Chapter 2: Umbra's Return

08:08 AM (Switzerland Time), Friday July the 2nd…

"… Ah!"

Hikari Netto suddenly awoke and sat up: he'd been sleeping.

"Huff, huff…"

He panted while looking afraid and looked at his body: he had a set of bluish pajamas on and could feel his boxers underneath them: he also had some band-aids to cover some superficial cuts.

I remember! I was visiting the mine with Laika when that brutal explosion ensued! I was pushed forward like five meters and I then found that impassable wall of rock and earth! Then…

He suddenly seemed to frown and brought a hand to his chin as if trying to recall: he gasped in fear.

Then the "Evil Blues" showed up while carrying a steel rod! He had that creepy grin on his face! He then seized me, turned me around and hit me on the back of my skull with the rod…! I lost consciousness!

He suddenly noticed something at his right, so he looked there to spot Rock Man, who was laying face-up on the right side of the bed: he had all of his bodysuit except for the helmet on, thus revealing his neatly combed brown hair.

Saito – niisan in the real world…? Someone installed him into a "Copy Roid"… Whoa… I'd never guessed he had such neat hair under that helmet… I should try to wake him up: he might remember something else!

"… Saito – niisan! Please wake up!" Netto pleaded as he gently shook his body.

"Hum… Netto – kun… otouto…" Saito muttered in a sluggishly manner as if he was still asleep.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked around in a seemingly confused manner: he looked sleepy.

"… Where are we at…?" He asked.

"Remember! The explosion…!" Netto told him.

"Ah! Evil Blues!" Saito gasped.

He quickly sat up and looked at its body and then at Netto with a confused look.

"… Huh…? Eh…? E~H? I'm in the real world? But… Ah! This is a "Copy Roid"!" Saito first looked surprised but then realized the reason.

"What can you remember?" Netto asked.

"… The guy knocked you out, so… He then picked the PET and shut it down along with me… I remember nothing else." Saito trailed off.

"… Can you try to contact Laika?"

"… No dice. This room's walls are built with a material which seemingly absorbs EM waves… It's like we were underground."

"But… Twilight is gone! We defeated him two months ago and his own attack destroyed him! Who else could've resurrected Evil Blues?" Netto muttered before wondering aloud.

"Dunno… Maybe Twilight did get to resurrect him before he fought us and then left him instructions?"

"Maybe… But something tells me he wasn't working on his own…" Netto trailed off.

"My. Good reasoning, Netto – kun." A soft manly voice rang out.

A door which they hadn't spotted opened and closed as someone stepped in and pressed a switch: the fluorescent lights in the ceiling turned on.

"Whoa!" Netto gasped.

"Bright!" Saito gasped.

They had to close their eyes and then blink several times to get them used to the sudden change in light.

"Good morning."

They then spotted a guy standing next to them: he had a youthful smooth face which didn't look like it was older than thirteen or fourteen years old: its profile was plain and wasn't anything out of the ordinary.

His hair was colored bright blond and neatly combed in a style similar to Saito's own.

He sported a black wool jumper, fingerless gloves, jeans with a black leather belt and a pair of black socks coupled with black sneakers and sunglasses plus a black cap turned backwards.

He could be a bit taller than them by a few inches.

"Netto – kun. Saito." He announced.

"You know my nickname? Evil Blues told you?" Saito questioned.

"… No. I already knew it. In fact… We used to know each other!" The guy announced.

"… What's your name?" Netto asked.

"Ah. Yeah. I haven't introduced myself. Excuse me. My name is Kuroshiro Oriol. I'm glad to meet you two again… Hikari Brothers." The guy introduced himself with a broad grin.

"Y-you…! You know we're twin brothers?" Netto gasped.

He quickly jumped off the bed and stood in front of him like he was confronting him: he was one or two inches taller than him.

"Wait, Netto – kun! I'll protect you!"

Saito followed suit and aimed his right forearm at him before he realized the Rock Buster hadn't been engaged.

"Sorry. But I disabled your weapon systems, Saito." The guy named Kuroshiro Oriol told them.

"Who are you? An accomplice of Twilight…?" Netto questioned with a mistrusting look to him.

"My. You're in the correct road. I used to be an accomplice to Twilight, but I betrayed him back on April while he was in King Land. Had it coming, the bloody jerk." Kuroshiro admitted with a broad smile.

"You betrayed him…? And you resurrected the "evil Blues"?" Saito questioned.

"… Yeah. True, true… He has a new name: Legato."

"Legato…?" Netto frowned.

"It stands for "ambassador" in ancient Latin… You know: the language spoken by the Roman Empire which then became the basis for most Western Europe idioms like Catalan, French, Italian and Spanish."

"I knew what Latin was." Saito merely replied.

"Twilight used to quote Latin stuff, too." Netto recalled.

"However… You were right in thinking that Legato and I aren't just acting alone. I have a business partner: Mr. Kanou Shade."

"… Kanou Shade…? You mean that mister "K. S.", then! Twilight's Cousin…!" Saito realized.

"… Ah! Now that I think about it… Oriol! I dunno who you're supposed to be, but… Why did you abduct us and where is this place at?" Netto questioned.

"Well. The abduction was a necessary stunt to shake off some guys Twilight had set on your trail."

"What!"

"And while we wait for them to start fighting each other and destroy each other, you'll be safe here. We can play some very interesting games while we wait."

"Games?"

They stood silent for some seconds before they suddenly looked at each other with a seemingly interested look.

"… If it's a game, then it can't really be a bad thing, right? I mean… This guy betrayed Twilight… And… eh… Mr. Shade never inflicted harm to us and was actually supporting us…" Netto slowly argued with Saito.

"… Yeah. I dunno why but I get that same feeling… Let's try not to be so hostile." Saito suggested.

"You must be wondering when we last met: it was during the events which transpired on Tuesday November the 10th, 2005… In Utah."

"November the 10th… Utah…" Netto frowned.

"… We were at the Time – Space Tower…" Saito frowned.

"… Twilight showed up…" Netto recalled.

"He wanted to use the system to… No way!" Saito recalled before gasping in surprised.

"… Impossible!" Netto gasped.

"Not impossible at all."

He suddenly took out and pocketed his sunglasses: his eyes were a crystal blue color.

"Yay! Check it out!"

An IR laser suddenly came out of the right eye and headed towards a nearby LCD TV's Plug-In port while Kuroshiro's eyes closed.

"HUH?"

The TV lighted up and someone logged inside of it: a Navi who looked very similar to Saito, colored purple and yellow and having red eyes: his chest emblem was colored blue and black and e had a smug smile on his face, too.

"… UMBRA!" Both exclaimed.

"It's been a while!" He greeted.

"B-but…!"

The IR laser suddenly jumped off the TV and back into Kuroshiro's right eye: he closed them and blinked twice or thrice before stretching.

"Although… I'd rather like to be called by my new human name." He announced with a smile.

"T-that ain't a "Copy Roid"!" Netto gasped as he pointed an accusing finger at him.

"True. I'm 90% human."

"90%?"

"This is named a cyborg body. It's genetically engineered but the main difference with a normal human is the brain: it's totally cybernetic. I have some mechanical implants in the CNS which allow it to decode my cybernetic brain's signals. True, true! I also have nanomachines flowing through my veins."

"W-whoa!"

"The trick with the brain is the following: the core of it contains a device in which my Navi frame is kept inactive. My consciousness is carefully loaded into the brain and acts like a normal human's one. If I wanna leave it, then the nanomachines take care of keeping all vital functions up and running while reducing brain activity to sleep-like status. In short: the ultimate solution for human-like Navis to become "human"..."

"B-but… Why would THE Twilight bother to go to such ends?" Netto asked while still looking baffled.

"Ah… As you can guess… There was nothing philanthropic or generous behind it. This was going to be the "key component" of a "master plan" he'd come up with."

"… It had something to do with Netto – kun's start of middle school?"

"Yeah. True… I was supposed to approach him after he began middle school and gain his trust… But, then… I was supposed to come up with something similar to what I was ordered to do back when our first meeting… Frame Netto – kun for things he didn't do…"

"What a…!" Netto cursed.

"Yeah… And he then wanted to turn everyone against you and make you despair until I was… supposed to… to… kill you…" Kuroshiro's voice volume began to decrease and he looked at the ground.

"What the…!" Saito cursed.

"… But I could never bring myself to harm Netto – kun. This is why I knew the guy was nuts and I had to ditch him before he could try to cancel my will and turn me into a puppet to dance at his own tune… I picked off a lot of his stuff and was soon approached by Mr. Shade, who offered me help… He was fed up with the guy's schemes as well."

"… So that's how you ended up here. But Twilight is gone, so… You wanted to have me near you or something like that but thought it'd be useless to try to approach me?" Netto guessed.

"… Yeah… More or less…" He admitted while looking elsewhere.

The door opened and Legato came in while holding a tray which contained a dish with strawberry jam-coated slices of bread and a glass of water: he left them in a small side table nearby.

"Regrettably, Saito… Copy Roids aren't designed to allow Navis to process food or drink as of yet."

"I don't mind." Saito shrugged.

"Oriol – sama." Legato saluted.

"Good work. You may go."

"Yes, sir. See you around… Saito – kun." He directed a smile at Saito.

Saito gasped and looked surprised as he the guy walked out of the room and closed the door.

"So? Where is this place at?" Netto asked.

"Sorry. I'd forgotten to tell you two… This is central Switzerland." He admitted.

"Whoa. We were in Sharo and we've jumped all the way to Switzerland in less than 24 hours… You used a "Dimensional Converter"?" Netto whistled in surprise.

"Yeah. We did. Sorry for the steel rod thing… I was a bit clichéd." Kuroshiro admitted before scratching the back of his head.

"… What's that?" Saito suddenly asked.

He was signaling a totally vulgar wooden chair placed in a corner of the room: what stood out about it was the fact that its legs were nailed to the floor, thus fixing it on that spot.

"… That's part of the "game" I spoke about… It's a very intriguing game which can help one become stronger…"

"Become stronger…" Netto muttered.

"Yeah! But I guess you want time to catch up… Sorry if I cut off all contact: but it's necessary."

"Huh… Guess so." Netto shrugged.

"It's no big deal." Saito shrugged as well.

"Well then… See you guys later."

He stepped out and closed the door while locking it from the outside using a key.

"… Say… This doesn't sound too bad." Netto told Saito.

"… No. In fact… It sounds somewhat… thrilling, even." Saito muttered while he brought a hand to his chin.

"… Yeah. I'll be eating breakfast." Netto shrugged.

He picked another chair and sat next to the desk with the breakfast tray while Saito began to check the rest of the room: he discovered an adjacent bathroom which had nothing out of the ordinary.

"… I guess the reason this room is isolated is to give us some privacy as well… It reminds me of those meditation rooms in temples."

"… Guess so. Maybe it won't be such a bad thing to stay a while with 'em after all… And if we become stronger as a result… Then we end up winning, don't we?" Netto suggested.

"I'm intrigued, though, about what kind of "game" needs a chair to be immobilized into the floor… Maybe we'll soon get to see it." Saito brought a finger to his chin.

"But it must be cool for you to be in the real world, Saito – niisan." Netto commented with a smile.

"Yeah! This looks like it'll be fun!" Saito smiled as well.

"By "some guys Twilight set on your trail" it must have something to do with what he bragged on that day two months ago when we defeated him once and forever." Netto deduced.

"That about a "Living Hell"… But aren't those a fantasy, anyway?" Saito argued back.

"But remember what he said… It sounded like it was the worst kind of place ever… And apparently Mr. Shade helped it break down into small patches which are by now fighting each other to death…"

"True. And if it encompassed the whole of Japan then it was no joke: I'm surprised that it only seemingly "lived" during the night and "slept" during the day… Oh wait! Could it be a gathering of all criminals across the nation which would then be sent out to commit crimes…?"

"But then they'd showed up on the news: they'd talked about some increase and crime and so…" Saito argued next.

"Huff! I'm not good at these. Enzan would be more fitted to play the detective anyway." Netto brought a hand to his forehead.

"Sure. He was the one who found out the common trait between those items Sunayama Noboru and "Asteroid" Desert Man had been stealing by May or June, a year ago…"

"But Wily sure had rather odd items in his collection, right? And Gauss had stuffed a lot of them in his mansion too… He was a "Wily Maniac"…"

"Please! Madoi even brought a Wily statue with a pre-recorded message to replace Maha's one at the curry shop's entrance… Speaking of statues, I remember that Maha told us that Dekao once mistook the real Maha for the statue back in December, a few hours before Iris showed up at the Firewall Laboratory… And when Kurohige and Chirol tried to run off he caught them scaring the hell outta them…" Saito giggled.

"Hah, hah, hah, hah, hah! That's true too! And in the end, Wily was fed up with them and had the two of them work in the aquarium!" Netto laughed as he recalled.

"But, sadly, enough… Even though Zero finally appeared again and got friendly with Guts Man… He sacrificed himself to defeat the "Professor" and that "Zero – One" copy thing… And not too long afterward the whole "Phantom Navi" deal began… And that was but one step of Cache's crazy plan to rule the real world and Cyber World…" Saito sighed and now looked sad.

"Zero… He could've been a nice guy, really… He had that sometimes narrow-minded personality by saying that he wasn't programmed to help others and didn't know what it meant… But in the end he figured out what he meant when Guts Man tried to tackle the copy and he ended up damaging it… The "Professor" sure was a lame loser: he wouldn't admit that he was done for and tried to blow the Net Police HQ up… And we did catch the guy…" Netto looked sad too.

"… But we mustn't forget his sacrifice… Or Beyondard's Colonel's sacrifice too… Fearing that he'd be unable to avoid turning berserk again because of the "Bestialize Factor" he blew his "Copy Roid" up and split Iris from him in the end… So that we could access the "Wily Laboratory"…"

"Too many sacrifices, really… Our world's Barrel – san and Colonel, then Beyondard's Colonel, Zero's… They all believed they were doing it for a noble reason and they did… Anyway! Enough sad time. We must be strong and look on forward!" Netto settled with a sigh.

"Yeah… I wanna check this "game" out… It'll be fun!"

"Sure thing… Let's… check it out! Hah, hah, hah, hah, hah!"