Chapter 36: Aftermath

11:51 AM (Japan Time), Friday October the 15th…

"… There it is: the energy core!"

"Good!"

The eleven Navis crossed broke through the final firewall and made it inside of Sharo Tower's Cyber World: Laser Man signaled a glowing black sphere floating inside of the Cyber World.

"Destroy it! Neo Variable Sword!" Blues commanded.

"Needle Cannon!"

"Tomahawk Air Raid!"

"Chemical Flash!"

"Napalm Arm!"

"Star Breaker Laser!"

"Mag Missile!"

"Tornado Arm!"

The core shook and vibrated with each attack: it began to shrink down before it blew up just like a supernova.

"Code 222. Code 222." An automated voice rang out.

"Damn. Self-destruct device…!" Blues growled.

"Plug Out!" Enzan commanded.

"Roger!"

The eleven Navis escaped at hatches opened on the ground and large bombs were deployed all across the Cyber World: they counted down from 60 to 0 and then detonated in a sequential pattern starting by the innermost ones and ending by the outermost ones.

"Look! The tower's exploding!"

The real world building began to blow up, too: many segments of it began to burn up and others collapsed: it wouldn't function again.

"… Even though we've stopped the tower… The battle was lost."

A heavy air lingered around the Science Labs' main briefing room: Meijin and Yuuichirou were there along with the rest of Duo's "Chosen Ones" (with the exceptions of Meiru, who wasn't there, and Dr. Regal, who hadn't been involved in that affair).

"… Yeah. But… This isn't the first time. We couldn't defeat Pharaoh Man, we didn't defeat Gospel by mere force and we didn't defeat Shade Man, so… But that doesn't mean we must be depressed: we aren't perfect or invincible and neither are those guys!" Netto argued.

"… True. We may lose some battles. But we mustn't lower our morale! We will win the next round." Yuuichirou tried to rally.

The air seemed to lighten up and everyone looked up.

"… True. You cannot always win a battle. But if you can know what went wrong and how to fix it, then you'll win the next one." Laika brought up.

"Yeah. My tomahawk will guide us to victory!" Dingo tried to improvise a motto.

"It'll lead us to Maha Ichiban's." Tomahawk Man corrected with a hint of sarcasm on his voice.

"Good idea. Some curry will brighten my mood."

"I'll lawsuit them: they stole my mottos." Shadow Man let out.

"Shah, shah, shah, shah! Yeah! Lawsuit 'em!"

"I'll devour the whole restaurant!"

"That wouldn't surprise me." Jasmine admitted.

"Go and ease your mood. We'll heal Forte and Freeze Man in the meanwhile." Yuuichirou told them.

"Good! Let's get to work!"

12:50 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hum, hum, hum!"

Dingo was whistling a tune as he took care of the counter: the restaurant's phone rang and he picked it up.

"Hello there! Maha Ichiban Curry Shop! What can we help you with?" He asked.

"I would like a delivered Maha Special… I'll dictate my address." A hoarse voice announced.

"Good! Please dictate it to me." Dingo smiled.

Dingo took note of it and ripped the post-it from the bloc.

"You shall have it in about one hour's time." Dingo announced.

"Excellent. Later." The caller replied.

Dingo placed the receiver back on its place.

"A Maha Special for delivery was the order?" Maha guessed as he popped his head out of the kitchen.

"Yeah! Oi! Hinoken! Can you drive me there with the delivery van? It's about five kilometers from here." Dingo called out.

"Sure thing."

"Hinoken." Wily called out.

"Y-yeah, Dr. Wily – sama?" He nervously asked.

"No grudges."

"Huh! By your orders!" Hinoken saluted.

"Heh, heh, heh. Good, good! Make that fire inside of you burn!" Wily sounded amused.

Hinoken ran into the garage and quickly checked that the van was in perfect condition while Fire Man sighed in relief…

14:08 PM (Japan Time)…

"... Here's the place!"

Hinoken stopped the van in front of a traditional temple which looked a bit dusty and worn out, however.

"Whoa! I can't believe a monk requested curry! I thought they didn't eat this kind of things." Dingo whistled in surprise.

"Maybe he's an oddball. Hello there! Maha Ichiban's delivery service is here!" Hinoken called out.

They stood still for about five minutes: no – one replied.

"Maybe he's deaf?" Dingo suggested.

"Sheesh! Let's have a look."

Hinoken walked over to the sliding paper door and slid it away: they both walked in.

"Hello~?"

The rooms were unfurnished and dusty: they kept walking and found a restroom and a bedroom.

"Is anyone home~? Maha Ichiban's delivery service~! We bring you order, Danna – sama~!"

Both looked like they had been used recently and Dingo eyed some black pajamas on the bed.

"That's odd... Look at the size of those pajamas. They look like they belong to a teen and not an adult." Dingo frowned as he examined them.

"Let's keep looking…" Hinoken suggested.

They found a wood door ajar and entered another room.

"Hello…? Whoa!"

They both stopped dead on their tracks: the room was obviously Silver Arrow's HQ server room.

"What is this place?" Hinoken uttered.

"Hinoken! Look at that emblem on the far wall!" Dingo pointed out.

"… Huh…? Hum… That's a silver arrow…? Silver Arrow, you say…! No way…! Impossible! We… We've…!" Hinoken gasped.

He dropped the delivery case on the ground from the surprised and his jaw hit the floor.

"We've stumbled upon their HQ!"

"And if that Ivan bloke was the one living here then the size of those clothes now makes sense…"

"Hmmm… It looks like he isn't back yet…" Dingo commented as he paid attention to any sounds.

"Can you remember the voice of the requester, Dingo?" Hinoken asked.

"Huh… It sounded hoarse and slightly aphonic… So I thought it was an adult. I didn't really pay attention to it."

"In any case! Let's call the Net Police…!"

A cell phone set on top of the table and next to the computer vibrated to signal an incoming call: Dingo took out a handkerchief and picked the cell phone: he activated the speaker function.

"I insist, Mr. Janus! Camouflage Man is the best spy you could ask for! You thought you'd cut me off? I used one of the previous numbers you gave me! I, Sargento Fred Sneaky, will give you firsthand info on the doings of the Net Police! Hello?" A familiar voice exclaimed in a rush.

"I am afraid your employer has ditched ya, Sgt. Fidel Sneaky." Hinoken grinned.

"Who…? Impossible! The HQ is impossible to find! It's hidden in such a superb way that no one would ever suspect where it is!" Sneaky exclaimed in a rush.

"We got a tip-off." Dingo admitted.

"By all the habanos on Cuba, this can't be happening! Yo me largo!"

Dingo chuckled and left the phone back on its place after checking the call log and agenda: they were empty: Hinoken's Link PET rang and Fire Man projected with the hologram.

"Hinoken – sama. You have a call." He informed.

"Patch it through, Fire Man. It's probably the pals at Maha Ichiban's wondering what's taking us so much time."

"Hino Kenichi?" A distorted voice asked.

"Who…? A prankster…?" Hinoken questioned with a hint of annoyance.

"Nope. Call me Akanokabe." The caller announced.

"Yamikawa: we know it's you." Dingo sighed, unimpressed.

"My, my… You like killing the suspense, Dingo!"

"Where are those two?"

"They had another hideout ready! Check the servers: they're empty and so is the mainframe! They then requested of me to leak this place out so that they could say "gotcha!" to you guys. After all… You've been looking like madmen for any abandoned temples but you didn't think it could be so close by!" He explained with some amusement.

"Smug-faced fellow…" Hinoken grumbled.

"By the way! Haven't you realized why Wily ordered you to store away your grudges?" He teased.

"… Freeze Man! Freeze Man was fighting there and he was beaten! I could've gone and used the chance to have Fire Man pay back what he suffered! Wily – sama! That's not fair!" Hinoken suddenly realized.

"Crap." Fire Man grimly muttered.

"Jeez." Tomahawk Man rolled his eyes.

"This guy…" Dingo grumbled.

"I know I draw sympathy from no – one. It's not like I ever intended to, anyway." He shrugged.

"So? What are ya plottin'?"

"Nothing. I'll simply go and test how good you guys are at chit-chat: it's rather amusing."

"Well! I don't see the point of it."

"Of course you don't: it's four words to the right."

"Don't you mean a dot?" Dingo asked.

"Sorry. I mistook it for the Catalan word punt which can also mean the orthographic sign or score."

"Ah. You wanna be the genius."

"I don't "wanna be the genius": I am a genius."

"Rhetoric." Hinoken scoffed.

"Don't you mean double-edged words? Blues seems to be fond of them as of late!"

"If ya were solid, I could beat you a thousand times over!" Dingo drew the tomahawk.

"Nope. The tomahawk would lead to you to the Bermuda Triangle and you'll vanish inside of it before that." Tomahawk Man sarcastically told Dingo while looking unimpressed.

"Jeez. Why do ya always see flaws to everything?" Dingo rolled his eyes in defeat.

"…'Cause there are flaws to begin with, Dingo… No – one and nothing is perfect."

"Sheesh." Dingo grumbled.

"Tee, heh, heh. Our Sioux Tribe One is getting impatient." Kagehi suddenly teased.

"… Oi, oi, oi…! Somari – chan… You're into Vulcan Raven's mottos by now…? You just had to say it, didn't you?"

"Tee, heh, heh. Our Prince – sama is getting sharp."

"Aren't I supposed to be the Emperor?" He seemed to be frowning on the other end of the line.

"It's a form of speaking…" She seemed to roll her eyes.

"Let the Sioux crawl across the ground." Kuroumi teased.

"I see this is evolving into a private chat. Why don't you cut us off and call us back when you have serious stuff to tell us?" Dingo looked unimpressed by now.

"Good idea: we're gonna go play Scrabble in the meanwhile. Our beloved monsters… Enjoy yourselves…"

"Farewell!" The three of them exclaimed.

The line went dead and Hinoken scratched the back of his head.

"Hinoken – sama. I contacted Blues. A Scene Investigation team is heading over here. We should depart the premises and make sure we didn't touch anything." Fire Man announced.

"Sure thing. Let's head off."

"And no tomahawks, Dingo: I know ya way too well." Tomahawk Man warned.

"Jeez."

They made their way back to the entrance and climbed into the delivery van to wait for the team.

"I guess Enzan will bombard us with questions… But we did get to record the whole talk with Yamikawa." Dingo sighed.

"He's somewhat of a weird fellow, ain't he?" Hinoken commented.

"Sure…" Fire Man muttered.

"…"Weird" doesn't come close to describing him. You can't even begin to imagine what he'll do next." Dingo rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. He's very strong, too, so we'd be better off by not provoking him at all: he must be terrible when angered." Tomahawk Man added with a hint of fear on his voice.

"… Yo! We brought over a Maha Special."

"… Thank… you…"

Netto and Saito had come to visit Meiru at the hospital: she was sitting on the bed and had a better look, but she kept on looking absent – minded and distracted.

"… Huh…" Both muttered.

She picked the spoon and began to slowly eat the Maha Special while Netto and Saito looked on.

"So… How do you feel? Roll – chan?" Saito asked.

"… More or less… Since I'm missing the most gruesome memories, I can handle it, but… My body won't be the same anymore. I have a large scar inside of me which will remain there." Roll muttered.

"… I see." Saito looked down.

"Huh? Ah! But… Saito – kun… Don't blame yourself for not realizing it earlier: I know it must be consuming you and Netto – san. The important part is that we were saved. That's all which matters."

"… Yeah… That's… what matters…" Meiru slowly muttered.

"… Oh! Did you know? Saruba went ahead and patented "sunian" sans your permission… Why don't you teach him some manners?" Netto tried to come up with something to brighten her mood.

"… Heh. Kagehi mustn't give a cent for him: it's obvious that the whole "adventure" cooled down time ago. And he's gonna know what happens when he steals off my motto…" Meiru slowly formed a smug smile and began to sound like her usual mood.

"Uh-huh! Niisan! Ask Search Man to lend us his directional camouflage: we don't wanna be cursed by the class' heroine!" Netto told Saito in a joke-like tone.

"Sure. He'll also take a step back: Laika has enough trouble standing Pride's teasing." Saito managed to smile as well and sounded rather amused.

"My. A princess and a soldier… How will this end up like?"

"Heh. Ain't it obvious? Sharo Nation's cold will freeze it up." Meiru kept on having a smug smile on her face.

"But they'll call Napalm Man "Nenjirou" and he'll melt the ice with his own flames."

"… So… You want us to delay Freeze Man's waking up so that you can go back and use the robot body?"

"Yeah. It's the only way to have him cooperate with our side."

Forte's repairs were almost over and he'd been woken up: he was now speaking with Yuuichirou and making a request out of him.

"Well… I won't deny it. But he'll probably see through it one day: that mask can't last forever." Yuuichirou replied.

"I knew that, hakase." Forte admitted.

"Good enough." Yuuichirou replied.

"Thank you very much." Forte thanked.

"… Tee, heh, heh."

"Guts?"

"Our Gorilla Man is gonna punch his own face one day!"

"Guts? Punch the face…?"

Guts Man actually punched his face and collapsed face-up on the ground while Colored Man giggled under his breath at his joke…