Chapter 10: Close encounter
16:40 PM (Japan Time), Monday December the 22nd …
"… Phew! This trimester ended today, thank goodness… Why didn't they end on Friday, anyway? They had us go just to give us the grades and the exams' results…"
"Thank goodness, really."
Netto and Saito had walked into their bedroom while looking rather tired: they both sat on their respective beds and sighed.
"Do you wanna do something special?" Netto asked Saito.
"… I don't feel with forces for it… I'm just gonna drop by Higureya and talk with Number Man to see what joke we can pull on Higure – san next… He needs them to snap outta his daydream land." Saito giggled.
"Oho! That's terrific… Go ahead." Netto also chuckled.
Saito transferred himself into Netto's Link PET and, from there, he entered their computer.
"Hiya, Saito - kun. All's ready?" Blood Shadow asked him.
"All's ready. Let's go see good ol' Number Man at his abode." Rock Man grinned.
Both of them departed the computer and walked down the busy streets of Internet City until they reached Higureya.
"Welcome! Oh! It's Rock Man and his pal Blood Shadow! Good afternoon!" Number Man greeted.
"Hello, Number Man. How are things in the "becoming a shining man" front?" Rock Man asked him.
"They're totally stuck! You know Yamitarou: he's still drooling over going into a date with Mariko – sensei! And those poses standing atop the counter are silly too." Number Man growled.
"Pyurururu~? Number Man looks angry, pyu."
Aqua Man popped his head from behind the desk and jumped on top of the counter.
"Oh! Aqua Man!" Rock Man recognized him.
"Pyurururu~! It's Rock Man and his pal, pyu!" Aqua Man smiled.
"Have you been behaving, Aqua Man?" Rock Man asked him.
"Pyurururu~! Aqua Man has been behaving, pyu!" Aqua Man danced on top of the counter.
"Oi. Be careful or you're going to fall!" Number Man warned him.
He slowly lifted him and placed him on the ground in front of the counter for safety.
"Pyurururu~! Aqua Man is going to see Ice Man, pyu! Bye-bye, pyu!"
"So… Shuuko – san is still working at Higureya?" Rock Man guessed.
"She keeps on being rather shy, but she does good work… She has a tendency to believe in omens, though."
"Who'd said it?"
"About the joke… We're gonna do something creepy." Rock Man told Number Man in a hushed tone.
"Tell me." Number Man sounded eager.
"Do you know what an "Ouija Board" is?" Rock Man asked him.
"Hmm… Isn't that used in western spiritualism to show messages given to you by spirits?" Number Man guessed.
"Yup. Then… We're going to spell him a very funny message. I won't give more details, though." Rock Man grinned.
"Sounds like Higure –san is going to run off the store from the fright."
"Oh! That's for sure."
"I get it. When do we do it?"
"Tomorrow afternoon is the moment. Be ready for it and maybe he'll snap outta it." Rock Man blinked him an eye.
"We're gonna leave before a queue forms in here… Good bye."
"See you tomorrow!" Rock Man waved good-bye.
"I'll be waiting!" Number Man added.
Suddenly, as Rock Man and Blood Shadow headed towards the door, all lights went out, leaving them inside of pitch-black obscurity.
"Not another power grid failure! I've had three this same month!"
"Huh? Who goes there?" Rock Man suddenly questioned.
"Is something wrong?"
A bright circle of white light suddenly formed at Rock Man's feet and gave way to a white energy shaft: Rock Man fell inside of it and it disappeared as quickly as it had appeared.
"What in the…?" Blood Shadow cursed.
"Rock Man!" Number Man gasped.
The lights suddenly returned, but Rock Man was nowhere to be seen inside of the store.
"Damn! I smell the FOD being behind this! One of them admitted wanting to do something to Rock Man! Or maybe it's Twilight back to his stupid ambitions…!"
"What's going over there?" Netto asked while opening his communications screen.
"Rock Man has vanished!"
"WHAT?" Netto turned pale.
"How's that possible?" Sigma uttered.
"I wish I knew! The lights went out, a weird shaft opened, and next moment, Rock Man wasn't here!"
"What do we do?"
"Let's sweep the area. There must be some traces left."
"I should report to Commander Omega… Do we use the direct channel?"
"Use it. This situation justifies it."
He began to tap the spot Rock Man had been at: the ground seemed quite solid and vulgar.
"Sorry for this, Number Man."
Blood Shadow took out one red indented blade and drew a circle on that spot: he tried to kick the patch of ground, but it didn't come out.
"There's no secret Reverse Cyber World tunnel, it'd seem… Then… What was that tunnel? It looked reminiscent of being warped around by a "Dimensional Converter"…"
"How weird." Number Man admitted.
"Stay put. I'm going to sweep the surroundings."
Blood Shadow came out of the store and looked around: he crept into a side alley and spotted a pile of bricks which had fallen off a container and they seemed to be covering something.
"I'm gonna be nice and give you ten seconds to come out before I blast that cheap camouflage away." Blood Shadow announced.
Someone suddenly jumped out from beneath the pile of bricks: Hidden Heart.
"Blood Shadow!" She cursed.
"Where's Rock Man?"
"That's what I'd like to know, too! I heard the scandal!"
"Don't play innocent. Out of all the FOD you were the only who admitted being explicitly after Rock Man." Blood Shadow aimed his shotgun at her and sounded doubtful.
"I did say it and I was planning on acting today: but the blackout caught me by surprise!"
"None of you can open up any weird tunnels?"
"What "weird tunnels"? We just log-in and log-out! We can do that of the shield of cards to protect ourselves from being scanned but that's all that there's to it!" Hidden Heart admitted.
"Hmmm… If it wasn't you guys, then who could've done it? Today I'm going to let you go, but next time I'm gonna send you to Mt. Rigi in Switzerland." Blood muttered.
"Sheesh! I'll be back!" Hidden Heart grumbled.
She formed the barrier of "Heart" cards and vanished from the scene while Blood Shadow spotted two Mettools having the numbers 54 and 55 looking at him.
"Metto~…"
"You guys. Where's Zoan Gate Man?"
"Did you ask for me? Do you wanna fell the embrace of my Demon Hand?"
"Save up the sarcasm: what happened?"
"I'd like to know that myself. I just got here 33 seconds ago."
Zoan Gate Man showed up behind the Mettools while folding his arms and looking calm after some initial sarcasm.
"Hmmm… Then there's another party involved…?"
"Guess so. I know I'm not believable but I was busy compiling reports from across the world. And we can't create that "tunnel" thing either."
"Hmmm… I'll leave at it for today but if I get the slightest hint that it was you guys then the 15 of us are gonna come raid you guys."
"At Stockholm? Heh, heh, heh. Fine. We'll be waiting."
"Stockholm? Nah. I know they're in Melbourne… Whatever. Let's hurry."
01:07 AM (Utah Time)…
"Unh… What the hell has happened…?"
Rock Man blinked several times and awoke: he tried to clear his blurry view and spotted what looked like countless stars shining in the night sky.
"Wha…?"
He tried to move, but was unable to.
"Huh!"
Now fully awake, he realized that there were some kind of energy rings placed on his wrists and ankles which were connected to the edges of some cylindrical glass tube via energy ropes: this cylinder seemed to be floating on the middle of outer space.
"What the heck! What is this place? It looks reminiscent of the HQ… But who's abducted me? Twilight? The FOD?"
"That would be me." A soft voice announced.
Xon' Edos descended from "above" and floated in front of Rock Man while looking calm.
"Who are ya?" Rock Man questioned.
"It would be rude of me not to introduce myself. My name is Xon' Edos. I am but a mere observer: one of many." Xon' Edos introduced himself.
"Ah! Do you work for Duo, then?" Rock Man assumed.
"Duo? You know of him?"
"I've heard plenty about the guy."
"Well. Duo is our forerunner yet we are improvements."
"Like Slur?"
"Ah! So you have heard of Slur?"
"I've met a very well done imitation of her."
"Imitation! Someone actually managed to replicate Slur?"
"Yeah. Someone who managed to scan the whole of her data…"
"Intriguing. But be assured: I am a servant, like Slur, but my Master and Mistress' command is to investigate planets, and, if needed, promote their evolution."
"Hum. I know Duo was supposed to administer your Creators' Network from the Universe but he got "God complex"…"
"Truly. Too many advanced tools: too much power… That was a mistake from our Creators' contemporaries… The 5 colonies established in other planets united efforts and created us a long time ago. There are 10 like me and I am the 5th to be activated and deployed in a planet."
"So? Why did you bother to bring me here?" Rock Man tried asking.
"My Master and Mistress were interested in my reports regarding your abilities. I did look up your backup data, but it was two months outdated. I had no other way around but to bring you here for analysis." Xon' Edos explained in a polite manner.
Crap. Papa must've been engrossed in another of his projects and forgot to ask me to come over so that we could update my backup data. If only he weren't so forgetful…
"However. It is not in our intention to seek an open conflict with you beings or inflict damage to this planet as a whole. I am merely going to analyze you. Once it is over, I shall release you." Xon' Edos calmly told him next.
Before he could protest, Kon' Edos gripped his chest emblem and it shone with a white light: Rock Man immediately entered hibernation mode and his consciousness shut down.
"Let us begin."
A white aura surrounded Rock Man's limp body as a floating spherical device with a lens appeared in front of him and began to project a thin horizontal light which ran down his body like a scanner machine.
"It has begun."
Several holographic data screens filled with schematics and glyphs appeared: Xon' Edos began to read them.
"… What? Why is there a complete DNA sequence on his body? I did not see such a thing on his backup data…" He frowned
He continued reading more data and seemed to be surprised.
"… He is really a human's consciousness, DNA and memories inhabiting inside of a Net Navi's frame! A cyborg body… He can use it to exist as a normal human again… Fascinating! Our makers never thought of such a methodology… DNA resonance… A "link" which allows him to interchange thoughts and even transplant his consciousness if the need for it came to happen… This is extremely interesting!"
Feeling excited, he read the next string of glyphs containing more information.
"A very powerful program is embedded on him… Soul Unison Omega Soul… Speed, power, skill… All of them are at the maximum. Some of his memories are locked with powerful barriers… It would be rude of me to look beyond what I am authorized to look: I shall skip them. What else is there…? Ah! Genetically engineered humans… Intriguing! Very intriguing!"
He continued on reading up the results of the analysis.
"Orbiting Earth is a gigantic spacecraft which is home to a group of individuals labeled the "Subspace"… Hmmm… This is very interesting indeed…"
The scanning machine finished and floated out of the room: Xon' Edos typed several commands in the screens and worked with them for a few minutes.
"I have "retailed" the contents of the analysis to only highlight his battle abilities such as the no-longer-active Style Change, Soul Unison and Cross Fusion… That was what they ordered me to find out, after all."
He made a shrug.
"I shall keep the rest of the information stored in the vault… Now that I think about it… I should leave him with an explanation of why I travelled to 30 years in the past…"
Xon' Edos placed his right hand on Rock Man's forehead and transferred some data into him: he stopped after a few seconds.
"This shall do fine."
He then snapped his fingers and the restrains disengaged, leaving Rock Man floating inert as if he was in a zero-gravity environment.
"I shall send him back to the spot I "abducted" him from… I do believe we shall meet again, Rock Man - dono… No. Maybe it should be more elegant to refer as you by your real name… Hikari Saito – dono."
Making a smirk, he snapped his fingers again and the same tunnel of white light opened, sucking Rock Man in and closing: Xon' Edos floated away while looking amused, for once.
"Talk about an intriguing day. So? What is the status in the "present"?"
He opened a holographic screen which displayed how the construction was advancing.
"They are being fast. Maybe this is a project which had already been designed for and they were pending finding out when it would be fitting to build it or when… Let them analyze… And those memories of Rock Man – dono regarding those "Past Visions" which displayed other Time-Spaces are fascinating too… The most recent showed an Earthling Net Navi facing off against Slur… And ending up in his victory and her deletion… That must be why someone in this planet recreated her… As a very well done imitation which believes they are a successor to the original Slur and who has overcome Mark One's defects and flaws… My Master and Mistress shall be fascinated by this report… And to think Duo left behind two human "Probes"… He was too arrogant: our biggest mistake ever! It almost brought upon our extinction!"
Setting that asides… Maybe we shall meet again, young brave warrior… Heh, heh, heh, heh…
17:49 PM (Japan Time)…
"… What's going on? Who's the culprit? Huh! Huff!"
"Cool it, Hikari…"
"That's easy to say, Sigma!"
Netto was pacing nervously around his bedroom and eating his fingernails: his Link PET rang, and gasping, he reached for it.
"Number Man? Do you have any news?" Netto asked him upon seeing him on-screen.
"Rock Man's back!" Number Man announced.
"What? Where is he?" Netto asked.
"Here: in Higureya! He appeared all of a sudden just like how he had disappeared." Number Man admitted.
"I'm coming there right now!" Sigma announced.
Sigma departed the laptop and quickly made his way to Higureya: Number Man was trying to reanimate Rock Man, who was sitting on the ground with his back leaning against the wall.
"When did he appear?" Sigma asked.
"It must've been around a minute ago…" Number Man replied.
"Did you see anyone?"
"No, I didn't. There was another blackout which only lasted for a few seconds, though."
"I'll bring him back home. Ring me if something pops out."
"I understand."
He slowly helped Rock Man rise by grabbing his right wrist and made him lean against his body as he re-appeared on Netto's Link PET.
"Oi, Hikari! Transfer him." Sigma told him.
Netto transferred Saito's Navi frame into his cyborg body and waited: he soon began to blink and react.
"Saito - niisan! Are you alright?" Netto asked him.
"Uh… Netto – kun… Ah!"
He suddenly sat on the bed and looked around, seemingly nervous about something: he looked at his wrists and his body.
"… This is… at home…?" He muttered.
"What happened to you? You've been missing for over half an hour!"
"That guy… I remember! Xon' Edos…" Saito quickly replied.
"Sorry. Could you tell me the whole tale?"
"Huh… Yeah… When I awoke I was being held hostage in a weird Cyber World and the owner of it showed up… It's an alien Net Navi named Xon' Edos… Pretty fancy name, if ya ask me…"
"What? And what did he want outta you?"
"He wanted to analyze me… It turned out that he tried to use my backup data for that purpose but Papa forgot to update it ever since two months ago." Saito brought a hand to his forehead and seemed to be trying to recall.
"And where was he hiding at?"
"Huh… Hmmm… It'd seem he's left me some data of his own… It's on binary… I need a little while to translate it…" Saito replied.
"Ah! Saito – kun! You're alright!" Blood Shadow exclaimed: he'd come in after being warned by Sigma.
"Yeah… Hum… The guy skipped my locked memories, thank goodness… He does know who I am … Oh! He also added that he was merely an observer and means no conflict or harm…" Saito kept checking up his own mind.
"I'm glad you're O.K… I got so scared…" Netto sounded relieved as he hugged him.
"Ah… T-thanks a lot, Netto – kun…" Saito replied while being somewhat distracted and not realizing the implications of it.
"Can you translate the binary data?"
"… A crater in Utah… It must've been the one in the news… Upon making land-fall, he created a sort of "Past Tunnel" and he physically is on the same spot 30 years ago…" Saito translated.
"Whoa! He has time-travelled? Why did he do so?" Netto asked.
"Hum… According to his own data it was because he wanted to closely monitor the origins of the Network… Besides, his superiors have already decided that Earth is fine as it is and doesn't need to be interfered with… I remember! He knew about Duo!" Saito suddenly recalled after he finished his earlier explanation.
"He did?" Netto frowned.
"Yeah… His Creators lived in a colony set up by Duo's own creators and they're improvements over the guy… More like Slur…"
"The important thing is that you're alright."
He leant over Saito and stared intensely at his eyes: Saito seemed to be slightly disoriented, since he didn't make any movement.
"Huh… Ah. Thanks… However… I feel slightly disoriented now… Give me a few minutes."
Netto stood up while Saito sat on the bed clasping his forehead.
"Hello. What happened?" Omega appeared on the PC's screen.
"Ah! Commander Omega… To sum it up, an alien Net Navi named Xon' Edos abducted him to analyze him… He's left a message saying he doesn't want to pick up fights with us or threaten the planet at all."
"He must be the one behind that crater in Utah."
"He admitted it. He claimed that he only did it to monitor the development of the Network…" Saito explained.
"Hum. We can be glad no one got hurt… We're now going to increase surveillance of that crater… Stay sharp, guys. I'm going to report to Boss."
"Excuse me… I'm going to fetch an aspirin…" Saito announced as he stood up, still clasping his forehead.
"OK."
Saito left the room and grabbed the handrail as he walked downstairs: he entered the kitchen, opened a cupboard and grabbed the box of aspirins.
"They haven't expired yet…"
He picked one, dissolved it on a glass of room temperature water and drank it: he sighed in relief and returned upstairs to sit down on his bed, looking better.
"Feeling better?" Netto asked him.
"Yeah… Thanks."
"You should take a rest. I guess that what happened to you combined with the stress of the exams have gotten you dizzy."
"I think that's good idea… Wake me up around dinner time…"
Saito lied on his bed and was soon snoring: Netto looked at him and sighed in relief as he sat down in front of the desk.
"It caught us off-guard: but we have the assurance that the same thing won't happen twice."
"Yeah … I'm going to finish up the homework for tomorrow. They don't give us a break…"
"That's because Break Man is in league with Exam Man!"
"Sigma. Shoo, shoo." Blood Shadow fumed.
"And Nam Kaerb is in league with Nam Maxe!"
"Why don't you go patent those already? Leave us in peace."
"Mwah, hah, hah… Too bad, Blood Shadowy~… I've just begun!"
18:02 PM (Japan Time)…
"… A billion blue blistering barnacles!"
"What now?"
Hidden Heat was cursing while pacing in front of a metallic door with the label "HIDDEN HEART" on it: she spotted Diamond Duchess, who looked totally unimpressed.
"I had a perfect chance of getting Rock Man, but someone jumped ahead of me! What a wasted chance!" She cursed.
"Don't tell me you wanted to use your S&M sadism stuff on him…"
"I will do it one day! Just you wait!" Hidden Heat threatened.
"Go your half-way, Heart."
Diamond Duchess walked past Hidden Heart, who uttered several curses under her breath before entering her room and slamming the door shut with violence.
"Heart and her S&M sadism manias… If anyone else found out there'd be quite a scandal! Or I guess she already boasted it to that Rock Man boy and he's raised his guard…"
"Nyah, hah, hah! Hah, hah, hah! Struggle~!"
"Jeez. And now she's started to image he's actually there. Or maybe she brought some random boy from the surface."
"Struggle and fight in VAIN!"
"Why didn't make the door be sound-proof, anyway? The room's walls are already sound-proof."
"Nyah, hah, hah! Hah, hah, hah! Eat these! Eat whip!"
"I think she's trying to imitate those sailor movies when discipline demanded that rebelling sailors be whipped."
"Glory to my Mistress!"
"Jeez. I know both she and I got programmed by a Mistress but we dunno who she was or what she looked like. One thing is clear: she wanted Heart to imitate her and me to just play spoiled kid."
"My dungeon is superb!"
"I stepped inside once and even a woman would start trembling on fear when she sees that." She muttered.
"Nyah, hah, hah! Hah, hah, hah!"
"Heart, dear! Lower it!" She called out.
"Sheesh! Don't get in MY way!"
"I'm not getting in your way, dear. I'm just giving you a piece of advice. Or do you want Boss to scold you for your behavior?"
"Hmpf! Boss is old-fashioned! He should go star in the next Pirates of the Caribbean movie~! Nyah, hah, hah! Hah, hah, hah!"
"No good, no good…"
"Eat wax! Struggle! Agonize! Suffer! Repent! Beg! Moan! Groan!"
"Jeez. I'm off already."
She walked down one of the corridors while humming Let It Be and then spotted Agile Ace coming out of his room while fuming.
"What's wrong, bad boy~?" She teased.
"Diamond, huh. Well. I got told by Boss we're all going to go for sorties tomorrow but I'm stuck at what strategy I should go for."
"Oh. Just give it your best: I'm sure you'll think of something, bad boy."
"Well… Guess that, yeah. I'll go check with Joker and the other two: Boss has to confirm our different assignments, anyway."
"OK! Good. Then go for it, cute Ace."
Agile Ace rolled his eyes and walked off while Diamond Duchess giggled under her breath and looked rather amused…