Chapter 25: Allies
08:48 AM (Japan Time), Thursday December the 23rd…
"… You'll get well, Mamoru. They're just checking that the damage wasn't bad… I know you'll be back at home in less than 8 hours."
"Ah…! What a relief!"
"See? I told you, Urakawa."
"Sorry for doubting you, Obihiro – kun."
"Don't mind it. So that's your real look, Rock Man?"
"Call me Saito. I don't wanna blow the cover."
"Alright."
Netto and Saito came to visit Obihiro and Urakawa next morning: they both were sitting in chairs next to the beds and already dressed back on their street clothes: Obihiro was calm while Urakawa had a weak smile on his face yet both of the twins were trying to encourage them.
"Now that we've gained a new ally we'll surely be able to focus more effort into locating those villains and bringing them down." Netto tried to animate them.
"That's good. Freeze Man and Grand told me he looked like a man who wouldn't let a villain get away with it." Obihiro admitted.
"Yo! Sorry for the wait."
"Ah! Tamako – neesan!"
"Tamako – san!"
"Yo! I remember cha: didn't ya participate in the N1 Grand Prix and in the Hawk Tournament?" Tamako grinned at Netto.
"Yeah. I did." Netto admitted.
"Mamoru told me 'bout cha. Thanks for helping him out. I'm his aunt, ya see. Alright! Guys! Let's metal!" She grinned.
"Let's metal!" Urakawa grinned.
"Let's metal." Obihiro seemed to find it catchy.
"See ya!"
Obihiro and Urakawa were led out by Tamako while the twins came out of the hospital and headed for the Metro Station: they picked a train headed for the Science Labs and remained silent during the trip: they climbed down and up the stairs into the street outside of the Science Labs: the day was rather grey and it looked like it could snow.
"They say there's a high chance of snow falling…" Saito broke the uncomfortable silence.
"Yeah. I'd like to have a snow war."
"Snow war?"
"Oho. Ya didn't know, eh, Saito – niisan? We make balls of snow and throw them at the target: the one with most hits wins." Netto explained with a grin.
"Heh. Then beware of my targeting skills."
They both chuckled or giggled but stopped when they spotted Zataki Tosho AKA Vadous standing near the left side monuments and talking over the cell phone while distractedly playing with a ball pen on his left hand by having it spin around his fingers and repeatedly clicking the button atop it several times.
"… And for the last time! Stop your bullying!"
"It ain't bullying, Shachou, I'm trying to teach 'im how to use his secret weapon, ya see."
"Stop making up idiotic loopholes, Omega! Just because Blood Shadow is the youngest onboard that doesn't give you the right to pester him like you ALWAYS do. I'm going into a meeting and I don't want to look ill – humored so go try to figure out how they retrieved the Shagohod! Get it, huh? Move your blonde hair!"
"My platinum blond hair."
"Grfjtx! Mille sabords! I'm getting fed up with this. Just do something useful." He sentenced.
"I'll invent Flying Fanged Shoes Man."
"You moron! Stop fucking around: MOVE IT!"
He ended the call in an abrupt manner and pocketed the cell phone after seemingly turning it off.
"That moron! I can't believe he's got a mental age of 19 and acts like a kidding 15-year old guy! And pestering on Blood 'cause he's got a mental age of 13 and a body of 13 is bullying and abuse of authority. Someone has to slam the brakes on that moron." He grumbled aloud.
He fumed, pocketed the ball pen and headed for the building only to meet with the twins who'd stopped next to the entrance.
"Hikari Netto and Rock Man… Well. We meet." He shrugged.
"Eh… Is there a problem…?" Netto trailed off.
"Call me Vadous."
"Vadous – san… Is there a problem?" Saito asked.
"Omega! That freaking moron!"
"We're afraid that we haven't been introduced to him."
"Well! He's the guy who drew Black Doom away yesterday. When it comes to battling he's serious enough but outside of it he turns into a moron who doesn't know when to stop." He grumbled.
"Is t-that so?" Netto timidly asked.
"I'll explain later. They're waiting for us so show me the way to the command room if you may." He sighed.
"R-roger. This way, please."
"Hmmm…"
They lead the way into the Command Room where Barrel, Meijin, Yuuichirou and the members of the "Team of Colonel" had been assembled: they sat on chairs while Vadous stood next to Barrel and faced the audience with a serious look.
"Good morning. Starting today I wish to fight alongside you ladies and gentlemen to eradicate the menace the "T Syndicate" poses: although my civilian name is Zataki Tosho you can call me by my codename of "Vadous" as well." He announced.
"Excuse me for the delay… I was hunting down some information. So we finally meet… Cousin."
"Kanou Shade… Where did that title came out from?"
"A little irony I thought of…"
Kanou Shade came in carrying a clipboard with some papers attached to it and took off both sunglasses and hat as he stared at Vadous with a weak smile: Vadous returned it and lifted his right eyebrow.
"Background?" Kanou Shade asked.
"OS Admin plus some telecommunications…" He summed up.
"Economics."
"No wonder. Then "Doctor T" must be pretty technological."
"Surely."
"Ahem, ahem. I've traced the buying of all the material but since there were three or four stores involved it took me a while… And they paid in cash through intermediaries plus brought their vans to carry the stuff around… The locale was occupied that same night. In short: a damned good job at leaving no traces behind." Kanou Shade summarized.
"As expected. The bitch won't make it easy."
"What does "bitch" mean?" Netto asked Saito in whisper.
"Dunno either. I guess it's an adult word." Saito shrugged.
"Sure is. Never say it." Yuuichirou told them.
"Alright."
"Ahem, ahem. The only thing we can ascertain about "Doctor T" is that he surely is between 24 and 26 years old yet that doesn't help much. Too many techno experts out there too…"
"Maybe this can help. I once overheard that woman saying "I'd love to see V and YY pitted against each other and figure out who'd survive" so maybe that man's real name goes with the initials "YY"… They can't be that common, can them? Unless they're Yule Young or something like that but I insist: they can't be too common. That is: if records are left somewhere by now. They could be gone for all we know." Kanou Shade added.
"YY… Hmmm… He could be a foreigner too…"
"You Yell! Heh, heh, heh!" A voice rang out.
"Fuck. Omega! I told you to go hunt grunts!"
"Nope! Officially that message never came!"
"Stop playing loopholes: where the hell are you?"
"Above your imagination, Shachou."
"What the hell?"
Someone suddenly dropped from the ceiling and landed atop the console which Barrel used to work with.
"Omega came!"
Omega turned out to be a Net Navi about a meter eighty tall.
A blue jewel shaped like an inverted triangle was set on the forehead of his helmet which was emitting a cross-shaped flash.
His eyes were blue and looked amused while long blond hair came out from behind him and reached all the way to the floor.
He had a red vest over his mainly black body.
He also red armor over his forearms and boots: two golden circlets were set around his forearms and on his boots as well.
"Omega the platinum blonde cool guy came!"
"Who the hell told you to butt where you're not asked?"
"Come on! The public was eager to know me! Right?"
No – one replied and an uncomfortable silence built up on the room: Omega dropped his smile and looked nervous.
"W-well. Guess I gotta come back later with the 9:09 PM express from Devonshire… Ciao!"
He suddenly leapt across the air in a blur, ran past Saito in a blur and out of the room: Saito found a sticker with a lipstick mark attached to his right cheek and he ripped it off.
"What in the…? What was that?" He groaned.
"That guy's problem: he's too Occidental in humor!" Vadous grumbled aloud.
"I see." Kanou Shade calmly commented.
"I didn't find that funny." Saito admitted.
"Of course not: nobody did. I've tried reprogramming him to be like Blues or Search Man but the guy is so stubborn that he ends up coming with one loophole or another in the programming! Believe me: I've tried countless times." He sighed in defeat.
"Dunno why I got a déjà vu feeling…" Netto muttered.
"I rather get a weird vibe from that mister." Saito whispered.
"Huh? Why?"
"Dunno, really."
"Maybe you're over-imaging things!"
"Maybe I am."
"Ahem, ahem. Well. My 3 Navis will go hunting for any traces of their movements and can handle any Balrog or whatever they throw at us with ease. Incidentally… What did you find out about the hammer?" Vadous cleared his throat.
"Not much. It was made on Angband and designed for "Original" Forte to handle but apart from that… The temperature conditions there keep on increasing and it's going to become impossible to enter without some kind of protection at the current rate…" Yuuichirou reported.
"Yet the Shagohod must've been another tale if they went to such lengths to recover it…"
"Guess so. We spotted it parked outside of Angband and using some airport-like lanes to speed up and then slow down… They were shooting dummies and apparently calibrating it…" Dark Miyabi told them.
"So they're using Angband as a big red herring to distract our eyes yet there had to be some kind of base here from which Anaya and Izono could move out… Yet those "Admin" men knew nothing and their transmission equipment were remotely destroyed. Not a single one is left by today: even it was encoded Search Man could've deciphered them." Vadous muttered as he rubbed his chin.
"There is nothing Search Man cannot analyze." Laika confirmed.
"I knew that, thank you. Well then… If you find my other two Navis know that their names are Blood Shadow and Sigma. Serenade, the Reverse King, can recommend you to them." Vadous wrapped up.
"Wait. Let's exchange phone numbers for faster communications. Where can we find you?" Barrel asked.
"No need to find me: if needed then I'll come here."
"Deal."
Saito kept on frowning and looking at Netto and Yuuichirou to then look at Vadous and start again.
Why does he give me these vibes…?
"… Ora~h! Where's the bad guy! I heard they came!"
"Dingo? Who called you?"
"Huh? Eh… Wasn't that ya, Enzan?"
"It wasn't me."
"Huh? But you sent me an email saying "that guy came" and…"
"Blues. Do you remember that?"
"No, sir. I sent no such mail, sir."
Dingo had suddenly come into the room while brandishing his tomahawk and yelling: he began to speak with Enzan who frowned and Blues quickly cleared it up.
"The enemy now wants to start up mistrust between us… Hmpf. Too old of a trick to work…" Barrel was unimpressed.
"Damn it! I always get left behind!"
"Not my fault." Enzan shrugged.
"I knew that!"
"Then shaddup!"
CLONG!
"Ouwah! Nenji – san! Stop with the frying pan thing!"
"Behave in front of Ms. Princess, you kiddo!"
"Oh please! Don't treat me like a princess. I'm just a civilian after all, Rokushakudama – san!"
"Huh! Eh… Is that so…?"
"That of the frying pan reminds me of a parody show I saw a couple of years ago over the TV when I was bored." Vadous admitted without beating an eyebrow.
"Sure does…" Kanou Shade formed a smile.
"Now go broom!"
"Broom? Hah! I'm a proud guy! I'm gonna cut up wood for the fire-place: how's that?" Dingo grinned.
"Dingo. You moron. Fire-places work on gas nowadays. And you can't just go and cut up wood because you feel like it: you need a permit to begin with, see." Tomahawk Man scolded.
"No way!" His jaw hit the floor.
"Ya~h! De masu! I came to challenge the enemy to a mop and broom battle, de masu~!"
"Not Higure – san too." Netto groaned.
Higure ran in while having the yukata on and brandishing both mop and broom: Vadous looked puzzled while Kanou Shade smiled.
"I'm afraid you've been fooled, Mr. Higure."
"Wha! De masu!"
"See? I told you the return address didn't match, Yamitarou. And why would they tell us of all people?" Number Man pointed out.
"Got a point… De masu…" He sighed and hung his head down.
"Another one? How many more are they gonna come?" Vadous began to sound exasperated.
"Who knows?" Kanou Shade shrugged.
"Meiji~n! I'm Ookuda's vengeful spiri~t!"
"Don't say nonsense whoever you are. Last time I checked Ookuda was pretty much alive." Meijin grumbled.
"No~! You lead him to suicide and Hell…"
"Omega. I know that tune. Stop meddling around."
"Ops. Then I'll go sell Winged and Fanged Evil Saint Repellent Shoes at 75% discount in the harbor… Heh, heh, heh!"
"What the heck?" Dingo looked baffled.
"I don't think that exists." Nenji grumbled.
"Of course it doesn't: it's another invention."
"My, my…" Kanou Shade looked amused.
"Hmpf." Dark Miyabi didn't find it funny.
"This is turning ridiculous." Laika cursed.
"Yeah! I wanna tell those culprits a thing or two!" Jasmine fumed.
"Let's not rush in recklessly, Jasmine." Meddy warned.
"Hi there! I got told to have Ground Man ground the enemy! Where are they at?" Dotarou asked with a grin.
"I told ya, Dotarou! The mail address is a fake!"
"Yeah. Go back." Enzan told him.
"No way!" He gasped.
"Damned bastard. Laughing at us… A coward. The guy's gotta be a coward who doesn't dare to show their hide around and…"
"Watch out!"
Saito suddenly leapt into the air and intercepted a micro-robot which was carrying some kind of hypodermic syringe: everyone gasped and Saito quickly removed the power cell to immobilize it.
"Damn it. Assassination in front of everyone now… They're getting desperate and that's bad sign." Vadous growled.
"But at least they won't be able to destroy this one."
"Let's start analyzing it ASAP and bring that thing to a clinic: I'd stake anything that it's poison." Yuuichirou commanded.
Netto formed a grimace and Saito looked angered.
Damn you! Doctor T! You won't get away with it! Our word!