Mediziner's Notes: Ahh, December... One of my most favourite months. ;u; What are your favourite holidays of the month? In this chapter, I made a small reference to some official artwork somebody found years ago, since I figured it's a little fun canon thing even if it's not within the show itself. I know most of the chapters have had Radiant Prism out of action but I have tons of plans for upcoming chapters. I got this one done pretty quickly in just two to three days since I was determined and inspired to see this done so I can get around to other important things! Honestly, a chunk of this came from a scenario I had in a dream and I rolled with it, since it was something I was pretty stumped with after writing about 40% of this in one sitting. Additionally, I have no knowledge of mechanics... Apologies about if some things might not make sense...

The Leader Within Cover Art is drawn and commissioned by Erilmadith-Everyoung on DeviantART. You can also find Radiant Prism's full reference there, too.

Enjoy!

...

Slithering back towards the direction the base once he was sure he wasn't being followed, Shapeshifter was still seething from the botched plan days ago thanks to a certain odd coloured Brave. It bothered him just how did that Brave single-handedly managed to hold back the trio from getting their part of the plan executed while he himself was dealing with the entire Brave Police. The moment he'd enter the hideout after removing a part of himself under the gap and made it unlock the door, an angry voice addressed him after he'd shut the door behind him and entered the next room. "SHAPESHIFTER!" Turning his attention, Eberhard struggled to slip free of the restraint he'd been in. Hans and Uwe were also restrained against the wall with slabs of hardened distorted metal he'd pin them against. "Are you going to make a habit of this every single day whenever you're going out!? The more you do this, the more time we're wasting unable to fix our damn machine!"

"Hmph, should I be reminding you about how you've gotten your arses handed to you by that brightly coloured Brave and later that vomit coloured Brave?" His words were enough to enrage Eberhard even further. "You three couldn't even take them out. The silhouetted man entrusted me in ensuring that that none of you attempt to flee from the deal you all agreed upon. Though since I've returned from gathering metal and other resources to regenerate both my body and your machine, I think I'll-"

"Shapeshifter, release them. Now." The nearby screen had flickered to life and revealed their mysterious boss. Shapeshifter snorts at this and does as told, reclaiming the parts of his metallic body used to restrain the trio when he was out. The moment Eberhard was free, he lunged at the bio-machine aiming for the head he'd seen pop out of the slimy body every now and then. Instead of meeting cold, slimy metal, he met the hard floor instead when Shapeshifter responded by splitting himself in half and becoming whole again just where Eberhard had been previously standing.

"Damn you, Shapeshifter!" Eberhard snarled. "It's your damn fault that you didn't count every single one of those annoying robots! That strange toy coloured Brave either chose to remain behind, or remained behind on order of those annoying cops, or most likely..." There was a brief pause. "You set this up on us just so you could make us look bad in front of the shadowy-!"

"Eberhard." The silhouetted man snapped. "Save that temper for the Brave Police. Regardless of the situation, you three have failed me again."

"...Are you saying that you're going to let Shapeshifter off for this failure!?" Hans inquired, stunned as Uwe chimed in. "He's the one that plotted this whole damn thing! Why are you turning a blind eye on him!?"

"When the deed is done, we'll be hunting you next whoever you are!" Eberhard growled, gritting his teeth.

The silhouetted man could only chuckle, amused by the trio's protests and desire to seek him out after destroying Radiant Prism. "Neither of you know who I am, but I know who you three are. Try as you will, neither of you will get very far in attempting to find out who I am. As long as Radiant Prism remains alive, you three will never roam free as you previously did. Attempting to defy me will only result in you three being terminated. Permanently." Shapeshifter couldn't help but chuckle at this, amused at the silhouetted man's threatening on the trio.

Hans quietly thought things out as the silhouetted man talked, then looked at Uwe who also looked in his direction. Neither nodded nor make any sort of gesture, but both of them had previously discussed an idea that would certainly work perhaps with a little bit of acting involved. Hans turned his attention back to the silhouetted man. "Despite our... Less than ideal success, we did manage to acquire the data information on both the oddly coloured and green robots respectively. Combined with the data we have on the blue and red ones from previously, Uwe and I can confirm that since they're also from the Scotland Yard Brave Police like the others mentioned, we found that with a little more digging... Their functions are either superior than that of the Japanese Brave Police, or more..." As Hans began talking, Uwe approached the main console and began inputting some commands. "Considering that we can confirm the Brave Police in Japan- The first of any units are... Older in comparison to the United Kingdom's Scotland Yard, it makes sense that they could possibly possess more than what the Japanese crew have in comparison considering from the older parts of news that they were a joint-collaboration."

As Hans talked, Uwe began providing the images while carefully coding the system to include a discreet camera intending to take a screenshot of the man as planned. While the silhouetted man was distracted listening to what Hans had to say, he had only one shot at this and he was going to make it count no matter what. Fiddling with codes, scripts, and the likes of anything technical was his specialty out of his three comrades. He wasn't a genius for show, but knew how to use that knowledge as an effective weapon before anyone could blink, should they dare cross him the wrong way.

"...They don't enjoy using their handguns much. That much we have seen when the bright one used that boomerang-like weapon of his." Hans continued, pondering for a moment. "Even if they're faced with threats outside of the United Kingdom, it seems to scream powerful underneath their preference for melee weaponry over a ranged weapon that fires projectiles. The green one had twin swords... Cutlasses or scimitars from the looks of it."

"Uh, Hans... Scimitars are more curved than cutlasses." Uwe frowned, playing along with the acting. "Have you not seen what they look like in compar-"

"You two are going to make my head explode with all the useless talking!" Eberhard growled, clapping both hands over his ears. "We need to do more fighting than talking! If our machine wasn't in tatters, again- We would be out there demolishing them to nothing! Who cares what robot is older or newer!"

"I've heard enough. I think it's time that we get our next plan moving." The silhouetted man announced.

"What? But we're in no shape to get out in the fight! Repairs haven't even started yet because Shapeshifter kept pinning us whenever he's out and about!" Uwe exclaimed.

"Perhaps not, but we have a special guest who has been patiently waiting for us. Come out and reveal yourself."

The criminals immediately looked around, wondering where the silhouetted man's client would appear, immediately spotting them dangling from the ceiling as they detached themselves from a device used to hang from the ceiling, flipping downwards onto the ground, standing and straightening themselves after a moment. "You're... A woman?"

"Don't let her looks fool you, she's known to be one of the most notorious criminals worldwide. This person has managed to time and again elude the Brave Police's grasp at every turn she makes. Spanning from eluding the Japanese Team, the Scotland Yard, and even Germany's own Teams."

"Personally I don't enjoy making deals with others as I work alone, but your boss here has made... An interesting deal in exchange for providing you three one of my most powerful creations yet. Other fellow criminals call me the 'Mechanical Rouge'."

"Mechanical Rou- Wait... You're... You're actually speaking German!" Hans said, stunned.

The woman simply chuckled. "I get around, pick up a couple of languages here and there... You do that when you're in a business much like mine where you travel the world in search of riches and leave a little bit of chaos behind." Eyeing Uwe, she reached into one of her pockets, throwing something his way. When Uwe caught and inspected what the woman had thrown at him, he noticed that it appeared to be some sort of module chip. "It may not look like much, but knowing from appearance alone, you know what it means. Just insert this into your machine once you boys repair it to the point of being good as new, and your bio-machine friend over there will do the rest."

"What!? That thing is involved!?" Eberhard snorted. Wary about the woman's intentions under the belief that she could be on the silhouetted man's side in wanting to run him and his comrades further into the ground. "Can't you just give us the details on what that actually does!?"

"Tsk tsk, A lady never tells all her secrets. Just do as I instructed and you'll see what happens."

Eberhard gritted his teeth, he hated secrets but slowly calmed himself. He eyed Shapeshifter going over to investigate what was given to Uwe for a moment, then slinked away. 'If this turns out to be something that'll wreck our machine, I'll make her regret messing with us, personally...'

"That reminds me..." Hans turned his attention to silhouetted man realising he'd miss a crucial key during his little acting mid-explanation of data extracted from the two other Scotland Yard Braves. "Silhouette man, I forgot to mention that not only did those two Scotland Yard members chase us off, but Radiant Prism mid-fight had been brought out of shutdown and helped them defeat us, perhaps as a last resort done by those mechanics of the Brave Police to reactivate her to help them. Then from what Uwe detected on radar, he saw Radiant Prism's tracker head for Shapeshifter's location while he was putting up a fight with the Brave Police, possibly having used the Brave Police's precious little child friend he'd held hostage against him from what we last recalled."

"That won't be an issue now that Mechanical Rouge here has given you the firepower needed to make yourselves far more powerful than before." Replied the silhouetted man. Uwe frowned as he looked at the module given to him. "I don't see how installing something will benefit us."

"You're smart enough to figure that on your own, Uwe. Do not fail me again." Warned the silhouetted man. "Now, Mechanical Rouge, I believe we have a discussion to make in private. Contact me again the next time you're alone and I will ensure you'll see that you'll be rewarded for assisting us."

"Alright." When the communications disconnected, the woman could see that Eberhard was still giving her that same suspicious look. "I get it, I'll be taking my leave so you three can have fun fixing up your broken toy."

"Tch... Do as you will. But I will warn you that Radiant Prism is our target. Woman or not, I will not go easy on you for trying to kill what's ours to kill if the silhouetted man requested that you take her out." Eberhard glared. "You may have your own interests, but we won't tolerate another criminal taking away what's ours to kill."

"I assure you that what you and the others do isn't in my interest, but it's fun to mess with the Brave Police." Smirked the Mechanical Rouge. "Ciao, it's a pleasure doing business. I hope we won't cross paths again with another deal your boss asks of me." Once she was gone, Eberhard's attention shifted towards the module Uwe held up, trying to make sense of it before slotting it into the console to see the contents of it's secrets in detail. He then looked over at Shapeshifter. "As you heard the boss, you should be helping us fix up our machine so you can... Do whatever that module thing that woman gave us is supposed to do..." Turning on his heel, Eberhard moved to leave and the moment he'd almost reach the doorknob, he felt something slimy wrap around him.

"Where do you think you're going, Eberhard...?"

"Can't a man take a break to use the toilet!? Let go already!" It took a moment for Shapeshifter to think, but soon released his grip. "Hmph, very well... Whatever important needs you humans need to attend to, go."

...

In the repair bay, the Brave Police were stunned. They've given Radiant Prism days to adjust to the pre-fed information that the firewalls have previously blocked and they were sure that she'd fully adapted and adjusted to the information she should've been given. The only issue now was what Toudou had told them previously about linking themselves with Radiant Prism's Super A.I. but hesitance and concern lingered heavily in the atmosphere. There had been minutes of silence, until Shadowmaru took a step forward. "Chief, Regina, let me assist Radiant Prism in taking out that last firewall. Despite how dangerous that can be... I'm willing to take the risk."

"No, Shadowmaru." Kagerou turned to the purple Brave, placing a servo on his little Brother's shoulder. "I will not risk losing you if things go wrong-"

"And I can't risk losing you for a second time, Kagerou!" Shadowmaru turned to face his prototype. "Do you have any idea how devastated I was when Shinjo kidnapped and reformatted your Super A.I.!? I can't... I can't risk losing you for a second time... Not again...!" There was another long period of silence before Deckerd stood up after thinking things out. "Chief, I'll be the one to go in Radiant Prism's Super A.I. and help her."

"You can't!" Yuuta cried out, drawing all of the Brave Police members' attention. "You can't Deckerd..."

"Boss... I can't just leave a fellow Brave suffer." Deckerd frowned, kneeling to comfort his best friend. "The longer that troublesome firewall the Chief and Regina can't remove remains operative and plague Radiant Prism with pain unimaginable... No, I have to be the one to help her. Just as I've helped the Scotland Yard redeem themselves when they were in a difficult situation after the attack, I feel that it's a duty of mine to help any Brave in trouble... And that includes Radiant Prism." Yuuta felt powerless upon hearing Deckerd's reason and it was far too much for him. He couldn't risk losing any of his dear friends even though he knew very well that cops do face a risk everyday that they could run into that small chance of being killed on duty regardless if they're a human or a robot. It was far too dangerous for any of his friends to take the risk and failing... Deckerd, his best friend alongside Duke are one of the strongest and best around... Able to take out criminals either separately as J-Decker or Duke Fire respectively, but mostly Fire J-Decker would've been needed for the more bigger and tougher enemies. McCrane, Power Joe, Dumpson, and Drill Boy were too valuable not just because of their ability to become Build Tiger, Super Build Tiger, or even their specialization in constructing buildings as their team name stood, but they also the best in rescue operations when it's needed. He then thought about Gunmax being able to power himself up in Armour form and being able to turn into the Max Cannon for J-Decker, Duke Fire, or even Fire J-Decker whenever they'd need extra firepower to defeat a particular criminal would be too heavy a blow for the crew if he was gone... But to Yuuta, losing any member of the Brave Police is too great...

He'd consider the ninjas knowing how skilled they were... But it would shatter his heart into pieces if one or the other fails and are lost forever... He couldn't risk Shadowmaru wandering off without warning to find himself a place to be alone until he was ready to come back. He knew very well how much he clearly missed his older Brother since officially joining the Brave Police... Kagerou would most likely do the same if something happened to Shadowmaru as well from a wild guess even though he doesn't know him on the same level as he knows Shadowmaru. Yuuta then recalled something familiar, remembering when Deckerd told him those years ago to be Brave, Yuuta hesitated but built up the courage to step forward. "Mr. Toudou, I'll... I'll go instead."

"Boss!?" The entire Brave Police were stunned at this. "You can't go! We can't risk losing you, Yuuta!" Drill Boy whimpered. "What will we do if something happens to you!?"

"That's too great a risk to make, Boss..." McCrane chimed in. "At your age..."

Yuuta shifted uncomfortably. "I know... But, I thought about it while you guys were talking about who should go in and help..." Yuuta inhaled then exhaled as he began to explain himself. "It's a very delicate process... That much I know when I linked with Deckerd when we battled against the Fahrzeurgs." Everyone looked stunned when Yuuta revealed this piece of information. "I should have mentioned this years ago, but... I didn't want anyone to worry. The thing is, if any of you went in and tried to help her, Radiant Prism could consider you guys threats as if you guys were criminals trying to install viruses into her systems... She probably won't be able to tell from friend or foe in her current state. Wo-Worse, she could inadvertently try to terminate you guys since none of you guys have a strong connection with her... But even I have a high risk of that despite I don't have much of a connection with her, I think it's more better if I went in and try to help her... I can't just stand still and do nothing because I'll only regret it. As Boss of the Brave Police, I need to use my own strength, too! Deckerd has always told me to be brave no matter what throughout the years we've been together since the beginning when he was first deployed."

"That is true, but it's still very dangerous... If the worse scenario happened, how are we going to explain to your sisters or even your parents about what happened?" Duke told Yuuta. "They wouldn't take the news very well..."

"Workout sessions wouldn't exactly be the same without you." Dumpson frowned. "Especially at your age where you're more than ready to bulk up on lots of strength and stamina to prepare for when the time for you to become a part of the police force officially comes to a close in the future. Getting early training is more important than waiting years later."

"This... This feels like something out of my operas..." Power Joe muttered unhappily, struggling to keep his voice from cracking.

Yuuta felt deflated. "Even though I can't do things you guys can... I can still help in my own ways."

"...So then help her out." Everyone immediately turned to Gunmax in complete shock. Power Joe became angered by what Gunmax had just said and snapped at the green coloured Brave. "Gunmax! What the hell was that all about!? Are you telling Boss to just go and die!?"

"You're missing the point, shovel-brain." Gunmax replied with a snort, further angering Power Joe as his Brothers struggled to keep him from slipping away and giving him a piece of his mind.

Gunmax patiently waited waited until Power Joe calmed himself, but demanded to know what he meant by what he just said. "Tch, you really don't know do you? The kid can't stay a kid forever. He's gotta learn to do things like a real adult- Like a real police officer when that time comes. If we keep draping him with a safety net every single time we're dealing with criminals or... Difficult situations like this, will he even become fit to be a police officer in the future? He's doing his best to show us what it even means to be our boss yet we're still shielding him like crazy as if he's staying that way forever... No, kid's growing up, and we all need to acknowledge that he can't stay as a kid forever... We Braves may never age ourselves, but humans age and grow up..."

A long silence fell upon the entire Brave Police. What Gunmax said was right, in order for Yuuta to become a full fledged police officer in the future he'll need to learn things from improve his strength and stamina, and even to brace himself on the more distressing side of cases he'll have to face in life throughout the years he works alongside other fellow police officers aside from just them. A cop is a cop even if some of the more higher or veteran cops have more fancier names than a standard patrol officer. They would have to stop shielding Yuuta from the far more ideal scenes, too when he's older... For now, they still have to shield his eyes from anything far too distressing to look at since he was still too young for that.

Yuuta himself also remained quiet, but then spoke. "...Gunmax-"

"Hey old man, I think we've all decided that the kiddo's going to help Radiant Prism." Gunmax told Toudou, casually dodging the sappy moment. "He does have a point in that if any of us went, it could be the end of us you know."

"Gunmax..." Toudou shot an unimpressed glare at Gunmax, then turned to Yuuta still very clearly concerned for the boy's health and safety. Regina addresses Yuuta. "Yuuta, are you very sure that you want to proceed with this?"

"Y-Yes... I'm sure." Yuuta replied nervously, refusing to back out of his choice. "I don't know what I can do once I'm inside Radiant Prism's Super A.I. b-but I intend to see what I can do to help her." Regina studied Yuuta for a moment, as if she'd need to see if he was really serious about this, but soon turned away without a word.

Despite the risk draping over him, Yuuta stood firm refusing to let fear consume him as Toudou briefly left to speak with his fellow mechanics. After a small chat, he then saw the mechanics began getting to work after agreeing to what was told by Toudou. When he came back, the older man spoke. "I asked the mechanics to prepare something, for safety reasons before we begin. I can't confirm if Radiant Prism could lash out during this procedure but I'm having some arrangements made so nothing happens to you while you're helping her."

"G-Good idea..." Yuuta nodded.

Turning his attention to the Build Team, he addressed them. "Build Team, I'm going to need your help, too with this."

"Understood, we'll help with what we can." McCrane acknowledged as his Brothers nodded silently.

It didn't take long after a small discussion that the mechanics lowered the dock Radiant Prism was docked into a laying state, soon another one just after the one next to Radiant Prism was lowered; Intended for Yuuta. Toudou then requested the Build Team help build some quick sturdy barriers and they got to work right away. Yuuta was surprised, he'd never seen robot sized tools before when he saw the Build Team gathered a large, sturdy box full of useful things he'd see a construction worker use. 'Then again they did build this station, helped repair all sorts of buildings and skyscrapers after we've defeated and arrested the criminals, and even helped rebuild homes after they've been ravaged by natural disasters...' He thought as one of the mechanics handed him a pair of protective ear equipment.

The work on a barrier had been completed in a short time. It's appearance looked like that of those seen around construction sites, except it had a relatively large sturdy structure on top that made it look like it was a mix of a construction barrier with a police officer's riot shield. Mechanics were gathering extension cables, something they'd use in case one of the docks decided to malfunction or needed maintenance that they'd need to use another one nearby. Finally, Yuuta watched as the Build Team carefully moved the barrier near the dock he's to use just as the extensions were set in motion.

"Looks like everything is ready." Toudou announced as he inputted some commands onto the console that maintained the status and functionality of all of the docks. "Yuuta, go ahead and lay down on the empty one assigned to you over there."

"Yeah..." Yuuta inhaled and exhaled once more, then walked over to the assigned dock as Kagerou helped him climb up onto it as the boy sat down the very center- Or at least as centered as he could get himself to be. He saw Regina and one of Toudou's mechanics approach with a helmet that looked familiar to the one he wore when he and Deckerd were confronting the Fahrzeurgs together, except this one was different in colour. "Yuuta, put this on." Yuuta nodded as he got up to take the helmet before moving back to the center as he did as instructed, putting the helmet on and fastening it. "Yuuta, we can't guarantee we'll be able to see what's going on, but be careful alright?" Regina said once the mechanic had wandered off to assist his co-workers. "I-I'll be okay."

When Toudou's mechanic told him that he'd put the helmet on Yuuta, he nodded. "Alright, everything should be fully operational. All that's left is to activate..." Inputting a couple of commands, he instructed Yuuta to lay down, relax, and concentrate, to which the boy did as told, clearly he was nervous as it began but soon he fell limp as if he'd fallen asleep. Deckerd was alarmed at this, but everyone was quick to calm the Brave Detective. "Maybe this might be how Boss was when you and him fought against the Fahrzeurgs...?" Rook told him.

"Uh? When did you guys called Boss by 'Boss'?" Power Joe inquired bemusedly.

"I... Guess it's out of instinctive respect we have for him. It sort of became a thing especially when we properly met him for the first time during when all of us were undergoing repairs. You know when he first visited us in the United Kingdom for the first time even though I've run into just about all of you guys as a brief first introduction the first time when I briefly went to Japan with Regina..." Rook explained.

"Heh, says the one who had his arse smeared all over the ground and buildings by Ringo of all Braves." Jack smirked. "Unlike you and the others, Ten, Ace and I managed to flee into the Chunnel where those waves couldn't mess with our heads so we didn't need much repairs."

"...This isn't funny at all, Jack." Ten frowned. "The intense damage Paul and the others suffered thanks to the waves and those Black Chieftains was really bad... Sometimes even I wished that we could've helped-" The moment Jack turned to face him, he jolted slightly.

"And risk getting our arses caught in the waves where we'd beat each other for the Black Chieftain army's sick pleasure? Are you bloody heartless!?"

"There's nothing heartless about wanting to help Ringo and the others, even if those waves were dangerous to us!" Ten snapped, starting to lose his temper. "Why would you say that!?"

"...You're just about getting even more annoying than John of all Braves." Jack said as he stepped forward intimidatingly, but stopped when Duke placed a servo on his shoulder. "Butt out of this, Knight!" He snapped, ripping said servo off of his shoulder. "I don't need to hear any of your 'lady does not approve' crap."

"Enough." Deckerd ordered, sensing the tense atmosphere beginning to worsen. "For now, I'm assigning everyone their given patrol routes. Jack, you're going on patrol with Kagerou." At being assigned something, Jack replied with a scoff and simply drove off without any form of acknowledgement. Kagerou quietly spoke with Shadowmaru briefly, asking if he could keep an optic on Yuuta somehow, to which the purple Brave silently acknowledged, watching his Brother leave to catch up with Jack as Deckerd assigned the others their patrol routes.

...

Yuuta was nervous, what he was seeing wasn't like what he saw when he linked his mind with Deckerd's Super A.I. at all. Instead, what he was seeing was himself in an unfamiliar city- Nothing like what he'd normally see in Japan in his day-to-day life. Everything looked spacious, especially if he considered all of the space occupied by large buildings were to be taken away, it looked like almost about seven houses or apartments could fit in it's place... 'I don't see anything... Both people and cars can't see me either, and I just... Oh, I just go through them... But the buildings and ground feel solid enough.' He gave himself a moment to take in the sights, then started to walk. He could hear voices in a foreign language, immediately knowing that the language was German. This made him feel confirmed that perhaps everyone's Super A.I. is different than what he saw from when he was in Deckerd's Super A.I., which was nothing more than a black void of nothingness save for colourful circuitry strewn about spanning a great distance all around him...

Not too long afterwards, he caught an overhead glimpse of a familiar jet passing over him at slow speeds. "Ah, it's Radiant Prism! It looks like she's landing not too far from here... I just need to get over to that place she's landing..." He mumbled aloud, proceeding to run in the direction he saw Radiant Prism land.

Unknown to the boy, high above in the skies was a small device in the shape of a shuriken with an eye in the center as it silently followed Yuuta as the boy turned into another street, coming across a relatively large spacious area that was just enough for a Brave to walk around freely without the worry of being forced to shuffle their feet slightly so that they wouldn't accidentally scare people by feeling threatened they could be stepped on. "Eh? That's strange... I thought I saw Radiant Prism land somewhere around here. But, this area seems to be important... I think..."

Voices could be heard as the boy's attention turned to a pair of men chatting. 'That man over there... That's Dieter! But who's that next to him...?' On approach, Yuuta could see Dieter bring out what looked to be a Super A.I. chip.

"The mechanics tweaked a little bit of our future Brave member here. The Chief Engineer noticed that there wasn't too much in the way of pre-fed information when you asked for specific details to be removed- That's completely impossible because long story short, most of that is vital to every Brave Police as according to the manual published by Shunsuke Toudou who's the Chief Engineer of the Japanese Brave Police. Take a lot out, and you don't have a functional Brave Police unit..."

"Are you trying to play one of your tricks again, Dieter? There's always a way to keep unnecessary useless information out."

"No, but I'm informing you that we can't change things to the way you want it."

'I can't understand what they're saying... But it looks like Dieter's holding a Super A.I. he just gave to... Is that...? Maybe if I study the body language rather than focus on what they're saying... But are these memories of Radiant Prism or are they defence mechanisms trying to discourage me from looking deeper into finding Radiant Prism...?' Thought Yuuta.

As the men proceeded to walk into the center of the spacious area, Yuuta followed suit. As he got closer, he suddenly stopped when he heard a more metallic footstep, looking at the ground. "Huh? Why does part of the ground here sound like metal when it looks like concrete? Ah, it must be one of those things that the world is taking account into... Making certain things look like a particular thing rather than what it truly is... I think... Even though I can see an actual city around me, this is getting even more scary-" Yuuta suddenly yelped in surprise when he heard and felt the feeling of something moving nearby, seeing the ground split open in a spherical manner, rails retracted from the ground around the opening as it widened until a platform soon appeared. "What is this!?" He exclaimed, full of fear as he held onto the rails until the shaking stopped.

Calming himself, he followed both Dieter and the mysterious man onto the large platform when he saw them get on. It looked like something out of shows or movies he'd seen before with how underground bases or evil hideouts would have large wide platforms that could withstand the weight of multiple vehicles or even the large heavy cargo trailers as they're being transferred down below, or back up to the surface. Yuuta wondered if this was a bad idea or if he was going far from where Radiant Prism would be... But he couldn't think of anywhere else she would've gone other than this particular spot. He managed to convince himself that perhaps she's somewhere down below.

Once the platform stopped, the two men had disappeared and in place a voice speaking in German from all around him.

"How unusual... Not of machine yet you're a human here in a Super A.I. by means that I cannot seem to figure out... Interesting. Very interesting..."

"Wh-Who's there!?" Yuuta stammered uncomfortably, looking around for the source of the voice. A bright glow distracted him as it began from his feet towards the deeper part of the facility. He was confused at suddenly being shown such a thing, not noticing that Dieter and the mysterious man had disappeared, but then hears the voice again.

"Follow this path, human. You clearly don't belong here."

Studying the path for a little while longer, Yuuta slowly felt convinced that this would certainly take him to where Radiant Prism was- At least where he believed that she could be all this time. Braving himself for what he'll have to come across, distressing as it may be when he reaches the end as he proceeded to follow the path provided to him. He'd taken notice that he was starting to see the staff members less and less the deeper he went, and wondered if perhaps he might be shown the wrong way by some sort of anti-virus tricking him to whatever awaits him at the end. It was so strange that he was walking in a very spacious place, more than enough for what looks to be three Braves to pass one another whether they're coming in from patrol, or about to go out on patrol. As Yuuta continued to walk and follow the trail, he paused on hearing something nearby.

'Wait... What's that noise...? It sounds like...'

He'd manage to picked up on what seemed to be someone screaming in agony, albeit muffled. Yuuta paused as he tried to figure out where the sound was exactly coming from. Up ahead were two robot sized doors, one on the left and a little on the right just a little further ahead. Sprinting, he could hear the scream getting louder when he got close to the door on the left. Looking up, he saw a big sign in the center clearly warning anyone to stay out. The moment he heard the agonized scream once more, he immediately identified that it belonged to Radiant Prism as Yuuta began pounding on the door, calling out to open up the door but all he could heard were more screams of agony.

"Radiant Prism! Open the door, please! I know you're in there!" He called out, banging against the large door, fearing that he was becoming powerless and from how the screams grew silent, he slumped in despair as his desperation for the door to be opened slowly began to weaken. "Please..." He tried but failed to hold back tears, fearing that he might be too late... Though he didn't see anything fading, other than the voice speaking to him. Wiping his tears away, he noticed something he didn't notice right away at the part where both sides of the door meet and upon a more closer look, he could see that this looked to be caved in at such an odd angle that it looked wide enough for him to squeeze through with a flickering light coming out of it. The screams were much louder as he jolted with worry.

'Okay...' He inhaled and exhaled, then began crawling under, but soon found himself somewhat slightly stuck the moment he managed to squeeze a little more than half his body through. He took a moment to look at what he was seeing, and it looked dark with little to no lighting. 'What... Is this...?' He thought, squirming a bit more until he finally managed to clear the gap he'd crawl under. "Ow ow ow ow... That hole was smaller than what I thought... I probably could've squeezed through it better years ago..." Once he stood back up and patted himself, he then saw the most horrifying thing he'd never seen before.

Radiant Prism. Suspended by glowing cables draped around her, as if meant to restrain every part of her limbs to keep her from getting free.

"R-Radiant Prism!" Breaking into a sprint, Yuuta ran up to the unconscious German Brave but was suddenly hit by something that sent him backwards with a yelp. "Ow! What was... Was that a force field...?" Touching where he'd hit the force field, it violently made him swing his arm back causing the boy to nearly stumble. "Ow!"

"Foolish human, don't you dare mess with my handiwork!" Upon hearing that distorted robotic voice again, he then saw something nearby take shape, and upon closer inspection could he see that it looked just like the mysterious man from earlier with Dieter.

"What!? You're that one guy..."

"You were smart choosing to trail from the path I've provided and here you are, witnessing the suffering of this worthless being. You should leave Radiant Prism to suffer until she perishes. She's nothing more than an utter failure in comparison to the others and very disapproving of Gustav himself as she did not meet his expectations. Hm, but since you speak in another language, you force me to do this." The figure glowed brightly as strings of text and scripts appearing from every corner of what Yuuta was seeing, flowed into the figure until the glow faded away. "Perhaps now you can understand what I'm saying to you."

"You release Radiant Prism from this... This horrible nightmare!" Yuuta growled, hands balling into fists all while he's trying not to shake in fear. "Radiant Prism is my friend- No, she's mine and Deckerd's friend! I'll save her no matter what!"

"And what makes you think that you can save her from my iron grip? A child with nothing more than his own fists for a weapon. Hmph, don't think I haven't noticed your hidden ally!" In a swift movement, the figure struck at something just above him as it exploded, causing Yuuta to curl up to avoid any debris falling onto his face or any part of his head. When he noticed that there wasn't anything falling, he straightened himself. "I don't know what you mean by ally but I'm here, alone!"

"Lying are we...? Hmph, were you a mere machine I would've easily taken you under my control! Yet, being a human makes you immune to such a thing. However, your foolish friends have forgotten a fail safe system hidden away from their prying sensors, something that you'll only see moments before you're perished along with Radiant Prism."

"No! I'm not leaving here without Radiant Prism!" Yuuta snapped, turning his attention to Radiant Prism. "Radiant Prism, it's me Yuuta! Wake up! I know you can wake up from this and defeat the virus within you! Wake up!"

"Try as you will, she will never wake up as long as I have her in my control. I've been biding my time waiting patiently until some fool decided to pluck away at those firewalls, freeing me at the same time under the guise they've think they've won... I've been preventing every single attempt they've thrown to try and eliminate the heart of this very firewall and I will continue to do so because Radiant Prism must be eliminated even if it's at the cost of destroying myself. I think I'll have fun with something... Else. Something far more fun than hearing Radiant Prism's constant screams of agony."

With a 'snap' of it's fingers, Radiant Prism had been dissolved into pixels and soon reappeared right at his side in a human-sized body. "Wh-What are you doing!? Let Radiant Prism go!"

The figure then chuckled deviously as Radiant Prism began glaring momentarily at Yuuta, then attacked. "...Then take her, she's all yours!"

Alarmed, Yuuta began running with a yelp as he wasn't sure what to do at this point. He'd never thought that he'd have to go up against anything while searching for Radiant Prism, and the emotionless look he saw in her purple coloured optics before he was forced to flee told him that she was clearly under the virus' control, like a mere puppet. 'I-I hope the others are doing alright in the real world! I hope this isn't happening outside!' He thought as the virus continued to spit out what it's even seen throughout the time he'd remain dormant, and how hilarious it was that they were oblivious for the longest time until deciding to scan her systems. Yuuta dodged a couple of grabbing attempts but ended up tripping to the floor after building up a burst of speed to avoid being grabbed.

Turning around, Yuuta scooted away from Radiant Prism who slowed to a walk. "R-Radiant Prism... Please... It's me-!" He yelped upon being grabbed by the front of his clothes as he was suspended upwards. The boy was quivering in fear, but he continued to talk. "We're... Friends... Don't you remember? I don't know if you have a best friend on the same level as Deckerd and I... B-But if you do... He or she wouldn't want you to do this, not even by some virus because it will be so sad to hear that his or her best friend was doing something so cruel because a virus told their friend to do it... Just because you failed in taking out a criminal... You were never a failure because we do end up having to deal with the much more smarter and tougher ones that sometimes slip away. You were never a failure to begin with... Gu-Gustav is the failure for not treating you kindly and you were forced to flee from what he wanted to do to you. When you told us your story... It broke my heart and it also broke the others' hearts...! Nobody should be shutdown just because we have our own flaws!"

"Destroy this human infesting your Super A.I., Radiant Prism! Destroy him and be done with it!" Bellowed the virus.

With a snarl, Radiant Prism brought up her free servo, ready to do as told, but when Yuuta spoke again, she ceased. Yuuta took notice of this and he continued to talk, hoping that as she's listening, it could help her break free of the control that she's "Even if you can't exactly trust me or the others... We don't want to dispose of you, but we want to be your friend... I want to be your friend, if you'll let me..."

"...F-Friend?"

"Yeah... Friend..." Yuuta smiled sadly. "The others and I really want to be your friend, not take you apart. But, please... Don't do this... Don't make Deckerd and the others sad because we all want to help you no matter what. You just... Need to ask us, and we're always at your side helping you when you need it. I want to help you too, but I can't take on this virus b-by myself." As Yuuta continued to talk to Radiant Prism, she was slowly murmuring a couple of things, clearly she was listening to Yuuta, and soon spoke after a brief pause. "Friend... Yuuta... Friend to... Deckerd- Aaagh!" Radiant Prism grasped her helm, dropping Yuuta as the virus snarled, daring to go against his commands given to her and told her that she's nothing but a worthless coward who should've been long gone even before she'd reach Japan. Stumbling backwards, Radiant Prism screamed in agony as her optics shifted between those purple, controlled optics to her original normal green optics. "Fight it, Radiant Prism! You're stronger than you think, and I know you can beat that virus- Whoa!" Yuuta managed to quickly jump to the side in time when he saw the virus fire a pixelated attack in his direction.

"Annoying pest! I will not miss this time... My fun has long worn out and we'll both perish together!" With another attack, Yuuta shielded himself bracing for the worst, but when he heard another cry of agony, he saw that Radiant Prism had shielded him from the attack.

"WHAT!?"

"Radiant Prism!" Yuuta exclaimed happily.

"Apologies, sir... I... Didn't mean to- No, we'll speak about it later." Radiant Prism straightened herself, turning to face the virus who was trying to regain control of her, but she was clearly resisting. "Don't think that because I lack my police gear doesn't make me any less of a formidable foe to criminals such as yourself, foul virus! While I may not know who inserted your program into my head, I can easily eliminate you like any anti-virus thwarting any criminal's attempt to access my Super A.I. or even implement a virus!" Radiant Prism soon broke into a sprint as the virus tried to stop Radiant Prism, but whatever it threw at her seemed to bounce right off as if she had a barrier around herself. Gunning her thrusters once she'd pick up enough speed, she punched right through the virus' borrowed form, but didn't cease momentum as she headed right for the large firewall. The moment she collided into the firewall, Yuuta cheered her on to break it entirely and not give up. It took all of Radiant Prism's strength to eventually crack the firewall blocking one of the vital parts of her Super A.I. as it violently shattered into millions of glass shard-like pieces. The distorted voice of the virus screamed in agony as it soon faded away.

Yuuta cheered, glad that the virus had been defeated. His celebration for victory however ceased when he saw Radiant Prism suddenly plummet to the ground.

"Radiant Prism!" Just as Yuuta ran towards his friend, he stopped when he saw the entire area around him begin to distort and convert into a black void with colourful circuitry all around. 'Eh? It looks just like Deckerd's Super A.I. now...' Shortly afterwards, Radiant Prism reappeared before him with a salute, responding. "Sir." She saluted. "Let us speak in the real world. I'm sure your friends are worried for you..." Yuuta nodded and was just about to leave, but he paused as he felt the need to say something.

"But Radiant Prism, they're our friends." He told her with a smile. "Not just my friends." The boy then faded out of view.