Chapter 4: Sengoku
08:11 AM (Japan Time), Sunday September the 22nd…
"… Well, well, well."
"What's up, Charles?"
"My successor, Digital Snatcher Ryuuto, makes his debut! About time, eh, Mr. Author?"
"What's with that joke? Sheesh. I'm Martin Blackdesu, not Ryuuto. And you aren't Leo."
"Golden Leo!"
"Golden Leo?"
"Huff."
"Heh, heh, heh. The Sheriff says there'll be a brawl in a saloon. My landing instinct tells me so!"
"Lander. Not you too."
"Auppp!"
"Rush? Why are you here?"
"He says Mr. Author wrote him there."
"Sheesh."
Charles had met with someone in a café's outdoor terrace: both were sitting opposite each other while sharing a table and drinks: these drinks were a glass of orange juice and a glass of water: Rush was there too.
"So? Are you going to let me tell you the results of my post-investigation in Melbourne?"
"Sure, Martinson."
"Not again!"
"Charles. Quit kidding around. It's getting tiresome."
The other guy, Martin Blackdesu, looked around a bit younger than Charles by one or two years and shorter by about 4 to 5 centimeters.
He had unkempt reddish hair and brown eye irises which currently depicted slight annoyance.
He sported a golden-colored sleeveless vest which was open and he had a black t-shirt underneath it
He also wore blue jeans with a modern-looking double-row belt.
He had an arm strap for a Link PET on his right arm: the Link PET was colored in camouflage colors.
Its emblem was a skull colored black and with blue eyes set against a silver background.
"Heh, heh, heh. Let's go shake the rocks." Martin's Navi laughed inside the PET.
"What's the point of that, Lander?" He sighed.
Lander came out from the PET.
He wore a Mexican-style hat over his brown dust – colored helmet which also had some random blue and black dots scattered around it: his eyes' irises were brown.
His main body was colored navy blue and he had an open blackish vest over the torso: he exhibited a Sheriff's star on the right side of his torso which glowed.
His shoulders were anatomically correct and they had brass plating.
The arms' length and the elbows were colored brown too and his forearms were green with two orange circling bands on them: his wrists had metallic bracelets on them.
He sported a black leather belt with two Colt revolvers on it along with bullets on his waist.
His legs were also colored brown.
He had jeans over them which ended at the start of his boots.
The boots were colored black: they had blue and brown dots across them.
"Anyway! Well. The results of my analysis of sudden route-jumps and of unidentified traffic around the area are these: Gate Man warped to the Rialto Towers but then materialized and used stealth camouflage to get to wherever Twilight's house is at." Martin explained.
"Hum. Is there anything special in those towers? Some government office, maybe?" Charles turned serious.
"Well… There's a popular observation deck but it's scheduled to be shut to become a restaurant in some months' time… It's one of the tallest buildings in the Southern Hemisphere, too."
"Or maybe there's not a specific reason why he picked that place: maybe it's a red herring. The guy could've materialized and get to a nearby access point to pick another lane and register under another ID so that we wouldn't be able to follow the transit. The whole tracing led us to a PC in an office located in floor 33." Lander detailed.
"Anything odd there?" Davis asked next.
"At a first glance? No, nothing. We didn't want to be noticed, either, so we did a very quick investigation. We didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea, so…" Martin admitted.
"Hum. So it could very well be a red herring…"
"There were traces of several insiders having been slipped into random computers spread all across the building. Maybe they use it as an escape point because there are a lot of sub-lanes inside and in office days there'd be a lot of incoming and out – coming traffic. It would do well to mingle amongst the crowds to give any chase the slip."
"Aha – hah. So that's why they bothered to pick that place. Oh well: we could manipulate those insiders to tell us whenever any of the Neo Gospel dudes showed up there. It'd help us give us an idea of how they move around." Charles shrugged.
"Good idea."
"By the way, did you hear?" Charles giggled.
"What." Martin got annoyed.
"Miss Heiress' newest invention…"
"What did she come up with this time around?" He sighed.
"Anti-Competency Mowers!"
"What the hell are those?"
"Your worst nightmare: the critics!" Lander laughed.
"Sheesh." Davis sighed.
"It materializes, yells, and chases you for 1024 meters!"
"Why 1024 meters? One kilometer is 1000 meters."
"Guess she messed it up with the Kilo Byte, which is 1024 Bytes." Charles laughed.
"Huff. The last thing we needed. The madness is coming back. I'm off before I go mad." Martin sighed.
"Heh, heh, heh. Beware of stalking females."
"If you mean Ursula Magden, her dad relocated her to the SAS and is keeping an eye on her. The gal… She lived in another world! She began to say that the Choina hackers were the Desert Wraiths and that Rama was an Indian-based gang and that they'd all been arrested."
"Man. She really didn't know anything and tried to play the smart gal plus stalker… Huff. Didn't you say the conflict between your families over some terrains had been settled long ago?"
"Yeah. 60 years ago, in 1949! But the gal was STUBBORN. Sheesh."
"Man." Davis sighed.
"Come on, fellow! Bright it up! Check it out!"
"If only it were so easy, Charles…"
"What's with your step-brother as of late?"
"Ayase? Studying, of course. He got good grades."
"Did he report anything odd?" Charles asked.
"No. Why should he?"
"Maybe I'm being paranoid, but wouldn't it be wise to keep an eye around from time to time? I don't think Twilight would target him again but you never know the rascal." Charles warned.
"Good point."
"But don't fret him out, either." Davis pointed out.
"Don't worry. We'll just send an agent to have a look around and check if there are any police reports of odd happenings. It might be in vain but you know the motto: better to prevent than to heal."
"Yeah. That's true." Martin nodded in agreement.
"As true as TRUE ENDING!" Lander laughed at his own poorly improved joke.
"Sheesh. That wasn't half-funny to begin with, Lander."
"Did ya say somethin', Perkins?"
"I give up."
"Don't be so defeatist, man!" Charles encouraged.
"Were it so easy…" He rolled his eyes.
"Come on, Lander… Don't go over the edge too. We've had enough bearing Sigma, Cloud Man and Shadow Man." Davis scolded.
"Don't worry~! I'm under the edge!"
"Lovely." Davis sighed in defeat.
"Heh, heh, heh! Let's go, Perkins! To raid Fort Apache we go~!"
16:36 PM (Japan Time)…
"… And I hope that this was enough of a lesson for you."
"Huff. My mood is gone. Totally."
"About time."
"I don't want to go through that twice! For a moment I thought I'd been deleted all along and I'd been having a dream!"
"That wasn't the intention."
"Huff. Miyabi… What happened while I was napping?"
"No big deal. Gate Man showed up to challenge Zero and got pounded yesterday in Melbourne… Blackdesu figured out the spot they use to shake off their pursuers but he got no further."
Dark Miyabi was talking to Shadow Man as he walked down a street in a city somewhere: Shadow Man looked serious but sounded defeated, for once: Miyabi wasn't surprised.
"Hmpf… Mere small fry… I'm eager to take on some bigger fry…"
"You called?" Someone asked.
"Huh? What? Who's that? Some Darth Vader wannabe?"
"What's the matter, Shadow Man?" Miyabi asked.
"Some punk snuck inside the PET, Miyabi."
"Hum. Some punk, alright." He drily muttered as he looked at something past Shadow Man.
"It's been a while, ronins!"
"You're not that Ronin Man guy who worked for Rama."
"Don't you know any other Sengoku-themed Navis?"
"Yamato Man? What's with that armor thing?"
"That's Yamato Man?" Miyabi looked surprised.
"Heh, heh, heh. We've become Neo Gospel's Obscure Legion!"
"Obscure Legion, huh." Shadow Man wasn't impressed.
He'd already gripped the hilt of his katana and looked ready to draw it out and start fighting Yamato Man (who was installed in one of those new bodies and gripped his spear with the right hand): Yamato Man sounded amused and cocky.
"Heh, heh, heh. I'll drown you into "Dark"!"
"Try it." Shadow Man challenged as he drew the katana.
"Delighted! Thousand Spear!"
"Shadow Blade!"
Both began to attack each other: Shadow Man's strikes hit some spots of Yamato Man's body but he didn't seem to mind them: Yamato Man quickly began to spin his spear to deflect the incoming attacks and began to yield terrain: Shadow Man looked mistrusting and stepped back but something beneath his feet exploded and he was sent flying: he landed on his back with a THUD and Yamato Man suddenly jumped into the air and dived towards him while aiming the spear at his chest: Shadow Man fumed and there was a cloud of smoke as he was replaced by a log: Yamato Man's spear got stuck there and he growled while trying to pull it out: Shadow Man re-appeared behind him and quickly began to hit his back but he didn't seem to get anywhere.
"A mine." Miyabi calmly guessed.
"And behind me. I clearly thought he was yielding to lure me forward and make me step into it. I guess they haven't been wasting the time. But this armor IS thick. My katana alone won't suffice to deal with it."
"Maybe if you activated the HF mode?"
"Forgot you'd added that… Worth a try… Let's go, Yamato Man!"
"Hra~h!"
"Come!"
Yamato Man retrieved the spear and rushed for Shadow Man: his blade began to hum and he hit the right shoulder-armor: the blade cut it in two and exposed the body-armor beneath it: Yamato Man gasped and didn't seem to expect that.
"Damn. I forgot about the HF mode. We'll need to reinforce the armors or else we won't last long." He growled.
"Don't get confident, Shadow Man. This guy could be luring you into a trap for all we know."
"Alright."
"Hah! A trap indeed! Dark Generator: On!"
"Shit."
An amplified sound of heartbeats rang out and Yamato Man's figure was surrounded by purple light: he chuckled and he suddenly built up energy before running forward and body-tackling Shadow Man: the impact sent him flying but he managed to warp while he was flying across the air and land behind Yamato Man: he quickly swung the sword and across the rear armor to open a small opening: he plunged the katana inside but he was deflected by something inside and Yamato Man turned around while starting to thrust his spear: Shadow Man barely managed to block them and was forced to yield terrain.
"Fool! Did you really think we'd let our Dark Generators be so easy to take out? Did you think we've learnt nothing of what happened the last summer in the DNN Studios? Fool!"
"Sheesh."
"Now! Let us settle the score!"
"Fine! Same wish over here!"
"Don't get clouded, Shadow Man."
"I'll try to."
"Don't "try": just go for it." Miyabi corrected.
"Roger."
"Heh, heh, heh. Let's go! Dark Punch!"
Yamato Man built up energy on his left forearm and rushed forward: he punched Shadow Man's stomach area and the blow momentarily stunned Shadow Man: Yamato Man began to land blows from the spear there and Shadow Man got replaced by another tree log: the spear got stuck there again and Shadow Man tried to drive his katana inside through the rear slit but got bounced off again yet the repulsing force seemed to be weaker this time around.
"The protection got somewhat weakened."
"This is as far as you get! Hra~h!"
Yamato Man freed the spear, turned around, and suddenly lifted it to then plunge it towards the ground: Shadow Man tried to deflect it with his katana but he wasn't fast enough and the spear got stuck atop his right foot: Shadow Man winced from the pain but quickly hit the neck armor: Yamato Man gasped as Shadow Man quickly cut downwards across the chest armor, opening a gap on it and revealing the less thick body-armor beneath: pulsating and expanding round waves of energy could be seen forming there: Yamato Man suddenly chuckled and Shadow Man gasped as the pulsations got faster.
"Hra~h!"
"Damn. I don't like the looks of this. Shadow…!"
"Slow! Dark Twin!"
"Grua~h!"
"Shadow Man!"
The energy surrounding Yamato Man suddenly "detached" and "moved" in front of him to then gain the shape of his armor: this "twin" exploded and the shockwave pushed Shadow Man away: Miyabi called out as a blinding white flash emerged from the screen and forced him to look elsewhere.
"The final blow! Hra~h!"
CLANG!
"Mugro~h… You'll have to get past me firstly, ugly!"
"You lowlife… A member of "Rama"! Balrog…!"
"What!"
Miyabi gasped because a new Navi had shown up on the scene.
This Navi looked around two meters tall.
His head was shaped like a demon's with two blackish horns and reddish eye irises as well as sharp teeth: it was protected by a mail around the whole of its volume.
His body was colored red and had black metallic armor with purple diagonal patterns over the surface.
Two small wings with armor over it came out from behind him as well as a tail with a purple flame on it.
His hands and feet ended in sharp claws.
Purple flames surrounded his body.
He was wielding a wrecking ball and a large sharp lance filled with red thorns all over its surface.
His mere presence radiated an intense heat wave.
"I heard there was a brawl here so I kept an eye from afar in case you tried to play dirty… And my hunch was correct! Fight me if you've got the GUTS to, rascal! The drums of Khazad-dûm are ringing! My soul's burning! Bring it on, twerp!" Balrog challenged.
"Yamato Man! You're not in a condition to engage such an opponent: pull back immediately!" Freeze Man commanded over the radio.
"Huh! Roger! You were lucky, Shadow Man!"
"So it'd seem."
A Remote Gate opened behind Yamato Man and he jumped inside before it disappeared: Balrog helped Shadow Man get to his feet: he had a lot of wounds and some had begun to leak data, even.
"Shadow Man. Stay still: we're going to the Science Labs to have those wounds dealt with."
"Fine. At least now we know what they're up to."
"Is your Operator around, Balrog?"
"Past? Yeah! Oi! Past. Whaddya think?"
His Operator's screen opened but it only displayed someone having a bike helmet on colored red and white and with the kako (Past) kanji set on the forehead using blood red color.
"Well. The HF mode won't work next time around. It'll be a matter of endurance and trying to improve the output of our attacks if we want to lay a dent on those bodies."
"I think they're mostly empty and they only have the "Dark Generator" which itself is a "Dark Ultimate Program": the Navi's consciousness resides in the head area. So I think that, in essence, they don't feel pain. That's a point we should be careful about." Shadow Man summed up.
"Good points. Did you hear that, Balrog?"
"Mugro~h! I sure did. Man. Guess ramming and such won't work just like that… We need to use the head… And boil our brains! Mwah, hah, hah, hah, hah!" He laughed at his improved joke.
"Do as you like…" "Past" sighed.
"Let's go, Shadow Man."
"Alright. Could you be on your way back? I'll have to improve my PET's security." Shadow Man sighed.
"Roger! Let's boil some goblins!"
"Will you be quiet for a change?"
17:38 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Well, well!"
"You look in a good mood."
"Isn't it obvious, Felicia? We're going to have some tea at Nelaus – kun's place."
"Ah. Of course. I thought it was next weekend."
"My, my. Tamashita. Been a while~…"
"Who…? Oh heck. Ex – senpai? What the heck are ya doing here?"
"Tee, heh, heh."
"Kataka Vanessa."
"That's a gal's name!"
Tamashita (wearing a reddish long-sleeved shirt, a short-sleeved opened track-suit colored navy blue, a knee-long purple skirt, blue wool socks and white sneakers) had been walking down a street and talking in an animated manner with Felicia when someone called out to her: she stopped and looked at the right: she immediately got annoyed.
"Answer my question."
"To remind you who's in charge~?"
Kataka Vanessa was a girl around Tamashita's age and maybe 7 or 8 centimeters taller.
She had long black hair which reached until mid-way along the neck and blue eye irises: she had a smug smile on.
She wore an open brown leather jacket, a gray wool shirt, a mini-skirt colored purple and black leather boots.
"In charge of what? I'm not your kouhai (junior) anymore." She reminded her.
"Too bad."
"Oh yeah? You had that same look the whole time: like a hyena waiting to feast on carrion. Or a vampire waiting for a chance to plunge its fangs into my neck." She fumed.
"Yeah, yeah!" Felicia added.
"My. What compliments."
"I know that you're a yuri dominatrix "queen": you yourself boasted about it from time to time and I know that the "parties" you set up in your house when your parents weren't there were actually orgies. You brought in juniors and forced them to take part in your caprices. This much I found out after I pulled some favors to investigate you recently." Tamashita explained while having a scowl on her face.
"Bravo, my dear. By the way. Did your boyfriend break the vase of flowers you brought along when you moved?"
"Who knows? Do you need to know that to survive?"
"My. What moods."
"HMPF!" Felicia fumed.
"I've got the perfect medicine for ya." Tamashita grinned.
"Oh?" She lifted the right eyebrow.
"Felicia!"
"Roger! Anti – Competency Mower, On!"
"W-what?"
A small-scale lawn mower materialized in the air: it didn't have a bag or the handle but it did have two short wings with miniature plane engines underneath them: it also included a tail with a third engine and two extendible arms with rotating blades on them: a Halloween pumpkin face had been painted on the front of it as well.
"W-what in the…?"
"ENZA~N! YA ASKED FOR IT! GABCOM WILL MINCE IPC! NYA~RTH!"
The machine hummed and it projected a hologram of an "annoyed face" emotion-icon: it then roared and spread the arms as if it was defying the opponent: Kataka had begun to step back and began running away as the thing howled and chased after her.
"I'M SO GONNA TURN YA INTO A NEO-PUNK!" Yaito's pre-recorded voice proclaimed.
"KYA~H!" Kataka shrieked in fear.
"DON'T RUN, NO! THERE'S NO RUNNING AWAY FROM ME~!"
"SOMEONE SAVE ME~!"
"ENZA~N! YA WERE ASKING FOR IT! NYAH, HAH, HAH!"
"Flee, foul one." Tamashita muttered with some satisfaction.
"And don't come back. Ever. Again." Felicia snickered.
Tamashita resumed walking while humming a tune and reached Nelaus' house: she rang the bell and Nelaus opened.
"Hi." He greeted.
"Hi, darling!"
"Please…" He chuckled.
"Is the tea ready?"
"Sure. Come in."
"Thanks."
Tamashita stepped in and switched her sneakers for the slippers: her PET pinged and Felicia nodded while looking satisfied: Tamashita blinked the right eye in complicity and they walked into the living room: she sat on the sofa on the north wall while Nelaus sat in the armchair on the south wall: there was a tray with a teapot and two teacups set there: Nelaus served the tea and both picked their cups: they sipped a bit.
"You look in a good mood."
"Oh yeah. Yaito – san's mower turned out to be practical: it helped get rid of an annoying gal."
"Man. It really works?" Isaac whistled in surprise.
"Yes! It does! Hear to it!" Felicia giggled.
"ENZA~N! YA ASKED FOR IT! GABCOM WILL MINCE IPC! NYA~RTH! I'M SO GONNA TURN YA INTO A NEO-PUNK! DON'T RUN, NO! THERE'S NO RUNNING AWAY FROM ME~! ENZA~N! YA WERE ASKING FOR IT! NYAH, HAH, HAH!" Yaito's voice exclaimed.
"Devil!" Nelaus was startled.
"Heck. Anyone who heard that would run off." Isaac cursed.
"Sure. The gal who tried to annoy me ran away before Yaito – san could turn her into a neo-punk. Tee, heh, heh."
"Who the hell helped her come up with that?" Isaac sighed.
"Sigma. Who else? Shadow Man was detained until today."
"Sigma… Sheesh."
"Sigma – san is a troublemaker, yeah. But sometimes he contributes with bright ideas." Felicia giggled.
"Bright ideas? No way." Isaac sighed again.
"Auppp!" Rush showed up behind him.
"What? The battle of a while ago? They told me already. Go tell someone else. And next time knock before entering, Rush!" He scolded.
"Rush – chan! Don't come in just like that." Felicia scolded next.
"Rush… When will ya learn some manners?" Nelaus wondered.
"When he finds his fated love~?" Tamashita made up a joke.
"Oh come on. Aura – chan! Give us a break!"
The girls giggled while the guys sighed in defeat…