Chapter 6: Rescue and intrigue
16:09 PM (Japan Time), Sunday October the 17th…
"… Ru… da… ga… yu…!"
"Shut up."
"… Yu… ru… da… ga…!"
"I told you: shut up."
"… Ga… da… ru… yu…!"
"How many times do I have to say it? Shut up or I'll get mad."
Solo was sitting on the edge of a cliff and throwing pebbles towards the ocean out of pure boredom while Laplace kept on pleading for something yet it didn't amuse him in the very least.
"Ga… yu…"
"SHUT UP!" He roared.
Laplace shut up and muttered something under his breath which Solo didn't pay attention to.
"Che. I find it boring already. My "game" with Rock Man… But I don't want to go beyond what we'd agreed upon or else that Vadous man will unleash his anger into me. Jeez. Sometimes I feel like I act in a silly manner, really… Is this all there's to life? I need some thrill!"
"Then patent Thrill Man! Mwah, hah, hah, hah!"
"You shut up."
"Hmmm?"
Solo looked over his right shoulder to see Subaru and War Rock standing there: he formed a smug smile and stood up to face them.
"So! Hoshikawa. The bird flew out of the nest?"
"Yeah. I need something outta you."
"What's that?"
"Information."
"I gave you guys plenty last month."
"Yeah, I know. You want a battle as exchange for the effort we made you go through last month?" Subaru suggested.
"If it's a battle then I won't refuse it. Meet me at my usual place. I'll be waiting…" Solo looked amused.
"Waiting Man has descended!" War Rock laughed.
"Don't anger the guy." Subaru scolded.
"Denpa – Henkan!"
Solo transformed into Burai and quickly jumped into a nearby Wave Road to speed away followed by Laplace.
"Let's go, too. Denpa – Henkan! On Air!"
"Yessir! Rock 'n roll!"
Subaru and War Rock transformed into Rock Man and he ran up the Wave Road into the Bermuda Labyrinth.
"Excuse me! Are you Rock Man, sir?" A Denpa – kun asked.
"Eh… Yeah. That's me. What's up?" Rock Man confirmed.
"Someone wanted me to deliver a message to you, sir!"
"It isn't Boss… He'd use the radio… Let me have it."
"Roger, sir! Goodbye, sir!" The Denpa – kun smiled.
"Beware of Viruses!" Rock Man called out.
"Thank you, sir!"
"So? What does the message say?" War Rock asked.
"Huh? SENDER: NO NAME… Weird."
"Maybe it's a prank by Omega."
"Surely… Let's see… "When this is over then I'll be coming to slowly and painfully break you lowlife up… It'll be exquisite. I wanna hear your screams of agony and break your mask. Don't think this will end by rescuing your girlfriend and catching that "Centurion" jerk whoever that jerk is. Wait and see, Hoshikawa… The Ancient Assassin will feast upon your body… Mwah, hah, hah, hah!" … This doesn't look like a prank to me, I'd say." Rock Man muttered once he'd read it.
"The one who wrote this has gotta be a fan of ya who wants to play that game with ya… What was the name…? Something about two Alphabet letters and a weird symbol in the middle…?" War Rock grinned.
"Don't say it. We're not allowed to."
"Ah? Who says that?" War Rock asked with a smile.
"Mr. Universe. And this must be Hyde's newest idea of a threat mail so I don't give a cent for it." Rock Man shrugged.
"Heh, heh, heh. Maybe it's Hikaru?"
"Hum. Could be. Maybe he's taken control of Tsukasa – kun and decided to try to scare me with a creepy mail. But I'm not worried about the guy because in the worst of the cases we can come up with a chip implant to put tabs on him." Rock Man muttered.
"Meitantei War Rock – sama strikes back! Mwah, hah, hah!"
"Oh. Come on. Let's go meet Burai already before he lashes out at is two for being late to the encounter." Rock Man grumbled.
"Sure, sure, Speedy Man."
Rock Man ignored him and made his way through the labyrinth until he found the square: Burai was rubbing the back of his head and he was groaning something.
"Burai? What happened?"
"Not sure…"
"Not sure?"
"I was waiting for you and checking my Hunter – VG's emails. I got one which said something about "dropping by to test my skills" and I thought it was Omega. But something suddenly hit me on the back of my head, I'm missing a piece of hair and they wrote the Alphabet letters "A" and "S" in my chest armor using some kind of sword weapon… Laplace got knocked out too and since no – one comes this deep then I have no witnesses to tell me what happened…" He groaned.
"Weird."
"I don't feel like battling with this headache… So what exactly do you wanna know today?" He muttered.
"Do you know a god named "bloodthirsty God of essence" or "High One" and who revered them?"
"You've forgotten, eh? The jerk from last month, that guy… His antecessors revered that thing. I know they had a name for it but it was a secret to the High Priest and the Monarch. The secret died back then and no – one has been able to find the name because it'd seem it was orally passed so that no – one would be allowed to know it outside of them. Yet it's not like they were like the Maia people or other bloody tribes… No, no… Those guys just offered the blood of criminals which had been sentenced to death…" Burai explained.
"Hum… Ah! Now it comes back to mind…! On'Setsu! The On'Setsu Kingdom…!" Rock Man realized.
"Yeah. So? Why did you wanna know?"
"Eh… You see… We went to Normandy and investigated an abbey's underground tunnels which ended up in a crypt of sorts. A robot shaped in the image of Harp Note tried to assassinate me while saying my blood would be given to that god. We firstly didn't mind it because it looked like a rip-off but another companion of mine did some research and found this out…" Rock Man explained.
"Hum. And who made that robot?"
"Well… There actually were several of them but simplistic in design: but our attempts to inspect them didn't yield any clues. Yet they were recently designed, as recently as three weeks ago…" Rock Man added.
"Strange. Why did you go to that abbey, anyway?"
"Because Harp Note has been abducted and I got a ransom mail which turned out to be bait for us to fall for…"
"Ah. Tell me where that place is. Maybe I'll find something hinting at who used it."
"True. Those gravestones had some glyphs written on them and maybe you can decode them…" Rock Man suggested.
"My point exactly. And give me Vadous' number as well just in case I need to relay some info but you're not available."
"I won't be because school resumes on Monday, so it's wiser to contact Boss with any info you figure out."
"And invite this guy to a "club", too!" War Rock whispered.
"I don't think that's a bright idea." Burai muttered.
"It isn't. Don't listen to this guy." Rock Man warned.
"Che! Always stealing the fun outta me…" War Rock played victim.
"That trick won't save you, Rock. Let's head back: we're about to carry out Misora – chan's rescue strategy."
"Nah! The boyfriend to the rescue of girlfriend strategy, I name it!"
"By all the… We're just friends! There's nothing else to it! You mustn't believe those magazines that wanna start headlines war to sell and cause a juicy ruckus!" Rock Man groaned.
"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Uncle Club will chase you~!"
"What silliness." Burai muttered with a hint of annoyance.
"Totally!" Rock Man grumbled.
21:15 PM (Normandy Time)…
They will surely come now during the nighttime. I won't complain since Ferné and his cousins have always kept their distance from me yet I didn't like those two trying to sneak into the bathroom during my private time: what were they expecting? Obviously I complained and Ferné scolded them… Those two are weird.
Misora had sat down on her bedroom's chair and looked slightly annoyed as she seemingly remembered something.
"… Pst! Misora – chan?"
"Subaru – kun?" She gasped.
"Yeah. It's me. Confucius rice." He whispered from behind the door.
"It'll make you meet Confucius." She replied.
"Trendy Magazine…"
"…doesn't exist."
"Good! Both passwords OK. I'll open the door. And be silent, War Rock, or the strategy will be ruined."
"Ya never know, Subari~!" War Rock whispered.
There was a slight sound and the door opened to reveal Rock Man: he handed her the Hunter – VG and Harp appeared.
"Nice to see ya again, Misora! Now… Let's get outta here."
"I'll leave a little note from Boss…"
Rock Man took out a letter and left it atop the table while Misora formed a smile.
"Let's go, Harp! Denpa – Henkan! On Air!"
She became Harp Note and together they headed upstairs: they reached the 1st basement floor and Harp Note spotted how the living room's doors were open.
"Through the chimney." Rock Man whispered.
"Roger, darling." She teased.
"E~H?" He uttered.
"Mwah, hah, hah, hah. Maybe those reporters weren't that much off the mark, then!" War Rock laughed.
"Oh. Shut up."
"Sorry. I just wanted to do a final check." She apologized.
"Alright. Let's go up."
Rock Man climbed using a rope hanging inside of the chimney shaft followed by Harp Note: they exited into the rooftop where a round purple gateway was already opened and shining.
"There: we'll go to the HQ and from there to home. I know I'll have lack of sleep by the morning but I'll overcome it somehow."
"Yeah. Say, did anyone notice my absence?"
"Urakata – san knows but he's kept the secret. Besides, given how almost everyone was out because it was the weekend…"
"Fair enough. Let's go back, darling."
"Please…" He groaned.
"What? It's fashionable in other TV shows!"
"Please drop it or Omega – san will use that to barrage at me with his silly pranks." He pleaded.
"Alright, alright… Let's go and beware of the rural girls."
"The rural girls…? Why?" Rock Man frowned.
"A secret makes a girl, girl." She quoted.
"Huh? I didn't get any of that!" Rock Man protested.
Harp Note giggled while Rock Man groaned in defeat….
21:49 PM (Normandy Time)…
"… Hah. Rubbish machines. Out of my way!"
Burai sliced a pike-man robot in half and grinned before stepping into the crypt and looking around: he turned serious and began to examine the gravestones.
"These aren't Mu glyphs. But they're similar. Ah. Of course. On'Setsu glyphs, then… They must indicate who they sacrificed and when. I'm sure that the people who then erected the abbey used the remains of an earlier building as base. And I'd stake anything that they sealed up the entrance to the tunnels, too." He muttered.
"Ga…"
"Jeez. If you want to complain about something complain to Mr. Universe or that Moon Disaster guy." Burai grumbled.
"Da…"
"No. And that's an ultimatum. You won't touch my games. Go play with the ones in Spica Mall or wherever."
"Yu…"
"What persistence… What now? Huh? That the guy who knocked us down had a familiar signature? Define "familiar"!"
"… Da… Yu… Ga…"
"Similar to yours? Then it was that Phantom Black lowlife creeping on us to laugh at us. Whatever. I'll make sure to beat that guy to a pulp when I get the chance to do that." He cursed.
"… Yu…"
"What now?" He questioned.
Laplace signaled something glowing on the base of the altar so Burai fumed and walked over to it.
"Ga…"
"What! Mu Glyphs! And that thing over there…? A purple oil-based spray can…! Who writes Mu Glyphs with such a vulgar tool? Wait. Mu Glyphs, I said? But… No – one else apart from me and the few survivors of my tribe should know them. And I'm sure Rock Man would've told me if he'd seen them so they've been placed here after he left… It seems to be a message…" He muttered.
"Yu…"
"… "Burai of Mu, my tribe's enemy! This is a message I left behind for you lowlife. Know that you lowlifes underestimated our intelligence! You were so confident that you had won yet I had foreseen such an outcome! Tell this to those fools out there: I am - ALIVE! Very alive and ready to destroy you lowlifes with the "Ultimate Power" and the "Four Heavenly Kings" I hold! Centurion has spoken!" … Centurion, the jerk says? But who the hell wrote this?" He cursed after reading it.
"Da…"
"Wait a minute, you. Last month! That guy… That guy who was trying to reassemble the "Ultimate Power" of the On'Setsu Kingdom…! That guy who'd leeched out a Dealer agent…! That bloody "Ultimate Orb"…! It vanished and we never thought what became of it! We thought that it alone was powerless… What idiotic thinking! Even my antecessors were afraid of its power because they couldn't come close to destroy it and had to resort to splitting it into pieces!" He muttered as if he was connecting the clues.
"Ga!" Even Laplace sounded afraid.
"I gotta reach that Vadous guy: he might be able to figure out the rest and end up completing the picture…! Let's go, Laplace! I've got no further use for this place…! I now wanna be ten thousand kilometers away from here and never return. I'm not afraid, obviously enough! This place just reeks like it's a trap waiting to make mincemeat of me!"
"Yu!"
"Move out!"
21:58 PM (Normandy Time)…
"… Hah, hah, hah, hah… So! You have felt the terror, have you not, descendant of my tribe's enemies? It is futile to try to hide behind that mask: I can read your every emotion! What a weakling: always being defeated by that fake prophet! You fool have submitted yourself to the destiny of failure! And you had more than one chance to get rid of that fake prophet yet you botched them yourself because you would feel bored without being able to experience a battle… I laugh at such idiotic behavior! As I thought: you are still a bothersome mouse! No… A bothersome gnat! A bothersome brat… A bothersome twerp! Hah! These insults suit you lowlife!"
"Centurion" was standing in front of a largely completed machine which looked like a pyramidal platform having a metallic ring about two meters tall built over it plus rows of monitors attached to both sides of the main ring: he struck as being over a meter and eighty tall.
"But I will soon gain an ace-in-the-hole… It might beyond my style but if you want to triumph against the enemy, then study their tactics. And that man I will bring into the picture will no doubt be intrigued by my offer… To form part of an "Elite Unit"… And gain a power restricted to a selected few! Hah, hah, hah, hah…" He laughed.
He started to interact with a "Real Wave" screen and brought up what looked like imagery of an underground room somewhere containing a tall cylindrical object with two cone-shaped bases: the front half was made of blackened thick glass and the rear half was metallic: it was emitting a pale green glow and seemed to be the only source of light in the room.
"Hah, hah, hah… All is ready. I just need to seize that man, do the "trick" and then proceed… I have prepared everything in advance and not even Vadous can predict what I'm going to do… Hah, hah, hah… You lowlife will know what it means to be powerless…! And you false prophet will as well, Rock Man! Feel the fear creeping into your weak body and realize that you were intended to fail and expose your true nature as a false prophet!"
He began to laugh inside of the room while spreading his arms wide…