Chapter 37: Of servers and struggles
11:11 AM (Beijing Time), Sunday December the 26th…
"… Muwroh, wroh, wroh."
"Damn! What a monster!"
"There's no halting it?"
"Someone help us!"
"Wroh, wroh, wroh."
"I've got the feeling it's laughing at us."
"Oh lovely."
Five to ten security Navis were facing Gothmog as it slowly walked towards a firewall they were protecting which had Chinese characters printed on it: Gothmog let them shoot at him but all rounds bounced off and he laughed at them while signaling with them with the right hand's middle finger as if indicating he was above them (literally) and looking down on them (also literally) to the annoyance of the defenders.
"You beast come out of the Naraku… Face me."
"Nyah, hah, hah! Time to settle the score you bastard! Festival! Bloody festival!"
"Wrorgh?"
Gothmog slowly turned around and seemed to recognize both Shadow Man and Killer Man: it drew the sword and aimed it at them while emitting the hollow chuckle sound.
"Go!"
Shadow Man formed his "Shadow Clones" and they attacked the knees of Gothmog while Killer Man jumped into the air behind it and then dived for the head: Gothmog hit the ground with the blade and opened the crevices of magma from which he began to form the cyclone: the winds pushed Killer Man away.
"Nuwra~h! Damn it! Killer Death Beam!"
"Shadow Blade!"
Both Navis attacked: Killer Man aimed for the head while Shadow Man focused on attacking the knees yet Morgoroth only made the cyclone spiral closer to its body and it eventually hit both Navis thus setting them on fire: two Kawarimi were left behind as they warped and tried to shoot a string of shuriken at the monster only to be melted by the flames and the strong gusts sending some back to hit their owners instead: they lowered the guard and the next moment Gothmog was beating its wings to propel them away and into the ground.
"Damn. The freak's gotten stronger." Killer Man cursed.
"Hmpf… But mere brute power won't overcome the shinobi I am. Let's go for it! Oijouzan!"
"Let's go, Killer Man. Program Advance! Poison Seed, Poison Seed, Poison Anubis! Slot In! Poison Pharaoh!" Dark Kirisaki commanded.
The purple-colored Pharaoh Man statue descended into the field and the ground around Gothmog became "poison" thus making it lose HP yet it didn't seem to care as the cyclone hit the firewall and began to melt it down thus exposing a server inside of it: Cosmo Man showed up and hovered towards it while chuckling.
"This confidential data will be useful for business."
"Scope Gun! Satellite Ray!"
"Sonic Boom!"
"Huh! The damned mice are back…"
"You're the damned mice."
Blues and Search Man suddenly showed up atop the server and attacked Cosmo Man who barely dodged in time: he looked annoyed by now while the other two were calm and collected.
"Hmpf! Cosmo Gate!"
A black hole opened in the sky and began to launch meteors towards them but Search Man picked them out while Blues used the openings between them to warp and attack Cosmo Man who blocked using his "Cosmo Ring" so Blues had to recoil: Cosmo Man chuckled and suddenly increased the bombardment rate.
"Cosmo Planet!"
Three planetoids with vertical rings flew down from the sky and hit Search Man one after the other thus not giving him a break: Search Man growled and managed to regain his footing but at that moment Gothmog's fiery whip coiled around his legs and he was pulled away from atop the server while hitting Blues along the way as he struggled to get past the "Cosmo Ring" and didn't see him coming: both hit the floor as Gothmog retrieved the whip and then turned to face Killer Man and Shadow Man again who'd had time to recover.
"Alright, let us go again."
"Roger! Hell's Sickle!"
"Shadow Blade!"
Shadow Man warped and tried to hit the knuckles of the monster but he was punched away white the left hand caught the "Hell's Sickle" attack and absorbed its power: Gothmog chuckled and suddenly flew into the sky to then drop down: his landing caused a cyber-quake which threw everyone (save Cosmo Man, who was hovering in the air and Gothmog who was in the epicenter) off their feet and into the ground: Cosmo Man headed into the server taking profit that the cyber-quake had weakened the support points of its cover and quickly began to access its data while chuckling: the Navis managed to recover somehow but Cosmo Man didn't pay attention to them.
"You damned mice can't stop us. Go, Gothmog! Have them taste bitter despair!" He commanded.
"Muwro~rgh!" Gothmog roared.
"Crush them into dust!"
Gothmog advanced at quick strides towards Shadow Man and Killer Man while fusing his punches and lifting them: both jumped off the ground in time as Gothmog hit the ground and cracked it to form a pool of cyber-magma ten centimeters wide per five tall: Gothmog drew the whip in a blurry move and hit both Navis as they dived towards him: Blues and Search Man began to attack the base of the wings but Gothmog only had to beat them to push them away.
"Is that all? Hah." Cosmo Man taunted.
"I'd rather say "no", Golden Boy."
"Who…?"
"Yo! Goth – boy! Over 'ere! Remember me~?"
"Muwru~rgh!"
"Guess that means "yeah, I do", eh?"
Omega had suddenly shown up from atop one of the perimeter turrets of the server and was trying to catch Gothmog's attention which he did as evidenced by the twitch forming over Gothmog's right eye: the beast strode towards him at a quick pace while reading the right shoulder but Omega was already jumping into the air as Gothmog rammed into the turret and deformed it: the server flickered and hummed so Cosmo Man gasped.
"Stop, Gothmog! He's trying to use you to damage the power supply to the server and stop me from downloading further data! Don't hit the turrets: use the whip! That's an order!" He commanded in a rush upon realizing what was going.
Gothmog bowed and then drew the whip which it swung towards Omega as he landed on the SE turret but he merely bounced his feet off it before landing in the central turret and drawing the sword which he aimed downwards and stopped an inch away from entering Cosmo Man's head from above: Cosmo Man gasped and realized the jeopardy of his position as Gothmog was doubting whether it could hit Omega before Omega hit Cosmo Man.
"Come, bully."
Gothmog stepped back two steps as if wanting to be prudent but then got attacked at the same time by the recovered Blues, Search Man, Shadow Man and Killer Man: it apparently decided the other four should be taken out before Omega so it drew the sword and began to hit the floor with it so the four Navis began to jump around and provoke it while luring it away from the server.
"Alright, Golden Boy. What's in those labs?"
"Hmpf! The T – Virus, maybe?"
"Come on. I know Twilight isn't the type to repeat a trick twice: he already used that program a while ago."
"A new weapon, maybe." He taunted.
"I guessed as much: new weapons for the Balrogs."
"Correct, you damned mouse."
"I won't fall for that: I'm on a mission and I've gotta prove I deserve my rank by being cool-headed." Omega calmly replied.
"Hmpf! Not getting carried away, are you?"
"No. You've repaired the furnace already, I guess?"
"Of course. And soon it'll be ready to help us power up the new research facilities to develop new plasma weapons…" He grinned.
"Like we thought…"
"Muwroh, wroh, wroh!"
Omega gasped and spotted Gothmog coming back despite some wounds on its body: he could see a large hole some meters away which seemed to have swallowed the four Net Navis.
"Damn it. The bait strategy didn't work out…!"
"Heh. Cosmo Ring!"
"Whack!"
Omega got distracted so the "Cosmo Ring" hit him and made him fall down the server's turret and into the ground ten meters below: he hit it with a loud CRASH and groaned as he tried to recover: he was still gripping the saber on his right hand and managed to stand up somehow only to have to jump into the air and spin around to avoid being caught by Gothmog's whip: he quickly cut it to pieces and landed atop a power turret, the NW one, to taunt the thing but it merely hit the ground with the right punch to produce another cyber-quake and try to knock Omega from the turret.
"Damn it. This guy's getting smarter."
"Keep at it, Gothmog. I need another 90 seconds to finish downloading and translating that which interests us." He commanded.
"Come on, guys… You're not the type to be knocked out so easily! Gimme a hand…!" Omega muttered.
"No use! Those damned mice have sunk more than 30 meters and it's impossible to climb back up." Cosmo Man laughed.
"Then I'll bring reinforcements of my own…" Omega muttered to his own while jumping across to the SE turret.
"Super Vulcan!"
"Muwroh?"
"Another damned mouse came? Whatever. I only need 65 seconds by now to finish it up."
"Blood Shadow on the scene, sir!"
Blood Shadow appeared atop the SW turret and had shot a string of rounds to Gothmog to catch its attention: Gothmog roared and ran towards the turret: Blood Shadow grinned and signaled the ground to make it realize he'd turned it into an Ice Stage: Gothmog couldn't stop in time and hit the turret with all of his mass plus some speed: the server flickered and hummed again.
"Damn it. I got delayed. I need another 110 seconds because the transfer rate has fallen by 25%..." Cosmo Man growled.
"That thing's just like a big bull. I only needed to provoke it and it rushed straight to me: I'm not fond of corridas but it's the best analogy I could think of… Anyway… Come, ugly bully!"
Omega grinned and returned to the central turret to keep Cosmo Man at bay with the sword while Blood Shadow taunted Gothmog to have it come over at the SE turret: Gothmog melted the ice and suddenly drew a flamethrower which it used to try to bathe Blood Shadow in flames from away so Blood Shadow leapt into the air to dodge: the heat did melt the upper cover of the turret and deform some of the ventilation outlets thus the server flickered and hummed again.
"Shit. I was at 68 seconds and I got delayed again to 128 seconds. Won't this thing EVER end? Gothmog! Ignore it and don't attack the turrets: use the wind!" Cosmo Man growled.
Omega quickly touched the soils of his boots to draw spikes like a mountain climber's boots and jumped into the air to then land and plunge the spikes a few millimeters into the thick cover as well as plunging his saber's tip there and gripping the hilt: Blood Shadow turned on a pair of jet boosters on the soils of his boots too while Gothmog attached the sword to the waist and began to beat its wings while flying skywards and try to fly towards Blood Shadow.
"Charged shotgun shot!"
The blast hit Gothmog fully on the head and it clutched it as it struggled to concentrate and not lose flying capacity: it then beat the wings but Blood Shadow moved around to avoid its effects: Omega was securely anchored so he didn't feel the effects of it either.
"Good… Another 53 seconds… And I'll be done. Yet… Why aren't you directly stopping me when you've got the opportunity?"
"I want to see you sweat and struggle."
"Che. Damned mouse."
"My, my. What a tongue. Worm-tongue, anyone?"
"Shut up."
"Charged shotgun shot!"
"Wruo~rgh…!"
CRASH!
"Oh damn. Another turret crushed! I was at 39 seconds and now I have to wait another 98 seconds…! This is endless!"
Blood Shadow had attacked the wings from behind thus robbing Gothmrog of the flying capacity and having it fall thus crushing the NW turret to Cosmo Man's growing exasperation.
"Only one backup power turret left and the main server…! And then they say redundancy is good…" He growled.
"You never know, Mr. Anderson. Agent Smith may be hunting you down for all we know." Omega hummed a tune.
"Stop screwing me~!" Cosmo Man roared.
He threw the "Cosmo Ring" at him but Omega sliced it in half and didn't look impressed: Gothmog recovered and stood up to try to hit Blood Shadow with the flamethrower while making sure to aim west the whole time to avoid an accidental hit on the remaining NE turret.
"Sonic Boom!"
"Satellite Ray!"
"Explosion!"
"Hell's Sickle!"
"I-Impossible!"
The four Net Navis were back and they looked totally healed: Gothmog growled and began to swing the flamethrower around like mad: Cosmo Man clutched his head and looked hysteric.
"Drive them away! AWAY!" He yelled.
Gothmog obeyed and quickly headed for the hole it had made a while before stopping on the edge and turning around to taunt the fighters into coming closer: they kept their distance so it resorted to the flamethrower again.
"Come on…! Come on…! 15 seconds…! I can do it…! I can do it…! I'll do it for sure this time…!" Cosmo Man growled.
"Try it, Mr. Anderson." Omega challenged.
"8 seconds… 7… 6… 5… 4… 3… 2…!"
VRO~H!
"DAMN THEM! 62 seconds! It increased to 62 seconds!"
"My bad. Guess my shotgun is trigger-happy today."
Blood Shadow had used his shotgun to attack the remaining turret and Cosmo Man exploded into rage as the transfer time increased for the fifth consecutive time: Omega grinned and folded his arms while looking down (literally) on Cosmo Man.
"No pain no gain!" He taunted.
"Damned mice! Cosmo Buster!"
A distortion of space formed and several small planetoids flew out to bombard the opponents: Omega merely shot them with the gun while Blood Shadow drew a red indented blade and cut through them: Gothmog was having trouble hitting the Navis as two distracted it and another two attacked.
"Yes! This time it's the end…! 31 seconds…!"
"The 31 lanes of doom?" Omega laughed.
"Sir Omega, sir. You've made that up on the spot, sir." Blood Shadow protested with obvious dryness.
"Did ya say something, B-B-B-Brad S-S-S-Shad?"
"I give it up, sir."
"15 seconds…! 14… 13… 12… 11… 10! 9! 8! 7! 6! 5! 4! 3! 2! 1! Transfer completed! At last! At last! A~h! AT LAST!" He eagerly exclaimed while spreading his arms wide.
Omega blinked Blood Shadow and eye and he merely nodded in understanding: Cosmo Man then flew upwards and formed a smug smile as he glanced upon them.
"I've got no further business here. Gothmog! Pull back. Our mission is a success! Mwah, hah, hah!"
"Muwro~h! Wroh, wroh, wroh!"
The purple swirling "black hole" opened in the sky right above Gothmog who crouched and jumped inside followed by Cosmo Man: the thing closed and the four Navis sighed in relief.
"Phew. There they go… What a monster!" Enzan muttered.
"But our strategy worked."
"Strategy?" Dark Kirisaki frowned.
"What are you talking about?" Dark Miyabi asked.
"I'll tell you later." Barrel interjected.
"If you came up with it then it surely is worth it. Barrel."
"It is. But I won't speak over an unprotected line. Pull back. Thanks for the helping hand, Omega and Blood Shadow."
"Don't mind it, Barrel. I was trigger-happy today along with Brad Shad over here. He looks up to Lucky Lucy." Omega laughed as he patted Blood Shadow's back.
"Lucky Luke, sir! Please don't corrupt names, sir!"
The other four Navis left and Omega grinned at Blood Shadow who merely remained silent: Omega quickly clutched his private spot before logging out and Blood Shadow growled something under his breath…