Chapter 26: Neo Nebula
09:13 AM (Japan Time), Friday June the 17th…
"… Good morning, students."
"Good morning, Mariko – sensei!"
The students of Class 6-A stood up to greet their teacher: she looked somewhat nervous.
"Well… Let's go outside for the class group photo, shall we?"
"Roger!"
The students marched out into the yard and aligned themselves for the photo: the taller students crouched in front of the front row while the other aligned on the back row: they all smiled.
"Look at the camera!" A teacher instructed.
"Cheese~!"
The photo was taken and the teacher checked it out.
"Let's do it again just in case."
"Cheese~!"
The teacher took a second photo and then made the thumbs up sign to the class: they followed Mariko back inside and found several envelopes as well as scrolls set atop her desk.
"Here are your reports and you diplomas. However… Before that, I must admit that today is a sad day… All of you will be leaving this school and moving on… I'm proud of having had you as my students." Mariko told them.
"Thank you for everything, sensei!"
Mariko smiled and began to hand out the envelopes plus the rolled diplomas: the students hurriedly opened them and checked them out on-site.
"Whoa~! I scored 7 in Math, no less! And all my notes are 6 or 7! I've improved drastically!" Netto exclaimed.
"Heh, heh. 8 in Math, mostly 7s and one 6. Not bad for my first year taking normal classes, either." Saito giggled.
"Heh! I got 7 in everything. I'm not Gabcom's heiress in vain! Tee, heh, heh, heh!" Yaito giggled.
"Hum… 6 in Math… I'm a bit weak at that… But the other grades are pretty well, so… Not bad." Hikawa muttered.
"Tee, heh, heh! 8 in Music. I'm sure everyone thought it was a nightmare, didn't you?" Meiru giggled.
"Grah… 5 in everything… Man. I was hoping to impress Meiru." Dekao groaned.
"Cha will impress me once you invent the Japanese – Gorilla Idiom Dictionary." Meiru grinned at him.
"No way!" Dekao groaned.
"Eat weed." Yaito giggled.
"No way!"
"Eat ice." Toru grinned.
"No way!"
"Eat burnt curry." Netto laughed.
"No way!"
"Eat yoghurt with salt." Saito giggled.
"No way!"
"Now, now! Ooyama – kun! That's not the way to address a girl." Mariko told him with a smile.
Dekao turned red and lowered his head while everyone else in the classroom laughed at the scene…
10:03 AM (Japan Time)…
"… My! Your grades are excellent, dears!"
"Thanks, Mama!"
Haruka had been looking at the twins' grades and looked pleased enough: both looked prideful of their results.
"Let me see." Yuuichirou requested.
He picked them and looked at them as well.
"I'm proud of you two. You've worked very hard!" Yuuichirou announced with a smile.
"Thanks, Papa!"
"We'll celebrate it with a cake!" Haruka announced.
"Yippe~!" Everyone exclaimed.
"Tee, heh, heh. My announcements always make you run excited. Now relax and try not to take a sneak peek." Haruka giggled.
"You two! I've got something as a present for ending 6th grade and elementary school." Yuuichirou suddenly announced as he brought up a silver attaché case.
"Could it be…?" Netto gasped.
"The famous…?" Saito gasped.
"Oho. Yuuichirou – san brought a surprise, too." Haruka looked amused and lifted her eyebrows.
Yuuichirou set the case on the desk and unlocked it: the twins loomed over and looked fascinated.
"T-these are…!" Netto exclaimed.
"I knew it…!" Saito exclaimed.
"True! The Link PET!"
This new PET design had a general rectangular shape and came in two sets of colors: blue/white & green/white.
The upper portion was a white hill-like shape and smooth: the left side had two small round buttons set very close to each other and a smooth surface: the right side had the Slot – In slot on it plus a small red pyramid-like mark over it: the slot also had a pyramid-like shape to it and was colored white: the underside had two small holes with something set on them.
The emblem occupied the upper half of the device and a white stripe crossed through it from the top until it reached the LCD screen's border: this LCD screen was rectangular and had a black inner border plus a white outer border.
The rest of the surface was colored blue and set in a mosaic-like pattern over it: the PET looked practical.
"It also comes with this!" Yuuichirou announced.
He took out two arm-straps with a white plastic structure build on them: the twins tried them out and placed them slightly beneath the right shoulder.
"Wow. We look fashionable, even!" Netto whistled in surprise.
"Heh, heh. Cool…" Saito grinned.
"Now… I'll show you some of its new functions. Press the thumb finger against the right underneath circle."
Both did so and a thick touch pen slid out: they then pressed the main button in the PET to bring up its holographic screens: they began to touch the screen and wrote their names on them using katakana: both whistled in surprise.
"Whoa. The drag system of the PET III carries over but this touch pen gives you further precision while handling the menus." Netto commented.
"Yeah! This makes it easy to use and very instinctive. We're gonna have fun with a Doddle War." Saito giggled.
"Yours are special: I brought them from the Science Labs because they won't be in the stores until tomorrow!" Yuuichirou blinked them an eye and sounded amused.
"Whoa."
"O. K. Since there's still a lot of time… Let's go have a walk. We could go check the Densan City Shopping Mall… But hide the PETs!" Yuuichirou blinked them an eye again.
"Whoa. Going out with Papa… I missed it!" Netto exclaimed.
"We sure did." Saito admitted.
"Try to be back around 1:00 PM if you may." Haruka instructed.
"Good. Wait a min. I'm going to leave the report and diploma on the room before going out." Netto requested.
"I'll do that, too."
"Fine."
Both ran upstairs and entered their room: they closed the door and quickly share a passionate kiss before breaking apart.
"Whoa. I was the one who wanted to do it!" Netto whispered.
"Sorry. I wanted to beat you to it." Saito giggled.
"We synchronized, then. Heh, heh!" Netto chuckled.
"That was to celebrate the end of the course. Don't you remember the intense night we had eight days ago for our 13th birthday?" Saito whispered.
"Yeah… We tried out all sorts of poses. But let's discuss this later: Papa is waiting for us." Netto grinned.
They both ran downstairs and put on their sneakers while Yuuichirou came out of the bathroom.
"Ittekimasu~!"
11:13 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Cross Spark!"
"Cosmo Gate!"
"Snow Rolling!"
"Crush Noise!"
"Dark Sonic Boom!"
The five Darkloids were blasting their way through a system somewhere and attacking an already damaged firewall: it looked about to collapse at any moment now.
"We're almost there. Go!" Cosmo Man rallied.
"Glory to Neo Nebula!"
They broke through the wall and found several tall columns with circuitry drawn into them: they seemed to be over ten meters tall each.
"The DNN TV Station's data servers… We might get a hold of juicy info to sell to freelancers!" DS Blues chuckled.
"Maybe you want to sell them to Aunt Regula's ghost?" A voice rang out with a hint of sarcasm.
"That voice…! I remember it from somewhere…!" DS Blues muttered as they looked around.
"No wonder you don't remember me: that was in your "past incarnation" or, should I say, before Delta rebuilt ya. And I know that you were planning on leeching the guy back then." The voice told him.
"Che." DS Blues grumbled.
"Hah! One pitiful Net Navi can't stand against five of us." Cloud Man boasted.
"Careful. There might be accomplices close by." Cosmo Man warned in a serious tone of voice.
"Crap." Blizzard Man muttered.
"… No. There's no one else… I can pick ultrasounds and I don't hear the slightest hint of any other Navi even if they were camouflaged: any camouflage systems gives off noise." Shade Man told them.
"Show your hide!" DS Blues challenged.
"Fine."
Forte suddenly dropped down from above while having his "Dark Aura" engaged: the group gasped and stepped back.
"Forte…!" DS Blues gasped.
"Yeah. I've been monitoring you guys for a while. And I'm itching for a round of beat-'em-all today… Yo! Gospel! Come and show them how bad your breath is." Forte sounded amused.
Gospel suddenly jumped down into the area and roared: the group began to panic and step back.
"Uo~h! Fighting against that guy is something. But having to fight against such a collection of bugs is something else!" Cloud Man uttered.
"That's why I told you guys that you were too confident!" Cosmo Man growled.
"Uh-oh… What do we do, DS Blues?" Blizzard Man asked.
"I'd rather… scram…" Shade Man suggested.
"Y-yeah… This is a trap! Let's head back, you guys! I'll remember this, Forte! I'll slice you up one day!" DS Blues threatened.
"Come anytime, Punk Man." Forte taunted.
"Damn you!"
"Run for it!" Blizzard Man shrieked.
"What do you think we're doing?" Cloud Man cursed.
"Heh, heh, heh. Chicken…" Forte chuckled.
11:27 AM (Japan Time)…
"… So, Nebula Grey's reconstruction is over 95% complete? Good news, then! We'll soon be able to resume Dark Chip production."
"Correct. And spread them across the Reverse Internet…"
Delta and Laser Man were speaking as they stood in an observation platform looking at a large round area where Nebula Grey was being rebuilt: it was only lacking the coloring, since its body was "grey" at this moment and some small details: it looked inactive as of yet.
"By the way… Did your Operator set this background?" Laser Man asked as he signaled the "sky".
"Huh… No doubt… And I did tell him not to mess with it…" Delta looked slightly annoyed.
The background was colored purple and it had a green-rimmed shield floating in the air: the shield depicted a brown and white fox having a green-handled scout knife on its muzzle aiming for the left: the letters "FOXHOUND" were set above it colored brown plus the 90º spun text "SPECIAL FORCES GROUP" on the right side of the image.
"He's been watching too many videos of the PSX Metal Gear Solid…" Delta muttered with a hint of annoyance.
"I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing. It gives the feeling that we look up to their might." Laser Man suggested.
"Guess so…" Delta shrugged.
"… Did you make sure to erase all tracks behind us, Blizzard?"
"I told you I did, Cloud! I'm not a fool!"
"I checked it myself. They were clean."
"Good, Shade."
"We managed to dump that thing somehow…"
"The squad is back already?" Laser Man wondered.
As if replying to their wondering, the five of them came in and kneeled in front of the stairs leading up to the observation platform.
"Delta – sama, sir! We shall not offer any apologies, but…! We failed the mission, sir…!" They all exclaimed.
"What? What happened?" Delta asked them.
"Forte and that "Gospel" beast showed up there, sir! We were forced into retreat: we couldn't risk getting infected by a thousand bugs, sir!" DS Blues reported.
"Crap! Forte! I had forgotten about the guy despite the rumors and reports of his sightings…" Delta muttered.
"If Forte is openly stopping us, then count on him to intercept all Dark Chips we try to distribute in the Reverse Internet… Maybe we should try to sell them in foreign countries." Yami muttered.
"It sounds like a reasonable alternate plan…" Dr. Regal muttered.
"Okay… Eh… Look: it was THE Forte, so… Don't feel ashamed. Eh… Try to go back to your stuff and… eh… I'll think of something. Man. I still find it weird trying to be the "leader"… I think Mr. Laser Man here would rather fit the role…" Delta improvised before muttering.
"But I already am busy managing Nebula Grey's reconstruction… And they're used to you as their leader, Delta." Laser Man argued.
"Fine. Let's leave it there, then… Man. I had hoped that I could remember more about me but Dr. Regal doesn't even acknowledge having created me or DS Blues: he admits that we were a result of the "Dark Power" infiltrating our "originals" and then their body defenses forcing us out thus becoming separate "Darkloids"… It'd seem that someone did really alter my memories. And, for some reason, my body has "Dark Power" antibodies so I can't be named a "Darkloid" given my lack of "Dark Power"… I am just a Net Navi which is fine for me: Yami – kun and I make a good tag-combo and I don't wanna break this deal up. I've come so far thanks to him." Delta muttered as he brought the right hand to his helmet's forehead.
"Yeah… And something tells me that my "memories" have also been altered and we'd met in different circumstances… Maybe you stumbled upon me after having discarded that guy, Rock Man EXE's Operator, Hikari Netto… You surely used him as a human shield to escape from that "mysterious man" DS Blues talked about and then ran away." Yami theorized.
"Vadous… I do remember him. As I have told you, he provoked both me and Father into "sticking the arm outta the window" so that the Net Police had plenty of reasons to bring us down. Yet something has been picking me ever since December…" Dr. Regal muttered.
"Yeah. Why Hikari Saito began to yell as if he was suffering a terrible headache right after Dr. Regal commanded the "Dark Power" inside of any infected Navi to awaken. That man named "Lartes" then did something which knocked you out cold, too, so you never got to figure what the heck happened there. Didn't you have any cameras?" Yami asked.
"Of course I had! I sent Laser Man there a few days after you freed me, Yami – kun, but all data was lost because the system had been thoroughly sabotaged over and over again in a deliberate manner. That data HAD to be very sensitive if they went to such ends to delete it." Dr. Regal grumbled with obvious annoyance.
"Well… Can't be helped, I'm afraid… We should focus on the "Dark Chip" Strategy and then we'll decide what we should do." Yami suggested with a sigh.
"Hmmm… True. We can't much else besides that: we don't want to get confident and try to rush it all: it wouldn't benefit us at all. But Nebula Grey should be ready by this evening or the dawn at the latest. We've been stalling for time through guerilla tactics, but… It's about time we turned serious." Dr. Regal made an evil grin.
"Yeah, Doc. We'll get so serious that they'll run and hide in the lockers 'cause a psycho cyborg ninja is about to slaughter them up with a high-frequency blade." Yami chuckled.
The four of them chuckled in an evil manner…