Chapter 6: DS_002
11:11 AM (Japan Time), Wednesday November the 21st…
"… Yo! Beta X! Back from meeting Sniper Wolf's deadly looks and her PSG1…?"
"Hah, hah. Zarashe – kun. Be serious already."
"Come on! Show your hide: the public has gotta be impatient to know it by now!"
"Hmpf. Whatever."
Beta X was a Net Navi who appealed as being over a meter and sixty tall, maybe closer to a meter and seventy.
His eyes' irises were blood red in coloring but they lacked pupils: his facial expression denoted seriousness.
His helmet's main color was black as well yet he had some blue pieces of armor built around the edges of it and spanning through the middle of the helmet: a red pyramidal jewel aiming downwards (similar to Omega's) had been set directly above his nose.
The helmet included five extensions shaped like wings and colored white plus a golden edge: two formed on the lower edge of the helmet, another two formed at a height over the eyes and the last one sprouted from the middle of his helmet while aiming upwards.
His main body's color choice was black: he had a white piece of armor set over the chest which contained a ruby jewel and two wing-like extensions spreading across the torso until the shoulders: the drawing of the "Devil Syndicate" was set within a piece of armor located over the upper edge of the ruby.
A golden edge surrounded his neck and formed a small collar-like object around it: his shoulders had white armor over it: three thin spear-like extensions formed behind them and gave off the impression of a wing as well: the uppermost piece was golden in coloring while the other two pieces were white.
His arms' skin was black until the elbow: white armor encompassed it and extended until the hands and fingers: a golden ring served as additional protection for the wrists.
The rest of his upper body had no decoration whatsoever until the hips, where the leg armor began at: a golden edge in the shape of a triangle marked the start of it.
The rest of the legs' armor was painted using white color palette: the knees had extra armor over them and two small and short wing-like extensions.
Golden pieces of armor showed up over the ankles yet there was a space between them and the legs: they were bent upwards to form a triangle and included the wing shapes on their edges.
Lastly, his feet's armor included two pieces of outer edge and another two pieces which were separated by a slight space between the front and the rear of them.
Overall, his appearance was reminiscent of a "fallen angel" given the color motifs and all the winged extensions.
"Our deadly "fallen angel" is gonna sweep the ground with all Claymore mines standing on it?" Zarashe joked.
"Hmpf. Dunno." Beta X folded his arms and looked unimpressed.
"How about we do some research on Mr. Universe?" Zarashe suggested with a broad grin.
"There's gotta be something in the newspapers' archives… We could start by there. But I don't want to risk coming close to the Net Police database because security will be very high there." Beta X calmly replied.
"Go ahead, Lestrade." Zarashe invited.
"Who?" Beta X frowned.
"Inspector Lestrade." Zarashe clarified.
"… Sherlock Holmes, huh…" Beta X muttered.
11:22 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Hmmm… I have articles from the guy dated at April, May and August 2009… But there's nothing past that time. The latest article speaks about the disbanding of "Gospel"…"
"And that's when the guy became a Net Savior to act in an anonymous manner and in discrete operations… Interesting!"
"Yet… It's picking on me."
"What is?"
"Delta… He looks like a total copy of Rock Man."
"I had a report about that somewhere… Ah. Here it is…"
Beta X was looking up some files inside of a Cyber World sector which was heavily transited while speaking with Zarashe: the guy began to search for something given the sounds of paper shuffling.
"Here! Master Caesar sent it to me… January, 2010… The "Dark Chip Syndicate", "Nebula", led by Dr. Regal, son of Dr. Wily, had been toying with a program which infiltrated Net Navis and copied enough of the core program to then be able to recreate them as a "DS" version. "DS" stands for "Dark Soul"… They also created a new breed of Net Navis who were immune to side-effects of "Dark Chips"… They named them "Darkloids", it says… Apparently, Delta and Red Sword were two of the many created by that program. But by the time Dr. Regal got to activate it, he was arrested by the Net Police and Officials, so he never got to monitor or count how many "DS" Net Navis had been created…" Zarashe read.
"Ah. So that's how it is. Then, Cloud Man and company are…?" Beta X seemed to deduce the answer.
"Yeah. Out of 6 Darkloids… Those three are part of the "Hunters' Guild", one, Shade Man, got deleted, another, Swallow Man, got arrested and so was the last one, their boss, Laser Man…" Zarashe listed.
"Hum. So! Do we have any info on how the "Hunters' Guild" began? I know they've been around since June or July, but…"
"… Oho. This is interesting. Five of six got defeated on that January day and the only survivor was Swallow Man… And both Red Sword, who was named DS Blues, and Delta, named DS Rock Man, also were a few days later… But DS Rock Man's deletion was a subterfuge for the real one to go underground and set up a gang named "The Renegades" which was "led" by a guy named Specter Man… They seemed to be a bunch of useless idiots at a first look, but deeper investigations revealed how Delta was the boss and how he'd managed to rebuild the Darkloids and Red Sword. Delta apparently did something "bad" for a few days before he vanished off the radar until May, more or less…" Zarashe grinned.
"What happened next?"
"He and Akashi approached the "Renegades", who had been leaderless since January, and then helped Dr. Regal break free. They made a pact and set up an organization named "Neo Nebula"… But there was some internal conflict and the pact ended up broken. Dr. Regal ended up in the brig again, this time for good, and Akashi was willing to go there, too, because he'd done harm, but Commissioner Kifune decided to go with his alternate plan of a community service plan… The Darkloids had been purged of their "Dark Power" programming and so they set up the "Hunter's Guild" to cooperate with authorities… And this explains how they got here. Very interesting!" Zarashe finished reading.
"Ain't it, Admiral Nelson?" An amused voice rang out.
Beta X gasped and whipped around to spot Omega leaning against a column directly in front of them and toying with his switched-off saber by tossing it up and catching it as it fell down.
"W-when did you…?" Beta X demanded.
"Been waiting here all morning… Stealth camouflage, ya see, Admiral Nelson…" Omega grinned.
"H-how could you know I'd come here?"
"Easy! I knew that if one wanted info on Rock Man they'd try to come here since this is a public service in which anyone can look it up."
"Crap." Beta X gasped.
"By the way, Admiral Nelson! Is that guy over there Field Marshall Wellington? Was Waterloo way too intense for you ever-so-refined King Land manners?" Omega joked.
"F-field Marshall Wellington…?" Zarashe sounded baffled.
"Oho. Dave came to pick Daisy up." Omega whistled in admiration.
Beta X looked around, surprised, and didn't see anything out of the normal: he gasped, but, before he could react, Omega had shown up right behind him and was popping his head over his right shoulder: Beta X looked nervous and didn't dare to move.
"Heh, heh, heh. So?" Omega asked.
"So… What?" Beta X nervously asked.
"How wide?" Omega grinned.
"How wide… What?" He frowned.
"Ah… Sorry. Ya don't have it, I think." He sounded
"I've lost track of what we're talking about!" Beta X protested.
"Too bad, Archie."
"Archie?"
"Beware of Akashi's secret weapon." He warned.
"A Giga-class Battle Chip…?" Beta X tried to guess.
"Nope! His chest…" Omega corrected.
"His chest…? How can you call that a secret weapon…?"
"Let's get outta here!" Zarashe cursed.
Beta X logged out while Omega shrugged and rubbed his chin.
"Run, chicken. But you'll come back to me. My looks are daunting, ya see, Archie…" He giggled.
11:33 AM (Japan Time)…
"… I am reporting live from Saitama City, Saitama Prefecture… The police have shut down an illegal institution in which girls of ages 12~16 were abused of and arrested 60 women: 30 girls have been freed. Police admit that these arrests are part of a larger operation to shut down several "departments" belonging to a yet unnamed organization…"
"… This can't be a coincidence… First of all: 10 persons fall ill on the same month and we have to hire 10 replacements. And then there's a boycotter in another department… Reports are sent with mishaps and I have to personally contact each Head of Department… Result? The police are shutting down several of the departments… They started with the Drug Lab… They followed up with Young – M and now Young – F… I guess the "p." department will be hit next. Decapitation…"
"Master…"
Dr. Raher looked resigned at the news he was watching over the laptop and was tapping the desk with a golden fountain pen while reflecting aloud: his yet unidentified Net Navi sounded nervous.
"It's not like I intend to give up. But the results built up over these 4 years have been very satisfactory. It wasn't in vain." He muttered.
"By the way… Should we allow Beta X and Zarashe to go defeat Rock Man and his Operator or do we wait for the right time, Master Caesar?" The Navi asked of him.
"Hmmm… At this rate… The "Syndicate" won't survive into the next week, I'm afraid… I'll send them a written letter given them permission to carry out that mission…" Dr. Raher decided.
"Roger."
"But I will have proven it, nevertheless… I was very fortunate finding those schematics and the right person into which to test the device into… They'll that you can live sans memories of the past… Heh, heh, heh…" He grinned.
He then chuckled under his breath…
11:44 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Heh, heh, heh! Puku… My trap is perfect, puku! I know I copied it from another guy, puku, but… Who cares? Puku! Heh, heh, heh. That Brad Shad's heading towards deletion, puku!"
Bubble Man was hidden behind an advertising sign and looking towards a bridge crossing over a chasm and connecting two city-like clusters of buildings using binoculars: he had a broad grin on his face and sounded like he was up to something.
"Puku! There's the guy, puku… Take this, puku!"
Bubble Man took out a remote-like device and pressed a button: nothing happened and a twitch formed over his right eye: he pressed again and again yet nothing happened.
"Puku! What's wrong with this?"
"Boom."
"PUKU~!"
Bubble Man jumped outta the ground, dropping the remote, and whipped around to see Red Sword looming over him.
"You copied that from TV?" He guessed.
"H-how do ya know, puku?"
"Please… Do you think anyone falls for the same trick twice? "Fool me once, I'm to shame. Fool me twice, you're to shame." … Let's check on your stuff."
Red Sword picked the remote and knocked on it: a hollow echo rang out and he then opened both covers to reveal how the insides were empty and devoid of anything.
"Please… How can a remote work when there's nothing inside to begin with?" He sounded baffled.
"What, puku? Remotes have stuff inside, puku? But in TV…!"
"TV, TV… Look up Wikipedia first! Any remotes must have the components which allow it to work. And grabbing some chunks of ground and then writing "C4" into them won't make them into bombs, either. Your setup is childish and ridiculous." Red Sword sighed.
"No way, puku!" Bubble Man gasped.
"Way. Things aren't as simple as they look. Now get lost and don't bother anyone else. And let me tell you something else: the explosion would've only dropped Blood Shadow into the Reverse Internet but not deleted him at all. Too bad." Red Sword added.
"Puku! This is a conspiracy, puku!" Bubble Man proclaimed.
"There's no such conspiracy, Bubble Man. Get lost."
"Puku…"
Bubble Man dragged his feet away while hanging his head down in defeat: Red Sword sighed and leant both punches to the sides of his torso while looking somewhat tired of the whole story.
"That Bubble Man… We've let him go free because he's rather harmless but he's proving to be sillier than I thought. I guess Dr. Wily was aiming at using him as a throwaway and give out the idea that the other Net Navis would be as weak as him and thus lure opponents into tight spots… Anyway… I should get on the move." He muttered.
He walked away from the spot at a calm and leisurely pace while whistling a theme: he didn't spot Beta X spying on him while hidden behind an advertising sign placed atop a building.
"What a guy, that Bubble Man… He thought that just by making up something which looked like C4 and a detonator he could delete Blood Shadow… He misunderstood Specter Man's setup: the grace of it was to make Rock Man fall into the Reverse Internet while he'd cut contact with his Operator and have him face those high-power Viruses with only his default weapon…" He muttered with a hint of annoyance.
"Luckily we were able to hide here…" Zarashe sighed in relief.
"Yeah… Guess we'll need to figure a way to get actual battle footage without being obvious… Hmmm?" Beta X replied before spotting something.
He spotted Forte and "Gospel Jr." meeting up with Red Sword and chatting: Beta X crouched to try to hear in.
"… Red Do Sod showed up?" Forte was joking.
"Don't start toying with my name. Reddo Soodo!" Red Sword shot back with obvious annoyance.
"Guess Brad Shad's cooler."
"I don't see the point on making up pointless nicknames. Go past the Arizona plains." Red Sword told him.
"Go collect lilies in Mt. Everest." Forte suggested.
"There aren't any lilies in Mt. Everest!"
"My bad. Then go meet dancing dancer of dances."
"Grjftx! You and Omega are impossible: Zero is the only one who ends up seeing how pointless this so-called "humor" is!" Red Sword cursed.
"Ya wanna date the guy, then? Or are ya gonna date Delta?" Forte asked while making his eyebrows jump up and down.
"You lowlife…! Insulting my honor…! Hmpf!"
Red Sword became data and disappeared while Forte made an exaggerated shrug gesture.
"My, my! Short patience, really!" He exclaimed.
"Grrr…" "Gospel Jr." growled.
"Ya hungry? Go search for Garuus."
"Grrr!"
The beast ran off while Forte suddenly glanced at the advertising sign: Beta X gasped and remained still.
"… Heh! So they're going to re-release the Lord of the Rings trilogy in Blu-Ray, eh? I'm not gonna miss that. Let's go meet Blu-Ray Man. Nyah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h!" Forte muttered before starting to laugh.
Beta X slapped his forehead in defeat before running off and jumping down into a rear alley to then sneak outside of the city and into a large avenue filled with people going up and down.
"That guy… He's gotta be crazy after spending almost 20 years without speaking with anyone and then getting a hit on the head from the mighty Serenade… Master Caesar would love to be able to psycho-analyze that guy and firm a verdict to legally declare him lunatic or not and if he should be interned or not." Beta X grimly muttered.
"No wonder… Come back home and we'll think of something else. If not, I can always go myself to any Game Center and check on the archives which a lot of people do. I better wait until the afternoon. I can pass as a 6th grade student without much trouble so they won't find it weird I don't sport a uniform, anyway." Zarashe told him.
"Good thinking, Zarashe – kun. By the way… Is it me or are you trying to run another research at the same time?"
"Yeah. I think I can figure out why I ended up here despite the fact that I don't remember anything before August… And I'm very close to finding it out. But that won't change anything. I just want to satisfy my curiosity. I'll overcome that man… Hikari Netto… and I will be rewarded."
"I'll have a look at it, too. Maybe I can fill any gaps you find along the way." Beta X formed a grin.
"We are proud to announce that the film trilogy Lord of Silliness will be re-released in Blu-Ray format on the 31st of February 2011! Nyah, hah, hah, hah, ha~h!" A voice echoed from the city.
"Forte… He's hijacked a speaker and come up with a parody ad…"
"Really… He's nuts. Totally." Zarashe sighed in defeat.
He rolled his eyes under the sunglasses and Beta X sighed in defeat…