Chapter 11: True Power
19:27 PM (Japan Time), Sunday November the 19th…
"… No matter how you try to justify it… You've gone way over the edge, Meiru!"
"Save your hero speech for you own hide."
Netto was talking with Meiru via the Link PET and trying to make see her that she'd gone beyond all acceptable limits: she refused to accept it for the time being.
"What "hero speech"? It's common sense!" Netto protested.
"Whatever. I was bored of the same thing each week. I need some variation to the pattern." She shrugged.
"…"Pattern"! People aren't "patterns"! Tooru – kun tagged along because he didn't want to turn you down: but you've forced Noa – kun to participate and almost drove him crazy! Who do you think you are, Meiru?" Netto grumbled.
"I am a woman who will never allow anyone to exert control over her own self. That's all." Meiru shot back.
"Aren't you supposed to be a girl still?" Netto questioned.
"Nah. I've already matured." Meiru replied.
Saito was sitting on a corner of the room and trying to ignore Meiru and Netto's discussion: his Link PET rang thus snapping him out of his gloomy mood so he checked the number: it was Vadous.
"Good evening."
"Good evening, Vadous – san."
"… I'm telling you to snap outta it already! I've got nothing against feminism: but I despise extortion!" Netto yelled: the discussion was heating up.
"It's not "extortion"! I didn't get the info illegally!" Meiru shot back.
"Che! And why didn't you keep it secret? "A secret makes a woman, woman" … Or so Mama says." Netto argued.
"It was too good to let it pass!"
"… So it was true." Vadous muttered.
"Huh? Excuse me, sir?"
"Wouldn't you know? Tabuu mailed me. But not to brag. He sent me a list of S&M stuff Sakurai bought recently and I realized that she'd even made a secret visit to the former head of an all-female club to get advice. Who has she tried to drive crazy? Hikawa?"
"Eh… Well… Not… Noa – kun… Tooru – kun has been at it for a while but it'd seem that she hadn't driven him to the edge like what happened tonight with Noa – kun…"
"Tomono… Being forced to cooperate with the Z – Nation first and now this? He's gonna get depressed at this rate. Damn. History is repeating itself!" He growled.
"Excuse me?" Saito frowned.
"Didn't I tell you guys? About the "Ice Queen"…"
"Oh. True. Wait! Do you mean…?"
"She began just like your friend over there and look what she became in a few years' time." He whispered.
"By all the…!"
"Let me talk with her. We need to snap her outta that or else we'll get a second "Ice Queen" out there…!"
"Roger."
Saito nodded and walked towards Netto: he tapped him on the back of his right shoulder.
"What's up?" Netto asked as he looked over his shoulder with a surprised face.
"Vadous – san is on my line. He wants to speak with her."
Netto was surprised, but, nevertheless, he connected his call so that Vadous could also participate.
"Good evening. I believe this is the first time we met. I am Vadous. You may call me Zataki as well." Vadous introduced himself.
"I think Hiro mentioned you as a distant relative of his…" Meiru frowned and was seemingly recalling.
"Miss. Will you allow me to tell you one thing?" Vadous politely asked of her.
"Huh? Eh… Sure." Meiru looked surprised.
"… Can you imagine how you could end up like this?" Vadous asked.
"… Huh… You mean to say in the near future?" Meiru assumed.
"Indeed."
"Huh… Maybe… I'd go search for… more power… to try to make my opinion be respected…" Meiru slowly replied.
"That happened to a person I knew." Vadous announced.
"Huh? Really?"
"However… That person became tainted by "Evil" once she acquired the power she was looking for. All of her initial ideals, which were rather noble, turned into a greedy lust to inflict pain and damage to others. It became a lust to rule over everything… So she ended up becoming a dreadful underground night club network boss... She ruled over all of the Japan underground as the dreaded "Ice Queen"…!"
"… The "Ice Queen"…!" Meiru began to look nervous.
"And she didn't care how many suffered: she would enjoy it over and over again. She'd become a "Demon" in human form. I happened to be controlled by her. I was fooled by her façade, like many others."
"B-but, then…"
"But one day I had the courage to try to see what was beneath that façade. And it changed me wholly. I could no longer bear it: that person was going to make a whole nation suffer just to fulfill her lust. So, I had to stop her. And so I did: I reported everything I knew to the authorities and then she got arrested. But the damage was already done: thousands, if not tens of thousands of victims still suffer and are desperately trying to break apart from that horrible past, to bury it, to destroy it…" Vadous explained in an icy voice which was obviously holding at bay his wish to explode into anger.
"Kami - sama…!" Meiru had turned pale.
"So? Do you see the parallelism on it? That person began just like you. Look where she ended up at." Vadous summarized.
"… I…" Meiru looked like the whole story had shattered away her earlier stubbornness.
"Can you imagine what does each and every one of those victims feel like? Some of them were rescued when they'd almost lost all of their mindset and become vegetables… Their bodies don't forget, unlike their minds. Some of them are doomed to be unable to resume the life they had before, the life which was stolen by that woman's proxies and which will never return. Ever." Vadous continued.
"L-life stolen… forever…! I… I…!"
"But it's not too late. If you look down at the eart beneath you then you will realize that one person can't change the world. Did you think Bill Gates or Steve Jobs alone changed the world? But that was because they were the ones to be publically recognized. Other persons behind the scenes were necessary to achieve their triumphs."
"… I… then… what… should I do…?"
"If you keep it as a mere game between friends and always remember that the person is your friend, a friend you care for, I'd say that it won't be much of a trouble."
"… I should… speak with Noa – kun… and apologize…"
"You should. People can get frustrated and attempt to take their frustrations out into something yet we must remember to hold back and think rationally before that."
"… I'm so sorry… I caused trouble for him and tried to extortion him… Something got a hold of me… I don't understand how this could have happened, really…!" She muttered.
"It isn't too late! You can still start anew! Focus! Remember who you are and concentrate!" Vadous told her.
"… T-thank you, mister… Now I realize… what I almost did… I need to go speak with him… good evening…"
The call ended and both Vadous and the twins sighed in relief upon seeing how they'd managed to make her see the wrong of her ways.
"Thank you for your help, Vadous – san."
"Don't mind it. It'd seem Tabuu did get influenced by me when I told him how I despised those kinds of businesses. Guess he doesn't get the whole of it but doesn't like someone destroying a person's mindset just for "lust" or "fun"… But I'm picked about this "deadline" he told Omega…"
"Speaking of Omega – san…"
"Repairs 99% complete… I let him switch out to his crazy humor mode so that he then doesn't try to go out there for reckless payback especially since the Pocket Monsters in the Secret Area have been upgraded to include final evolutions and be at Level 75. Any Navi entering that fray has its program being changed to behave like a Pocket Monster at Level 50 with the four-technique moveset so they need to train before tackling the big guys." Vadous explained.
"Guess he did get hooked." Netto muttered.
"Sure thing… And "downed" Navis are warped out at the Official Square, too… Forte has been training like mad down there for hours and hours: he's obsessed with breaking through them." Vadous told them with a shrug of shoulders.
"I can picture him and "Gospel Jr." blowing everything up on their path, yeah… But won't Serenade get annoyed at that?"
"He is too civilized to ever get angry or annoyed. He might become molested but nothing past that."
"We'd heard there are another two Net Navis as well…"
"Yamato Man: former Commander of the Science Labs Elite Unit. Dark Man: a Net Navi assassin. His goal is to assassinate 10,000 Net Navis no matter how much time it takes."
"WHAT?"
"Believe it or not, that was the challenge Serenade gave him so that he could be allowed a rematch."
"Whoa."
"And last time I checked he'd reached past the 9,700 mark."
"Yikes."
"But Yamato Man is more like a ferocious samurai who has honor and is very skilled." Vadous described.
"What a contrast!" Netto muttered.
"Yeah. Like plus and minus…"
"Not a bad analogy, really… Well then, I'm off. Good evening."
"Good evening."
"… Meiru – chan got tempted. And I'm sure that "Nebula Grey" freak is somehow involved, too. I'd stake anything on that." Netto sighed and stretched.
"Obviously… The thing can't just stir up "hate" and "grudge", it now must find it way easier to stir "lust" and "power hunger"…"
"But if we all remained united that thing doesn't stand a chance!"
They both clashed hands: their union was unbreakable…
19:48 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Kush, kush… Any ideas, Yamato Man?"
"Hmmm… I have one, Dark Man."
"Good! Tell me."
"Let's begin with the weaker ones, build up experience and stats and then move into the middile ones. Let's try taunting some of them and one of us should try to act decoy to lure some away. We could then access the satellite and get an idea of what Gufuu is plotting."
"Bravo! I'll be bait."
"Excellent! Go!"
Dark Man and Yamato Man were standing in the Cyber World area near where the entrance to the satellite was located at and facing a crowd of Pocket Monsters: the main components were "Menokurage", "Nazonokusa", "Caterpie", "Beedle" and, lastly, "Gardie" in the first row: some unlit figures could be seen in the background, too, forming a row plus a third rear row.
"Killer Beam! Make way for Dark Man – sama!"
"Yamato Man orders you to step aside!"
"Holy Shock. I shall go."
"Reverse King!"
"… "Serenade" is already fine."
"Dark Shadow!"
"Thousand Spear!"
Some of the Pocket Monsters began to chase after Dark Man and Yamato Man when they turned around and ran out: Serenade was left to face with "Regice", "Regirock", "Registeel" and "Regigigas" as the last defense line before the famed Warp Point: Serenade was unimpressed as he loaded up energy for his next attack.
"Return to your world. Holy Shock!"
Serenade spread his right hand's palm and formed some greenish spheroids of energy which travelled across the air and ground at a maddening speed: more and more of them formed and bombarded the four Pocket Monsters in several spots of their bodies.
"Hmmm… It would seem "Holy Shock" is classified as a "Special" Technique with an accurary of 100% and a base power of 100. It can inflict "Confusion" into the foes. 30 PP… Esper Type…"
The four Pocket Monsters collapsed and were deleted so Serenade stepped into the Warp Point and reached the insides of the satellite where he was greeted by Gufuu, who was making a reverence.
"My, my… Reverser King Serenade – sama in person. I feel honored to have such a distinguished guest in this humble abode."
"Where is Proto? Where is that foul copy of me?"
"Up there." Gufuu signaled with his right arm.
Serenade quickly jumped upwards and hovered into the air: he spotted a copy of his turned into a stone statue inside of the protective dome along with the "Proto" container.
"… Holy Shock."
The multiple attacks hit the barrier and were quickly used to power up the central cylinder: however, some circuitry boards began to explode and frizzle and Gufuu looked around, surprised: Serenade had made one of the ribbons stand near the base of the cylinder to bounce the energy back upwards and have the second ribbon bounce it downwards thus creating an infinite loop.
"Crap! In this condition… The energy is channeled to secondary circuits yet they aren't designed to handle so much power so they're overloading! H-he's planning on making the satellite's core grown unstable to blow it up, then!" Gufuu gasped.
"Can your avatar stop me, Tabuu?"
"… Guess it can't be helped…"
Gufuu vanished and there was a soft sound before it was followed by the typical sound of a Navi's Plug – In: Tabuu's real form, armor and wings included, formed in the air above Serenade.
"Come! Energy!"
Tabuu drew two golden-colored Long Swords over his wrists and spread his legs and arms open: the overflowing energy began to build up around his body but in his haste he began to deplete the barrier's energy as well: he gasped as Serenade began to accumulate energy on both of his hands while standing in front of the Proto container.
"If I destroy the physical means to its existence then all of the program will fall apart and be deleted! Be gone, ghost of the past!"
"APOCALYPSE NOW!"
"What!"
Tabuu suddenly released all of the stored energy in the form of four consecutive shockwaves: horizontal, NW to SE, SW to NE and vertical which cracked the ground: he fell down while a black hole opened in the middle of the space and Tabuu, the copy and "Proto" were sucked inside before it closed: Serenade hit the ground and groaned before standing up and rushing out.
"… Mission failed…! And the power core turned unstable so this is going to explode! I must flee!" He muttered.
He ran out of the satellite and into the Secret Area just as the Warp Point was deleted: he formed an annoyed face and stood there: Dark Man and Yamato Man remained silent.
Tabuu…! What power…! This is not over, though…!
"Let us go back and meditate."
"Roger!"
Meditation is the way to avoid ill temptations… Let us meditate!
"What happened, my Lord?" Yamato Man asked.
"I was about to destroy the barrier protecting Proto and my foul copy yet in the end Tabuu showed up and unleashed his true power at me. I had no choice but to flee before the satellite crumbled."
"Ah! I see. Is it so frightful?" Dark Man asked.
"Hard to say… I was not prepared for such an output because I thought he would rather defend than attack. But if you are ready for it then you might stand some chance. Some. I cannot guarantee anything at this stage, when I have so little information." He described while rubbing his chin.
"Huff, huff… What's the situation?" Blues rushed in.
"As I was saying… The satellite is gone so Tabuu has been forced to relocate yet I have proven that there is a clear limit to what his avatar can do before he is forced to personally show up."
"I see. Any suggestions?" Enzan asked.
"None. We did not really fight. He pulled the best he had at hand and then fled. Do not underestimate him. That is a warning, Blues. He is not your average Navi: I could feel it." He shrugged.
"If you say so…" Blues was surprised.
"I wasn't expecting any small fry after seeing all he's come up with in recent days." Enzan muttered.
"Of course, Enzan – sama."
"I have warned you. Oh well. Let us go, my comrades."
"Roger!"
"Strengthen the guard. We shall not let Tabuu play around in our territory anymore. This has come too far."
"Obviously enough!" Enzan fumed.
We must remain cool and composed. If one keeps their cold blood then they can calmy analyze the battle. I shall find a weak spot there…!