Chapter 10: Incoming heat
11:04 AM (Japan Time), Wednesday June the 8th…
"… Yo and behold! I'm the First Tale!"
"What's the point, Hiro?"
"Instead of Final Fantasy and Last Story, I'm going to invent First Tale! Isn't it cool?"
"Yeah, yeah. SO cool, really."
"Heh, heh. Skeptical Netto's comeback! Grand style~!"
"Sheesh."
Hiro had come up with a rather lame joke which he told to Netto during break time that day: Netto rolled his eyes and seemed to agree that it was lame while Hiro grinned.
"What's with the ruckus?" Saito asked he joined them.
"I've invented the First Tale!"
"How brilliant of you." He drily muttered.
"What's that? A Mega – Class Battle Chip?" Dekao rushed over there and looked eager.
"No. It's a joke." Netto grumbled.
"Aw man." He sighed in disappointment.
"Nam Wa!" Hiro joked.
"HUH?"
"Oh come on. Hiro – kun. Stirring up trouble again? You never learn the lesson, do you? Boys will boys. Jeez. What a school." Meiru complained next.
"Akashi – kun is the Prank Prince~!" Yaito giggled.
"Prank Prince? Why not." He laughed.
"Yaito… Don't give the guy ideas or it gets worse." Netto grumbled.
"My bad, Hikari – kun! Maybe you shouldn't have bitten my royal bento a while ago?"
"What royal bento? You've made it up here and now." Saito grumbled next.
"Really…" Even Meiru didn't find the joke to be funny.
"Oh! There! Hikawa – kun! Cha gotta tell me the trick!"
"No, Ayanokouji – san. I won't. End of the tale." Hikawa didn't bother to stop as he headed to the soccer field.
"Don't expect me to either." Tomono warned.
"Soccer? I'm in!" Netto got in the mood.
"Let's go: it'll help vent off the bad mood. And I want to exercise my soccer skills too." Saito approved of it.
"I'm going to chat with the B class girls. Maybe they've got some news worth it." Meiru shrugged.
"Tee, heh, heh. So! Akashi – kun… Did ya go for the secret and sneaky maneuver already~?" Yaito asked him when they'd been left alone in the spot.
"Huh? What's that?" He frowned.
"Oho! Is that some trick to beat the rivals?" Dekao rushed in, grinning and eager.
"Nope!"
"Man! Don't disappoint me!"
"It's not my fault, Dekao. You're the one who's too eager and expectative when you shouldn't be. Why don't you go over there?" Hiro sighed.
"Wha~t? T-this jerk!"
"Tee, heh, heh."
"I'll remember this, Hiro!"
"I don't doubt it, somehow. And I feel like my mood to pull pranks is gone so I'm gonna join the guys in the soccer match."
"Alright… But I've got a hunch of why ya call Drake – kun "maid" to begin with so… Tee, heh, heh."
"Sheesh. I talk too much from time to time and now I regret it? Life is ironic with me?" He sighed.
He headed into the soccer field and sat on the bench next to Saito, who was looking at something with his PET.
"Oho! This is big news, yeah! It turns out that Keitai was arrested in Columbus City, Ohio, yesterday… The info he had has been disposed of so there's no danger of the guy using it as weapon anymore…" Saito whistled in surprise.
"In Ameroupe, huh… Does that mean that that Barrel guy and that Colonel guy caught Keitai?"
"So it'd seem…"
"I'd heard of them, yeah. It'd seem that Barrel is Wily's foster son but cut off with the guy years ago." Hiro commented.
"I hadn't heard of that. Oh well. Not like it matters: what matters is that this affair is over."
"Yeah. But we've got something pending…"
"Oh. "Zeta", yeah… For the time being… They don't seem to want to stir up trouble so maybe we needn't worry yet… That would be too naïve, I guess. Maybe we should keep some guard around in case they come up with something…" Saito reflected aloud.
"Say. Couldn't it be Sigaano to begin with?"
"Why. It could perfectly be. The skills match… And, after all, back in winter, he only said he was leaving but he didn't say he was leaving forever: maybe he's trying us out? It would fit with the guy's character."
"Maybe we need to suggest that to Omega and the others: it could give them a very much needed lead, don't you think so? And seeing what he could do the past winter then it's no surprise he's been able to do all of this stuff…" Hiro continued.
"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! I caught it! Too bad, Netto!"
"I won't give up so easily!"
Both looked at the field to see Dekao (who was the rival team's goalkeeper) catching the ball and laughing: Netto didn't let that disappoint him and he looked confident.
"There it goes!"
"Good, Dekao! Here I go~!"
One student began to move towards the field of Netto & company: Hikawawas the goalkeeper and looked ready to stop the kick: Tomono rushed in from the NE and managed to gain possession of the ball, which he quickly kicked to Netto.
"Nice pass, Noa – kun! OK! Here I go~! Incoming Summer Kick!" He improvised some name.
"How original." Both Saito and Hiro drily muttered.
"Wha~h! Too fast! Wha!"
"GOAL!"
"Aw man! Dekao! Don't be so easily intimidated! It's but a regular kick, not some super-powered kick!" One student complained.
"Shaddup! Dekao – sama is the best!"
"Square root of 144?" Saito called out.
"YIKES!" He gasped.
"Aha-hah!" Tomono and Hikawa exclaimed.
"Guilty as charged." Hiro grinned.
"Eh… 14!"
"Wrong. It's 12."
"E~H?"
"Sheesh." The other team's students complained.
"Oh well. Resuming that of before… By the way! It's getting closer, eh, Hiro? B2 and W2!" Saito grinned.
"Heh! I'm so gonna bring out my Hariteyama and sweep through the Plasma Gang's PKMN!" Hiro laughed.
"Tee, heh, heh. The girl is less daring this time around, eh? Unlike our dear adventure-loving White – chan…" Yaito suddenly popped out from behind them and grinned.
"Well. It's a game for all ages. They don't want to overdo it." Saito calmly replied.
"Ya would like for her to be ya wife?"
"What? Of course not!" Saito blushed.
"Guilty as charged! And Hiro would have White – chan!"
"Me?" He gasped.
"Tee, heh, heh. I'm the Oracle of Wives!"
"How brilliant." Both drily muttered.
"And I'm off through the backdoor! The ultimate escape route! The architects have spy buddies who need an ultimate escape route: hence why they build backdoors to begin with! Ciao!"
Yaito ran off, giggling, and both guys rolled their eyes.
"Girls…" They muttered.
"There's no understanding them. They're too sneaky." Hiro hushed.
"I'll have to agree with you on that, Hiro. Oh boy."
12:32 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Guts, guts. Guts Man got a present for Roll – chan, de guts."
"Oh yeah? What is it?"
"This, de guts."
"WHAT?"
"W-what is it, ladies and gentlemen? Huh? "Bubble Man's Guide to Evil Make-Up De Puku"… Uh-oh."
"Bubble Man… The guy's suicidal or what?"
"Dunno! Maybe he put on Hugo Loco as perfume."
"Desu?"
Guts Man brought Roll an e-book as they'd gathered in the classroom's Cyber World: she got annoyed when she saw it and Glyde peeked over her right shoulder: he gasped upon seeing the title as Delta rolled his eyes and Rafael grinned: while Ice Man didn't seem to get the reason for Roll's annoyance.
"Yoho. What's up, Mistress?" Forte walked in.
"THIS!" She showed him the e-book.
"Whoa. Bubble Man's gone over the edge this time around." He whistled in surprise.
"I feel like I'll become Jess the Ripper!" She threatened.
"Huh-oh." He gulped, for once.
"Ah! Forte. See, there's something we'd like you to tell to the Science Labs if you drop by there today." Delta called out.
"What is it?"
"We suspect "Zeta" might be Sigaano to begin with: it'd fit with the guy's skills, don't you think so? Besides: he never said he was leaving forever to begin with. It could be a new "season", even."
"Aha-hah! So Sigaano has been making us sweat and wants us to play Detective Conan, eh? The rascal sure has some… eh… courage!" He was about to say a bolder word but corrected when Roll directed an annoyed glare at him.
"Hmpf! Sigaano? Handle that by yourselves! I'm off to telling that Bubble Man guy one or two things!"
"B-but, Roll – chan… Don't overdo it, alright? Else the Officials will come in and then it'll become a mess…" Delta warned.
"I know. I just wanna yell into his ear-pads! Later!"
"Man. That was scary, alright." Forte muttered.
"Scary, desu…" Ice Man was trembling, even.
"Man. I guess that Bubble Man will soon regret making up that title: and, anyway… Huh? Roll – chan dropped it here…"
Rafael picked the e-book up and began to shuffle through the e-pages but they were all blank: the rear cover had no text either and the front only had hand-written katakana written in a rush.
"Man. A scam. Guts Man, dude… How much money did you pay for this piece of junk?" Rafael rolled his eyes.
"Huh… 6-6-6-6… De guts…"
"6666 Z? Bubble Man, the idiot…" Delta grumbled.
"Not again with the "Devil's number"…" Forte sighed.
"I know. It's overused. It reminds me of the Dan Brown book Angels & Demons where a novice BBC reporter says the CERN's logo hides a 666 there and they're Satanic." Delta admitted while rolling his eyes and sounding fed up with the deal.
"Man." Forte sighed again.
"Hugo Loco's haunting us, yeah." Rafael sighed.
"Desu?" Ice Man didn't get anything.
"Ignore us, Ice Man – san. It's adults' talk, sir." Glyde politely hushed to him.
"Guess that, desu."
"Guts, guts?" Guts Man wondered.
"Guts Man, dude… You got fooled. Do ya know what it means? Bubble Man says you're weak."
"Guts! Guts Man ain't weak! Guts Man will beat Bubble Man! Come at full power, de guts!"
"COME AT FULL POWER, DE SIGMA~!"
"GATTSU~!"
"Mwah, hah, hah, hah! How was that one like?"
"Gattsu~…"
"Man. The guy fainted! Ya got a long way ahead of ya if ya wanna replace Donkey Kong!"
Rafael addressed Guts Man, he got cocky, and began to bang his chest: Sigma suddenly showed up behind him while making some kind of fighting pose and yelling: the yell made Guts Man faint, even, and Sigma laughed while the others sighed.
"Nope! He's got a long way to go before replacing Koppa!" Omega joined the fray.
"Sheesh. When will Hugo Boss press the "serious" switch?" Rafael sighed in defeat.
"When he figures out where I hid it at?" Omega laughed.
"Sir Omega, sir… This isn't fun, sir." Blood Shadow complained as he came in next.
"Did ya say something, Bloody~ Shadowy~? B-B-B-B-Bertie~ is gonna ask you out in a date at Hokkaido~?" Omega began to deliberately elongate vowels as if to annoy Blood Shadow.
"Please stop making up non-existent people, sir! It's getting on my nerves, sir. I've got my dignity, sir." He protested.
"O-ME-GA!" Vadous roared over the radio.
"Ops. I thought shachou would be napping by now… It's past 2:30 AM in Bermudas, so…" He looked amused.
"You moron! You forgot I've come to Japan to cleanse up my house here and make sure Keitai didn't get past the alarms and the security sensors this time around!" Vadous grumbled.
"Ops. Bad memory, I guess! Fish memory?"
"KA-SHA~H!" He growled in exasperation.
"Ka-Shah? Why not. I could patent it as my own Fan Fiction Original Character… "Ka – Shah The Lesser"! He Who Shall Date Bloody Shadowy Tomorrow Evening!" He laughed.
"I'm off before I go mad." Blood Shadow angrily sentenced.
He turned around, clearly offended by now, and stepped out: Delta fumed and Forte seemed to have gotten annoyed: Rafael looked like he couldn't bear it anymore and Glyde had seemingly turned off the audio input because he stood there giving them the back and not moving as he read up a screen: Ice Man had run off by now, even.
"I'm gonna retrieve you lil rascal now and lock you up in your capsule until you learn to behave! I won't have enough with switching your head mode around!" Vadous icily hissed.
"Yikes." Rafael gulped.
"Huh-oh." Sigma gulped next.
"Oho? So aniki isn't enough for ya? What you would like, some half-breed? Like Rock Man?"
"Rock Man's another tale altogether and when it comes to behaving he does it better than you, really! You should be ashamed: you've got a mental age of 20 and you behave worse than a 15 year old!"
"My. I feel praised. And Delta Team joins the Behavior Team along the way~?" He grinned at Delta.
"Shut the trap up." He grumbled back.
"Man. Boss! Maybe you should delete this personality and let the serious aniki be in charge the whole time?" Rafael sighed.
"If only it were so easy! I overdid with the serious one and when he gets into annoyed mode he'll spend hours busting simulation after simulation obsessed with beating his own records! He overheats himself and then I gotta upgrade the cooling systems!"
"Huh? What, what?" Rafael frowned.
"You didn't know? Those three were originally built as robots: Mr. Zataki then built up Navi frames so that they can easily switch between their robot bodies and Navi frames… In short: they've got two bodies to begin with." Delta summed up.
"Ah! Now I get it."
"Sorry. I thought you knew. Anyway… I'm gonna retrieve you and I'm so gonna do what I've just promised to do! And Sigma! You start looking around to see if you can catch any hints of Sigaano AKA "Zeta": and behave or else…!" Vadous hissed.
"R-roger, Boss!"
"Ciao, caro mio! E la comedia e finita!"
Omega bowed as if he was acting in an opera before a purple "portal" opened behind him and he was sucked in: Sigma gulped and quickly ran off while the others sighed in defeat.
"Madness… Invitation to madness, alright… Jill's madness is pale when compared to this, really…" Forte sighed.
"Last Story, huh? You better leave: the next class is about to start."
"Yeah. I'll drop by the Hunters' Guild and tell them the news: and then the Science Labs and Serenade… See ya around. Man."
15:15 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Oho. So they now think that Sigaano Nogaano is "Zeta"? That's perfect: but not like I'll charge in a like a fool… I'll do nothing and let them get obsessed with hunting Sigaano Nogaano, wherever the guy might be at: he may be far more slippery than Keitai Denwa, Shun – kun."
"I don't doubt it. You better don't do anything reckless, Akira. Or else you'll get into some huge trouble."
"I know, Shun – kun, I know. I did some eavesdropping around the Committee HQ momentarily hijacking a Program – kun of a drink vending machine and they seem to believe in that, too."
"Man. And there you said you'd nothing."
"From now. What has been done isn't included in the pack. Too bad, Shun – kun. I couldn't deliver to you Committee – branded coffee."
"I don't need it, Akira!"
Obihiro was having another video-conference with Akira: he had his usual relaxed and friendly smile across his face.
"Oh yes. Don't forget, Shun – kun! The Hikari Brothers' birthday is tomorrow, so make sure to bring them a present!"
"Whoa! That's true. I'd forgotten. I'll admit that you were right in reminding me of it."
"Heh, heh, heh. So? Will you ask of them to invite you into their mysterious world?"
"No." Obihiro drily replied.
"Heh, heh, heh. It's a joke, a joke."
"Oh come on. Your humor is so random."
"At least I'm not as bad as Omega's: did you see what a show he put up a few hours ago?"
"I did. Man. What a guy. Worse than Dr. Jekyll, even!"
"Maybe yes maybe not as Holmes would say."
"Sheesh."
"Don't worry! Not like I intend to become a serial joker. Beware! The serial madman, The Joker!"
"Oh come on." Obihiro sighed.
"Beware of Cloud Man."
"Why?"
"He'll cloud your perceptions." Akira giggled.
"How brilliant!" Obihiro fumed.
"Heh, heh, heh. Blizzard Man is going to blizzard your heart: when you reach the climax of a novel!"
"Oh yeah?" He was skeptical by now.
"Cosmo Man will invite you to the cosmos!"
"Are you done, Akira~?" He asked.
"For the time being, my cute little lover."
"Stop calling me like that! It's embarrassing! It really is!"
"Heh, heh, heh. I love teasing ya~…"
"More like provoking me!" Obihiro protested.
"Who knows? Guess we need a lawyer to clear this up, Shun – kun. Well then, stay healthy. And don't associate yourself with hunting men! See you around."
"Huff. Bye."
The call ended and Obihiro looked perplexed.
"Hunting men? Hunters? The Hunters' Guild? What's wrong with that?"
Or did he mean something else? Oh come on. It's just my imagination!
16:49 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Cloud!"
"What, Blizzard?"
"Not "what"! Where are my spare ski sticks?"
"Why do you want them, anyway? It's June."
"Hyururu~! Ya stole them!"
"I didn't. Where's your proof?"
"You two. Don't start another civil war."
"What? Cosmo Man!"
"Hyururu~! Don't exaggerate!"
"You two! Behave. Or Delta – sama will get annoyed."
"Red! Who stole my sticks?"
"Guess Bubble Man: who else would find worth on them?"
Blizzard Man and Cloud Man were discussing inside of a homepage decorated with the "FOXHOUND" emblem yet the text had been replaced to read "Hunters' Guild" instead: Cosmo Man stepped in and tried to stop them: Red Sword also intervened and named a culprit.
"Hyururu~! I heard that some miss went and beat the guy up but it'd seem it wasn't enough so I'm gonna have a showdown with the guy! I'm fed up with the guy's scams!"
"You're not the only one." Red Sword sighed.
"Hmpf! Go and wrap the guy in shocking clouds! Mwah, hah, hah."
"You be quiet and try to find any hints about Sigaano Nogaano."
"Say that again, Cosmo Man? This rascal!"
"Hell. Delta – sama, sir…! Please come here soon or these two will fight each other again…! What a panorama!" Red Sword sighed in defeat.
17:25 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Excuse me. Are you Gate Man?"
"That's me, yeah. What's up?"
"My name's Dark Man. Say: were you looking for a file about the improvements of HTML5?"
"True! Where was it at?"
"A "Darkloid" named Blizzard Man found it on Bubble Man's workshops, you see."
"Bubble Man! It had to be guy: what a lousy thief!"
Dark Man came to the Science Labs to deliver a stolen file to Gate Man: Yamato Man could be seen standing close by and watching a door's frame which contained a golden slab of energy and which seemed to be some kind of shortcut.
"Ah. I apologize for the delay. I already relayed the information to Mr. Meijin so we can go back." Serenade announced as he came in from the south.
"Roger, sir!" Yamato Man saluted.
"Let us return to our domains."
"Doesn't that sound a bit old-fashioned, Serenade?" Someone asked over his radio.
"Oh. Don't mind it, Mamoru. I am who I am."
"Guess that." Mamoru seemed to shrug.
"Meijin – sama~! Please sign! Sign! Sign! " Some girls shrieked in the real world.
"Not another crowd of fan-girls…!" Meijin cursed.
"No good." Gate Man sighed.
"Ya mean "trouble"…!" Meijin grumbled.
17:49 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Whoa. So in the end Roll did get to beat Bubble Man?"
"Sure. With the Giga Cannon Program Advance…"
"The guy had it coming: attacking girls' pride like that…"
"Obviously. What were you expecting from such a dumb guy that Wily only bothered to build so as to act as bait?"
"I know. We'd beat the guy with ease, get cocky, and, when the next foe would come, we'd be beaten up instead 'cause we'd gotten cocky and would've lowered the guard. Thankfully enough all of those would-be-new-WWW Navis were deleted almost 2 years ago."
Netto and Saito were having a chat in their bedroom once they'd arrived there and taken out the materials to prepare their exams: Netto was surprised by the news, Saito smiled, and they then got serious when they discussed something else.
"Mama told us that Papa's coming this evening. It'd seem Papa needs to vent off from time to time too or he ends up beaten."
"Of course. And we'll have a well-deserved break once we finish these exams and pass them."
"But, really… Vadous – san should find a solution to Omega which isn't too much of an extreme… Maybe by combining some parts of one into the other… And I wouldn't be surprised if Sigaano comes back with his crazy humor and his predilection for "shows"…"
"Bah! Then we only need to beat all of them like we did last year's winter, anyway… And I'm not getting cocky: I'm just pointing out that we mustn't let that concern us or worry us: we can overcome those!"
"Of course, Saito – niisan. We two and our friends… We form a team capable of overcoming them all! Let's go for more!"
Both laughed in a cherry manner and patted their backs…
THE END