The Filibusters of Death
By Zoram Selrof
Chapter 1: Unannounced visitors
16:16 PM (Japan Time), Thursday November the 27th, 2008…
"… Ah. So there it is… "Earth"…is that planet's name."
"It has been a long time since we had found such a planet."
Earth shone with its usual pallid blue light in space as tons of orbital satellites circled around it or remained stationary in one spot: the still-under-construction International Space Station looped around the planet every a few intervals.
A strange spacecraft was approaching it while slowly drawing an orbit which had it come out of the Moon's reverse side.
The spacecraft had several parts: the main part was shaped like a cone colored green and was placed at the head: its main body had several circles drawn on it and some lights shone on its surface with increasing and decreasing glows.
A cylindrical central column colored pale brown emerged from the base and it extended until it reached a purple-colored dome-shaped object placed at the end of its length.
Several purple-colored ellipsoid objects were placed on top of it and around its whole diameter.
Placed midway between the piece at the end and the head was a circle-shaped object colored lime green.
Located between the head and the circle-shaped objects were some short cylinders: some of them (6 out of 10) had cone-shaped objects attached to them as if they were supports.
These objects were colored gray had some vertical grooves on them along with a drawing of a planet painted black on the underside.
"Hum. True. I think that our last find was about 45 years ago."
"Our systems awakened us when they detected probes exploring "this" Solar System… Man' Azanz."
There was a Cyber World built at the head of the extremely long craft which contained had several floating screens which displayed diverse graphics: the surroundings were designed to imitate the feeling of outer space itself.
Two strange Net Navis were standing inside: their design was unlike any other seen before.
One of them, the taller, had two folded triangular wings with grooves drawn on them.
His eyes' irises were colored purple and displayed no emotion.
The drawing of a planet was placed on his helmet's forehead too.
His body also had some grooves drawn on its surface and he didn't have any emblems on his chest or in the sides of his helmet.
He looked about over two meters tall.
His wings were colored golden.
Another Navi was standing at his right.
This one had a clear feminine appearance and her design was very similar to that of her partner.
Her eyes' irises were purple as well and she displayed no emotion either.
She wore a necklace with a jewel shaped like a planet.
Her wings were colored silver instead.
"What is our command? Man' Kananz."
"According to the will of our makers, we must send one of the Probes into it to catalog it and, if necessary, promote its evolution." The female (Man' Kananz) spoke in the same type of voice.
"Xon' Edos will do. Number 5." The male (Man' Azanz) announced.
"Acknowledged. I shall summon him." Man' Kananz confirmed.
A new Navi "flew" inside of the area soon enough.
He looked very similar in design to the other two, but his wings were colored bronze instead.
He kneeled when in front of the other two.
"Thy time has come." Man' Azanz commanded.
"Thou shall fulfill the will of our makers." Man' Kananz ordered next.
"I shall bow before the will of our makers and accomplish their mission: such is my purpose." The newcomer (Xon' Edos) made a reverence.
"Prepare for deployment. Farewell, child of our makers."
"May our makers be with thy."
The Navi made a new reverence and "flew" outside of the room.
"Engage tactical camouflage." Man' Azanz ordered.
"Tactical camouflage is engaged." Man' Kananz confirmed.
The whole spacecraft became transparent and its silhouette was barely visible.
One of the attached crafts detached and shot out towards the Earth.
The mother craft ignited its main engine and corrected its orbit to continue inwards and skipping Earth altogether.
"Approach course: begin."
The now lone craft headed towards the Earth at a set speed to match that of a vulgar asteroid and not draw the attention: It skillfully maneuvered to avoid any orbital satellites and corrected its trajectory.
The craft soon was surrounded by the fire of atmospheric re-entry and plunged into the clouds.
"Crash course: preparations completed."
The insides of the craft were very similar, if not identical, to those of the mother craft.
The lone Navi was keeping track of several screens filled with graphics and undecipherable glyphs.
"… This continent seems to be a strategic spot. It has ample deserts. I have decided. My point of insertion will be this one. I will make the preparations for landing." He spoke aloud.
The craft descended below a concentration of clouds and soon the North Ameroupe continent came into view: it corrected its trajectory again and aimed for the desert plains of Utah.
"… Nothing… Man. This patrol thing is silly. Who would want to steal anything in these desert plains?"
"There could be some punks hiding here too: don't lower the guard."
A patrol of rangers was making its routine nocturnal inspection of the rocky desert's perimeter fences with a jeep car.
"This is Ranger Group 11. There are no abnormalities to report. We will finish our patrol in another ten minutes." One of them reported over the jeep's radio.
"Roger."
The car continued patrolling until it climbed to the top of a small hill and stopped: the two occupants climbed down and inspected the terrain with their binoculars once again.
"There's nothing to be seen: that's why I said this job is rather pointless."
"Huh? Wait! Look towards the North – East." The other added.
The two of them looked over there to see the trail of smoke left behind by an object descending through the atmosphere.
"Ah. It's just a random meteor." One of them shrugged.
"It looks like a big one, though…" The other pointed out.
"Don't worry! It ain't Armageddon." The first one chuckled.
"Yeah. You're right." The second one shrugged.
The meteor descended below the horizon since there was a descending slope: there was a bright flash and a brutal shaking of the terrain which died down soon enough to signal the impact.
"The NASA geeks will come to check this one soon enough. Let's go back to the hut. I've got Bourbon." The first man told his partner as he walked back towards the jeep, shrugging.
"You're right." The second one shrugged as well.
"… I have succeeded in making landfall. I shall present an initial report soon enough." Xon' Edos reported over a radio channel.
"That is good. We shall proceed to explore the rest of the system and depart outside of it afterwards." Man' Ananz replied.
"Child… Accomplish the will of our makers." Man' Kananz commanded next.
"By thou will, Majesties." The Navi bowed.
The communication ceased and the Navi began to run a check of his spacecraft.
"All is in perfect working condition. Let us proceed to gathering of information and translation." He announced aloud.
Several holographic screens emerged and masses of binary data began to be displayed on them.
"So their Network technology seems to be in constant evolution and they are challenging themselves to try to improve in any possible manner: and Net Navis have become a basic pillar of this Network evolution. Not unlike our makers… Yet they made a great mistake which almost cost them their whole civilization and only a few survived… We are better than that mistake was or is… Let us resume our duty!"
17:33 PM (Japan Time)…
"… And I'm telling you AGAIN that the gym teacher is pushing us way too hard! It looks like he's trying to take out some kind of frustration on us students… Right, Saito – niisan?"
Hikari Netto, aged 15, was walking down a street with two guys and discussing with them.
He wore the middle school uniform and sported his bandana.
He carried his school suitcase plus a blue sports bag hanging from his right shoulder using a strap.
He obviously carried the Link PET support too.
"Yeah. I agree, Netto - kun. Knowing how much you love gymnastics, it's the first time you've ever complained about the subject in all these years to begin with. Whaddya say, Rainon – kun?"
Saito, his twin brother, could be about two inches taller than Netto by now.
His brown hair was neatly combed and his green emerald eye irises displayed annoyance.
"Please… Skip me the formalities and just name me Nelaus…"
The third guy walking down with them was a student about their age and maybe some inches taller than them.
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.
"My bad. Well?"
"I felt like my tendrils were gonna broke from all those flexions he told us to do!" He groaned.
"That's my point, Nelaus." Netto nodded.
"So, Isaac? You're not gonna say anything 'bout it?" Saito glanced at Nelaus' Link PET.
"Well… Guess I should glad I don't need to do P. E. classes!"
"You should, dude."
Isaac, Nelaus' Navi, 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 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: they 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 while 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.
"Man. Well. From what I've been able to snoop, it'd seem he's losing several Mahjong games as of late…" Isaac whispered.
"Hah! I knew it!" Netto exclaimed.
"And then he goes and takes it out on us students… What a jerk."
"They ought to fire 'im." Nelaus grumbled as well.
"Or we should exile him to Gondwana." Isaac made a smirk.
"That's in the middle of the Antarctic!" Netto looked surprised.
"You don't have to assume it's a literal, Hikari Jr.! It's just a joke."
"Ah. For a moment you sounded like you were gonna do it for real… You scared me!"
"Sorry for Isaac's jokes, Hikari, but at least they're not as worse as Shadow Man's and Sigma's."
"Luckily both Sigma and Blood Shadow are checking the environment to make sure Legion 64 isn't roaming around…"
"So? Ex-senpai's so-called "Pentagon Scheme"… We don't know anything else 'bout it?"
"Nothing. He hasn't shown his hide or sent that "Talon" program out there either… Zoan Gate Man hasn't been spotted and the Legion 64 Mettools are nowhere to be found. He must be lying low overseas."
"Hum. They've gotta feel patient."
"Sure…" Netto shrugged.
"Ow. My limbs still ache." Saito groaned.
"Ah. This is the spot." Nelaus warned.
They stopped in front of the Hikari house and waved good-bye to each other before the twins stepped into their house.
"We're home!" They both announced.
"Welcome home." Haruka greeted.
The twins took out their sneakers and put on the slippers before they climbed into their bedroom and left their suitcases on the ground next to the desk: they tossed the sports bag inside of the closet and shut it close.
"Man! I feel blown out. And that's because of the gym teacher jerk."
"I can't blame you. He's blown me out, too."
They both placed their PETs on the chargers to recharge them and Netto sat on one of the chairs: he turned on the PC and checked his inbox.
"Hmmm… There's nothing new."
He headed towards the bathroom: Saito checked his own inbox.
"Hmmm… Space Weather News… A meteor has made landfall an hour ago in Utah… A NASA team is expected to be deployed for further investigation… That's all, huh?"
17:55 PM (Japan Time)…
"… It'd seem there's nothing to worry about expect for the usual stuff, after all… Twilight's being quiet and must be working on that "Pentagon Scheme" thing whatever it is."
"Obviously, Charles Morgangantz."
"So, Davis… Are you gonna tell me what's inside of Jupiter's core~?"
"Jeez. A gigantic diamond as big as Earth…"
A guy had been walking down a street and talking to his Navi while grinning: the Navi sighed.
The guy, Charles Morgangantz, could be about a meter and seventy-five in height but his age was around his early 20s.
He had messy silver hair which spread slightly backwards and formed some spikes: his eyes' irises were blue.
His clothes consisted on a navy blue overcoat which had a central silver button about the waist: the coat then opened to expose his legs although it covered the rear of them.
He wore a black shirt beneath the overcoat plus black fingerless gloves on his hands: he also sported black jeans and sneakers.
The right shoulder contained blackish armor with an orange-colored edge and a silver button right over it which seemed to help it be gripped to the shoulder: three circles were then drawn on his right sleeve before a triangular piece of armor expanded over the hand: its main body was black too and it had orange edges.
His PET was colored silver and brown and had an emblem: it was a perfect golden-colored cross which was drawn inside of a silver circle having a brownish edge.
"So. Dave. Did you offer Hal a Bloody Mary?"
"Jeez. How can I if they're but a super-computer?" The Navi complained with a groan.
"Dunno. Ask someone and no-one."
"Shadow Man is too bad of an influence for you."
The Navi named Davis materialized next to him by some effect of forming blocks of data which spun clockwise as data joined inside of the round space left by them in the center and then gained the basic humanoid form followed by the details: he began to walk down the street while sighing and rolling his eyes.
Davis' body suit was colored in a deep brown color and he appealed as being about a meter and eighty tall in height.
His eyes' irises were chestnut brown and his face seemed to be shaped after a man on his early 20s: he currently displayed some annoyance which they didn't bother to conceal.
His helmet's color was red and so were his boots and forearms: the helmet had the kanji for "seigi" or "justice" written in a golden coloring vertically across his forehead's height.
The Navi seemed to wear a vest over his chest armor colored silver and having bronze edges: the vest also had the Alphabet character "D" colored golden set on each side of its body.
His arms contained four thin brownish stripes running down the north, south, west and east side of them until they drew four circles around the wrist: his forearms had extra armor over it colored in a grayish color plus a small red dome inside of each palm.
The legs' length had been designed to include a network of patterns interconnected by some nodes which were reminiscent of human nerves: the boots' front edge was shaped like a triangle and so was the heel: they apparently served as close-quarters combat weapons.
"So? Are you going to tell Houston you've got mice onboard?" Charles pulled a joke.
"Jeez. The Discovery ain't a sailing ship!"
"A space sailing ship…! SSS! I hiss like Snake Man!"
They reached an apartment block building and Charles took out a set of keys: he unlocked the hall door and checked his post mail mailbox.
"Hmmm… Nah. There's nothing weird."
They stepped into one elevator and exited once they reached the 3rd floor: the two of them then headed for one of the apartments and unlocked it: they quickly turned off the alarm system although Charles left the radio on.
"Home, sweet home…"
"Phew. Sure feels home now that I can freely materialize."
"I guess." Charles smirked.
"What… You're saying I'm not missing the real world or what, Charles?"
"Of course I wasn't… I was just making a joke, ya know."
"Ah. That's better. I'm gonna get some water."
Davis stepped out of the living room while Charles sat down on one sofa: he turned on the TV and began to browse around.
"… And we have received confirmation that a meteor has made landfall in Utah a pair of hours ago. A NASA team will…" One news channel man was saying.
Uninterested, Charles kept browsing channels: after two more minutes, he decided there wasn't anything worth his time so he shut it down.
"Charles… You shouldn't squeeze so much the glass water bottles' cap because then I have problems to open them." Davis complained.
"Sorry." Charles shrugged.
"Look: you look like one of those sedentary guys… Why don't you try to look healthier? It isn't hard!"
"Maybe… I don't feel much like it, anyway."
"What… You want someone like Atomic Network to pop up and go and blow them sky-high, Charles?"
"Well… I'd rather prefer it to be Twilight and his pawns."
"It's better not to ask for those things because they tend to turn real when you less expect that: remember that."
"Okay, Davis. You win." Charles showed his hands' palms in defense.
Charles' Link PET began to ring: intrigued, he unstrapped it and picked it up.
"Unknown number… If it's a crazy dude I know what to tell them." Charles commented after glancing at the screen.
"Hello? Charles?" A voice asked after he'd picked up the call.
"… Martin? Is that you?" Charles seemed to have recognized it.
"That's me." The voice confirmed.
"It's been ages! Where the heck are you nowadays? Are you still searching under the stones in Scotland? You sent me a mail in May but that's ages ago already! Did your buddy Ryuuto catch XD001?" Charles asked with a broad smile.
"Nah. I'm in Sharo Nation. And I know I look like Ryuuto of Pokémon XD: Dark Wind Dark Lugia and you look like Leo of Pokémon Colosseum but that joke's outdated." Martin replied.
"Hah! Guess that! Sharo Nation! What the heck are you doing in Sharo Nation? Are you looking for some genuine Vodka or what?" Charles laughed at his own joke.
"I see you still like to pull pranks on people, eh?" Martin sounded amused.
"You know him, Martin." Davis shrugged.
"Oh! That's Davis! Is everything O.K. over there?"
"Yeah! All's totally fine… Say! Is Lander still with you?"
"How wouldn't he? We're a perfect team!" Martin laughed.
"Somebody called the Sheriff?" A voice with some Texas accent asked.
"Man! You still sound like that! I thought you'd picked up some Scottish accent by now." Davis laughed.
"Heh! My accent is too cool!" The guy named Lander replied.
"Guess it is! Say! What the heck are you two doing in Sharo Nation of all places?" Davis asked.
"We're looking into a group. However… I'd prefer not to disclose details over the phone. I'm coming to Japan." Martin replied.
"When are you coming? I'll pick you up." Charles offered.
"I'm arriving tomorrow, on Friday November the 28th, with the 11 o'clock flight from Moscow." Martin announced.
"That's good. We'll pick you up tomorrow, then." Davis affirmed.
"Thanks! See you!" Martin replied.
"Don't forget! If ye're in a pinch, call the Sheriff!" Lander added, laughing.
Charles placed the Link PET back on its arm strap.
"It's been… What, over three years since we last saw each other? I'd like to know what brought him to Sharo Nation of all places." Charles commented while bringing a hand to his chin.
"I'd like to know, too."
"Let's bake some Maha Ichiban's curry rice."
"That's fine for me. Maha's curry should be on the Michelin Guide."
"Wait a min! Maybe it has something to do with Twilight and his smug "Pentagon Scheme", whatever it is about?"
"It could be, yeah. I wouldn't be surprised if he picked some spot in Sharo Nation to start meddling and taking profit that Laika's in Japan, see."
"Well. We'll just ask him tomorrow and we'll confirm or debunk it."
"OK. I'll take care of the curry… And don't try to add extra spice to it either, Charles, because I know that joke TOO well! See!"
21:21 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Well, well. How's everything like?"
"… Mr. Search Man, sir! There is nothing odd to report, sir."
A team of three Navis saluted in front of Search Man, Net Navi of the Sharo Nation Net Savior Laika as they were seemingly patrolling the Net Police HQ Cyber World.
"Good." Search Man nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, and without warning, an explosion rang out closed by.
"What was that?" Search Man wondered as he engaged his visor and micro.
"I do not know, sir!"
"Someone has breached through Sector 3's firewall!" A voice reported over the radio.
"Deadly Spades!" Someone yelled.
Some Trump cards having the Ace of Spades drawn on them shot out and hit some of the Navis, knocking them off their feet while Search Man jumped into the air and scanned.
"Target: Locked On."
He aimed his Scope Gun at the invisible enemy and charged it up with energy.
"Scope Gun!"
"Uack!"
The shot hit his enemy fully, damaging his camouflage.
"Identify yourself." Search Man demanded.
When the smoke cleared, the enemy's form became visible.
"Hum. A new face…"
The intruder was a Navi about a meter and eighty tall which made him be at more or less Search Man's own height.
His helmet was colored black with white edges and had the katakana "supeedo" or "spade" drawn on its sides.
His eyes' irises were brown and they displayed some amusement as he locked glances with Search Man.
His emblem was the "spade" symbol colored black and set against a white background.
Black was his main body color save in the forearms and boots.
His shoulders had a grayish matrix drawn into them plus the Alphabet letters "FOD" colored cyan.
The length of his arms contained six bands colored red with black Spade symbols on them and his elbow was painted gray.
The forearms were white yet they included a set of four yellowish thin stripes travelling across their length and then drawing climbing and descending spirals across the fingers' height.
The main body had a brown leather belt with a central round metallic plate which had the same "FOD" letters drawn on its center.
The legs' patterns were a repeat of those of the arms but the colors were inverted so that the bands were black and the Spade symbols red.
The boots' lower edges were colored navy blue and eight thick jade-colored vertical stripes travelled across their height.
"My name is Sharp Spade! I am one of the Filibusters of Death!"
"I've heard rumors about you guys. I didn't know you had moved to Cyber World operations as well." Search Man aimed his Scope Gun at him without being surprised.
"Oh…? Ah, yes… You're Search Man from Sharo Nation… It's no wonder you know about us… We're countrymen, after all… Don't you agree, comrade?"
"Countrymen or not, you have trespassed the Net Police HQ. You will not get out of here so easily." Search Man icily shot back, being totally unimpressed.
"Well then… Spade Blades!"
Spade spun around his own axis and drew two Long Swords colored black: he jumped into the air and dived towards Search Man while keeping his swords crossed so as to protect his chest.
"Hmpf."
Search Man, however, did not lose his cool and aimed for Spade's right shoulder as he advanced towards Search Man.
"Scope Gun!"
The shot left a clear burn mark on Spade's right shoulder: he made a grimace and lost speed, so he had to make an emergency landing: he was already panting.
"D-damn it…" He cursed.
"You're done for." Search Man announced.
"I underestimated you lowlife… But next time… There shall be no mistakes! Farewell!" Spade replied.
Spade was surrounded by a sphere made up of Trump cards containing all of the spade-themed cards, from the one of spades to the ace.
"Huh. Some new escape system?"
When they cleared, Spade was nowhere to be seen, so Search Man lowered his scope gun and disengaged the micro and visor.
"An unannounced visitor… Spade of the Filibusters of Death…"
"We will need to report this to Commissioner Kifune."
"Roger, Laika – sama." Search Man acknowledged.
"Could he be related to the "Pentagon Scheme"…? It's too early to know."
22:57 PM (Japan Time)…
"… That's weird."
"What's weird, Boss?"
Two persons were talking inside of a room which was shaped like a dome: the ground had the general form of the Hikari emblem although the straight line and the pyramid-like bases were placed at the north and south ends instead of being in the north-west and south-east ends like in Netto's bandana.
There were two half-hexagon spots which had been built such that the ground was thirty centimeters lower and covered in a grid-like material to allow for air to flow across it.
The corridor was only wide enough for one person to walk through and it had a small hole from which a rail originated around the middle point of it: it extended forward until it reached the spot where the man's armchair (which had a purple Alphabet "V" drawn behind it) was at.
A closed hatch could be seen set on the ceiling directly above this middle spot.
The far end had a control console a group of 3 LCD screens set in a curved manner over the console: the room had some circular LED lights (like the ones in traffic lights) set on the walls forming figures.
There was a black armchair set on the rail in front of the consoles.
"Well, Omega… This is odd."
"Space Weather News…?"
Omega, the Navi, was about one meter and eighty tall.
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.
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 calm and concentration while long blond hair came out from behind him and reached all the way to the floor.
"Yeah. This meteor they're talking about in the news… Our radar didn't detect it."
A man was sitting on the chair.
He looked on his mid – twenties, had messy jet black hair and red eye irises.
He wore a grayish armor made of several plates joined together of an unknown material and two swords sheaths were attached to his black belt.
His arms and legs were also covered in plating and he had boots and gloves of the same material.
A purple ragged, stained and torn cape hung from the back of the shoulders and reached all the way to the floor.
"Why. That's weird. All meteors give off a radar echo which is easily recognizable because of its irregular shape." Omega frowned and seemed to be as surprised as the man.
"I know, Omega. Maybe because there's been an ongoing solar storm it may have momentarily affected the radar…"
"Hmmm… No. It couldn't be." Omega muttered.
"What… Did you think it was something else?"
"Yeah. But I discarded it. I was thinking it could be D & S Mark One."
"Impossible. I kicked them into the depths of the galaxy years ago. At they don't have above-light-speed travel system. They're like a comet. They couldn't have returned." The man negated with the head.
"I'd say we leave it to the NASA guys to deal with it."
"I agree. We should go to sleep, too. I'm sure we'll be busy enough in the days to come… Trying to figure out what "Pentagon Scheme" is…!"