Chapter 2: Arrogant moves

10:31 AM (Japan Time), Friday June the 24th…

"… Please show me the IDs."

"Huh? What happened?"

"Security has been increased?"

"Indeed! The IDs, if I may."

"Y-yes, sir. Here they are."

"Have them, sir."

"… Ah! You're Hikari – hakase's sons… My bad. First day on the job but I've been told to check everyone."

"Of course, sir, of course… We don't want to feel exceptional either."

"Ah yes. That car waiting outside the compound is private security: they won't be coming in but you can check with them if you want."

"Alright. Here you have. You can go in."

"Thank you!"

"Good morning."

Netto and Saito were stopped on the entrance of the Science Labs' main building by a security guard: they handed him over their IDs and he checked them: Netto discreetly signaled a discrete blue Hyundai parked nearby with two occupants on board and the guard nodded before he let them through: both stepped into the foyer and found Meijin having a talk with Zataki.

"…stolen and found devoid of anything…" Meijin was saying.

"No wonder." Zataki wasn't surprised.

"What is that guy's aim, anyway?" Gate Man asked.

"Chaos." Omega simply replied.

"So it's some kind of lunatic?"

"Oh no! Leftover. As simple as that. Delusional leftover. Having fantasies of power and all." Zataki shrugged.

"Oh well. If you say so…"

"Good morning."

"Morning." Zataki calmly replied.

"What happened?" Saito politely asked.

"The culprit snuck in disguised as a delivery man, drugged the PA center employee and hacked the PA console. Just to stir up some noise and lure us here…" Omega summed up.

"Gotta be the impatient type."

"Sure thing…"

"Good blessings and angels! De masu!"

"Higure – san again?"

"Ah! It's the gentleman from the other day, de masu. Thanks to you, sir, Higureya was saved from the vultures! De masu!"

Higure popped out from deeper in: Zataki looked suspicious and suddenly drew a gray PET with a purple "V" as emblem: he aimed the camera at Higure's face and looked at the screen before lowering it.

"Alright. Sorry, but I had to check that you were the real one. The culprit seems to have some disguising skill, too."

"I see! De masu. Maybe you need a blessed enchanted loved charmed spirited protection? De masu?"

"No. Thank you." He drily replied while looking skeptical.

"Ah. A tough customer, de masu. Well then… I've got something else that might convince you, sir. De masu!"

"What about your store?"

"A~H! MASU~! NUMBER MAN WAS LEFT THERE~! I MUST HURRY OR ELSE ONLY VULTURES WILL REMAIN! MASU~!"

"He'd never freaked out so much about the store." Netto looked puzzled as he saw Higure run away like an express.

"Maybe he's having bad sales. With the crisis and the rise of second-hand Battle Chip in city markets… Plus you can get some through eBay and Amazon as well." Saito explained.

"I see…"

"I didn't know that." Zataki admitted.

"Well, Boss, not like we're in constant need of buying or selling Battle Chips either, see…" Omega pointed out.

"Good point. I get absent-minded from time to time."

"That's not it. It's lack of sleep. 4 hours a night aren't enough. Why don't you leave it up to me? I don't need to sleep to begin with and I can always cancel my sleep mode." Omega suggested.

"I know you're right but…! The pressure! The stress! You know what happened in Taiwan!"

"I know, I know. But if we dance to the tune of the culprit's flute then we won't get anywhere."

"Sheesh. Oh man. I need some fresh air. Later."

Zataki stepped out, barely repressing a yawn, and the group sighed: the twins and Meijin headed further in.

"What were you saying about stolen?"

"The delivery van was stolen from the delivery company a couple nights ago: they found it abandoned in an underground public parking but there wasn't anything." Meijin explained.

"You've reinforced Cyber World security too, I take it?"

"Of course. All consoles now have 3 passwords to them. And they shift."

"It's annoying but necessary." Zero admitted.

"Hey. Zero. Been a while."

"I know. You guys alright?"

"You know us. We burn. Without Hinoken's consent." Netto made up a joke as if to relieve the stress.

"Heh! Hinoken must eager to burn but he only burns against Count Elec in Mario Kart Wii. They always accuse each other of cheating. The Cheating Duet of Fire and Thunder." Saito laughed.

"Why not…" Zero sounded slightly amused.

"This is Gate Man: it'd seem that the Navi that was beaten by Zero yesterday had its remains recovered before the others came in yet it was a single unit using "Kage Bunshin"…" Gate Man reported.

"Shadow Man will deal with them: he won't take it lightly. Or maybe we should say his Operator won't take it lightly. Thank goodness that Zataki – san managed to convince the guy that there wasn't a point on continuing mercenary activity anymore." Meijin commented.

"… Say, Netto – kun… Did you find a secret beneath your pillow?" Saito suddenly asked while grinning.

"Huh? No. What's that about, Saito – niisan?"

"Ask Mr. Pillow." He shrugged.

"Not the glitch mode again…" Netto gasped.

"Descent!"

"Fine. If it helps vent off the tension…"

"Ascent!"

"To where?"

"To your imagination: filled with curry." Saito replied with a grin.

"Oh come on. I love curry, yeah, but…"

"… Relaxing onsen in Hakone City that will…"

"More spam? Sheesh. Go there yourself." Meijin groaned in the meanwhile as he stumbled upon another spam email.

"Ah! Here you are. I was looking for you two." Hikari Yuuichirou came out of a small office and walked towards them.

"Papa. Maybe you need a break? You look like you haven't shaven in some days' time." Netto pointed out.

"You've lost a couple kilos, I'd say." Saito added.

"Oh man. That blows. I got absorbed in another research, then this security issue and… Well."

"It'd do well to take a break, sir."

"I know… Maybe this weekend. Once we've made sure that the new security is solid enough and all…"

"Alright."

"What's the new research about?"

"New emergency beacons for PETs and Navis… We're trying to see if we can develop something that works underground, maybe by exploiting some form of magnetism…"

"I see. That'd be useful." Saito rubbed his chin.

"Of course it would." Meijin nodded in approval.

"…gym with all kind of facilities and services and…"

"Not again… I need to update the spam filters!" Meijin complained.

"And the glitch filters, Meijin – san." Saito added.

"And the curry filters, Meijin – san."

"And the elegancy filters. Meijin."

The 3 of them laughed while Meijin chuckled and blushed…

10:54 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Red Sword? You guys there?"

"Delta – sama. Welcome back, sir."

"Hyuru~! Oi! Cloud! Delta – sama came! Did you hear me? Hyururu~h!"

"I knew that, Blizzard! By my might! Scram!"

"You two… Behave!"

"Cosmo! Don't butt into…!"

"Ahem, ahem."

"YIKES!"

"Will you 2 ever behave?"

A Navi had come into a Cyber World locale that had the background text "HUNTERS' GUILD" written there using a green font: former "Nebula" members Blizzard Man, Cloud Man and Cosmo Man were there along with a 4th Navi: Blizzard and Cloud began to quarrel, Cosmo Man tried to cut them, they snapped back at him and the newcomer, Delta, cleared his throat so they stopped.

"You should be feeling shameful! You're always bickering with each other like pre-school kids! Where's your pride as members of the Hunters' Guild, huh?"

Delta's main body color was jet black while his forearms, boots, shoulder plates, rear-pack and helmet were painted silver.

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 emblem was a silver Delta set against a black background.

Overall, he looked extremely similar to Rock Man and seemed to be around his height as well.

"Red Sword there and Cosmo Man behave in a way more mature way than you 2 ever do."

"T-that's…"

"So?"

Red Sword, the 4th member of the group, had a wild flock of silver hair which came out from behind the helmet and covered all of his body's back.

His helmet's main color was blood red as well, yet the inner edges surrounding his thick red shades had a tint of purple to them: a purple band formed on the forehead and circled the whole diameter of it: two valley-shaped cavities had been inserted into the sides of it.

They ended in golden circles: a "fin" sprouted from the top of the helmet thus giving it a menacing-like look.

His main "skin" color was black, yet his upper torso had red blood armor built over it: there were two black shapes drawn over the shoulders having a golden rim and a thin black line spread from the base of the neck to the lower edge of the armor.

An emblem with a black edge was set on the chest: it consisted of white and black halves split by a thunderbolt-shaped line: white was golden and silver was right.

The forearms were colored blood red and had two purple-colored parallel formations which originated at the sides of the emblem atop each hand's palm: they spread over the edge of the forearm while forming a pyramid-like shape.

The central body of the forearm was now colored metallic gray and had two purple circles colored yellow inside: a purplish-colored blade emerged around a cone-shaped purple-colored formation: the blade looked sharp and menacing for some reason or another.

His boots began slightly below the knee.

They had purple-colored diamond-like shapes which extended as high as the knee: they were colored blood red as well: the soils were colored purple, too.

"If you keep it up the culprit is gonna laugh at us! But you seem to want that anyways so…"

"N-no, sir!"

"Then BEHAVE! That's an ORDER! Sheesh!"

"Y-yes, sir!"

"Yo. What's up, guys?"

"We heard some noise."

"Forte? Ah! Reverse King, Serenade – sama…?"

"Serenade is fine."

Forte came in along with Serenade: everyone gasped but Serenade made a dismissing gesture as if telling them that there was no need to be formal in front of him.

"Nothing, sir. These two won't behave, sir."

"I see. If that is all… Dark Man and Yamato Man… Have you found anything as of yet?"

"Indeed! The culprit was loitering around the Reverse Square as earlier as this dawn!" Yamato Man reported.

"And posted in the boards, too. Kush, kush." Dark Man added.

"Send those messages to me."

"Roger, sir."

"And keep an eye out: they could be mingling as a run-of-the-mill Navi as well. If you see new posts that follow a similar pattern then that will give them away. Stay alert." Serenade ordered.

"Roger, sir!"

"Let's see… "Name's Night Baron. Demon Tribe Chief. I shall rule the surface and drag nutrients into the makai to feed the mighty demons there… The Demon God and the Demon King shall both choose the best of the lot and have them for their glory. The Grand Master shall have its revenge on the traitor lot! By Night Baron."…" Forte read aloud.

"Did you find something?" Omega rushed in.

"This."

"Ah! I see. The same speech he pulled on us on Taiwan."

"And that means that…?" Delta asked.

"That he plans on bringing back up the "Secret Empire" along with "IQ" and their right-hand man… To kidnap guys and girls there and there and you can imagine the rest…"

"HUH?" The 3 "Darkloids" didn't seem to see the point.

"They have no notion of "sex"…!" Delta whispered.

"Forgot that… Ahem, ahem. This guy wants to imitate Ganondorf: to rule the world." He simplified for the others.

"A fool like him will rule the world?" Cosmo Man was skeptical.

"Well. I mean the guy and his bosses… A dangerous gang, see." Omega replied with a shrug.

"Ah! Then it sounds more feasible."

"Hah! A Ganondorf wannabe? We'll smash the guy!"

"Hyururu~! Come! And be gone! Hyururu~!"

"Hey, you…" Red Sword began to call out.

"Don't mind them. Better to have the morale high…" Delta told him with a shrug of the shoulders.

"If you say so, sir…"

"I shall return. Let us meet again."

"Other posts… "Omega and Zataki: I know you'll read this. I, Virus, will bring forth nightmares of ancient eras and modern eras. You better be ready."… A war declaration, even…" Omega grumbled.

"Virus…?" Zataki wondered over the radio.

"Ring a bell, Boss?"

"Hmmm… I've got a very vague feeling it does but… I think this isn't a random name but his usual criminal name… Like in the cases of "Alive Cell" and "Keitai Denwa"…"

"Alright. Let's set some watch in some of the more visited boards: I'll contact Ijuuin and Blues. Let's simply say this: it's a dangerous delusional leftover intended on stirring fear within society… That will enter into the area of competence of the Officials, too…"

"Wise thinking. If the Officials get involved that might put some pressure into the guy."

"What troublesome lot… I prefer some amateur like those "Secret Army" guys to these."

"We'd all prefer that, really. Or "Zeta"…"

"Zeta! I'd forgotten about the damned sneaky Koratta."

"Now's not the time for that. We must focus on Virus AKA Baron."

"You're right."

"I'll get on the move. Later." Omega ran off.

"I'll meet up with Junior and we'll go hunting too."

"Good. Oi! You guys! Hunting time!"

"Deer hunting time?" Hiro opened his Operator screen to joke.

"Sheesh. Hiro – kun. Save the jokes for later!"

"Hunters' Guild: on the move!"

"Let's go!"

18:29 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Did you call for me? Chief Lezareno."

"Colonel Talos. Mr. Sponsor wanted an update on the security protocols: he suggested trying to increase their efficiency or switch them. We must make sure the culprit doesn't use them to stir confusion."

"Good point. I'd already thought of it."

"Excellent."

Two men met in an office room with views into the city.

One of them was sitting in a chair behind a desk having a laptop, documents and a phone.

The man, Chief Lezareno, was on his forties and appealed to be over a meter and eighty tall.

His hair was blonde and neatly combed his face was clean shaven and he seemed to be calm enough.

He was dressed in a gray trench overcoat, a black sports suit and pants along with brown shoes.

He had sunglasses on, though.

"Please have a seat."

"Good. I have provided the agents with cameras that can see through disguises. And they have a transmitter emitting a signal that can only be caught by our specially tuned Sub PETs."

"That's a good start, Colonel Talos."

Colonel Talos, the visitor, looked as being on his late forties: his hair was grey and parts of it fell down in the front of the face and he seemed to be missing his left eye as well.

He was dressed in a grey army uniform, although the area around the sleeves and neck was colored in a reddish patch: he had a distinction on the right side of the uniform just underneath the right shoulder.

"Other measures include a password designed to sound stupid to a foreigner and make them believe that can't be it. An example: "did the mosquito beat the whale?"… "Yes. 2 minutes 2 seconds."…"

"I see." Chief Lezareno grinned.

"But, nevertheless… We can't lower the guard. So as to not to place too many agents on the field… We've deployed cameras in the fronts of the houses to check in who comes in and out and if anyone suspicious shows up around there… They transmit in live to a sub-section I established of the Surveillance Department. They must report to the closets agents on the site if anything happens." He elaborated next.

"Good. That's another wise measure. Let's make sure we don't intrude too much in their privacy, though."

"I'm taking care that that doesn't happen."

"Good as well."

The phone rang and Chief Lezareno picked it up.

"Yes? Mr. Denpa?"

"Yes. That's me. The culprit's objectives are becoming clear and a move is imminent. It's highly possible that something will happen tomorrow: we should make sure to keep a constant watch." A man reported.

"Don't fret, Mr. Denpa. We're ready for a strike at anytime. At the very least we can disable any "Dimensional Converters"."

"Ah! That's good, sir, yet… We can't get confident. We must keep an eye out inside of our ranks too. There could be an accomplice somewhere, even..."

"I'll go over their histories myself."

"Excellent. It might turn out nothing but Mr. Admin told me we can't leave any stone unturned and unaccounted for. Let's make sure Colonel Thunderbolt remains in Sharo. And that he hasn't had contact with suspicious folk either…"

"Ah! Comrade Thunderbolt, yes… Well. His visa expired so he'd have to request a new one through the Japanese Embassy in Moscow: we'd know if he tries to request a new one."

"Good. But let's make sure he doesn't use another ID to try to return to here in an incognito manner."

"You've got a point. I'll contact Sharo HQ."

"Excellent, sir. The pass of the years might make him think we've forgotten the incident in which he was involved… He just needs a little reminder." Mr. Denpa warned.

"Leave it up to me."

"Good enough. Let us speak again. Gentlemen."

"Good-bye, Mr. Denpa."

Chief Lezareno replaced the speaker: something vibrated close by and he drew his Samsung phone.

"Agent Umi? This is Lezareno. Did the gorilla beat the colossus?"

"Yes, sir… In a fierce match of 3 rounds and 40 minutes…"

"Password alright… Did Mister Mahajarama import sushi?"

"He has no need to because it's not the store's specialty."

"Second password alright. Good. The number."

"14-59-457-982-111."

"Alright as well. What's the status over there, Agent Umi?"

"Sir. I spotted some smoke coming from near the playground and found that someone had gathered a heap of leaves and set fire to them. Agent Raion remained on his post and spotted the "delivery man" of the other day trying to approach Mr. Tomono's house. Agent Raion radioed Agent Karasu but the culprit ran away in a Yamaha motorbike."

"Good job. Did you get the plate number?"

"Yes, sir. I've sent it to your phone. Sir."

"I wouldn't be surprised if the motorbike was stolen, though. You acted as the protocol mandated. Good enough. That'll be all."

"Roger, sir!"

Chief Lezareno pocketed the phone and nodded at Colonel Talos: he stood up and headed for the door.

"I'll contact the police with the bike number. You, Colonel, please take care of the surveillance feed."

"My pleasure. Let us meet again, Chief."

"Indeed, Colonel."

Colonel Talos came out while Chief Lezareno dialed a number on the phone and waited.

"Inspector Randa? This is Lezareno. I've got a bike plate number I'd like of you to look up. It's highly possible that it's been reported as stolen but nevertheless… It involves a dangerous man."

"Understood. Forward the number to me and we'll run a search into the databases. Maybe we'll find some hint."

"Excellent. I'll be on the office the whole afternoon so please contact me as soon as you've got some results."

"My pleasure. Later."

"Good-bye."

Lezareno replaced the speaker and stood up to then look out into the street while having a stern face on.

"So. A leftover it is… But maybe there's more to this man than what it'd seem on the surface… The days to come will be dangerous. I can feel that on the air."

The "Committee" won't sit idle. We'll come after you will all of our strength and resolve… Regret challenging civilization, you brute…

23:53 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hi there. It's me."

"Ah. You."

"How are things on you guys' end?"

"Excellent."

"Are you sure of it?"

"Of course. No meek insider will be able to defeat us either. Because, technically… You know!"

"Oh yeah. Now I see."

The Night Baron was standing in the middle of a forest somewhere and talking with someone through a cell-phone: he sounded amused as the voice on the other end (a man) was pretty confident.

"Let me warn you, Baron. I don't work for you. The only thing you provided is a location where we can make our debut and carry out some strikes to inflict fear into the lot. That's all. We're but business partners and I'm not gonna stick out my neck to get you outta a mess if you start one. Clear enough?" The man warned.

"Clear enough. Same over here."

"Alright. You know how to approach me. I'll invalidate this SIM card once this call ends. Ah yeah. And we'll use the means you've provided as well to stir up some chaos in another front too."

"Yeah. Go ahead. See ya."

"Bye."

Night Baron stopped using the phone and chuckled under his breath as he glanced at the moonlight filtered by the trees' foliage.

"The aperitif is over… Let's move into the banquet… Hmm… Yummy…"

Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh… Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h!