Chapter 4: Ambitions

12:33 PM (Japan Time), Wednesday January the 17th…

"… Swallow Cutter!"

"Sheesh."

"Air Dive!"

"Shuriken Needles!"

"You're slow! Ninja Man!"

"Sheesh. I'm getting fed up with this guy."

"You're not the only one."

Shadow Man was fighting Swallow Man atop the rooftops of an Internet City with a banner that read "Kobe": Swallow Man was constantly flying and diving and making it hard for Shadow Man to attack because he was forced to dodge the whole time.

"Hmpf! You fell into the Dark Side once but managed to run off… What a pity!" Swallow Man taunted.

"Hmpf. I only used that Dark Chip that Dr. Regal gave me because I felt like it could turn the tables around. And I'd won… But I underestimated Search Man's abilities…" He calmly countered.

"Heh, heh, heh. I'll drop you into the depths of Hell!"

"That remains to be seen."

"Heh, heh, heh. Feel confident while you CAN!"

"Explosion!"

"What!"

Shadow Man formed a fireball and tossed it at Swallow Man: it exploded right in front of his noses with a bright flash and a bang so Shadow Man warped behind him and tried to plunge his Shadow Blade through yet it barely managed to get through: Swallow Man warped to another position and Shadow Man simply sheathed his blade in a calm manner: Swallow Man grumbled.

"Like we wouldn't improve our armors! HF blades won't get through!"

"So it'd seem."

"So you can't defeat me!"

"So it'd seem."

"That mood of yours is making me feel ANNOYED!" He began to get annoyed.

"Not my problem. Cloud Man's to blame."

"Damn that idiot! I'll settle it when I get back!"

"In shambles."

"You're one to TALK!"

"Oh yeah? Didn't you know my step-brother's about to get your neck cut off from behind?"

"WHAT? EAT THIS! SWALLOW CUTTER!"

Swallow Man brusquely turned around and shot a Swallow Cutter but there was no-one: he gasped as Shadow Man warped behind him and plunged the blade again: it got a bit further in and Swallow Man gasped in disbelief: he warped again and dropped from above while aiming his right foot at Shadow Man: he simply stood there with the arms crossed and Swallow Man gasped as he predicted the why: but it was too late and he made contact: Shadow Man vanished in a cloud of smoke and was replaced by a clay imitation: it shattered to pieces just as Shadow Man got Swallow Man's back again and plunged the blade deeper in: Swallow Man cursed and began to attack with a barrage of fists but Shadow Man predicted them and began to jump back: Swallow Man then stepped forward and something exploded beneath his feet: the ground collapsed and he fell inside of a room: Shadow Man looked on from the rooftop and Swallow Man quickly got back to his feet.

"I don't get it! How can that blade get deeper and deeper?"

"Who knows? Maybe I borrowed it from Ninja Gaiden." He taunted back while shrugging his shoulders.

"Damned rascal!"

"Is that all?"

"I'm going to…!"

"Swallow Man! Disobeying MY orders?" Freeze Man questioned over the radio.

"N-no, sir! I was going to try something new!"

"Remember! Until new commands you're not authorized to use the trump card. Probabilities that they've developed new countermeasures are high…" Freeze Man reminded him.

"R-roger, sir!"

"So. You finally loosened your tongue. Popsicle Man."

"Hmpf. I'll properly deal with you savages sooner or later… Slowly and carefully… And painfully…" He icily muttered.

"Come anytime." Shadow Man challenged.

"Hmpf… Swallow Man! Resume the battle… But if things look dangerous then pull out through one of the routes."

"Roger, sir!"

"And I'm watching you!"

"R-roger, sir."

Swallow Man suddenly built up energy around the body and shot forward at a mad speed but Shadow Man merely had the ground beneath him break to fall into the floor below: Swallow Man couldn't stop and broke through the outer wall to end up meeting another building's wall: he broke through that as well and managed to stop inside of a floor filled with Killer Eye Viruses: they focused on him and began to shoot electrical beams at him: Swallow Man roared and built up energy again to shoot upwards and break through the ceiling: he landed on the rooftop, panting, and suddenly felt Shadow Man plunging the Shadow Blade again: he snarled and turned around to kick Shadow Man but he merely arched his body backwards to dodge: Swallow Man lost his balance and ended up face-up on the ground: Shadow Man merely shrugged and jumped away to another rooftop: Swallow Man got to his feet, snarled, and began to chase Shadow Man while hovering over the rooftops in case there were more traps set in there: Shadow Man didn't bother to look backwards.

"This damned guy is pissing me off!" He growled.

"Amateurs…" Dark Miyabi dully taunted.

"What was that? Damn you~!"

"Hmpf."

"Coming, Shallow Man?" Shadow Man taunted.

"GRA~H!" He growled.

He increased speed and eventually reached a round rooftop atop a communications tower: energy walls formed on the sides and the air thus enclosing them inside of a ring: Swallow Man looked around and tried shooting a Swallow Cutter at one of the walls but a streak of lighting jumped out it and he barely dodged it.

"Damn it. Damage-returning walls…!"

"And there's one below the ground too." Shadow Man added.

"Whatever! I can always overload it somehow! But now I'll turn you into bytes and bits!"

"If you can, that is." Shadow Man calmly drew his blade.

"I can! Showdown! Swallow Cutter!"

"Shuriken Messy Shooting!"

Shadow Man began to flung shuriken around in different directions: their tips suddenly heated up while they flew across the air and stabbed Swallow Man's armor yet he didn't mind those: they blew up next and even though the damage was minimal the series of serial explosions momentarily stunned Swallow Man: Shadow Man then dashed forward and swung the blade to perform a very shallow cut across the armor: Swallow Man tried to grip Shadow Man but he got replaced by a Count Bomb that went off: it didn't do any damage but it served as a distraction to Shadow Man appeared behind Swallow Man and plunged into the back again: Swallow Man growled and managed to turn around: he pushed Shadow Man towards the wall but Shadow Man merely gripped Swallow Man's chest and flipped to jump over him and land behind him: Swallow Man hit the wall and got severely electrocuted: Shadow Man plunged again and inflicted further damage: Swallow Man recovered and hissed.

"Damn it. Only inches of armor left…!"

"Hmpf."

"… I see! You're constantly shifting the blade's frequencies to make the armor's resistance useless! Because it's designed to withstand a certain frequency and not several…!" He realized.

"Hum. This could be troublesome." Freeze Man muttered.

"You're slow to catch up. Bird Man."

"Hmpf! Talk about you! Mercenary Man!"

"Oh yeah? If you mean that mine I already disposed of it."

"Wha…!" Swallow Man gasped.

"Sheesh." Freeze Man grumbled next.

"By the way. That man's looking."

"That man…? Oh crap!" He nervously began to look around.

"Wait, Swallow Man! It's a trap."

"B-but… There's the possibility, sir!"

"… True." Freeze Man begrudgingly admitted.

"Hmpf." Shadow Man merely waited for the next move.

"Enough! Pull out. Use a Stone Cube to overload the field and return to the base. There's this unknown factor that could turn things WAY worse…!" Freeze Man ordered.

"You were LUCKY!"

"Go back to your nest, demon's acolyte."

Swallow Man formed and threw a Stone Cube at the field to overload it: he jumped out through the hole and fled so Shadow Man shrugged and sheathed the blade.

"Let's go report, Miyabi."

"Of course. Hmpf. And then I'll go have a meal…"

Hmpf. But this was a farce as well… We're not fooled that easily…!

15:55 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Chief Lezareno? I've got news…"

"What is it, Colonel Talos?"

"It involves my fatherland…"

"Oh yes? Did something happen there?"

"It'd seem the usual fools turned even stupider."

"I'm not surprised."

A man stepped into an office room placed in a building: the rear wall was the building's front and, like most buildings, was made of glass thus allowing one to witness the street.

The visitor, named Colonel Talos, 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.

The other 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.

"Well. Things are like this. I've got some contacts in the army top brass: some used to be men under my orders back when I was in the GRU with Colonel Thunderbolt... They keep contact with me because they respect how I raised them to be competent men… Some of them were summoned to an urgent meeting in Moscow… And there was THE man… THE man told them this: "those Neo-something terrorists can make up armies out of the blue! We need that trick! Then our nation shall rise again without having to waste more money in the regular army! Find me those!"…"

"Hum. I see. And?"

"Well. Most of them were puzzled because they didn't get anything of what THE man said. It'd seem they didn't associate THE man's words to what happened in London. So THE man stormed off before they could ask any questions and laughing in his queer manner. The officers then began to discuss amongst them, one was smart enough to check the Internet and then they realized what THE man meant. But they quickly began to argue that it was a stupid show using props stolen from some Hollywood film set and the whole thing was a farce that London had made up to justify more spending on the military and the MI."

"If that's the case then there's no need to worry… Or is there?"

"There is not. They dispersed and concluded that THE man had an attack of arrogance and reality distortion field combined and he was having fantasies. That was 3 days ago and, as far as my contacts could see, none of the other men in the meeting showed renewed interest for the topic to begin with. But I thought that I should warn that maybe some other countries are interested in those… Or parties… Like the FBI…"

"I know. I've got a couple contacts in the NRO, where I worked at. They told me that they'd delivered a threat assessment to the President and decided that vigilance should be strengthened. Taking into account what happened with the Empire State some months ago then it's barely surprising." Lezareno exposed next.

"Some Switzerland agents reported that they'd witnessed some FBI officers openly going up and down and questioning the police of the different districts. It'd seem that they believe Darth Bapgei is living there now and catching him could mean they could use him as a bargain chip to negotiate with Neo Gospel… Their tech in exchange for Bapgei. What a bunch of naïve fools… And they are THE FBI…"

"Indeed. Neo Gospel won't negotiate. If needed they'll tear down the FBI HQ to the foundations to show them the consequences of calling them idiots."

"True. Then again they are already acting like idiots. We did divulge that Opoulos AKA Jade Panther IS the leader of Deadly Pandora. But they paid no heed and still trust what he tells them. Because they think he's still a legit "retired due to illness" top brass man…"

The phone on the desk rang and Lezareno picked it up.

"Yes?"

"Chief, this is the Central… Mr. Morgangantz wishes to speak to you: we did verify the call location was genuine by asking him to hang up and then we rang there." A man reported.

"Good. Patch him. It must be important."

"Yes, sir."

"Chief? Good afternoon." Charles greeted.

"Mr. Morgangantz. Has something transcended?"

"Sure has. In Arizona…"

"What happened?"

"An old contact told me… Freeze Man showed up in a research lab and stole data on new types of laser emitters… I think that it's part of a plan to build up countermeasures to Laser Man's abilities."

"Hum. I see." He calmly wrote it down on a memo.

"Ah. And, also… Cosmo Man showed up on an Air Force base and shattered some windows before fleeing. It's a provocation, obviously enough… Or maybe it's to try to see if the Air Force will recognize them or think it was some vandal guy with a funky cosplay…"

"Could be either of those… Or both of those."

"I think that we should be wary of any moves or actions. They could have some meaning if you look at them from another POV…"

"Maybe it's some idea by Opoulos… Opoulos is a professional. He's surely directed or planned countless FBI strategies and operations during his long career there… He's surely giving ideas to both Anaya and Twilight about how to create confusion… Maybe it's aimed at us, even." Colonel Talos ventured without beating an eyebrow.

"Ah! I see. That could be the case. Or maybe it's a trap to make us think that and these are but decoys to lure our attention elsewhere. We should focus it here, I'd say. Of course, you gentlemen will discuss and analyze the matter to reach a decision…"

"Don't worry, Mr. Morgangantz. It's at times like these that other parties' ideas might be useful. They could have a more open-minded approach to the topic." Lezareno assured him.

"Thank you, Chief. Well then. I'll go dig into the underground… Maybe I can some neophyte who'll easily talk…"

"Good. They might have some idea of recent activity in the underground that involves Neo Gospel."

"Of course. See you."

"Good afternoon."

Chief Lezareno placed the receiver on its place: his cellphone suddenly rang and drew it: he checked the screen and patched the call.

"This is On Air. All nominal, sir."

"Good. Password?"

"The lettuce was awfully good."

"Correct. By the way. Did you win the chess tournament?"

"I don't play chess, sir."

"Good. Did anything happen?"

"No, sir. Had it happened, I'd reported it already."

"Of course. Nothing out of place, I take it."

"No, sir."

"Excellent. Don't lower the guard."

"Roger, sir."

"Report to me on the next scheduled hour."

"Roger, sir."

Lezareno finished the call and stood up.

"I'm going to fetch some water. Do you want a cup too, Colonel?"

"No, thank you very much. I shall return to the Analysis Center. They might've figured out something new."

"Understood. I'll speak with Colonel Botos as well to see if the Air Force has acknowledged the attack or not."

"Good."

Lezareno exited the office and walked out into a corridor: he headed for a water fountain and picked a cup to put some water inside: he drank it as he spotted a man who seemed to be an assistant carrying some documents on a portfolio and heading for a nearby office: Lezareno suddenly seemed to frown.

That face… Haven't I seen it before?

He tossed the empty cup into the garbage bin and glued his body to the corner: he dared to glance and saw the man knocking on a door labelled "Colonel Thunderbolt": there was no reply and the man opened the door to come in: Lezareno silently walked over there and spotted the man drawing an envelope from his breast pocket and placing it atop the desk: Lezareno silently stepped in and drew a silenced Beretta 92F and pressed it against the man's back.

"So. Mr. Erson. Your petty master must think we're stupid."

"Heck." The man turned out to be Bapgei.

"I can guess that envelope. Fake photographs involving Colonel Thunderbolt and some scandal to blackmail him. Too clichéd. I'm sure the Colonel would've torn them to shreds on a fit of rage. You shouldn't underestimate him." He dully told him.

"Hmpf. And you think I came alone after the blunder of the other day?"

"Of course not. I can feel their presence. Show up."

"Heh, heh, heh." Zoan Gate Man turned visible.

He snapped his right hand's index and middle fingers and Bapgei AKA Erson got warped out of the room through a "Dimensional Converter": Zoan Gate Man chuckled and dematerialized: Lezareno didn't even beat an eyebrow and calmly funded the gun back inside of his suit.

"Mere amateurs." He drily commented to himself.

Let's pick these photos and dispose of them before the Colonel gets a fit of anger. I'd rather keep this under wraps. To prove we're hardly impressed!

17:28 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Mario~!"

"Luigi~!"

"Mwah, hah, hah, hah."

"Oh my."

"What do we do, Iris – oneesan?"

"Hmmm… I'd say we defeat Koppa and move on forward."

"OK!"

Trill and Iris (on her Navi form) were standing in the alley of a city and looking at a square: Koppa was chasing Mario and Luigi while Princess Peach looked on from close by but was hardly surprised.

"OK! Hop!"

Trill jumped and landed atop Koppa's head: he gasped and collapsed face-down on the ground: the 2 brothers stopped running around and signaled for Peach to follow them: they ran off while Ganondorf stepped in and walked past Koppa while chuckling aloud to mock him: Koppa suddenly recovered and roared at Ganondorf: the man grumbled and showed him his right fist as if taunting him: Iris and Trill ignored them and followed the early trio: they'd stumbled upon Fox and he was quickly dashing from edge to edge of the street: Falco suddenly appeared and began to show how he moved faster: a competition began between both of them: Iris and Trill kept on and reached a 3-story building the door of which was wide open: the trio entered and were greeted by some Kinopios who jumped around, celebrating.

"Yay! Yay! Yay!" They sang.

"Oh my." Peach giggled.

"Hah, hah, hah!" The "fake Mario" suddenly showed up there.

"Oh!" Mario gasped.

"Uah!" Luigi gasped.

"I've come to take back my mommy! And to paint you PINK! Nyah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hya~h!" He laughed.

"Oh my!" Peach wasn't surprised.

"Hah!"

"Uack!"

An arrow was suddenly shot and it hit "Fake Mario" on his right hand so he let go of the paint brush: Pit, the angel, dropped there and drew his two blades while grinning: "Fake Mario" grumbled and ran off only to be chased by Pit.

"Mamma mia!" Both brothers sighed in relief.

"Oh my!"

"YAY! YAY! YAY!"

"Heh, heh, heh. I'm the master of backdoors!" A voice rang out.

"That voice…?" Iris wondered.

"Dunno." Trill admitted.

"Gate Cannon!"

"Dream Aura!"

"WHA?"

"Ah! That's Zoan Gate Man! A bad guy!"

"Devil. There still was some backdoor left behind from Cloud Man's intrusion…"

Zoan Gate Man suddenly attacked Iris with his Gate Cannon but she used the Dream Aura to bounce the attack off and he had to duck to dodge as the attack hit the far wall instead: Trill recognized him and Iris wasn't too surprised.

"Mr. Vadous?"

"What's up, Iris?"

"Zoan Gate Man."

"THAKKGHSLTHNDKTDBTKLGH!" He cursed something undecipherable as if to prove he was really pissed off.

"What's that?" Trill wondered.

"He's annoyed." Iris summed up.

"OMEGA~!"

"Heard you. No need to yell, Boss." Omega calmly replied.

"Show that guy the way out!"

"Fine."

"Devil. Thought he was out." Zoan Gate Man gasped.

"Lack of CPU?" Iris taunted.

"This lil girl…!" He muttered.

"Charmed." She ironically countered.

"Yankee go home." Omega suddenly showed up behind the guy and aimed his gun.

"Hmpf! Area Steal! Demon Hand!"

"Slow."

Zoan Gate Man attempted to warp behind Omega and attack with the Demon Hand but he ducked and the attack failed: he shot a blast at the right knee and melted part of the armor: Zoan Gate Man flinched and managed to step back.

"Go! Gate Soldiers!"

"Gate! Gate! Gate!"

The "Gate Soldiers" popped out and began to run towards Omega but Trill suddenly extended his hands and compressed them into cubes which he then pocketed: Zoan Gate Man gasped and seemed to be incredulous at what he'd seen.

"Is that the power of the "Synchronizer"? To compress Viruses?" He gasped.

"Name's Trill!" Trill annoyingly complained.

"Well. Who knows?" Omega taunted Zoan Gate Man.

"Falcon! Punch!"

"OUWAH!"

Captain Falcon had suddenly dropped in from a hole in the ceiling and delivered a Falcon Punch from behind: the attack sent him flying across the room and through the right wall out into the street where he met with King DeDeDe: he brought down the hammer on the head and a CLONG sound ensued: Zoan Gate Man groaned and got to his feet somehow while clutching his head as if he was suffering a headache: he growled and tried to recover his bearings but the ground began to shake and a shockwave ensued making him jump into the air to then receive a fist: the blow sent him NW and back into the building but into the first floor this time: Donkey Kong entered through the hole using his horizontal movement tactic: Zoan Gate Man got back to his feet somehow.

"Fuck." He cursed.

He heard a CLACK sound and a small missile with a green warhead flew towards him: the blast was powerful and destroyed the gates protecting his chest cavity: Samus Aran showed up there and aimed her Arm Cannon at Zoan Gate Man.

"Fuck AND fuck! I survived countless battles against that damned Greiga Army and I'm being beaten up by some game characters!"

"Because those guys were cocky, flashy and stupid. I speak from experience: I also fought you "Zoanoroids" when we stumbled into Beyondard almost 5 years ago…" Omega showed up through the hole with his arms crossed, unimpressed.

"STUPID? YOU DARE INSULT THE ALMIGHTY FALZER – SAMA?" He growled, pissed off.

"Of course. That was but a tool that moved on instinct. It had no real intelligence. Mere instinct. Tools by Beyondard's Wily to rule the world… That's all you were. Means for Wily to rule the world."

"No! We're above those weak humans and their shabby Navis!"

"Shabby Navis, huh? And how many times did you run away back when you were in the Professor's underground lab? 6? 7? 8?"

"GRRRR…!" He knew Omega had a point.

"Idiots who don't know when to give up: that's all you were and are and will be. Maybe you need another "treatment" by Michelangelo..."

"Not that shark again!" He panicked.

"It might lurking close by… Like Jaws…"

"D-devil… I'm off this MAD place!"

He tried to run away but Samus hit him with the Screw Attack followed by Donkey Kong spinning on his axis and delivering several blows in a rush: he broke free and ran up the stairs while grabbing and tossing Olimar and some Pikmin out of his way: he reached the rooftop but stumbled upon the PKMN Trainer and his Lizardon who attacked with the "Big Symbol" attack: Zoan Gate Man growled and tried to ignore the burns as he jumped off the rooftop and into a Remote Gate to make his escape: Omega looked on from a nearby building's roof and sighed.

"Did you find the backdoor, Boss?"

"Yeah! I just deleted it. And I'm going to search for others. There could be system to spawn them from time to time too. I'll shut off all incoming and outgoing signals. Sorry, but you'll have to bear without TV for a while. Try a DVD." He replied.

"Alright. I've got some of the Kirby DVDs so I'll play those." Iris calmly replied.

"Yay! Kirby, Kirby!" Trill giggled.

"The humble servant of Master Confucius…" A man's voice calmly began to speak.

"Dragon…! Anger God's annoyed! For real!" Vadous grumbled.

"By Confucius!" He gasped.

"I want a decent green tea! Else I'll buy one at 7-Eleven!"

"R-roger, sir!"

"What stubborn cockroaches. Always resorting to the same tricks."

"You said it, Omega! Damned Liquid. I'm gonna settle the score one day!"

"Yeah… And I've got one to settle with this gate rascal too…"

"Just you wait…! I'm going to paint you yellow!"

Boss… No need to overdo it either… Anyway… I'll beat you idiots up…!