Chapter 12: After the battle
21:11 PM (Japan Time), Wednesday September the 8th…
"… Uh-unh… Uh… Huh… Where… am I…?"
"Hum. It isn't that guy, then."
"Eh… What's your name?"
"Name…? Kiboyama… Gino…"
"I'm Hoshikawa Subaru. Relax. The worst is over."
"The worst…? What do you mean…?"
"Huh? You didn't notice anything?"
"Don't hurry it up, Subaru…"
"Roger, Master…"
Subaru was standing in a small metallic room which contained a black examination table like the ones in a medic's consulting room (and where Kiboyama Gino, who had blue eye irises, was lying at): the other pieces of furniture included a wooden desk built into the north wall, a rotating armchair and two capsule-like objects connected to a deposit on the eastern wall: the southern wall had a door marking the entry and exit of the room.
"Huh… What day is it today?"
"Wednesday September the 8th, 2205."
The man who Subaru named "Master" looked on his mid-20s and had black slightly messy hair plus brownish eyes: he had reading glasses on.
He wore a medic's coat with the ID "Dr. Kazimura Lartes" written on it and sported brown pants plus shoes.
"September 2205, you say? But the last thing I remember was around June 2204! What have I been doing during a year and roughly four months?" He gasped.
"Well… To make it short… A hostile personality program has been controlling your body and brain…" Subaru replied.
"… So that's why I sometimes I felt like there was an impulse changing my thoughts and my movements… I could feel a strong impulse to roam around Dream Island instead of having to go and trying to find my way back into the Dealer HQ… That orb thing was to blame?"
"Yeah. In essence."
"We haven't introduced ourselves yet, though. I'm Dr. Kazimura Lartes but you can name "Dr. Lartes" anyway because I'm not fond of bragging about my lineage." Dr. Lartes introduced.
"I'm Hoshikawa Subaru! Nice to meet you, Gino – kun."
"Hoshikawa… Subaru… kun…? Eh… But aren't you…?"
"Yeah. I'm Rock Man."
"Whoa!"
"Mwah, hah, hah. And War Rock – sama over here is the king of the world, ya see!" War Rock laughed.
"Oh. Shut up." Subaru snapped.
"Did I hit a spot, Subari~?"
"Whatever."
"The ever?"
"Go play with the VR Room!"
"VR Room… Eh… This isn't a clinic?" Kiboyama asked.
"More like my own research lab…" Dr. Lartes replied.
"And where are we?"
"Orbital path 3000 kilometers high…"
"EH! Orbital path, you say, sir?"
"Correct. This place is but one room of a gigantic spaceship. We're an organization named "Subspace" and we are collaborators of the Satella Police."
"What happened to the orb?" Kiboyama asked.
"That's the strange part. Once we locked down the hostile personality inside of it once again it flashed and vanished. We're searching for it inside of the behemoth." Dr. Lartes sighed.
"Behemoth, sir?"
"The place you'd been at as of late… A gigantic merger between a battleship and a submarine… It's huge on the inside so we're trying to search every nook and cranny. The orb thing must've had some kind of self-defense program to avoid destruction or damage so it's trying to hide somewhere…" Dr. Lartes told him.
"By the way… Did Dealer really cease to exist?"
"Yeah. Everyone there had their own goals and they were just using King to get to them. Joker was another tale because he was searching for a "Reason" and King provided the guy with one."
"Joker… What was he, though? He looked too tall for being a person and I then heard he'd been able to defeat a Wizard single-handedly…"
"An advanced Battle Wizard designed to harvest the power of the "Meteor Server" and "Finalize" into a form named "Grave Joker"… He was designed by the Satella Police and WAXA but he abandoned them in a quest to figure out his own "Reason"… And he ended up believing he had to root out all "weak" persons…" Subaru sighed.
"I see… What became of everyone, though?"
"Well… Queen Tia – sensei and Jack switched to our side, King is roaming around the world using Noise Waves, Heartless – san had also been using King and Joker self-destructed in a last botched attempt from King to take us "Raid Troop" out… So there's nothing left to Dealer anymore by now, see... You're free."
"Free… It sounds somewhat… comforting."
"Would like to be my "Brother"?" Subaru offered.
"W-whoa! Eh… Is that… alright?" He asked.
"Of course! I'm a very open person. Ah. I think you'll need to reconfigure your Hunter – VG first thing, though."
Subaru handed him a black-colored Hunter – VG and Kiboyama interacted with the "Real Wave" screen: he frowned and then gasped.
"Whoa! The "hostile person" you talked about was named Darkus Mors? He did look hostile… But that's my face!"
"Of course. He didn't change your look except for the eyes' irises which he must've done with some kind of holographic trick."
"Let's see… User name: Kiboyama Gino. There. Settled. And now… I form a "Brother Band" with Subaru – kun… Complete! Whoa… My very first "Brother Band"…! Cool…!" He muttered as he interacted with it.
"I think that if we pull a few strings, then…" Dr. Lartes muttered.
"… He'd be able to come to our school? But shouldn't we give him some time to think it over, Master?"
"True. Yet we have to do it before the weekend."
"… I'd like to." Kiboayama admitted as he slowly sat up.
"Then it's settled."
"Oi! Subari~! Omega's calling for ya~!"
"Omega – san? What does he want?"
"I found the Duke of Silliness." Omega reported.
"How dare you, plebeian!" Phantom Black cursed.
"Phantom Black… What a persistent guy."
"Cha, cha are the plebian."
"WHAT?"
"Go to Haiti and leave us alone, scriptwriter."
"Why, you…!" Phantom Black cursed.
"Or is that valet of yours gonna go and prepare you a King Land pudding for dinner?" Omega taunted.
"What! No! I didn't teach the guy about how to cook! And has no need to, either! My… eh… valet is very competent!" He seemingly improvised the word "valet" amongst the way.
"Hmmm…" Dr. Lartes sounded suspicious.
"He got an accomplice?" Subaru wondered.
"Would seem… Yet I wonder who'd be able to bear with his bossy and crazy behavior… Has to be someone who has poor criteria and is easily led away by others…" Dr. Lartes guessed.
"Phantom Black…? I thought he was the one behind the TK Tower Incident at the start of the Mu Continent Crisis?"
"Yeah. And he has a grudge related to me given how I beat him thrice and he's had to fend off alone." Subaru rolled his eyes.
"Rock Man! I hear you lowlife's voice…! Come out and be destroyed by my scenario!" Phantom Black exclaimed.
"Go to Haiti, Phantom, and leave us alone." Subaru snapped back with obvious annoyance.
"That's why I said…" Phantom began arguing.
"Shut up! This place is my climax!"
"Hai, hai…"
"Oh. There's a diamond there." Omega gasped.
"A diamond! Where! Where is it?"
"Gotcha."
"Let go of my cape, you fiend!"
"Let's go breathe some fresh air. This elevator will take both of us to the deck!" Omega chuckled.
"You lowlife…! Phantom Slash!"
"Slow."
BLOF! PATAF! CRASH! THUD! SMASH!
"Guwa~h! YOU LOWLIFES…!" He roared.
"Yeah, I know. Come over here. I press this button and up we go. I'm gonna show ya the road to Haiti sans the need of a GPS or to send you in a DHL – certified package." Omega laughed.
"Let go of me!"
"Not good." Phantom muttered.
"Ping! Hop! Here we are! Breathe some nocturnal air! And now… Get going to Haiti! Hop, hop and hop!"
"Guwa~h! I SHALL REMEMBER THIS AS LONG AS I AM THE DUKE OF HYDE~!" He roared.
"There he goes flying all the way to Haiti! And my trick works by grabbing their capes and use those to spin them around."
"Yeah, yeah. Get back to searching. Boss registered the energy signature of that thing so it shouldn't be too hard for you to trace it down. Beware of any traps." Dr. Lartes sighed.
"Eh… That "Omega" person is a Wizard, too?"
"Not exactly… He's more of an android but is capable of performing "Denpa – Henkan" as well. His humor is enough to get into anyone's nerves, though! Don't let him corner you with cheaply edited photos showing you going out in a date with someone else: he's fond of stirring jealousy up." Dr. Lartes warned with a sigh.
"Oi! Subari~! The phone's ringing!"
"Subaru~! Help me~!" Gonta pleaded.
"What's wrong, Gonta?" He frowned.
"I can't solve it!" He groaned.
"Solve… What?" Subaru asked.
"What else! The summer holiday homework!"
"That's… Look, Gonta! You can't hope that there'll always be someone who will get you out of a pinch the whole time. You've gotta assume some responsibilities!" Subaru grumbled.
"B-b-b-b-but!" He uttered.
"No "buts". If iinchou ordered that, then bear with it."
"Wha~h! The world's cruel with me~!"
"Yeah, yeah. Tell that to your evil cousin." War Rock laughed.
"What the…! I don't have an evil cousin!"
"Ask Ox!"
"Buro~! Don't involve the great me into this guy's messes!"
"Ox! Ya suck!"
"Buro~! What!"
"This is official: ya fail at everything!"
"This big-mouthed jerk…!"
"Enough! Both of you!" Subaru growled.
"Don't get in our way, Subaru! Buro~!" Ox threatened.
"Yeah! This is a conflict between equals!" War Rock laughed.
"Equals? May I remind you that you lived in Planet AM?" Subaru looked pretty annoyed by now.
"Whatever!"
War Rock vanished and Ox also did so: Subaru rolled his eyes and slapped his forehead in defeat while Kiboyama blinked and Dr. Lartes sounded exasperated.
"What guys!" He muttered.
"Huh… Was that a friend of yours, Subaru – kun?"
"Yeah. Ushijima Gonta. He's not a bad guy, really, but he tends to get obsessed with food and forgets about everything else like, in this case, summer vacation homework… I'll introduce you to them after you rest for a while." Subaru made a weak smile.
"Warning. Ongoing battle outside of Firewall #01. Combatants: AM War Rock and FM Ox. Both labeled as "allies". State course of action, if any, to be taken." An auto-voice warned.
"This burn-'em-all jerk…!"
"This slice-'em-all jerk…!"
"Beast Swing!"
"Ox Fire!"
"Hrah!"
"Grah!"
"I win this round, you bull wannabe! Come after me and let's go settle in on Madrid!" War Rock laughed.
"What! You treat me like a bull participating in that barbaric event? I'll give you a lesson, predator wannabe!" Ox growled.
"Wha~t? Repeat that if ya have the guts to!" War Rock challenged.
"Predator wannabe!" Ox repeated.
"Invader wannabe!" War Rock shot back.
"Your hide!" Ox taunted.
"Your aunt!" War Rock shot back.
"Enough!" Vadous roared.
"Che!"
"Che!"
"Get outta here!"
"So, Boss… Any luck?" Dr. Lartes asked via his Hunter – VG.
"No. That bloody orb is nowhere to be found. But given what little thing it can do without someone operating it from the outside… I guess it fled to somewhere at random. With some luck it will de-power alone and remain dormant for another bunch of millennia." Vadous fumed.
"Let's hope so. By the way, could we use Guest Room #04 as Kiboyama's own room?" Dr. Lartes suggested.
"Go ahead. Welcome onboard, Kiboayama."
"T-thank you very much, sir!" He nervously thanked.
"Yo~! B-B-B-B-B-Bertie~! Kiboayama was Futaba's lover back when 4-A class! Aren't ya gonna say something about that?" Omega laughed.
"No. Because you made it up on the spot, sir."
"OMEGA~! Let's not start already! Get your hide back here and we'll TALK of SERIOUS stuff!" Vadous roared.
"Kiboyama. Get ready, because Omega has targeted you and it'll be hard to shake him off. Really… What have we done to deserve this? Why does our ship look like a fool's ship?" Dr. Lartes grimly muttered.
"Well then, Gino – kun… I need to be going, but I've thought of something: we'll go the cinema on Saturday!" Subaru smiled.
"W-whoa! T-thank you, Subaru – kun!"
"Hey! That's why we're friends to begin with." Subaru replied.
Subaru extended his right hand forward and Kiboyama accepted it: they did a handshake and Dr. Lartes smiled...
14:14 PM (Normandy Time)…
"… Installation: successful… Life-signs: stabilized… "Backup Project" in awakening status… Starting fluid drain… Reanimation sequence: in progress… Equalizing pressure…"
An auto-voice rang out inside of a largely unlit room somewhere which had a strange metallic cylinder with two cone-shaped bases and a pair of thick black glass doors in front half of it.
A greenish glow was being emitted by the device and allowed one to see several wires running across the ground while heading for the central device: two devices set nearby formed "Real Wave" screens which displayed some data which looked like a life-support system's readout and a human's body diagram with several red blinking dots moving across its drawn veins and arteries.
Mechanical sounds plus the sound of a liquid running down a pipe could be heard as well.
"… Pressure: equalized… Life-support: shutting down… Nanomachines read-out: "ALL GREEN"… Blood flow: OK. Heartbeat count: nominal. EEG read-out: nominal. All systems: nominal"
Some small hatches opened and steam came out of it while building up: the doors silently slid inwards to open.
A figure which looked over a meter and eighty tall began to slowly step out: a low breathing sound which sounded like the person was breathing through as gas mask echoed as well as heavy footsteps.
The figure climbed down three steps and then took some paces forward before seemingly lowering the head to look at its hands and then spread the arms wide while slowly turning around its axis: the pose suggested joy.
"… Good afternoon, Master. You are now healed and ready for your next mission, sir. All information will be briefed to you in the next upcoming minutes, sir. High Command expects you to succeed in the mission, sir."
A filtered chuckle echoed inside of the room…