Chapter 21: Cut them all
11:41 AM (Japan Time), Wednesday March the 16th…
"… Heh, heh, heh. A nice garden, is it not?"
"Hmpf… So you're the one behind this incident…"
"Yeah… I'm itching for a fight!"
"Well then. I'll give you one you'll likely not forget."
"Don't tease me so much, Danna… Let's go~!"
"Hmpf."
Cosmo Man had come to investigate a miniature forest which had popped in a corner of the Reverse Internet and found Ruthless Vine there, who was the source of the whole mess.
"Well! Heh, heh, heh… Engage! Oreichalcos Boundary! My HP: 2650! Yours: 3150! There's a huge gap between each other but that's yet to be seen… Heh, heh, heh…"
"Hmpf."
The "Boundary" formed on the clearing in the middle of this small forest and Cosmo Man merely folded his arms as if waiting for Ruthless Vine to start fighting for real.
"Green Ink! 157! Green Grenade! 175! Go!"
"Hmpf."
Cosmo Man simply glowed for a second before warping to the adjacent square: the blast missed him but did set the whole center row to become Grass Panels: the Green Grenade made the rest of the squares become Grass Panels too.
"And now… Jungle Storm! 52 per panel: 11 panels… 572 in total!"
"Hmpf… A combo to make use of the field… Cosmo Gate!"
"What?"
Cosmo Man opened a "gate" or, rather, a dimensional gateway, above him and some planetoids began to fall down at random around the field: Ruthless Vine began to dodge.
"Each is worth 100 points. And there are a total of 12."
"Che. Eat Jungle Storm!"
"Fine."
"Fine? Oh heck. More Muramasa strategies?"
"Who knows?"
Cosmo Man let the attack hit him and Ruthless Vine gasped: he lowered the guard and 3 planetoids hit him: he growled and stepped back while dodging the others.
"Huff. 300 and 572… What a start! Vulcan Seed X! 87 per seed: a total of 9 seeds! They sum up 730 points of damage~! Go~!"
"Cosmo Ring!"
"Uack! That was worth 200 points! And my attack got foiled!"
Cosmo Man detached his ring and swung it to hit Ruthless Vine and foil his incoming attack: Ruthless Vine suddenly jumped into the air and drew a weapon.
"Kogarashi X! 70 pet hit, 6 hits! Total: 420 points!"
"Hmpf… Cosmo Buster!"
"Heck. 100 per round and it's 5 of them… In this case…!"
The objects Cosmo Man shot at Ruthless Vine hit him but he disappeared in a cloud of smoke leaving a statuette of the PKMN "Fushigidane" behind and he reappeared higher in the air to shoot a shuriken at Cosmo Man who blocked it with his right forearm: another shuriken suddenly came up parallel to him and scratched his back before heading downwards: Cosmo Man hissed.
"Hah! Shuri Shuriken X! 280 points! Plus the Kawarimi… 480 points!"
"Hmpf…"
"1052 points insofar…! But I'm too far. This has been a heating up!"
"Hum. This one's suffered about 500… But numbers don't matter."
"Correct. You guys seem to be always forgetting that."
"Che. Burai!"
"Mr. Author said I needed more screen-time."
"Who?"
"Your worst nightmare."
"Wha~t?"
Burai had suddenly shown up outside the field and leaning his back against a rock while folding his arms and closing his eyes: he began to taunt Ruthless Vine.
"You. The guy under the rock… Come out before I get annoyed."
"T-there's no one!" Someone gasped.
"Shadow Man." Cosmo Man grumbled.
"I knew it."
Burai kicked the rock and Shadow Man gasped as he got exposed: he drew his katana and looked nervous but Burai directed a dull glare at him: Ruthless Vine and Cosmo Man continued their fight.
"Program Advance! Corn Shot, Triple Slot In! Corn Party! 1120!"
"Huh! Ojiouzan!"
"Crap."
All the rounds hit the statuette and a punishing bolt of lightning fell down to hit Ruthless Vine: he grumbled.
"Shit. Change of plans… Powder Shot X! 300 points! It paralyzes too! Eat this one for a change!"
"Cosmo Gate~!"
"Uah! You plan on making me worry about dodging in the meanwhile while you recover… But that won't work! Rolling Nuts X! 280!"
"Hmpf."
Ruthless Vine threw a nut which rolled down the arena and then detonated: he lowered the guard and 3 planetoids hit him: Cosmo Man recovered and drew the Cosmo Ring.
"Cosmo Ring!"
"Heck! This combo made me lose 500 and he's lost 580… 1632 for him and 1000 for me… This is getting long…! But I've overcome 50% of his HP while he hasn't overcome my 50%..."
"Numbers won't save your hide." Burai dully muttered.
"Huh? Where did Shadow Man go to?"
"The guy fled like I was gonna slaughter them. Whatever."
"Che. Spider Web X! 122 per hit: 3 in a row! Go!"
A spider-shaped Virus dropped from above using a string and shot three cobwebs in a row towards Cosmo Man who didn't mind those hitting him and readied the Cosmo Ring.
"Cosmo Ring!"
"Uack! Shit. Another 200… 700 for me… About 2000 for the guy… But he's got some strategy to turn it around… Life Synchro or Muramasa Blade: both of us have been staking a lot on those ever since the whole campaign started back in January…"
"Hmpf… Starting to catch up?" Cosmo Man taunted.
"What's Kuroban plotting by making the robot fly around again and broadcast Great Evil God Zorc's lines, anyway?"
"Heh! To cause some ruckus and have those brained guys sweat to try to cool it down before everyone goes mad…" He sneered.
"Hmpf… Whatever."
"Cosmo Ring!"
"Whack! 900 for me…! Radar Missile! This one only gets 50% bonus 'cause it ain't Grass! 300 for you! Lock on target! Fire!"
"Huh! So you want to bring out the heavy weapons."
"Yeah! And now you've suffered about 2300 points of damage… That's close to 75% of the total… I've suffered about 34% insofar…"
"Numbers won't help you pass the Math exam." Burai grinned.
"You go dig out fossils!" Ruthless Vine snapped at him.
"Cosmo Buster!"
"Holy Panel! Huh! Dodge, dodge… Whack! Uwah! Gruh!"
Ruthless Vine began to dodge while using the Holy Panel but 3 of the attacks hit him in a row and he groaned.
"Shit. I cut them down so I only got 150 of damage… 1050… About 40% of my HP… Still below 50%... Good, good… Wood Slash! 300! Go!"
"Cosmo Ring!"
"Duck! Eat sword! Hrah!"
"Huh! This one's turning faster…!"
"Good… 2600… 82%... Another little bit and… I can win this time around!"
"Hmpf… My turn… Life Synchro!"
"What! Fuck you~…! Ugra~h!"
"Hmpf. You got cocky, neophyte." Burai taunted.
"Neophyte! I've fought several battles by now! Shit! I got deduced 82% so I'm left with 477 HP points by now…! This guy's terrific!" Ruthless Vine growled.
"Hmpf… Cosmo Gate!"
"I've still got the Holy Panel! Dream Aura! Phew!"
"Hmpf. Running away from the battle, I see…" Burai provoked.
"I'm not listening!" He growled back.
"I wonder about that."
"Dream Sword!"
"Hah! Dream Sword! Mutual destruction!"
"Oh?"
Both flung the Dream Sword Program Advance at each other and they met half-way only to merge into a large column of energy which looked unstable and it soon imploded: both had to shield themselves and Burai needed to shield his eyes: a loud metallic sound rang out followed by a curse.
"What?"
The light cleared: both combatants were unharmed but they were looking at their right: "Barbatos" had fallen there and was struggling to get up by using the sword to lean.
"That power! What was it?"
"Dream Sword doesn't nullify another Dream Sword. They merge in an unstable manner and collapsed." Burai dully replied.
"You're Burai…! The foreign swordsman…!"
"If you wanna call me like that…"
"I thought you were busy killing Kuroban."
"My mission isn't to kill the guy. It's to protect my tribe's legacy. We're more like rivals than hatred enemies. Because hate doesn't lead anywhere and it's pointless."
"Hah! What about the Dark Side, then?"
"Loser's way."
"Wha~t? You're calling Sidious and Vader losers?"
"Sidious was ambitious. Vader had already stepped into it from time to time. He was fooled by Sidious and then thrown away like a mere suit."
"Che."
"Go read the newly-begun series of Star Wards: Dawn of the Jedi."
"Che. I know Issue 2 of this series is coming out in a few days but…"
"Enough chit-chat. Fight!"
"Fine! Charge Shot! 75 points of damage!"
The attack hit Cosmo Man and he seemed to be guessing why he'd used such a weak attack.
"Hum. So that's how it'll be. So be it."
"Muramasa Blade~!"
"Muramasa Blade~!"
"Coming?"
Both hit each other with their Muramasa Blades while in mid-air and landed opposite each other while giving each other the back: the "Boundary" converged and Ruthless Vine groaned as he clutched his wound while Cosmo Man hissed under his breath.
"A draw… Hmpf… But then again… I guess none of these have experienced the true power of this "Boundary"…"
"I have. And I can destroy it with a special Battle Card I have. Hence why a while ago the guy didn't bother to use it on me again… I shattered it and the match ended up in a draw, more or less… He pulled a desperate last attack on me but he was pretty much weakened…"
"By all the… Huh! I'm off."
He warped out of the spot and Ruthless Vine also did so: Cosmo Man was rubbing his chin and looked mistrusting of something…
23:23 PM (Indiana Time), Tuesday March the 15th…
"… I-impossible… How did that guy cut the armored door like that?"
"D-dunno… RUN!"
"I seek the strong!"
"You mean me."
"You're named Colonel. Your disciple beat me… But I've improved!"
"Prove it."
"Fine!"
"Barbatos" had made it inside of the Ameroupe Army Base's Cyber World and Colonel came out to stand up to the guy's challenge: Colonel didn't waste his time and quickly clashed blades with "Barbatos": he jumped back with agility and his blade began to hum.
"Heh."
"Huh?"
"Barbatos" began to draw cuts across the air while holding the sword with both hands and aiming in several directions: each contact with Colonel's sword sliced off a segment of it and he began to accelerate the rate until it became mere small pieces which fell down into the ground: Colonel calmly formed a new one and it began to hum as well to clash with "Barbatos" and this time both blades remained intact.
"Hi-frequency blade… That's your newest strategy, huh?"
"Yeah! I thought no – one would be able to oppose me if I had it but it looks like I've underestimated you…"
"You did."
"Whatever. Hrah!"
"Amateur handling… It's no rival for me!"
"Che. Hard to chew guy…!"
"So? What's that power?"
"None of your business."
"Stolen from us?" Colonel questioned next.
"Who knows?" "Barbatos" countered.
"I've got the feeling we've met somewhere before."
"There was another holding another portion of this power."
"Ah. So that's how it is… Or not? I suspect you've improvised that reply to throw me off." Colonel looked suspicious.
"Che. Bothersome Holmes wannabe."
"Charmed." He drily replied.
"I thought you were serious!"
"I'm serious. Never heard of irony?"
"Never had any use for that! Now be deleted! Hra~h!"
"Stone Cube!"
"Barbatos" charged towards Colonel but he formed a row of three "Stone Cubes": "Barbatos" got busy trying to cut them which he did with the blade but lowered the guard as some missiles fell down and bombarded him followed by the Colonel Army soldiers who attacked him with Long Swords and Super Vulcan Batte Chips: he growled and stepped back while banging his chest.
"You stay quiet!" He hissed.
"Hum." Colonel looked suspicious.
"Wanna play CSI Indianapolis?" He sarcastically taunted.
"Why not." He shrugged with a dry look to his face.
"Nya~h…! Grah…! Che…! Guys like you make me feel… Rabidly! Overwhelmingly! Vehemently disgusted!" He growled.
"I'm not surprised. You're merely trying to test the sword's effectiveness and you didn't come to fight for long. If you have that dormant power why don't you use it to overwhelm us? Hmmm?"
"I'm not an idiot! This was something I picked in a rush without realizing the consequences! But I've gained new arts and skills! And one day I'll use them to topple Golden Star and Shunoros! And then you lowlifes!"
"Dream on. We know Kuroban beat you with ease. We've been keeping an eye on their Philippines base."
"Che. Well! But I'll find a weakness to his strategy!"
"I doubt there's one." Colonel calmly replied.
"So you admit you'll be pounded by the guy, too?" "Barbatos" tried to taunt Colonel.
"I am realistic. Unlike you."
"Yeah. This guy lives in La-La-La Land." Tomahawk Man muttered from close by.
"Che! Tactical escape! Flash-bang!"
He dropped a flash-bang grenade and escaped while Colonel rubbed his chin as if thinking about it.
"Hmmm… That man reeks…"
"Sure does… I think that he's afraid of losing to that power… Like how Darth Krayt was desperate to find a way to get rid of his Yuuzhan Vong implants which threatened to devour him… I know the circumstances are different but even so…"
"Hum. That could be…" Barrel muttered.
"Yikes." Dingo gulped.
"Let them dream on… In vain." Colonel sentenced.
"Yeah… Dream on but unless you improve a lot in a rush… Ya won't get anywhere at all… Give it up, dude…"
09:19 AM (Moscow Time), Wednesday March the 16th…
"… So, Laika – sama… What exactly happened the other day?"
"Hmpf. See, Search Man… I'd built up some speculation regarding Kage and that of yesterday confirmed it… The problem is… Most of them are based on wild speculation with little to no proof and most of the evidence is against me… So I don't think anyone will pay much attention to it."
"I'm afraid I don't follow."
Laika was sitting on a chair inside of a room and working with a laptop while talking with Search Man.
"I'd been picked about Noir for a while… His habit of hiding the face… No one seriously believed in the "car accident" excuse… There had to be something else… Maybe fear of recognition by parties affiliated to Nebula was a possibility… But looking back at everything from the start offered me another possibility… That his face is identical to Kage's…"
"So they would be brothers and to prevent favoritism accusations they act like they're unrelated to each other?"
"I thought that at first, too, and I think it was intended to be a red herring to distract anyone looking into it…"
"And what would be the real reason be?"
"Hmpf… Wait and don't cut me…"
"Understood, sir."
"How did it all begin? Back in 2008… Kage appears into the scene for the first time, coming from Chicago… He becomes a student of Akihara Middle School's 1-A Class along with Hikari Netto and his companions…"
"I know, sir."
"Summer 2009. 1st year ends: Kage is concerned because his uncle wants him to come back to Chicago amidst that climate of paranoia and left-wing rule of the Bitter Party… The "Chicago Madness", it was named… They tried to isolate the whole city and treated any foreigners as conspirers."
"And Kage had a row with his uncle, who was part of the movement…"
"Yeah. He fled to Boston and then vanished altogether. No – one in Japan knew what had happened to him. He doesn't show up to join the 2 – A class. And the curtain falls upon him… Until February, 2010…"
"When Obihiro Shun tried to figure out some mysterious party who had charged programmer Omenda with a special program… He snuck into the agreement spot and discovered both Zarashe and Kage there…"
"Yeah. We then questioned Hikari about Kage and he was surprised that Kage had resurfaced but he'd gone through a change of behavior… We began to slowly figure out what happened within Golden Star… And the climax happened at the end of that year's summer… Their "System" to monitor data and relay it to parties was completed… But that gap between his disappearance in Boston and his reemergence in Japan picked me… Training, helping Golden Star make the first steps… No…"
"No…? There was another reason?"
"Because… Kage is Hikari."
"B-but… Then…? What would that imply?"
"Easy! Noir was the 1st Kage… They'd already drawn a plan behind the scenes during that 1st year… They'd stage a believable disappearance tale and then Hikari would be able to secretly train to replace Kage as he needed to assume his role as VP Noir… The Kage whom we've met several times starting 2 years ago is Hikari… And Noir is able to show up when the situation needs for it to remind everyone that they're 2 separate men…"
"But then… Rock Man is Andy, you mean to say? Is it possible to make one Navi become another?"
"I'm sure Slur learnt something from Serenade… If he could grant Rock Man "Soul Unison" and Blues the Muramasa Blade then I'm sure he knew something he shared with her…"
"I see. But then… That anger he seemed to be holding back and then unleashed on us with the "Ryuusei Form"…?"
"The incident with Rock Man DS… He actually has never forgiven us for what happened back then… Threatening to destroy a national system which had just started to recover from a disastrous crisis… And trying to delete him… I guess that, for his young mind, those were impossible to realize… Until we confessed about wanting to make sure that the one who'd assaulted our platoon was an imposter…"
"I see… He was also angry with Colonel for posting a bounty on him and chasing him… And then using him as bait for Forte… And I guess there had to be some reason why he got annoyed with Blues…"
"The "Saito Style" incident… Ijuuin was the one who was being nosy and wanted to figure out what it was about… I know that the ultimate trigger was Gospel's Air Man EXE, but, nevertheless… I guess he blames Blues from having him do that…"
"That makes sense, yes… But such a change… I still find it hard to fathom."
"I've been thinking about something else. Back in 2008… Hikari began the year looking like he'd gone through something which had shattered his whole self… He didn't laugh or smile. He looked indifferent at everyone and at his life. Nothing impressed him. Like he'd preferred to die before living that but he realized dying would be pointless…"
"But what could cause him and Rock Man to suffer that?"
"I'm stuck there. I'm sure something happened on that summer. I tried asking Superintendent Oda and he gave me a reprimanding look which told me not to stick out my nose in Hikari's life. I obeyed, of course."
"So Superintendent Oda knows it… But I doubt many more do…" Search Man muttered.
"I suspect Eisei knows his true ID too… Their rivalry must've led him to try to research if there was some point he could exploit and at some moment he must've connected the scattered clues…" Laika rubbed his chin.
"As you said, sir… It is very speculative, sir. I doubt anyone will take it seriously, sir… And with such overwhelming evidence which says the contrary, too, sir…"
"I know. Well. It can't be helped. The other day at the warehouse I realized he's using some system to imitate skin instead of your everyday latex mask…"
"Yo! Laika! You there? Uncle Igor wants his gin tonic back!" Someone knocked at his door from the outside and joked.
"Flippov. Scram."
"Oh? Scram in the spam?" He made up a pun.
"Private Flippov!"
"Yikes! Commissioner Malenkov, sir…!"
"Get to your post!"
"R-roger, sir…!"
"Really… Flippov won't learn to stay quiet!" Laika grumbled.
"So it'd seem, sir."
"Heh, heh, heh. Yo. Danna. Dreaming of vodka?"
"Huh? Who…? You're… Venomous Wolf, aren't you?"
Venomous Wolf showed up on the PC screen while grinning.
"I'd rather say you'll be chased by a berserk buffalo!"
"Don't tell me."
"I tell ya. To tell me, have you come to?"
"Not again with the Master Yoda parodies…!"
"Too bad. Let the snow hit the ice!"
"How lame." Search Man drily muttered.
"Heh, heh, heh. Beware! Private Madness will visit ya~…"
"How original."
"Heh, heh, heh. Gray was right: ya are the stiff type of guy~…"
"And what if?" Laika challenged back.
"Dunno. Ask no-one at all."
"Hmpf."
"Let's dance the anti-blues dance."
"Tell that to Blues." Search Man challenged with a shrug.
"Of course! Once I find out whether he's a fan of Elvis Presley or not."
"What has that do with anything, to begin with?" Laika sighed.
"Nothing and everything, Mr. Ivan." He laughed.
"Get lost in Panama already. You nosy flea."
"Nosy wolf, I'd rather say. Beware of Wolverine. Heh, heh, heh…"
Venomous Wolf vanished from the PC screen and Laika fumed: he suddenly heard rushed footsteps running down the corridor past him room so he stuck out his head to see someone running.
"A ghost! There's a ghost! Run for it!"
"Che. Venomous Wolf must've tricked Flippov with the hologram trick to begin with." He grumbled.
"What's their goal? To spread chaos?"
"Nah. The jerk's simply trolling us. I'll teach him a lesson yet."
"Affirmative, Laika – sama."
"The ghost of the wolf I shot down in the forest's come to reap my soul!"
"Someone give the guy a cold shower and let's end these gags."
He closed his door and sat back on the chair while fuming.
"Well, Hikari… I won't say anything… But one day I'll find a way to overcome you… Hmpf… Let the competition begin…"
Search Man rolled his eyes and sighed in defeat while Laika grinned…