Chapter 26: History repeated
09:19 AM (Japan Time), Sunday August the 1st…
"… Preparations: completed."
"Roger."
Shade was standing in a recently-built balcony in the front of the Wily Laboratory and speaking with Slur.
"Do look on."
"Hum!"
Several Hind-A choppers were waiting outside of the perimeters: they were filled with the Galleon Net Navis and looked ready to take off any moment now.
"The troops seem ready… What about the vehicles…?"
The M1 Tanks had deployed while facing the eight possible directions along with the Harrier 2 Fighter Planes and several infantry units standing in front of them.
"This day has finally come. I might have refused to resurrect the "Secret Empire" but I shall build a new Reign: Golden Star's Reign. But that's a trial, anyway. It's a challenge to see what they can come up with to fight us back or to see if they will be paralyzed by fear. I don't intend to gain any profits from this. It's but a trial to see what can be done yet I wouldn't be too surprise if the "Net Saviors" got in the way."
"Indeed." Slur looked amused.
"Whoa~! What huge numbers!"
"Incredible…!"
Kage and Andy had come out into an adjacent balcony and were looking down at the army with impressed faces.
"Whoa. Golden Star's Army… It looks imposing." Zarashe commented as he stepped into the balcony.
"No –one shall be able to oppose us…" Beta X muttered while having a smug smile on his face.
"… Oriol – sama. We are mere inches from absolute rule." Legato announced while bowing.
"True, Legato, my chap. We're gonna be copycats and recreate the Galactic Empire." Kuroshiro amusedly announced.
"Heh, heh, heh! Today shall be remembered as Foundation Day!" Video Man exclaimed as he taped everything: he was standing in the topmost structure of the facility.
"Heh, heh, heh. We are supreme." Cosmo Man added with a grin.
"Should we go for it, gentlemen?" Shade asked.
"Yeah!"
"Excellent. Go! Teach this world's foolish humans about the consequences of defying Golden Star!" Shade commanded.
The Hind-A choppers lifted off and shot away in several directions followed by the planes: the troops and the M1 Tanks advanced in several directions as well.
"Turn on the device!" Shade commanded.
"Roger." Slur confirmed.
The facility rumbled and its "Dimensional Generator" antenna was brought out: it charged up and projected a "Dimensional Area" around the Wily Laboratory, thus protecting it from any outside attack attempts.
"Now that we're inside of the "Dimensional Area"… We are invincible! And we placed a trap in the Cyber World: same trick won't work!"
"Hmpf. They might come at us with their pathetic weapons… But they shall be annihilated. Such is their fate." Slur amusedly muttered.
"And, anyway… I said it before, but… This is but a show. A little show with no intention to harm anyone…" Shade shrugged.
09:49 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Okay! We got a big catch today!"
"Phakchi – neechan will be happy!"
Four or five young boys ranging 11 to 13 years old climbed down from a small fishing boat docked next to a small village: one of them stood out for some reason.
He had brownish messy hair and eye irises plus a small "X" shaped scar on his right cheek.
He wore a simple blue vest with a yellowish neck and sleeves having four cyan triangles aiming inwards drawn there plus a pair of blue shorts and black sneakers with 4 gray dots on them.
"Hey! Arakagi Kojiro – chan! Let's surprise Phakchi – neechan!" One of his pals called out.
"Yeah!"
Akaragi then glanced at the skies.
"… Whoa… I find it hard to believe. It's already been half a year, but… I still find it surprising to not find circuitry drawn all across the skies." He muttered.
"Thanks to Netto – kun, the war ended! The only sad part of it was that he had to leave for his own city, or so Pakchi – neechan told us… I wonder if we'll meet him again…" Another boy added.
"He was a nice guy… Saving me twice… And never asking anything in return…" He muttered.
They suddenly heard the sound of helicopter engines and four of them became visible as coming from over the horizon.
"Whoa! Flying machines…! They look cool!" One of them exclaimed.
"Maybe it's a country which has recovered from the war and is testing them out?" Another wondered.
Two choppers flew past the village while the other two floated above it: its noise drew out the inhabitants.
"What the heck?"
A young woman on her late 20s or early 30s popped her head out through a kitchen's window.
Her hair colored was purple and so were her eyes' irises.
She wore two partial red bands across the front of her hair and had two or three small kitchen knives wrapped there.
The rest of her clothing consisted on a greenish shirt with goldenrod edges drawn across the sleeves' openings and the inner band of the neck.
The shirt also had a Navi emblem which was rather elaborated: a white character looking like the Alphabet letter "L" turned 90º to the right and extending almost the whole length of it, a tear-shaped object close to the center and another drawing which looked like a small "V" character: the whole set was colored white and set against a black background.
Other pieces of clothing included an apron surrounding the front and rear of her black jeans: she also carried a large kitchen knife on its fund tied to the apron from behind.
She also had a red-colored device which seemed to be a foreign model of PET shaped like a square with a pyramidal base over it and a parallel horizontal piece: it had three bluish diamond-shaped pieces set on the right edge and two small thin pyramids forming on the lower edge of a circle set around the center.
This circle had the emblem drawn into it too: two small bluish stripes set were drawn on the adjacent piece.
"Oi, Slash Man… What are those?"
"Dunno." A Navi replied.
"Never seen them before."
"I told ya I dunno, Phacki Faran."
Slash Man, her Net Navi, projected using a miniature hologram not unlike the one Link PETs formed.
He was a "humanoid" design Net Nav: his upper body's color palette was lush green plus a vertical red stripe crossing through its length
His face's skin looked "human" enough yet his eyes lacked irises and were colored black: green armor protected the head and two claw-like shapes were set on both sides of it: he had a small red triangle drawn upon his chin, too.
His shoulders also had claw-like shapes set over them and armor covered the whole of his arms: the wrists were colored red and three sharp claws replaced his hands: they looked ready to cut through anything.
He had a small space between the upper armor and the lower body colored black: his legs were covered in thin armor which looked rather reminiscent of pants with yellow patterns running down the sides after starting on the waist: the front edge of his feet had a slight piece of black armor while the rest of them were unprotected.
"I've got a bad feeling…" Faran muttered.
The Galleon Net Navis suddenly jumped down by using jetpacks and the choppers aimed their machineguns around the area.
"We are the Golden Star Army! A new rule is starting! Martial law is imposed! Return inside of your habitations and don't come out at nighttime! Failure to comply will result in detention!" A voice exclaimed over the chopper's speakers.
"What?" Arakagi gasped.
"No way!"
"It's the war all over again?" Faran cursed.
"Damn." Slash Man's hologram cursed.
"You have ten minutes! Anyone not inside of their habitations after that period elapses will be detained!"
Everyone quickly ran inside of their habitations while locking doors and windows.
"Shit." Pakchi hissed.
"The only drawback of erasing the "Bestialize Factor"… I can't come out anymore!" Slash Man growled.
"… Damn. Where's Barrel – san and the resistance guys when you need them?" She cursed.
"… Hmmm… This train came ten seconds ahead of schedule. Good. Better sooner than late."
"Yeah, Kunio… That's true."
A man on his late 50s and close to a meter and eighty tall was standing inside of a train station and checking an old-fashioned golden clock which he carried along using a chain.
He had brownish beard on his face and grayish irises: his hair was rather grayish too.
He wore a train conductor's uniform colored blue, shoes and a cap.
His PET was the same design as Farans' but colored cyan for the carcass: the edge-diamonds and the triangles used a brown pallelte.
"True, Charge Man."
"Heh! Kurogane Kunio never misses the time."
Charge Man was a curious Net Navi given how he was built like a steam locomotive colored crimson: the front part of it had his green eyes with black irises set on them plus a nose-like shape: he had no mouth, tough.
Two cylindrical shoulders with a grey cover at their end sprouted from the sides and had pincer-like objects instead of hands at the end of his forearms.
A round yellow emblem which was four quarters of circle plus a round spot was set above his armored forehead.
Overall, he didn't look too "deadly" or "strong" given his short height and length.
"Huh? What's that noise?" Kurogane wondered.
The noise of the choppers filled the air: everyone gasped in surprise and looked outside the station to see the Galleons jumping down: some of them ran in and aimed their weapons.
"W-what in the…? The war began again?" He gasped.
"No way! The Cybeasts are gone!" Charge Man argued.
"You're right. But I don't like the looks of this." Kurogane cursed under his breath.
"We are the Golden Star Army! A new rule is starting! Martial law is imposed! Return inside of your habitations and don't come out at nighttime! Failure to comply will result in detention!" A pre-recorded voice boomed out.
"Sir! What should we do?" An assistant asked.
"Cancel all trains NOW! Let's head back to our homes!"
"You have an hour's time." The voice announced.
"Sheesh! If only I could come out and run them over…!" Charge Man growled in obvious frustration.
"… Hmmm… My, my! The voice of the wind brings about a sound I'd never heard before."
A man was sitting cross-legged in a hill somewhere and seemingly meditating.
He looked like an elder past his 60s given his abundant white beard but he wasn't that tall: maybe he was barely a meter and fifty tall: his eyes' irises couldn't be seen because he had them closed.
He wore a simplistic purplish cape plus a very large dome-shaped hat: his clothes were also simplistic and old-fashioned.
"Hum!"
He looked up and saw the shadow of a chopper flying past his spot and into the horizon.
"Ho, ho, ho! It looks like things are getting interesting again. Maybe we should have a new thrill, Tengu Man."
"Maybe."
Tengu Man's hologram came out.
His main body's color was pale brown and he had four round metallic spots on his chest: the base of his neck was colored red.
His head was shaped like a mythological tengu's one: he had a large nose and a metallic jaw which didn't seem able to move: his eyes' irises was plain black with a white dot: an emerald was set on the forehead while his emblem (a ginko leaf set against a black background) was drawn over his ear-pads: thick bluish hair came out from behind him and reached as far as the waist.
His shoulders were covered with brownish armor shaped like halves of a cylinder: his arms' skin was the typical black color and his forearms had partial armor over it: his left hands' fingers were colored red while his right hand had three large ginko leaves set on it: his emblem was repeated in the point where the hand and the ginko leaves extension began.
His legs were covered in armor starting slightly below the hips and stopped slightly below the knee: both sides of each leg had a pattern of three grayish diamonds set on vertical stripe: his feet were shaped like traditional wooden pieces colored red and having a green stripe.
Lastly, two short wing-like extensions appeared from behind his shoulders and seemed to allow him to fly.
"Ho, ho, ho… I, old master Fuuter, guessed it right…" The man muttered with some amusement.
"… Thus, more aid should be brought to the city 5 kilos SSW from our current position and…! What's that noise?"
"Dunno."
"I've never heard it before."
Three persons has been standing inside of a tent and going over a map when noise rang out.
"Should we check it, Masked Commander?"
Masked Commander looked like another "Commander Beef" wearing desert nomad's clothes including a turban and shades.
He was accompanied by another Saloma and another Miyumi who also wore desert nomad clothes.
"Grah!"
"It's the war over again!"
"Damn!"
"We're doomed!"
The three of them ran out of the truck to see the Galleon Soldiers gesturing for some soldiers clad in desert nomad clothes to drop their weapons and walk inside of the tents: the M1 Tanks were overseeing the area and looked ready to shell it if necessary along with the Harrier 2 Planes.
"What in the…!" Masked Commander cursed.
"This is bad." Shark Man (identical to Earths' Shark Man) muttered.
"Grrr! And to think we can't come out anymore…!" Skull Man growled.
"That's the price we had to pay to end the war." Wood Man muttered.
"Drop all weapons! All armed actions shall be punished! Repeat: drop all weapons!" The pre-recorded voice commanded.
"… Oi! Horisugi Dotarou! A strange noise you are not hearing now? De gozaru?"
"Yeah! Let's check it out, Press!"
Two men had been working inside of a cave using excavation tools and then they came out: both looked on their 30s.
One of them was tall, over a meter and ninety in height.
He had blonde hair and blue irises: he sported glasses over his eyes.
His clothes were a wool cap, and a protective apron over a stripes shirt colored in various colors: he sported jeans and boots.
"Do gozaru! Mr. Press guesses trouble. De gozaru."
The other man was maybe around a meter and seventy in height and shorter than his partner
He had brownish hair and eyes along with big cheeks.
He wore an open orange coat over a white shirt along with a pair of orange jeans and boots too.
"Horisugi Dotarou smells it!"
They came out into the open where a van had been parked at: some Galleons had dropped around there as two choppers flew overhead and headed elsewhere.
"What are those, Dust Man?"
"Well, Ground Man…"
Ground Man, one of their Navis, struck as being close to two meters tall and had a rather machine-like design to him like Charge Man: his upper body's coloring was metallic orange and he had a brown-colored stripe set on the middle of it plus two trapeze-shaped bases colored yellow turned horizontally and aiming towards the middle of it.
His head had no neck and was protected by a piece of armor shaped like the Alphabet "U" character: his face's skin was white and he had two normal eyes plus an irregular line crossing through it which obviously was his mouth: the edge of his ear-pads was red in color and their drawing was three mountain peaks (the left and right one being identical in height while the center one was taller) drawn upon a black background.
An orange cylinder with a metallic spear on the rear end was built atop his head: the front end had a brown edge and a drill built into it.
His orange-colored spheroid shoulders had two metallic hexagons set over them with two drills emerging from them: his arms did have elbows and the forearm armor was orange in color, too: his hands emerged from inside of two hexagons as well.
His lower body had tank "caterpillar" tracks built into it and was colored mud brown: the tracks were black in color while the supporting frame was metallic gray.
"Answer me, Dust Man!"
"Cool it down!"
Dust Man, on the other hand, was a gigantic machine-like Net Navi, easily close to two meters tall: his main coloring was metallic-like orange plus olive green.
His upper torso had a rectangular hatch-like device colored metallic gray and with two small yellow rectangles set on each side: the hatch was closed and had two pyramidal shapes drawn on it: the structure supporting it, which crossed over the shoulders, was colored olive green and ended in a large heat exhaust occupying the whole of his approximately square body.
His face had seven golden cylinders emerging from over it plus two normal eyes and a tablet-shaped mouth.
His arms ended in orange circles containing five cylinders connecting to an accessory: the central one was colored metallic gray while the outer ones were white in coloring: the right hand's accessory was a metallic disk with four short needles and a hole in the middle: the left hand, however, was the contrary: one central needle and four surrounding holes.
He had a normal waist with a belt set on it and his legs ended in two olive green-colored pieces of armor covering the feet which were shaped like circles and having a small unprotected spot half-way along his feet's mid-section.
"Navis!" Dust Man exclaimed.
"Martial law is imposed! Get inside your houses or habitations! You have ten minutes!" The voice commanded.
"Crap." Dotarou grumbled.
"A curse the looks of this has! De gozaru!" Mr. Press exclaimed with obvious angst.
"… Hum. Those look like trouble."
"Yeah, Dark Kirisaki! Too bad I can't come out and slaughter 'em!"
"Cool it, Killer Man."
Dark Kirisaki was a young man who could be close to his 20s and maybe close to a meter and seventy in height.
He had bluish hair which was neatly combed and blue eye irises too.
He wore a black vest over a purple shirt and purple wool pants along with blue boots.
"Nyah, hah, hah, hah! Festival! Bloody festival!"
Killer Man, his Net Navi, was shaped like an oni from Japanese folklore given how his "skin" was just combusting grayish flames: his main body was shaped like a sphere colored purple, and having a green eye with red edges drawn on the chest: the lower half of it was colored in a fiery gray color.
His face's skin was red in color while the edges of his face were colored purple: his emblem was that same green eye set against a white background. He had normal eyes with black shapes drawn below them and teeth but a maniac smile was drawn upon his face: part of his "hair" scaled down to form a nose and two small red "horns" emerged from the top of his head.
His shoulders had two curved axe-like formations attached to them and he carried three purple armlets over his forearms and wrists interconnected by a metallic-slabs-made chain.
His legs had four circle-shaped pieces of armor starting at the hips and stopping around knee which progressively decreased in height on each leg: his feet were curved-shaped blades with two reddish curved lines drawn on their surface: the upper one was shorter in height than the lower one.
He carried a scythe with a black stick and red body with a purple-edged green eye set on it.
To sum it up: he looked like the Grim Reaper himself and gave off a sinister vibe.
"Is there no way to counter…?" Dark Kirisaki grimly muttered.
"… It'd seem they're ignoring us…"
Barrel and Trill were sitting in the metallic ground of a facility somewhere: this facility looked like it'd been assaulted given how a large missile had punctured a hole in the roof and then plunged into the basement through the floor: two curved banks computers set in alcoves below ground level had been built in the center of the room and an LCD screen was hanging in a loose manner on the far wall.
"Barrel – san? Are they ignoring us?"
A girl came in from another room.
She looked around 13 or 14 years old and about a meter and sixty tall: not much older than Netto.
Her eyes' irises were colored green and abundant brown hair fell down across her back until it reached the waist: two largely white flowers adorned the sides of her head.
She wore a one-piece dress consisting on a white skirt reaching until the knees, more or less, while the dress itself was pink in color: she sported black knee-high boots as footing.
She currently looked nervous and depressed.
"… Hum… Eh…" Trill slowly called out.
"What's wrong, Trill?" Iris asked.
"… Oneechan… Is there no way to ask for help?" He asked.
"… I'm not sure." She admitted.
"Help? The "Resistance" has been reduced and confined within their encampment. The "Wily Laboratory" has that "Dimensional Area" protecting it again… And you're not a combat Navi, Iris. You can't come inside of it like that: I'm sure the same trick won't work twice."
"… Huh… If only Netto and Saito were here… They would defeat the bad guys! Trill misses them…" Trill muttered.
"Then "Beyondard" is our only remaining method. But we don't know if we can open a "Fossa Ambience" or a dimensional tunnel to allow one of us to travel there…" Barrel sighed in defeat.
"The last time it was because of the clash between both Cybeasts… But we'd now need a very powerful machine to do so…" Iris muttered.
"And that brings us back to the "Wily Laboratory". I'm sure the people there came from "Beyondard" to begin with. They wanted to take profit of our weakened state to impose their rule over us." Barrel muttered.
"Hum… But what if the bad guys turn confident and don't watch properly? Couldn't Barrel – san sneak inside?" Trill suggested.
"… You know… That's not impossible. They could be making a celebration and not minding security because the "Dimensional Area" is enough: they must be feeling cocky."
"But how could Barrel – san get through that?" Iris asked.
"We must check the lab's registers… And since we've managed to repair the "Dimensional Generators" to project normal "Dimensional Areas", maybe it could work somehow… We could try to overload their "Dimensional Area"..." Barrel suggested a course of action.
"Whoa! Trill's idea was good, then!" Trill looked excited.
"It was. But you'll stay here with me, Trill." Iris told him.
"Trill will stay!" Trill replied.
"Good…" Iris made a weak smile.
"In any case… Sitting idle won't lead us anywhere. What I'm worried about is repercussion from them. But we could try to generate a "Dimensional Area" ourselves to protect us… However… Something tells me they'd have no problem bypassing or collapsing it." Barrel muttered while looking worried.
"… We must risk it. Our world's peace is at stake." Iris rallied.
"… True. And I think they won't hurt you two. They may keep you under watch but that's not worrisome." Barrel replied.
"Okay! Trill will help to make up the plan!" Trill announced.
"… Our victory was easy. We've gotta celebrate it tomorrow."
"Let's bring out the samba CDs and dance a bit like Raoul's crazy dancing… It'll be amusing."
Kage and Andy were sitting in chairs place at corners of a round table set in a rather empty room: Zarashe, Beta X, Kuroshiro, Shade, Legato and Slur were there too.
"No trouble has been registered. All proceeded splendidly." Slur reported as she looked up some data through a normal PET.
"Thank you, mademoiselle."
"Do not mind it."
"We can make a party, Mr. President?" Zarashe asked.
"The mood's perfect!" Beta X added.
"Sure. Let's have a party." Kuroshiro grinned.
"A cool party." Legato looked up to something.
"Let's go for it, ladies and gentlemen!"
"HORRAY!"