"Hey. Morning."
"Ah. Meiru – chan. Morning."
"Hi, Saito – kun."
"Ah. Roll – chan. Morning."
"Mwah, hah, hah. I've got the Anti Rival Chip!"
"Guts, guts. It says "Patented by Higure Yamitarou – sama"."
"As expected."
"As expected, desu."
"When it comes to Higure – san… Right, Tooru – kun?"
"Sure, Eboshi – kun."
The group reached the school gates: Sakurai Meiru, Roll (projecting with the hologram), Ooyama Dekao, Guts Man, Hikawa Tooru, Ice Man and Eboshi Shuuichi were waiting there already.
"Yo. Hi, guys."
"Ah. Arushi Masuko – kun. Morning."
Arushi Masuko had brown messy hair and blue eyes.
He could be about the twins' age.
"Tee, heh, heh. Nelaus – kun! Morning!"
"Isaac – kun! Morning."
"Ah. Tamashita Aura – chan."
"Felicia – chan."
A girl joined them: she was around sixteen years old and roughly a few inches shorter than Nelaus.
She had orange curly hair and blue eyes.
She also carried her arm strap for her Link PET.
Her Link PET's emblem was a stylized "F" letter colored white and black and set against a blue background which was decorated with snow drops.
"I'm glad you came to my birthday party on Saturday."
"Obviously. Why shouldn't I come?"
"Nothing new happened, Isaac – kun?"
"No, Felicia – chan."
Felicia seemed to be around her Operator's height at a first glance.
Her helmet was colored olive green and it had a sapphire set into its forehead which glowed differently depending on the light's angle: the helmet included a cobalt blue matrix over its surface.
Her eyes were cobalt blue as well and two twin tails of blondish hair came out from behind her head.
Her bodysuit's main color was cobalt blue instead and her emblem was the same one as in the PET.
Her shoulders were anatomically correct and had ruby plating over them while her arms and elbow were colored in a mix of blue and white decorated with emerald square dots.
Her forearms were colored orange and had eight thin pink circles circling along their length.
Her legs used a mix of blue and yellow and contained diamond-shaped brown dots scattered at random.
The boots had been painted using orange color and had zigzag patterns which vertically spanned the height of them.
GO~NG!
They all looked to the left to see Ayanokouji Yaito's limousine stopping there: a gong rang out and the automated red carpet scrolled down the space between the limousine and the entrance: the door opened and her legion of maids got to their positions on both sides of the carpet.
"Yo! Ne – chan! You're early, eh?"
"What was that? Jeez. Miss Ayanokouji. Save me the nicknames!"
Yaito giggled as she stepped down while sipping some strawberry milk with a straw: she then came up with a silly nickname for Nelaus on the scene and he groaned.
"Tama – chan will kick the ball from time to time."
"WHAT was THAT?" Tamashita demanded.
"Mei – chan will found the Mei dynasty!"
"Mei dynasty~? Jeez." Meiru sighed.
"Arushi – chan will go back to his aruji!"
"I'll go back to my master? Sheesh." Arushi sighed.
"Ookarada – chan will become a sumo champion!"
"WHAT?" He gasped in horror.
"Nettie – chan will net the fishes!"
"Come on." Netto rolled his eyes.
"Sai – chan will go to Kansai!"
"Oh yeah?" He rolled his eyes too.
"Tooru – chan will become my new butler!"
"Someone save me." He sighed in defeat.
"Eboshi – chan will patent the Star Bird!"
"Don't make a pun on my surname!" He protested back.
"And, lastly…! I'll invent the Anti Competency Mower!" She announced while laughing.
"Yaito – sama…!" Glyde groaned in exasperation.
"Propelled by the Bat – Glider!"
"Huff. How brilliant." Everyone muttered (Sigma included) with obvious dryness.
"Alright, my fellows enchanted by General Campestre~! We march into the fort! Tee, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh!"
Yaito marched forward while the maids returned into the limousine and the carpet rolled back it: the car departed while everyone sighed in defeat as they headed to the building.
"I thought her dad's lessons had been enough but no…" Netto broke the silence with obvious defeatism.
"Someone save us from this madness." Saito groaned.
"It's some miracle we haven't go mad by now." Meiru sighed.
"Dumb luck?" Roll suggested.
"Guess that." Dekao rolled his eyes.
"Guts, guts." Guts Man shrugged.
"Dumb luck, alright." Hikawa sighed.
"Dumb luck, desu…" Ice Man rolled his eyes too.
"I can't complain. I've only been here for one year and some months compared to you guys." Arushi sighed in defeat.
"And since I'm the "B" group then I don't meet her so often so I've been rather safe from her madness." Eboshi added.
"Yeah. You should consider yourselves fortunate." Sigma sighed.
"See what happens when you get too cocky?" Blood Shadow scolded.
"Man. No need to scold me anymore, Blood. I feel down already."
"Lovely. And it's only 8 AM. It'll get worse: I just know it." Blood Shadow growled.
"Yeah. We should try to look up something to lighten our mood: maybe I'll bring up a Tintin video."
"By the way… Speaking of Tintin… That Choina madman who tried to cut off my head a year ago… Didn't you say he looked like a total rip-off of a Tintin episode?" Nelaus asked Sigma.
"Yeah. The Blue Lotus. And the dialog and behavior were exacts: maybe the guy got obsessed with it for some reason." Sigma sighed.
"I see." He wasn't surprised.
The group had kept on chatting as they all switched their shoes and they headed up the stairs towards their classrooms.
"But hard to believe we've come this far… 4th of middle school already: time does fly by…" Netto commented.
"Yeah. But we can't complain. We had that break from 2005 to 2007 with nothing major happening… And even Neo Gospel takes some time before moving again… Let them boil their brains away. Let's focus on today's lessons." Saito shrugged.
"Alright. I'm going to patrol along with Sigma and Blood but I don't think anything important will happen so suddenly. Those guys must want to increase our confidence." Isaac announced.
"And they'll strike." Netto guessed.
"And then they claim that they aren't repetitive." Saito shrugged.
"Maybe we should tell them Dragon's latest banner! "Oh foolish one: thou fate is to become one with the river and be forgotten by all living ones until the end of Time Eternal"…" Sigma grinned.
"How silly." The twins, Blood Shadow, Isaac and Nelaus grumbled.
"Mwah, hah, hah! The Magi's comeback with a thundering typhoon and a blistering barnacle borrowed from Captain Haddock!"
"Let's get to the classroom already. Go patrol." Netto ordered.
"Yeah. We'll talk at break time."
"Huff. What a start of the day."
09:29 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Well, Blues?"
"According to Isaac and Blood Shadow… They've been way TOO quiet, Enzan – sama."
"Truly. Twilight himself didn't think of being so quiet. I guess Anaya Maria is pulling his strings again. Even though she's locked in Ameroupe, we can't stop Twilight from materializing inside of the prison cell anytime he wants to. Prisons are no longer 100% secure but we should be lucky they haven't decided to sabotage them all and let the ones inside loose."
Blues had come to report to Ijuuin Enzan's PC within his IPC VP Office: Enzan began to think aloud while Blues remained quiet: Enzan looked tired, nervous and defeatist.
"Enzan – sama. You should try to rest some more hours. You're getting strained, sir." Blues told him.
"I know. But my old man suddenly popped up again and is placing more pressure on me to get better numbers… We've been increasing our benefits over these years by over 40% in total and he doesn't have enough…" He grumbled.
"The timing strikes me as odd, sir."
"I don't think Twilight is behind that: the old man pops up whenever he feels like it." Enzan fumed.
"Blues – sama: Search Man – sama requests access." A security Navi reported to Blues.
"Did you scan his data?"
"Yes, sir. He did have the tag you installed, sir."
"Good, let him in."
"Roger, sir."
"Maybe Laika's found some new vodka." Enzan ironically suggested.
"Enzan – sama…!"
"What's up, Blues?" Search Man asked as he came in.
"Enzan – sama is feeling the pressure."
"The President?"
"Sadly enough."
"The worst possible timing?" Laika asked Enzan next.
"Sure. Do you have some vodka?"
"Enzan…" He sighed in defeat.
"I know. It was some irony. Well? What's up in Sharo?"
"No big deal, really… Save that… Well…" He rolled his eyes.
"You got a troll in your unit?" Enzan tried to guess.
"Yeah. At least he's not as lame as Sigma or Shadow Man but you get the idea, nevertheless. He somehow seems to have found some audio show Vincent "Red" records and is always quoting it."
"Vincent "Red"…? Where have I heard that name before?" Enzan seemingly tried to recall.
"Enzan – sama: remember, during Shirakami's campaign, the kidnapping incident which involved Netto and Saito? Back in summer, 2005."
"Ah! I remember! That crazy Mexican… And didn't Davis say he'd actually been a spy or something like that?"
"He'd gotten into the CIA by tricking a novice interviewer and then began to leak info to Sharo: they kicked him out. Then, during the winter of 2007 – 2008, Sidier hired him to play the role of Kranos Opoulos, the Deadly Pandora leader… Well. To be exacts… We didn't know Opoulos' name save for his initials so he went by the name "Kenneth Onderson"…"
"Ah. Yeah. I remember."
"Speaking of Deadly Pandora, Vincent's name was in their servers."
"No wonder, Search Man. According to Isaac… A radar controller by the name of Mike somehow got a hold of his "show" too and liked to broadcast it across the base to troll the others." Blues explained with a sigh.
"In short: madness ensues." Laika summed up.
"Luckily Shadow Man is still under punishment, locked in a secure folder of the Subspace HQ's Cyber World, and switched off. Let's hope this gives him a lesson that there's a limit to his useless pranks." Enzan lazily stretched his arms.
"Let's hope so." Search Man sighed.
"Yo~! Laika~! Listen to this!" Someone exclaimed off-screen.
"Vlad? Leave me alone." Laika grumbled to someone.
"Siete pantosymanos y un maligno!" A voice in Spanish exclaimed from a PET's speaker.
"What the hell was that?" Enzan sighed.
"I don't find the word "pantosymanos" in any dictionary." Search Man announced.
"No wonder, Mr. Metal Slug!"
"Metal Slug? What's that?" Search Man sighed.
"A classic!"
"Huff. Well. Some game involving a mercenary piloting a tank, I think it was… Anyway! Vlad! Explain!"
"Pantos y manos! Vincent's trademark word! It's short for "espantos y manos"!"
"Scares & hands? What's the point?" Enzan sighed.
"Dunno! But it's 100% Mexican!"
"Lovely." Laika grumbled.
"Isn't it?" Vlad laughed.
"Go away. Now. Or else…"
"You'll paint my face green?" Vlad laughed next.
"Uncle is gonna get annoyed. AGAIN."
"Yikes."
"Ah. I see him coming."
"UWA~H!" Vlad screamed and ran off like he was gonna be slaughtered alive.
"Finally." Search Man fumed.
"Did you investigate that guy's background?" Enzan asked.
"Of course. I thought it might be a spy of Twilight and I've done some exhaustive research: Colonel Talos of the "Committee" also helped me out on that but we found nothing to link him to Twilight. The only skeleton on his closet is that he slipped away during sentry duty in his previous base, 3 years ago, and was caught having some vodka rounds in the canteen: he was put under disciplinary detention for 1 week." Laika sighed.
"What happened to the famed "iron discipline"?" Enzan asked.
"Huff. That? It's crumbled to dust ever since the fall of the Soviet Union: as if it wasn't obvious enough."
"Laika~! I'm the ghost of the malt whisky~!"
"Vlad. I'm going to get annoyed."
"Oh yeah? Mr. Spoiled by the Heavens is gonna get annoyed?"
THUD! BLOF!
"Ugru~h…" Vlad moaned.
"This was a disciplinary correction." Laika coolly announced.
"Loopholes – man…!" Vlad growled.
"Say what you want. It won't change anything."
"Shit! I'll have my revenge~!"
"You've said that hundreds of times but you're not intelligent enough to come up with anything complicated." Laika shrugged it off.
"Shit!"
Hurried footsteps were heard rushing away: both Enzan and Laika sighed in defeat.
"Anyway. We've been doing some searches in Melbourne but we've had no luck insofar. Twilight must be hijacking other connections to ensure that he can't be traced back to his current house. He could've faked the date of sale too." Laika continued.
"Yeah. Obviously. Having been at it for a year and some weeks by now then it's no wonder."
"Wonder of wondering wonders?" Laika tried to come up with a joke to switch the mood.
"Why not?" Enzan shrugged.
"By the way: I don't intend to lose in the next chess game." Laika grinned and blinked him the right eye.
"We'll see about that." Enzan got smug.
"Let's hope they don't fight over that." Blues muttered.
"Yeah. Let's hope that." Search Man rolled his eyes.
"The Goddess of Chess is my ally, Enzan. My horse will place a curse on your bishop." Laika challenged.
"Heh. Then my rooks will rook your pawns." Enzan challenged back.
"Oh well. Let's hope it'll help improve the mood." Search Man shrugged.
"Yeah. Let's hope so… Twilight… What are you lowlife up to?"
Both Navis remained silent while the Operators joked to each other…