Chapter 3: Alien tech
17:38 PM (Japan Time), Saturday August the 28th …
"… Chief! Unknown radar signature… It's on a free fall course towards Kodama Town's square and descending at 3 km/s yet decelerating at the same time, sir!"
"What!"
"Tabuu…?"
"Has to be him…!"
"Chief! Should I…?"
"Wait. We need more info on what that object is."
"And there's no time before it lands: barely a minute left!"
Alarms had been triggered inside of the WAXA Command Room: one operator read info from a display, the Chief turned around from speaking with Dr. Yoiri and Shidou looked ready for action.
"Switch to "Air Display", operator!"
"Roger, sir!"
The "Air Display" revealed a 3D model of an object having a largely cylindrical form: eight navy blue spots were scattered over its four sides with a ninth one being set on the upper portion of it: the whole thing was about ten meters tall and had a ceramic shield set beneath it plus two parachutes slowing it down.
"Current speed: 940 m/s! Time until landing: 54 seconds!"
"Impossible to get there in time… But I want to be on the scene to check that thing out… Later! And tell Queen Tia that I don't want her to stalk Misora! See ya!" Shidou yelled as he ran off.
"Let's hope she listens…" The Chief grimly muttered.
"That child…" Dr. Yoiri sighed.
17:40 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Subaru! Oi! Hear this out!"
"What's wrong, dad?"
"An UFO has landed in the plaza! The FMs have come!"
"HUH? But the FMs don't need UFOs, dad!"
"Yeah! We don't need spaceships, Daigo!"
"Then what the heck is that thing which has come out of nowhere? A military experiment or what?"
"Oi! Subari~! The Hunter – VG!"
"Stop with that nickname already, will ya?"
Daigo had excitedly run inside of Subaru's room and he looked up from a textbook with a puzzled look: War Rock then signaled the Hunter – VG, which was ringing.
"Subaru!" Acid Ace called out.
"Akatsuki – san?" Subaru gasped.
"Did Tabuu's toy touch down?" He went straight to the point.
"Tabuu sent that?" Subaru asked as he stood up.
"It has to be the guy!" Acid Ace replied.
"I'd just heard the news from my dad, though…"
"Go into the plaza and check it out! I'm on my way here through the Cosmo Wave!" He commanded.
"YO, YO, YO! Acid Disaster! Wanna check out my new poll?" Moon Disaster called out.
"No time for that, Moon Disaster! Satella Police Mission! Make way for the Super Hero!" Acid Ace ordered.
"YO, YO, YO!"
"I'm off, dad!" Subaru announced as he ran off.
"Eh… Be careful!"
"Of course!"
He exited his home and crossed the street through the pedestrian crossing until he reached a cordon set up by Satella Police Wizards keeping the curious at bay: Subaru hid behind some trees and looked at the object, which was standing inert in the middle of the plaza.
"Let's go, Rock!" He whispered.
"Yessir!"
"Denpa – Henkan! Hoshikawa Subaru, On Air!" He muttered.
He became Rock Man and immediately felt a hand land on his right shoulder from behind: Harp Note was there.
"Subaru – kun! There was something interesting going on and you didn't call me?" She grinned.
"Eh… But Akatsuki – san just told me a minute ago, so…"
"I happened to be on my way to your house but it'd seem this will be interesting." She giggled.
"Yo! Sorry for the delay." Acid Ace told them as he ran up to meet them and stopped to pant.
"Akatsuki – san!" Both greeted.
"Let's examine that thing from up close." Acid Ace commanded.
They ran into the square, to the surprise of the curious, and the Satella Police Wizards automatically let them through: they then examined the object from close up.
"It's very hot. It has to have dropped from outside the atmosphere and then slowed down using the shield and the parachutes. A somewhat crude system yet it worked for NAXA during a lot of years…" Acid Ace deduced as he looked at it.
"Ladies and gentlemen! Good afternoon. My name is Mr. Universe. I'm about to start up a show. The Terror and Fear Show, I name it. And ya will see why. One warning: it ain't recommended for minors of 11 years. If ya have monster-phobia then return to your home and hide under the blankets with your lucky charm." Tabuu's amused voice rang out of nowhere in particular.
"You heard the mister, Shin! Back home!"
"No, mom! I wanna see~!"
"Let's go, Haruka!"
"But, mom!"
Some children were dragged off the square by their parents while the ones older than 10 or 11 along with other adults stayed.
"Well then… Let us start. Lights, camera, action! Rock 'n roll! I treat to my new invention: the Acid Harp Rock cocktail!"
"What the… That's so silly. Omega must've had plenty of time to pass his crazy humor into the guy." Acid Ace cursed.
The cylinder emitted some humming sounds and then some tubes began to emerge from its structure: each one was easily two meters tall and was built using transparent glass to showcase the printed circuitry boards inside of them: electricity was travelling through them and drawing patterns across their surfaces: they began to glow in a sequence and the humming sound increased in volume.
"What? A magical light show…?" Acid Ace wondered.
A circle was drawn around the square and some hexagons of distorted and mixed colors began to form while accumulating and increasing in density and height: they eventually formed a complete dome which encompassed the whole square and abruptly cut Wave Roads off: the Denpa – kuns going through them were unable to enter or leave: all coloring inside of the dome became mixed at random thus creating a hallucination-like effect.
"Whoa! This thing… It looks like the RW Shield we had in the WAXA building… Remember, the one the War Rock copies blew up…" Acid Ace muttered with obvious surprise.
"And it seems to perfectly cut us off from the outside environment given how the Denpa – kuns are unable to come out, too…" Harp Note deduced by looking around.
"Tabuu… What is he intending to do?" Rock Man wondered.
"Ho, ho, ho, ho… I'll burn you lowlifes to cinders…"
"De a~ru… Enemy sighted… Preparing for torpedo launch, de a~ru…"
"Fu – ru – ru! Let's go!"
"Meet some new faces, Raid Troop… The "Darkloids" have returned to haunt you!" Tabuu laughed.
"What!"
Three enemies suddenly formed inside of the space and faced each one of the Raid Troop members.
"Ho, ho, ho… I'm Blast Man. Burn!"
Blast Man seemed to be around a meter and eighty tall while his main body color was red and metallic gray.
His eyes were tinted black while his mouth's interior was colored red: he had no nose.
His head included a rectangle-shaped piece extending towards the rear colored red and with four vertical and thin heat exhausts placed on each side of it: his face was painted black and set within a gray metallic rim running down the sides of it and going over the chin.
His legs and feet had red armor on them: his feet had a ramp-like shape and ended in two layers of gray metallic soils: a thin vertical yellow stripe was placed over the spot where the middle fingers would be at: his knees had hexagons placed over them with three golden-colored stripes similar to heat exhausts on them.
His upper body had an oven-like shape with three heat exhausts set on his chest: the lower body and legs above the knee didn't have any armor on them and were colored black.
His shoulders had two pieces of armor shaped like whistles having a small golden-colored dome: his forearms had red armor over them while his arms and hands' skin was colored black.
Overall, he looked strong and agile.
"De a~ru… Captain Dive Man, ready for immersion and combat engagement… De a~ru…"
Dive Man was a "Darkloid" standing over a meter and seventy tall-
His head was shaped like a submarine's "sail", including a periscope and two diving planes plus the ear-pads: his face was set on the front of it and consisted in just the eyes and the mouth: he held a pipe on his mouth which emitted smoke like a real one.
His upper torso was shaped like a submarine which covered the body until the waist: his forearms also had fins on them while his hands were covered in the typical white skin.
His legs ended up in circle-shaped metallic objects painted navy blue plus two capsule-like objects covering them below the knees: each "capsule" had a fin facing outwards.
The legs over the knees were colored black.
Overall, he looked like a combination between a submarine and a veteran sailor.
"Fu – ru – ru! Circus Man is gonna tame 'em! No – one can escape from my hands! Fu – ru – ru!"
The last of them, Circus Man, had a clown-like shape and looked about a meter and sixty tall.
His face was a clown's face: his eyes were shaped like blue stars; he had a red nose and wide lips while his "skin" was colored white.
A golden arch was drawn around the face together with a round spot on the forehead: he sported a clown's cap with two yellowish spheres attached to the ends of the cap.
Curiously enough, he had four hands which had a dome-shaped yellow extension past the wrist, red armlets and white gloves: another two dome-shaped spots colored in a brownish color were set where the shoulders would be at.
He had a vertical stripes shirt with green vertical stripes colored either green or deep green: two round white buttons were set on the middle.
His body was big and fatty: he sported black-colored pants below the shirt plus reddish shoes having a stripe around the part where the feet's fingers should start at: the stripe was colored brown and had yellow triangles drawn on it aiming upwards: his emblem was placed below the shirt.
"… "Darkloids"…! Like when our expedition into Zenay III where that daimaou man was at…!" Rock Man muttered.
"No good! There are a lot of bystanders here. If we don't make sure to contain their attacks, then this is gonna become manslaughter!" Acid Ace whispered.
"That Tabuu…!" Harp Note cursed.
"Ready… Go!" Tabuu commanded.
"Ho, ho, ho. Blast Storm!"
"De a~ru… Smart Missile!"
"Fu – ru – ru! Let's go!"
"Huh! Battle Card, Piranha Kiss X!"
"Battle Card, Flash Spear X!"
"Battle Card, Break Saber… What!"
Blast Man shone and then formed three small blasts of fire which he shot towards Rock Man.
"Take this!"
Several piranhas came out from beneath the ground and hit Blast Man: Acid Ace jumped towards Dive Man while dodging two missiles but he "dived" into the earth: Harp Note had been about to attack Circus Man with a Break Saber when he warped and transformed into a tent which dropped around Harp Note: sounds and signs of a scuffle rang out.
"You pervert!" Harp Note cursed.
"Uh-oh." Both muttered.
"Uo~h!"
A gash opened in the tent and Harp Note ran out while panting and looking annoyed, for once: Rock Man was attacking Blast Man with the Drill Arm X Battle Card to keep him busy and Acid Ace was trying to find a way to attack Dive Man even though the only thing visible was the periscope: Circus Man reformed into his normal shape but then got attacked by Harp Note.
"You lowlife~! Blast Swirl!"
"De a~ru… Dive Bomb!"
"Fu – ru – ru! Fire Ring!"
Blast Man shot a swirl formed of incandescent flames towards Rock Man: Dive Man emerged, opened his chest compartment and threw some bombs at Acid Ace while Circus Man formed a "fire ring" like in the circuses plus some lion-shaped Viruses: Harp Note cut through them and hit Circus Man, stunning him.
"Get ready! Access Meteor Server, Level 3!"
Energy built up around Harp Note but her form didn't change in a notable way except for the reddish aura which glowed around her: she formed a grin.
"Good! Hammer Weapon X! Take this!"
"Happy…!"
The shockwave from the Hammer Weapon X stunned Circus Man and Harp Not then formed a smug smile.
"Black End… Galaxy!"
"Wha~!"
"Whoa!"
The Black End Galaxy was more than enough to destroy Circus Man (who went out with a bang) and stun the other two "Darkloids": Harp Note jumped in front of Dive Man and breathed before exhaling.
"There's more! Thunderbolt Blade!"
"DE A~RU!"
The two hits combined with the thunderbolt raining down from above were sufficient to make him explode, too: she didn't waste a second and landed in front of Blast Man.
"Last one! Dynamic Wave!"
She spun upon her axis and made four tall waves hit Blast Man in a row before he blew up as well while roaring in agony.
"That's what happens for picking on a girl!" She exclaimed.
The public clapped and she gulped before turning around and making a polite reverence: Rock Man and Acid Ace followed suit.
"My, my… Not bad for the opening act… Maybe this will be funnier than I thought… Our sacred maiden is proving to have teeth…" Tabuu sounded amused.
"What sacred maiden? That's a stupid repetitive title!" Harp Note didn't sound amused in the least.
"Who knows?" He joked.
"Ya do." Harp Note sentenced.
"Tabuu! What are you plotting next?" Rock Man demanded.
"Maybe a large - scale show?" He teased.
"This is a show? You're nuts or what?" Acid Ace demanded.
"Nuts? Ah. Crazy, you mean to say? No. I am perfectly sane. I just happen to be somewhat similar to Hyde: I am a scriptwriter, too. But I don't control reality: I just happen to make it less dull than it usually is. Heh, heh, heh…" Tabuu chuckled.
"What's this technology, anyway?" Rock Man questioned.
"Heh! "Dimensional Converters" and "Dimensional Area"… Ask the details to aibou once the battery runs off in 1 minute 19 seconds and counting down… Heh, heh, heh… See ya tomorrow at early morning!"
"I guess he's left." Harp Note deduced.
"Since this thing is gonna shut down alone, then let's wait and then we'll go to WAXA to go over this." Acid Ace shrugged.
"Roger." Rock Man acknowledged.
"B-B-B-Bertie~! Dance to the tune of my flute~!" War Rock suddenly laughed.
"Very funny." He drily countered.
"Pororon! As always… Doing stupid stuff!" Harp muttered.
"Wha~t? The one who does stupid stuff is Gonta!" War Rock protested with some annoyance.
"Playing victim won't help you." Acid Ace sighed.
"Look who's talking! Why didn't ya come help us after the Grave Joker stuff, huh?" War Rock questioned.
"I was almost dead. I had to stay put. And so was Acid. I tried to tend the wounds myself but they were too grave, so I had to give up and show up in WAXA… Dr. Yoiri and Queen Tia treated them. And Dr. Yoiri had me go through a diet of the stone ages." Acid Ace related with some sarcasm.
Tabuu… What's your goal? I'll foil anything which harms others!