Lords of the Cave

By Zoram Selrof

Chapter 1: Dropping by

17:49 PM (Japan Time), Monday January the 15th, 2013...

"... Enzan – sama, sir. An email from Meijin, sir..."

"What is it, Blues?"

"The version update of the Virus Busting Room is done. It can be used anytime now."

"Excellent. I was thinking that maybe we should go back to the roots and think on proper strategies to deal with the common Viruses just in case: you never know."

"Yes, sir."

Ijuuin Enzan (aged about 17 years old) was chatting with his Net Navi, Blues, as he projected with the Link PET's hologram: Enzan was calmly walking down a street somewhere while stuffing both hands on his jeans' pockets: the skies were starting to tint with the colors of the evening and the Sun was starting to drop below the horizon.

"What about the firewalls?"

"He says he and Obihiro worked on a version update as well."

"Good."

"Yet…"

"I know. They won't do much good if one of those rascals comes to pick a fight." Enzan sighed with some annoyance.

"Or if that damned man shows up." Blues grumbled.

"Oh come on. Stop calling that guy like that. That's an order."

"Roger, sir."

"That's better. Now calm down. We're going to do a visit."

"I know, sir."

"Good. Ah. We've arrived."

Enzan stopped in front of the Hikari house and calmly looked upwards towards the bedroom: the curtains were partly closed so he couldn't see the inside of the room: he shrugged, climbed up the entrance steps and rang the bell.

"Hai~! Coming!"

The door opened and Hikari Haruka stepped out.

"Good afternoon, Hikari – san." Enzan greeted.

"Oh my. It's Enzan – kun. Did you come to visit them?"

"Yes, ma'am. I hope I'm not intruding."

"I think they can spare a few minutes to speak with you… Netto! Saito! Enzan – kun's come!" She called out.

"Coming!" Netto's voice replied from the first floor.

"OK!" Saito added.

"Come in."

"Thank you."

Enzan stepped in and took off his sneakers to put on slippers: Haruka signaled the living room's table so he sat down there as she readied some tea: he heard footsteps and both Netto and Saito, wearing high school uniform, stepped in.

"Yo! Enzan. Been a while."

"Hi, Blues."

"Been a while." Blues drily replied.

"Blues…" Enzan sighed.

"Ah. I apologize, Enzan – sama. Ahem… Hello." He smiled after he cleared his throat.

"You needn't be so dry, Blues." Saito told him.

"Like he says…" Enzan agreed with Saito.

"Roger, Enzan – sama."

"So. How's it going like?" Enzan asked Netto.

"Well. It's no joke. But we got good results in the first trimester. But the real deal is yet to begin." Netto admitted with a sigh.

"How about you?" Saito asked Enzan.

"Meh. No big deal. The usual customers." He shrugged.

"Here you have." Haruka placed a dish with some cookies on the table along with ceramic tea-cups filled with green tea.

"Thank you very much, ma'am."

"Ah! Nothing like a green tea to vent off the stress. Coffee is good from time to time but…" Netto smiled.

"Coffee Man got fired." Saito joked.

"Huh? Where'd that come from, niisan?" He was surprised.

"Dunno. I felt like it." Saito shrugged.

"Reminds me of Yuuichirou – san…" Haruka giggled.

"Huh? Papa made jokes like that?" Netto asked.

"Oh yes. Like… Curry Girl and Spaghetti Man married and their child was the Curry Spaghetti!" She quoted.

"Papa and his sense of humor…" Netto rolled his eyes.

"I… see." Enzan looked baffled and at a loss of words, for once.

"By the way… We heard that there was some "tsujigiri" acting out there but…"

"Oh, that? It was an urban legend someone spread to cause some panic: there never was a "tsujigiri"." Blues shrugged.

"Superintendent Oda keeps it up with his humor?"

"Yeah. When you less expect him to. He seems to be fond of surprise attacks. And he's always bringing up his "Uncle Merton"."

"No wonder." Netto wasn't surprised.

"But he's got a good tactic to pressure suspects or types we've arrested to talk. He gets annoyed but warns that that's but the 10% of his full anger. That enough makes all opponents panic and they blurt it all."

"Interesting. It makes them panic trying to imagine what his 100% anger could be like." Saito rubbed his chin.

"By the way, Enzan – kun. Some days ago… A friend of mine told me a product she bought online at Amazon got delivered but the product was wrong… Do you think that there could be some problem in their computers?" Haruka asked.

"Hmmm… Hard to say. Maybe it was a human error: there could've been two packages to be delivered to the same street and the employee who labelled them mixed them up."

"Ah. I see. That could be the case, too. Some hours later the correct package got delivered so it was no real problem yet…"

"Ah. True. The Virus Breeder is being successful: now we can use these Viruses for monitoring and security. And if hostile Viruses come in we can capture them and place them on the Breeder to eliminate their hostility."

"Interesting." Saito looked interested.

"Enzan – sama… An email from Superintendent Oda… He wants us to come to the Net Police HQ ASAP… It'd seem there's something he needs to discuss with us."

"Maybe it's some investigation from another branch that got stuck and needs some help… Excuse me, ma'am. Thank you very much."

"It's nothing. You're welcome anytime."

"Thank you, ma'am. Ah! By the way. How is you guys' cousin faring like? His name was… Mato?"

"Raito." Both corrected.

"Sorry. Raito. I have bad memory for people I've barely met. Send him greetings as well."

"You know what to do, Blues. Show them who the boss is."

"Delighted. Hmmm? Ah. There's a PS on the earlier mail, sir…"

"Let me guess… Uncle Merton?"

"Yes, sir. "By Merton! It's a featherless cat!"…"

"Featherless cat?" The twins were baffled.

"My. A cat with feathers… A cross between a hen and a cat?" Haruka seemed to like the joke.

"No way." The other four groaned.

"Huff. He needs some job to keep him busy…" Enzan sighed.

"Yes, sir. Or else he goes berserk." Blues sighed as well.

"Maybe there'll be featherless dogs next?" Haruka joked.

"Mama…" The twins sighed.

"Eh… I don't know, ma'am." Enzan politely replied.

"Meaning: unknown." Blues drily muttered.

"Or featherless hamsters." Haruka giggled.

Enzan, in the meanwhile, took off the slippers and put on the shoes again.

"Take care, Enzan – kun."

"Thank you, ma'am. Good afternoon."

If only Superintendent Oda didn't have those quirks… Man.

18:19 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hey. Obihiro."

"Ah! Ijuuin – kun. You've come."

"Superintendent Oda isn't here yet?"

"He was, until a few minutes ago… I think he's gone buy some cookies."

"I see. And Meijin?"

"Is wrapping up something with Punk…"

"Did anything happen?"

"I don't know. He suddenly told us to gather here."

"Hmmm… Then it's no small deal."

Enzan stepped into a meeting room in the Net Police HQ and found Obihiro Shun sitting in one of chairs and playing a Sudoku game included in a tabloid: he looked up as Enzan sat on the chair to his right and turned to be face-to-face with him.

"But, really… Ever since the collapse of Shadow Nova… Things have been pretty quiet… The Shunoros guys have showed up to challenge us or Golden Star from time to time, as usual, but that's it. And the "Jet-Black Phoenix" guys haven't appeared either. Guess XY ran out of patience with them long ago."

"No wonder. Anyone would." Enzan shrugged.

"Did you see his newest joke?"

"Yeah. But, really… Is it really his joke or that Alfred guy is to blame?"

"I suspect the latter. You know the usual Shunoros troublemakers love to send weird ideas to Superintendent Oda: and when he's in the mood for those then… There's no stopping him: save for some serious happening or a cold shower." Obihiro sighed and rolled his eyes.

"I know."

"Hello there." Meijin came in.

"Did something happen, Meijin?"

"GHTJDGJDX!" He cursed something undecipherable.

"Kanado hacked our Dropbox account and stole our files." Punk explained to them.

"Kanado?"

"A guy I'd worked with before… Nowadays a freelancer… The moron still is obsessed with overcoming me…" Meijin fumed.

"Did you get them back?"

"Sure. The moron thought he could fool me using a poor imitation of a JSDF encryption algorithm but it was so cheap and meek… I had him arrested as well for breaching into this building's servers. Hope that serves as a lesson. Really. Here I thought it was some server crash that had affected the company but…"

"As if we didn't have enough troublemakers."

"And had the guts to hide that in the karaoke close to the HQ too… Was operating from there… Tried to impress me pulling an Elvis Presley imitation but his English was so crappy to begin with…"

"Ah. You've all gathered. Good. Let's begin."

Superintendent Oda quickly walked in and closed the door: he had a convenience store bag that he placed atop the table: it was a package of chocolate-filled cookies which he opened: he put them in a bowl.

"This is the core of the matter." He suddenly said.

He took off a plastic bag containing a hand-written letter and placed it on the center of the table: the others looked over there.

"Huh? That's not Japanese. It's… German?" Obihiro realized.

"Yeah. I've got the translation here…" He took out a printed paper with computer-written text that had the Net Police seal.

"Hum… "The baseball game at Densan Baseball Stadium two days from now. A traitor is lurking there. Thinking it can mingle with the crowds. But we know better. That shall be the fitting place for that traitor's public execution. You might try to cancel the game but it'll be in vain: that traitor will die, one way or another. Come witness our art. It shall be subtle and beautiful. Like a blue rose. Something impossible. It will make you realize what fear and chaos are. Hell's Puppeteer."… A threat letter!" Enzan gasped once he'd read it.

"Someone wants to kill a "traitor" in the middle of a baseball game? How do we know it's not a bluff?" Meijin asked.

"Chief Sorodo warned me that it isn't."

"Chief Sorodo did?"

"Yes. Apparently, the PSB is hot on this person's trail. They've managed to steal top-secret data from their archives. And several undercover agents have had to flee before being exposed by that character. It has some bad tastes, really… Leaves a voodoo doll on the agent's doorstep along with a card that says "you only have 24 hours of life left"… No – one has died insofar but the mere information this character has is very dangerous indeed. By "traitor" they mean an undercover agent that has helped destroy some org from the inside. So this "Hell's Puppeteer" is an ex-member of some org. Problem is… There currently are over 100 agents scattered all across Japan. We think that the German writing is a red herring to divert our investigations to Germany."

"Whoa!" Obihiro gasped.

"So we're dealing with someone who's serious. And has some weird personality. In short: some freak." Enzan summed up.

"That's why I've called for you. Meijin and Obihiro – kun: try to dig up any hints, rumors or trails this character's left behind. Ijuuin – kun: you will come with me to the stadium. Police HQ will be cooperating with us on this matter because PSB is a branch of them. You will be of help in case they use Navis or Viruses to cause chaos. They haven't insofar but you never know." Oda ordered.

"Roger." They all nodded in understanding.

"Of course: all of this is classified. Until Chief Sorodo says so you're not allowed to tell anyone else."

"Understood."

"I will warn Golden Star as well. This "Hell's Puppeteer" could be actually aiming to challenge them and the stadium is a diversion."

"Could be. We can't discard anything at this stage."

"Indeed… Including murder… I don't think this madman will toy around for much longer… Sooner or later… They'll get serious. Maybe they'll leak the info to orgs with undercover agents and expose them to have the orgs kill them… Like in Skyfall…" Oda grimly muttered.

"Devil." Everyone cursed.

"Sitting here won't solve anything. Don't lower the guard. The enemy can strike from anywhere."

"Speaking of enemies… Did those 2 Shadow Nova executives get caught in the end?" Obihiro asked.

"Yes. They were. So Shadow Nova has no leadership anymore and it's crumbled apart. None of the grunts or agents have the capability to rebuild it…" Oda confirmed.

"Maybe this madman was part of Shadow Nova?"

"Hum. Could be. There were several "sleeper" agents there too: maybe some were sent by the PSB, even. It's a possibility."

"Of course. We've got no evidence of that, either."

"Fine. I'll note it down in the investigation file and tip the PSB: maybe they could have someone in mind. The meeting is over. Remember: all of this is top-secret. I'll arrange so that it looks like you're doing other jobs that are unrelated. That's all." He pocketed the print-out and the letter.

"By the way… Did you get that joke from Alfred?" Enzan sighed.

"Oho. The featherless cat, eh? By Merton! That was original."

"More like a crazy mix. What can you expect from that guy?"

"Dunno. Maybe a 100% Mexican and patriotic spell? Like "puiti-puiti-puu-puu"…" He laughed.

"Earth: swallow us whole." The others sighed in defeat.

"Come on! It's not like it's the end of the world."

"But it's the end of sanity." Obihiro argued back.

"Maybe so. We might need Count Sylvius to solve this enigma."

"Oh come on. Count Sylvius was Sam Merton's boss. A ruined nobleman, like Kaiba – san would say."

"Truly. Heh, heh, heh. Oh well. Thanks for the cheering up. I'll warn you if Alfred sends me something interesting again."

"Not Alfred… The Shunoros troublemakers!"

"The chums enchanted by Lord Cantlemere?"

"Sheesh. We know Lord Cantlemere was skeptical of Holmes and did not expect him to succeed." Meijin sighed.

"Hmmm? Ah. Good news." He suddenly looked at his PET.

"What now?"

"Taz and Bugs Bunny have founded the Taz Bunny Club."

"Oh come on. Looney Tunes next?" Obihiro groaned.

Oda chuckled and walked out of the room while the others sighed.

"Hell's Puppeteer, huh… This won't be a walk into the park."

"True, Enzan – sama. I've got a bad feeling about this."

"Who wouldn't? Be on your toes, Blues."

Who's this madman and what does he hope to achieve?

20:44 PM (Japan Time)…

"… This is the place, right, Zarashe?"

"Sure, Atarasei… Let's turn on the flashlights."

"Yeah. By the way. Just in case… Maybe Alex or Beta X should stay behind to ensure we can get back? You never know: the culprit could cut off the boat's rope."

"Yeah. Good idea."

Two guys were standing in a concrete wharf somewhere and talking as they scanned the area with flashlights.

One of them, named Zarashe, had black messy hair and had sunglasses on: he could be around 16 or above.

He sported a navy blue coat which was open, a greenish wool jumper, jeans and white sneakers.

The other guy, Atarasei, also had jet black hair but his was a wild flock which knew no order or pattern and extended until the base of his neck.

His body was thin, athletic, and had good build to it which was proof of his apparently continuous exercises.

He sported a navy blue overcoat over a reddish wool jumper, a pair of navy blue jeans tightened with a black leather belt: a pair of thick socks covered his feet and he used black sneakers for footing.

"I'll stay. Beta X, you go with them. You've got faster speed."

"Roger, Alex. Do you agree, Zarashe – kun?"

"Yeah, Beta."

Two Navis materialized there on the spot.

Beta X used black as his body's main color: he had a white piece of armor set over the chest which contained a ruby jewel and two wing-like extensions spreading across the torso until the shoulders: the golden-colored Alphabet "X" character was set over the upper edge of the ruby.

His eyes' irises were blood red in coloring but they lacked pupils: his facial expression denoted seriousness.

His helmet's main color was black as well yet he had some blue pieces of armor built around the edges of it and across the middle of the helmet: the ruby had been set directly above his nose and was aiming downwards along his helmet's front part.

The helmet included five extensions shaped like wings and colored white plus a golden edge: two formed on the lower edge of the helmet, another two formed at a height over the eyes and the last one sprouted from the middle of his helmet while aiming upwards.

A golden edge surrounded his neck and formed a small collar-like object around it: his shoulders had white armor over them: three thin spear-like extensions formed behind them.

These gave off the impression of a wing as well: the uppermost piece was golden in coloring while the other two pieces were white.

His arms' skin was black until the elbow: white armor encompassed it and extended until the hands and fingers: a golden ring served as additional protection for the wrists.

The rest of his upper body had no decoration whatsoever until the hips, where the leg armor began at: a golden edge in the shape of a triangle marked the start of it.

The remainder of the legs' armor was painted using white color palette: the knees had extra armor over them and two small and short wing-like extensions.

Golden pieces of armor showed up over the ankles yet there was a space between them and the legs: they were bent upwards to form a triangle and included the wing shapes on their edges.

His feet's armor had two pieces of outer edge and another two pieces separated by a slight space between the front and the rear of them.

He was reminiscent of a "fallen angel" given the color motifs.

He was standing to Zarashe's left and glancing around.

"You know the drill, Alex. If anything happens then call us."

"OK, Oscar – kun."

Alex, the other Navi, had a helmet which had a golden-colored "Alpha" drawing set on its forehead: the helmet 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.

"Let's go, Zarashe, Beta."

"OK."

Zarashe, Beta X and Atarasei advanced following the path: there was a signpost with two banners, one reading "Wharf" and the other reading "Campsite".

"We got a tip-off signed by that rumored "Hell's Puppeteer" saying that we prove we're not cowards and this solitary island's coordinates. And Slur – sama got totally annoyed." Zarashe discussed with Beta X.

"I know. That guy doesn't know whom he's challenging. When you earn Slur – sama's anger… She'll chase you to Hell if needed to make you regret that." Beta X rolled his eyes.

"It must be some trap, anyway." Atarasei shrugged.

"By Fu – Manchu?" Zarashe tried a joke.

"Man. A crocodile instead of a dog… And old-style gimmicks… Plus a pitfall filled with spikes… And to top it off hidden speakers that amplified the sound of his drums to try to turn mad the intruders…" Atarasei laughed as he explained.

"You got that from the Mortadelo y Filemón album "Bye-bye, Hong Kong!"… The radio trio adapted it on November-December…" Beta X calmly muttered.

"Huh? There are tents. I thought no – one came camping at this time of the year… Hello~?"

"If there are tents… Why are there no boats?"

"Maybe it comes by the morning? Hello~?"

They'd been climbing up a hill and crossed through a forest to end up in a clearing: four or five tents had been settled aiming for a round circle in the middle that had remains of a bonfire: Atarasei began to call out along with Zarashe yet Beta X seemed to find something out of place.

"He… GUAH! What the…!"

"By all the… Are these…?"

"What!"

They stopped when Atarasei's flashlight light landed on something unexpected on the ground: he and the other 2 gasped in shock as well and nervously illuminated the surroundings.

"M-mutilated corpses…! There must be at least… 20 of them!" Beta X grimly muttered as he scanned the area.

"Guah! It's filled with dried blood too!"

"This bonfire's ashes are totally cold. This fire was not lit today. Most likely yesterday. So it's been about 24 hours since they've died."

"Gross…! We were right… We're dealing with some madman!"

"… Or so they wanted us to believe." Beta X suddenly said as he crouched next to a beheaded corpse.

"What?" The Operators gasped.

"It's a mannequin! And this is not real blood either. It's dried paint. But I think it's a warning nevertheless. That at some point this can turn into real manslaughter. Hey. Alex. Anything over there?"

"Nothing insofar. I'm scanning in IR and X-Ray and using sonar and radar yet there's nothing. No engine sound, no breathing…" Alex replied.

"Let's warn the coastal police to take care of this. Wait. There's something written here… "Herren von der Höhle"… German! "Lords of the Cave"…"

"Lords of the Cave?"

"Maybe some fancy title they've come up with… I've recorded it. I suggest we get outta here. There's nothing more to do…"

"Slur – sama will get really annoyed. Let's hope she doesn't take off it on us by imposing one of her training regimes." Zarashe sighed.

"I know. Man. Not even President Hades can stop her when she gets in those moods. Slur – sama is a great and powerful leader but…"

"Hmmm… Lords of the Cave… Hell's Puppeteer… Hmmm…"

This affair is no joke… We must catch that madman soon or else…!