Chapter 14: Knife fight
17:27 PM (Japan Time), Tuesday September the 28th…
"… So this is the place…"
"A trap: that's what it reeks of."
"Yeah…"
Rock Man was standing in front of a large warehouse building on the outskirts of Internet City and looking at its decadent state.
"We got a mail claiming that there was "something interesting" in here, but it's obviously a trap crafted by someone." Netto commented with a hint of annoyance.
"Netto – kun. You know the motto: "the best way to deal with a trap is to trigger it". We've gotta risk it or we won't make any noticeable progress at all." Rock Man told him.
"Guess so… Be on your edge, Rock Man."
"Roger."
Rock Man stepped in and climbed up some stairs: the space had various catwalks and platforms spread in different levels and the light entered via the holes on the ceiling's windows.
"Hmm…" He muttered.
A silhouette silently landed behind him and stood up.
"Ah!"
He turned around and drew the Rock Buster: there was no – one there but the tension could be felt in the air.
"… My imagination…?" He wondered.
He heard a noise: he saw a hand grabbing a horizontal pipe and a shape flying towards him.
"Huh!"
He rolled forward to dodge although he got a cut on his right cheek which he ignored: he stood up and spotted the attacker: Knife Man.
"… Knife Man. Shadow Man told me about you." Rock Man icily told him as he aimed the Rock Buster at him.
"Hmpf. It'd seem you do have some reflexes." Knife Man taunted.
"Would I still be alive if I hadn't had them?" Rock Man shot back.
"The serious type… Good." He looked amused.
"Janus or Sergei hired you."
"Yeah. Good employers: we get juicy prepayments." Knife Man admitted with a smile.
Knife Man talked while he paced around and Rock Man did not lose sight of him: Knife Man suddenly tried to attack with his knife, but Rock Man dodged and took out a dagger of his own and tried to counter: the guy dodged.
"… That dagger… Shadow Man gave it to you." Knife Man guessed.
"Yeah. Now I can stand on equal ground."
The mercenary moved the knife in arch two quick times although Rock Man was able to dodge it.
"Huh!"
He moved forward at a quick speed next but Rock Man blocked the attack: the two knives made a scratching sound when hitting each other and they separated.
"Sheesh." Knife Man grumbled.
"Didn't I say it? I'm no easy prey." Rock Man told him.
"Hmpf."
Knife Man kicked an empty oil drum which was lying on the floor and sent it flying towards Rock Man.
"Crap."
He pushed it aside with the arm and blocked the other knife just in time while having a grimace on his face.
"Too close…!"
The inertia from Knife Man's movement made Rock Man jump backwards while his opponent jumped forward: they landed in an inferior level and Knife Man flipped in the air to land on a crouched position.
"Hmpf. It's getting interesting." He muttered.
"Sheesh." Rock Man grumbled.
"Heh, heh, heh… You can see it: your odds are at a low here." Knife Man taunted with a smug smile.
"Trying to guess the outcome before it comes is silly and over-confident too. If you're strong then prove it right here and now!" Rock Man dully told him.
"Heh, heh, heh, heh! Then I'll settle it in one blow!" Knife Man announced.
Knife Man ran towards Rock Man: he blocked.
"Sheesh."
They started to block each other and kept at it for some seconds: Rock Man suddenly let go for a sec of the knife and then grabbed it again with his right hand to change its angle.
"Take this!"
He managed to land a diagonal cut across Knife Man's torso.
"Huh!"
Knife Man spun around using the inertia to put up some safety distance between the two: he then looked at the wound.
"Heh." He smiled.
"Crap." Rock Man cursed.
He ran forward but Rock Man blocked his knife hand with his left hand: he turned around and blocked the right arm where he had the knife, against Knife Man's left arm: they pushed against each other for some seconds and struggled on the pushing.
"Heh. I win." Knife Man announced.
"Shit." Rock Man growled.
Knife Man turned Rock Man around and kicked him: he skid a meter or two along the ground.
"Grah!"
His knife slid away and he had to crawl back while drawing the Rock Buster.
"Rock Buster!"
Knife Man suddenly jumped into the air and landed right above his chest emblem: he aimed the knife at it and Rock Man had to use both hands to try to keep him at bay.
"Die." Knife Man icily announced.
A shot rang out all of a sudden: Knife Man's weapon flew out of his hand and got stuck in the ground some meters to the side.
"Get off me!"
Rock Man took the opportunity to push his opponent apart and stood up to see who'd shot the attack.
"Search Man!"
Search Man was standing on an upper level catwalk and aiming his Scope Gun at Knife Man's head.
"… If it isn't the Sharo Nation Net Police fella." Knife Man sneered with a smug smile.
"Give up, Knife Man. Your odds are low on this." Search Man warned while aiming for him.
"Heh."
Knife Man flipped into the air and landed into a catwalk some meters upwards: he looked down (literally) on Rock Man.
"You may be able to prolong your life. But it's not like you can escape your inevitable death. Is it?" He challenged.
"… I shall revive the Demon King – sama which you guys have just decimated!" A familiar voice announced.
Sergei appeared in front of Knife Man while having a smug smile on his face: he kept on having that new appearance.
"Cyber punk." Rock Man told him.
"My. What a title. You could patent it, Cousin Saito." Sergei invited with a broad smile.
He snapped his right hand's fingers: Knife Man's knife was warped into his right hand.
"O. K., Danna. I'm going. See ya." Knife Man announced.
He logged out while both Navis confronted Sergei.
"… I'm not in the mood to play with both of you anymore. My useful pawns will take care of that." Sergei shrugged.
"Shit." Netto hissed.
"Damn." Laika cursed.
Sergei suddenly performed some kind of dance by warping around the catwalks before stretching his arms and making gestures like he was looming them over something.
"… You novices don't realize something: Special Summoning needs time to be done! Couldn't you have been good guys and waited…? Huh? This spot is my climax!" He exclaimed.
He suddenly covered his face with both hands as if he was exasperated and then violently aimed the right arm towards the ceiling.
"Coming!" He announced while switching to an eager mood.
There was a sound and a white plastic spheroid dropped into the warehouse while breaking through the ceiling.
"This one should be enough. Farewell! Hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah, hah!"
He suddenly laughed aloud and vanished after snapping his right hand's fingers: the spheroid split open and "Zoan" Dark Man came out of it.
"The Demon Tribe's Army General, "Zoan" Dark Man, has arrived!" He proclaimed.
"Damn. This one was hard to chew." Rock Man hissed.
"… It can't be helped: we have to beat him." Search Man grumbled and sounded annoyed.
"Killer's Beam!"
Both dodged just in time and the Killer Beam hit the ground: a hole formed on it and some smoke.
"Dark Shadow!"
Zoan Dark Man threw the purple and black axe towards them: they both ducked to dodge, but the axe acted as a boomerang and came back while getting stuck on Rock Man's back.
"Gra~h!" He yelled in pain.
"Niisan!" Netto gasped.
"Flame Tower!"
"Battle Chip, Ice Cannon Ball! Slot In!"
Search Man rolled across the ground to dodge and threw the Ice Cannon Ball at "Zoan" Dark Man.
"Ice Wave!"
"What?"
The cold wind pushed the Ice Cannon Ball back and it hit Saito instead, trapping him inside of a block of ice.
"Damn! Battle Chip, Salamander! Slot In!"
The Salamander melted the ice and Rock Man plunged towards Dark Man, who merely opened a purple portal: several bats came out of it and he vanished.
"What?"
Rock Man plunged through the earlier hole and hit a gas tank instead: a brutal explosion ensued and he was sent flying across the warehouse's space.
"Gra~h!"
He felt a hand closing around his neck and spotted "Zoan" Dark Man grabbing him with his right hand.
"Say farewell!"
"Freeze Bullet!"
The Freeze Bullets froze parts of Dark Man's body and he fell into the ground because of the extra weight: Rock Man broke free and jumped away, panting.
"Battle Chip, Recovery 300! Slot In!"
Rock Man healed while "Zoan" Dark Man grumbled something and assumed his "Bestialize" form.
"Bestialize Chip, Falzer! Slot In!"
Rock Man gained the Falzer form and shot forward towards "Zoan" Dark Man while surrounded by crimson light: "Zoan" Dark Man did the same while surrounded by a purple light: he began to gain speed as he flew across the air too.
"Die!"
"Wrong!"
"What!"
Rock Man plunged his claws into his chest emblem and then tossed him into the burning gas deposit.
"Feather Shoot!"
He shot some feathers at another tank and the resulting explosion took out the enemy with a large roar of agony.
"Phew! This guy made us sweat this time around, too." Netto sighed in relief.
"Sorry for before." Search Man apologized.
"You're not to blame, Search Man."
"Man. This one was intended to be though." Laika grumbled.
"And sending an assassin after us… I guess I'll be relying on Yuriko to escort me." Netto grumbled.
"Yeah. But I rather they'd like to do that by their hands." Saito grumbled.
"Why don't we scram before he can pull another "Special Summon" into us?" Search Man suggested.
"I've had enough of 'em for one day. Let's scram."
Both Navis departed the Cyber World while another possessed Net Navi had witnessed the confrontation.
"A knife fight… Interesting. Using fire to fight fire… Heh, heh, heh… The "Net Saviors" have some intriguing ideas." S commented aloud.
"Yo~! Breaking Breaker of Breaks came~!"
"B. Stop popping out like that, will you?" S seemed to sigh.
"Heh, heh, heh. Bite my ugly cloak."
"Yeah, yeah. Be as sarcastic as you want."
"Let's rumble and shake 'long the bottle! Heh, heh, heh!"
17:59 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Say, lil bro… I've had an idea."
"Oh? What's that "idea", big bro?"
Sergei had returned to the server room and looked up to something while Ivan seemed interested.
"Let's pick some of the freelancers and invite them to a round of new battles: they'll toy with 'em." Sergei exposed.
"Good idea. They must be itchin' for action. I'll need a bit of time to prepare proxies. And I've got some in mind, too." Ivan looked amused at the idea.
"Yeah. Stall for time. We're making quicker than expected progress over here, too." A familiar voice told them.
They gasped and looked at Ivan's Link PET: another possessed Navi was inside of it.
"Sir!" Both saluted.
"Can you stall until Saturday?" S questioned.
"Sir. Consider it done, sir." Both replied.
"Good. My "show" is about to start on Saturday. That's why I said we're making quicker than expected progress." S told them.
"Roger, sir."
"Excellent. I'll be going to arrange for some popcorn and orange juice… Is that still fashionable?" S amusedly announced before asking.
"Eh… We think it is the case, sir." Sergei replied.
"Oh. True, true… You two aren't the types to go to the cinema and see a movie there… I'll be going." S didn't stop sounding amused.
"R-roger."
"Roger Man showed up!"
"…"B"! Be quiet! Huh! Bye – bye!"
The Navi came out of the PET and both sighed in relief.
"… Anyway… Let's take a rest and then we'll start working on the stuff, see. That reminds me… Do you think the info Riva's Operator gave us is trustable? I mean… It's just a hunch." Ivan brought up.
"I believe on it. Blues' sneaky visits to Cousin Saito… They're no "training" at all: they're having a juicy and fascinating affair…" Sergei teased with a broad grin.
"Heh. Interesting. Maybe we can use that to keep them at bay: it's somewhat clichéd but useful." Ivan looked amused.
"Heh, heh, heh." Both chuckled.
"… Heh, heh, heh! I knew it. That's why Blues has such a passion for you, Saito – niisan."
"Jeez… Netto – kun…!"
Saito was trying to cover his privates after Netto had suddenly sneaked on him when he was having a shower: he was blushing while Netto looked amused.
"Oh come on! Don't I get the right to some privacy, otouto? I never intrude yours! Jeez!" Saito protested while blushing.
"Tee, heh, heh. You're timid! I'll be teasing you." Netto grinned.
"Huff! Didn't you wish for some privacy back when we first met Tamako – san? She got into the showers while you had just a towel on 'cause she wanted to continue or Net Battle!" Saito brought up.
"That was because Tamako – san was a lady…" Netto shrugged.
"Jeez!" Saito grumbled.
He picked the shower and suddenly sprayed Netto's face and hair with it while looking annoyed.
"Wha! Hot, hot!"
"Sorry. But there's a limit to these things, otouto. It was about time you behaved!" Saito told him.
"Grjftx! You win… niisan…" Netto rolled his eyes.
He came out of the bathroom while Saito sighed in relief and closed the door from the inside.
"Jeez. Otouto can be a bad boy when he wants to! The only one I let see me unclothed is Blues 'cause he's my… lover, I guess…" Saito grumbled before getting stuck and improvising.
He applied the shampoo to his head and then showered while feeling somewhat relaxed by it.
"Ah… This feels good!" He muttered.
He then shut the shower off and picked a towel to dry his body before he closed his eyes and focused: his bodysuit reformed but he purposely left the hair loose.
"Phew."
He unlocked the door and came out into the main room: Netto was finishing up his homework.
"I'm sorry for before, Saito – niisan… I wanted to pull a joke."
"Okay. I'll forgive you, Netto – kun, but please don't it again: we all have the right to have our private time." Saito told him.
"Yeah. I understand."
"Good. Let's keep on moving forward."
"But you really have a cool body… No wonder Legato was mad to have sex with you, niisan!" Netto grinned.
"Speak about how Oriol had sex with you."
"Well…"
"Heh, heh, heh. I win this round, otouto – chan!"