Shooting Star Adventures
By Zoram Selrof
Chapter 1: Anomaly
17:45 PM (Japan Time), Wednesday May the 19th, 2205…
"… Well! We're drawing closer to the end of this 6th grade! I'm pleased that my popularity is still high and my project of having the whole school form one grand Brother Band is a reality!"
"As expected of iinchou…"
"Yeah… I feel hungry."
"Really… Gonta. Can't you think of something else?"
"That guy can only think about rotten beef!"
"Wha~t?"
"Nyah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h!"
"Buro~! I'll make ya swallow that one, War Rock!"
"Shut yer useless trap, Ox!"
"My, my. There they go again…"
"The probabilities of a real battle happening clock at 75%..."
"Hah. That's being a man."
Shirogane Luna, Saishouin Kizamaro, Ushijima Gonta, Hoshikawa Subaru and Jack (all aged 12~13 years old) were chatting as they came out of Kodama Elementary: War – Rock began picking on Gonta, Ox got annoyed, Mode looked unimpressed, Pedia looked nervous and Jack formed a smug smile on his face.
"So! Subaru – kun. What are you doing every weekend where you vanish and there's no contacting you?" Luna asked.
"Ah… That's…"
"He sneaks into Area M!" War Rock laughed.
"What's that? A shop?" Luna frowned.
"Ask Mr. Perfect." War Rock laughed again.
"Buro~! I'm heating up!" Ox exclaimed.
"Then go fight in a corner of empty space." Luna challenged.
"Yessir! Last one is a turtle!"
"Oi! No fair!"
Both Wizards ran off towards the skies while the group stepped into the square in front of the Big Wave store.
"So?" Luna questioned.
"Iinchou, didn't I tell you? I go to Kazimura Island to resume my training with Dr. Lartes. I don't want to get rusty at it." Subaru replied.
"Ah. I tended to forget about it… But what's that "Area M" thing about, anyway?"
"It's a joke by Rock which isn't even half-funny." Subaru shrugged.
"… Oh. Obviously…" Kizamaro muttered.
"What?" Gonta frowned.
"Hmpf." Jack grinned.
"Yo! What's with those faces?" A voice rang out.
"Ah! Akatsuki – san!"
Akatsuki Shidou caught up with them while munching a "Sweet Candy" bar at a mad speed: Acid hovered right next to him.
"Shidou." He called out.
"What?"
"That's a bad idea."
"What's a bad idea?"
"Your mania with the "Sweet Candy" bars…"
"Oh. Leave me alone, Acid, and go prove Einstein's relativity theory once and for all with Yoiri – hakase." Akatsuki grumbled.
"Fine. But that won't save you from Queen Tia's ice glares."
"Jack. Can't ya tell your neechan to be somewhat more open?"
"Neechan is neechan." Jack shrugged.
"Fine. I get the point of the message hidden behind the veil, thank you very much!" Akatsuki sarcastically replied.
"Well… I feel like rushing home…" Gonta muttered.
"Heh, heh, heh. And have ginger beef for supper? No – one escapes meitantei Kizamaro's great deductions!" Kizamaro giggled as he adjusted his glasses' frame.
"Yikes!" Gonta gasped.
"Hah. So predictable, really!" Jack looked amused.
Subaru suddenly looked elsewhere and seemed to remember something: he then switched to a worried face before sighing.
"What's wrong, Subaru?" Akatsuki asked.
"Eh… Akatsuki – san… Do you remember that I asked a favor out of you to check on the whereabouts of a former classmate of mine?"
"Huh… What was his name again?" Akatsuki frowned.
"Futaba Tsukasa." Acid reminded him.
"Oh. True! We found out that he'd been the host of the FM Gemini and could Denpa – Henkan into Gemini Spark…"
"But Akatsuki – san wasn't able to locate him, right?"
"No."
"Why?" Gonta asked.
"Futaba didn't try to Denpa – Henkan with a Hunter VG, so we weren't able to issue him a "Trans-code" and to locate him."
"What? He didn't switch from a Star Carrier to a Hunter – VG?" Luna frowned.
"Gemini…? Corvus used to say the guy was known for being a manipulator and fond of stabbing a blade into everyone from behind… Not unlike King, truly… He manipulated the FM King into starting the invasion and attacking their neighbor planet, AM Planet, right?" Jack recalled.
"Yeah. And some remains of his program were left installed on Tsukasa – kun's Star Carrier when he transferred the data there from his previous device… Gemini's personality file wasn't there anymore, but it could be engaged anytime and the Denpa – Henkan was stable enough…" Subaru explained.
"Hmmm… Yet, I tried contacting the orphanage where he is supposed to be living at: they haven't seen him ever since over a year ago, slightly after the Mu Continent Incident…" Akatsuki followed.
"Did he travel elsewhere?" Luna suggested.
"I thought the same, too, so I searched isolated-like places where he might try to disconnect and spend time alone, but… No result." Subaru admitted with a sigh.
"Didn't ya try Noise Waves?" Jack asked.
"No. But that's because he shouldn't be able to stand Noise Waves to begin with." Subaru replied.
"Hmmm… Weird, then." Jack concluded.
"Maybe it's a mystery sans an answer…?" Kizamaro wondered.
"Dunno…" Gonta muttered.
Subaru sighed and looked at the sunny skies while Akatsuki seemed to be concerned, too…
17:51 PM (Japan Time)…
"… I'm home!"
"Welcome back!"
Subaru stepped into his home: Akane was sitting in one of the sofas and reading something being displayed over a Real Wave screen.
"Where's Dad?"
"You know Daigo – san: he's working on a new analysis project at WAXA with Amachi – kun and Yoiri – hakase." She replied.
"Did Rock come back?"
"Not yet, I think."
"No wonder…" Subaru looked amused by the reply.
"He went to compete with a friend?"
"Correct."
"By the way… You're going to leave for the mansion this weekend, I guess?"
"Yeah… Eh… Does that bother you, Mom?"
"… Not really. We've gotten used to it. And since you get along so well with that gentleman, then…" She calmly replied.
"O. K. I'll be on my room, then."
"Oh! And I think that Rock – kun was up to something… He suddenly came during school hours and spent a while doing something to the computer, so…" Akane warned.
"… Yeah. It wouldn't surprise me." Subaru muttered.
"He must be plotting a joke, then?"
"Unmistakably."
Subaru rolled his eyes while Akane giggled…
18:04 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Come on, you two… You didn't need to try to destroy half of the Cosmo Wave, did you?"
"Ya cheap look-alike! Ya didn't need to butt into a manly thing!"
"Buro~! Yeah! Go hunt Viruses down!"
"Sorry, but Moon Disaster filled a complaint, so…"
"Che!"
War Rock and Ox were playing the offended while hovering as they looked away from each other above the Wave Road of the Cosmo Wave: a third person was trying to dialogue with them.
This third participant looked rather similar to Rock Man but with several design alternations to him: his main color of choice was red.
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.
"Blood Shadow! Ya are the last guy I wanna see!" War Rock played the offended.
"Buro~! Ya got in the way!" Ox grumbled.
"Subaru – kun wouldn't like this, anyway." Blood Shadow sighed.
"Bertie~! Aibou came~!" A voice rang out.
"Sigma. Stop kidding and show your hide." Blood Shadow grumbled.
"Heh, heh, heh."
A second person showed up from apparently out of nowhere.
This guy was about two meters tall and 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.
Overall, he seemed to be tall and imposing.
"A manly guy came!" War Rock grinned.
"Buro~!"
"So! Why do you get all of the credit, Sigma?" Blood Shadow asked.
"Ask Mr. Perfect!"
"Che. Anyway… Let's wrap up our patrol and go back to the HQ. Boss wants to tell us something he's found out."
"Sure, Mr. Discoverer!"
"Jeez. Why do you and Sir Omega persist on staging a "nickname war"?"
"Dunno, Bloody Shadowy!"
"Jeez. Okay. I'm going on ahead. Next time Mr. Universe will bother to show up so as to stop both of you." Blood Shadow grumbled.
"Mr. Universe, eh? That's gotta be yer Boss!" War Rock laughed.
"Wrong. And I'm off."
"Heh, heh, heh. Bloody Shadowy is fun to tease with from time to time~, ya see~… Let's go have fun, my pals!"
18:11 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Huh? The phone… Hello?"
"Hello, Subaru."
"Oh. Boss. Is something the matter?"
"I got a hold of some news which may interest you…"
"Really?"
"Really."
Subaru was sitting in front of his work-desk and having a talk with a man on his early twenties whose hair was black and his irises' color was blue using the Hunter – VG.
"My supercomputer, Black Ace, rediscovered a forgotten planet which hadn't been sighted again since over 50 years ago… Zenay III…"
"Whoa!" Subaru gasped.
"The curious part is… There are several strange energy anomalies spreading over its surface which don't seem to be natural… I was going to suggest to WAXA if they could send the Raid Troop members to check it out…" The man suggested.
"I could speak with Akatsuki – san: we'd all benefit from such an adventure, really! When could we go?"
"Well... Truth is… We can't go yet… Some kind of Denpa anomaly is surrounding the system: it makes all attempts to open space-time tunnels become very dangerous and it won't be safe to go until it clears… We don't know when or how, though. I'm still looking into it." The man admitted all of a sudden.
"Hmmm… Isn't that deterrence?" Subaru realized.
"Sort of, yeah…"
"Mr. Devil's advocate claims it's his client's own handiwork." An amused voice rang out off-screen.
"Omega – san?" Subaru wondered.
The man looked over his right shoulder before the screen was filled with static and was replaced by a fish-eye-camera's feed of the person named Omega.
The guy struck as being over one meter and eighty tall.
A blue jewel shaped like an inverted triangle was set on the forehead of his helmet which was emitting a cross-shaped flash.
His eyes' irises were blue and they displayed considerable amusement while long blond hair came out from behind him and reached all the way to the floor.
He had a red vest over his mainly black body and red armor over his forearms and boots: two golden circlets were set around his forearms and on his boots as well.
"Yo! Bertie – chan! Saxby came back to haunt ya~!" He laughed.
The feed was suddenly cut to be replaced by a close-up of "Boss": he could be seen wearing body armor colored metallic grey and a purple cape hung from behind his shoulders.
"Omega. Stop trolling."
"Roger, Vadous – dono~!"
"The "dono" was unnecessary, really."
"Oh? So you prefer Dragon's tomato carrots?"
"No way…"
"He did show up in the Guinness of World Records 2204!"
"He didn't and stop making up vain claims."
"Sure, Mr. Vain."
"Get out."
"Through the trapdoor?"
"Whatever."
Omega giggled and ran off while Vadous rolled his eyes.
"Anyway… I'll contact you if something new were to pop out. Do tell about this to WAXA and maybe you could go visit Planet FM: they might be able to offer you a clue." Vadous suggested.
"Sounds like a good plan… I'll go for that, Boss."
"Ya will go and sneak into Area M!"
"Wha! Rock! Don't show up of nowhere!"
"Heh, heh, heh…"
War Rock had suddenly shown up in front of Subaru while making a scary face: Subaru gasped and stepped back.
"I heard the talk: I'm gonna gain home field advantage to then beat Ox to a pulp!" War Rock laughed.
"And stop with the joke of "Area M"… I'll never try to sneak into Misora – chan's apartment! Go slice Viruses!" Subaru grumbled.
"Sure, Big Boss."
"Who…?"
War Rock ran off while Subaru rolled his eyes and sighed.
"You didn't have enough with hiding a zombie mask under my desk you keep on trying to provoke me… You can be a bad person when you want to, Rock!" He annoyingly muttered.
He resumed typing into his computer and working on his homework as he hummed a tune: he could hear War Rock laughing hysterically close by along with the yells of Viruses upon being deleted.
"I dunno if he's trying to look up to Jack the Ripper or what but he's starting to get scary, even. Maybe Dr. Lartes will know how to set him straight… But I can't shake the idea of actually visiting a new planet off my head… It's gotta be a cool experience! I'll finally realize my dream…!"
