Vacations: Reloaded
By Zoram Selrof
Chapter 1: Setting off
20:18 PM (Japan Time), Friday July the 22nd, 2011…
"… Man! What nerves! We go overseas for the third time already and we'll be staying in the same place as the last year! It'll be cool!"
"Sure thing, Netto – kun. And especially with our two friends coming along as well… I guess Enzan will take the chance to beat some berserk Navis and say he's been productive."
"Heh, heh! Enzan will always be Enzan."
"Have you checked that you have everything, you two?"
"Yeah, Mama!"
"Come on, Haruka… They're 14 years old. You can't keep on treating them like they were 10 years old…"
"I know, Yuuichirou – san, but it never hurts to double-check."
"True, true."
Netto and Saito were sitting on the sofa of their house's living room while looking like they were about to leave in a trip because they carried their backpacks and a wheeled suitcase.
Netto sported his typical orange sleeveless vest over a white shirt plus his black with yellow stripes shorts plus his orange sneakers.
Saito had a blue sleeveless vest and jeans plus white sneakers.
"So! To Barcelona we go, Saito – niisan!"
"Yeah. We've really deserved these vacations after all the effort we've gone through this 1st grade at middle school." Saito grinned.
"By the way, your friend should be about to come, right?"
"Yeah… Any time now…"
DING DONG!
"Ah! That must be him. I'll go." Haruka smiled.
She walked over to the entrance door and checked the peephole before unlocking.
"Good morning, Hiro – kun! Come in."
"T-thanks. Sorry for the delay."
"Don't mind it."
"Yo! Akashi Hiro! Welcome to the club!"
"Excited, Hiro?"
Akashi Hiro was slightly over a meter and fifty tall: his hair's color was jet black and it was totally messy (similar to Netto's) while his eyes' irises were blue.
He sported a reddish sleeveless vest over a black shirt and jeans plus black sneakers.
He also carried a Link PET the emblem of which was the lowercase delta character painted silver and set against a black background: the PET's colors were red and white.
He also carried his backpack plus a black wheeled suitcase.
"Obviously! This is gonna be my first overseas trip, ya know!" He admitted with a broad smile.
"I hope you'll behave, Hiro – kun."
"Who knows, Delta?"
"You do."
"Maybe Watson does?"
"Huff."
Delta, Hiro's Net Navi, projected out of the Link PET using the hologram:
His face looked strikingly similar to Rock Man's although he had some slight differences regarding the eyes' irises (which were blue) and the shape of his cheek bones.
The central part of his helmet had a murkier silver color to it plus two rectangles and one band cutting across it starting at the back: some jet black hair came out from behind the helmet as well.
His main body color was jet black while his forearms, boots, shoulder plates, rear-pack and helmet were painted silver.
His emblem was the same delta character set on his chest and ear-pads.
Overall, he looked extremely similar to Rock Man and seemed to be around his height as well.
"I doubt it."
"Maybe ya need to take up courses from Naked Snake regarding how to show off body~?" Hiro teased.
"No." He drily replied.
"Heh, heh, heh. That dryness amuses me, ya see…"
"So what!" Delta protested.
"Now, now… Hiro – kun. Don't quarrel with your friend just as you're about to go off into a vacation." Yuuichirou told him.
"We weren't quarreling, hakase… It's how we are to begin with!" Hiro shrugged.
"Yeah. So behave yourself."
"O. K.! Then I'll dance the monkey dance."
"Huh? What monkey dance?" Delta frowned.
"Come on, Hiro… Don't pick on Delta." Saito sighed.
"Let them be, Saito – niisan: it's amusing to look on." Netto grinned.
"I disagree." Saito muttered.
"Anyway! Did you make sure to lock the house properly and that you have all vital stuff like passport, wallet and keys?" Delta asked.
"Sure thing." Hiro replied as he rummaged into his pockets.
"Good. Denpa – san will come to pick us up soon enough."
"With an IAV Stryker?" Hiro joked.
"No." He quickly replied.
"Hiro… Behave already." Saito sighed.
"No, let them be!" Netto grinned.
"That won't do. We don't need these outbursts." Yuuichirou scolded.
"Ah… Sorry." Hiro apologized.
"See?" Delta rolled his eyes.
"Lesson learned, alright." He muttered.
"Our flight leaves at 10:30 PM so Denpa – san must be about to come to take us to the airport. We have to go through check-in and the security controls, after all…" Saito muttered.
DING DONG!
"Aha! Speaking of the gentleman… Here he is. I'll go." Haruka giggled at her own description.
She headed for the door and checked the visitor before unlocking it and greeting the person.
"Good evening, ma'am. I apologize for the delay: I had to attend an urgent call regarding a little something… But everything is ready. We can depart immediately." A man politely greeted.
"My. You sound like a late Shouwa period gentleman."
"I-is that so?"
"Now, now… Haruka… Denpa – san is not from the Shouwa period."
"I knew, dear. I was testing him."
"Welcome, Mr. Denpa!" Hiro greeted.
The man named Mr. Denpa appealed as being on his 20s: he looked about a meter and eighty tall.
He had brown short and combed hair while he was clean shaven: he had reading glasses on and his eyes' irises were colored brown.
He currently wore a white shirt with thin navy blue stripes and thick black stripes, bluish jeans, white socks and black sneakers: he also sported a black USB device hanging from his neck using a red cloth string.
"Well! Gentlemen. Is everything ready?"
"Roger!"
"Sir, Ma'am… With your permission… We shall be departing for the airport…" He bowed.
"Go ahead." Yuuichirou smiled.
"Enjoy!"
"Thanks, Papa, Mama!"
"Bye!"
"Have a nice time." Delta politely told them.
The three tens came out of the house and spotted a black Honda FRV model car parked in the lawn.
A man on his 30s wearing a black suit, hat and sunglasses and having jet black hair under the hat was standing next to the opened trunk.
He loaded the suitcases and backpacks into the trunk and closed it before climbing into the driver's seat: the teens waved goodbye as they climbed into the car.
"Bye-bye~!"
22:10 PM (Japan Time)…
"… These are our seats! I go at the leftmost one. Netto – kun, Saito – kun and Hiro – kun go in that order. You may interchange them if you wish, to, though."
"No, that's fine for us."
"Yup. And don't try to sneak on me, Hiro. I have light sleep and can hear a mouse sneaking by."
"Guess so…"
"Make sure to place tabs on him, Saito – kun."
Mr. Denpa and the teens reached their row of central seats and sat down on them in the order he listed: Saito warned Hiro with a smile and he scratched the back of his head: Delta looked amused.
"Sure thing. Beware of Creeping Man."
"Creeping Man?"
"He may drop down from the overhead cargo compartment for all we know!" Saito giggled.
"Yeah, yeah… Totally." Hiro looked skeptical.
They sat down after having stored the backpacks into the overhead cargo compartment while Mr. Denpa took out a thick book with red hard covers which he placed on his lap as he adjusted the seat-belt: Saito signaled to Hiro how to adjust it and he looked out through the right window at the illuminated nocturnal landscape of the airport's grounds.
"Wow. My heart is beating so fast…!" Hiro muttered.
"The excitement which comes with a take-off…" Mr. Denpa chuckled as he began to read the book.
"What book is that?" Netto asked.
"Sherlock Holmes: the complete stories… I got it on the Sherlock Holmes museum in London when I went there back on March."
"Whoa. All of Holmes' stories…" Netto whistled in surprise.
"Eh… Can we ask what the call you mentioned was about?" Saito timidly asked him.
"Huh? Oh. Eh… Nothing to be concerned, really! I was checking on a little something regarding Germany but nothing extraordinary had happed insofar…" He admitted.
"Ah. We thought something had happened."
"No, no… As I said: nothing to be worried about."
"Maybe you discovered a Fulton STARS dropped somewhere?" Hiro suggested with a grin.
"What? A Fulton Surface-To-Air-Recovery-System, you say? No, no! Nothing of that kind…" Mr. Denpa laughed.
"What's that?" Netto and Saito asked.
"Basically a harness plus a helium balloon which is then picked up by an aircraft having a special hook attached to it… It was designed on the 50s and it's still used… Useful to retrieve ground personnel…"
"Oh. You ripped that off some game, Hiro?" Netto asked.
"Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, ya see~!"
"Ah. So that's why." Mr. Denpa chuckled.
"Attention, please. We will be taking off in about 8 minutes. Make your way to your seats and be ready for take-off." The speakers announced.
"Heh, heh, heh. Next stop: Paris Orly! And from there… Barcelona! Excited, gentlemen?" Mr. Denpa told them.
"YEAH!" The four of them chorused.
"Once we're in the air then we can say that the vacation has started: store up your energies and you'll be able to unleash them when we get there, gentlemen! I've prepared a pretty intense program of visits and activities, I must admit." He chuckled.
"Attention: please disconnect all cell phones and switch off wireless capabilities of any PET model. We are about to close the door and begin taxiing."
Hiro quickly accessed his Link PET's menu and picked "Wireless = off" to then replace it on his arm-strap.
"What nerves!" He muttered.
There was a small jolt and the aircraft began to be pulled away from the "finger" and oriented towards the direction of the track: the plane began taxiing at a slow but steady rate while Hiro and Delta looked on through the window.
"The prelude to the adventure…!" Delta gasped.
"Ya could patent that." Hiro laughed.
"I don't see the point on that, really."
The plane then entered the track and stopped: the hum from the engines increased and Hiro instinctively gripped both armrests while looking totally nervous: Delta had assumed a "sitting" position over his right shoulder and looked excited as well.
"And… Let's go~!" Mr. Denpa exclaimed.
The plane jolted and began to run up the track at a maddening speed accompanied by a deafening roar: before Hiro could notice it, the plane began to climb up and the landscape began to shrink: Hiro gasped and looked on along with Delta.
"W-we took off!" They both gasped.
"Welcome to the sky!" Mr. Denpa announced.
The plane stabilized and Hiro began to smile in relief along with Delta: he let go of the armrests and looked around.
"It's now official, gentlemen! The vacation has begun!"
"YEAH!"
07:05 AM (Barcelona Time), Saturday July the 23rd…
"… Hmmm… Tortilla…"
"Tortilla Man has descended!"
"Wha! When! Where! Huh! W-where are we?"
"Time to wake up, Hiro – chan!"
"Oi, Saito! That wasn't funny!"
"Wanna miss the final approach or what?"
"The final approach…?"
"You'll see it about 5 minutes!"
Hiro had been snoring when Saito pulled a joke on him to wake him up: Mr. Denpa, he and Delta were awake while Netto was mumbling something and stirring: Saito giggled and leant closer to him.
"Hiro wants to go in a date with ya~! Netto – kun!"
"W-what! Oi, Hiro! What are ya thinking, that I'm a…? Huh? Saito – niisan…! The glitch came back, didn't the thing?"
"Yessir. The Glitch of Doom!"
"G-glitch of Doom?" Hiro and Delta asked.
"Yeah. Some weird glitch somewhere in his mind makes him turn into a prankster who loves teasing people. I guess I'm to blame for that but not even Papa can predict when it shows up." Netto whispered.
"I'd say the atmospheric changes are to blame~!"
"Sure, sure." Netto skeptically replied.
"Reversal of roles, Netto – kun!"
"I knew that. Man. It looks like we were looking at our opposites or our magnetic pole had shifted."
"Maybe Magnet Man is pulling the strings?"
"Magnet Man? Oh. I remember the guy! He was making the plane we were going behave crazily to steal some program or another but we defeated him and the plane landed safely. And we had to figure out how to trap a poisonous spider along the way… Did Gauss Magnets arrange for that, too?" Netto recalled.
"The spider…? Ah. He did confess it was his idea of a distraction while Magnet Man intruded the computers."
"And Obihiro – kun was onboard that plane yet he didn't speak to anyone while working with a notebook PC…" Saito added.
"So that was your first overseas trip?" Hiro asked.
"Yeah. The return trip, to be exacts… The departing trip was pretty much trouble-free…" Netto shrugged.
"Gentlemen! The final approach!"
"W-whoa~!"
The four teens looked out through the window as the plane maneuvered above the Mediterranean Sea to allow for a magnificent sighting of the Barcelona skyline: the sun was illuminating a great deal of it thus glorifying the sight.
"So this is Barcelona…!" Hiro muttered.
"Look, look! That building over there… The Sagrada Família! Am I right?"
"Good eye! And we will be visiting it one of these days. Now that the main nave has been completed the interior has become something spectacular which you HAVE to see." Mr. Denpa smiled.
The plane began to descend and oriented itself to face the track: Hiro and Delta looked excited again and he was gripped the arm-rests again: the ground came closer and closer with every passing second with details becoming clearer.
"Another little bit…!"
"What hysteria…!"
The plane touched down and immediately a deafening roar rang out: it reversed the engines and began to speed down to eventually begin taxiing across the ground.
"Ladies and gentlemen. Welcome to Barcelona."
A general round of applause rang out inside of the plane and Hiro subconsciously joined it before he and Delta realized why they were applauding to begin with.
"We're here! Barcelona! We're here, Delta!"
"Yeah! We finally reached it, Hiro – kun!"
"Agent On Air will pick us up. We'll then go to villa to get installed. Today we're still tired after such a long trip."
"It sure was long! We landed at Paris around 3:40 AM and this plane took off at 5:50 AM!" Hiro exclaimed.
"And when you see the villa… You'll be captivated." Saito teased.
"Yeah! It's nothing like anything you might've seen before."
"Man! Quit the teasing!" Hiro laughed.
"That'd be spoiling the fun!" Delta grinned.
"Guess so… Anyway… I'm ready for anything!"
"I think you'll be ready for a cool dive into the villa's swimming pool via our "attraction"…" Mr. Denpa teased.
"Attraction…? Whoa! This is starting to sound cooler!"
"And it's only the tip of the iceberg!" Mr. Denpa further teased.
"By all the… Stop with the "Tease Hiro all day long club" already!"
"I wouldn't be surprised if that's what's going on." Delta laughed.
"Vacations: start!" The four of them exclaimed.
They laughed in a jovial tone…