Mediziner's Notes: Ah, August... I looked at my list, and since I intend to aim for around 48 chapters akin to 48 episodes (Not counting parts 1 and 2 of the prologue) it'll be until exactly next year that I'll get it done... Provided I don't get so lazy, or less than 1% chance make another chapter if I feel like it. Well, dunno... Maybe? Anyways, decided to start things off a little differently this time. I'm having a whole lot of a rougher time trying to end the chapters since things are a whole lot more trickier for me now... Think it's because I'm trying to still sort of figure out how I'm going to draw towards the finale I've written up for when I get just a bit closer.
A lot of dictionary moments were used... As well as google maps and other research to keep some locations and parts a little realistic since Sunrise Inc. did put a little bit of visual realism into the show for those that might have not known. Also yes, that is a little fun fact for those that don't know. I can point out a couple things in the next chapter but I won't linger too much on my notes here.
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!
...
'This is very concerning, no matter where I've gone- Even in nearby smaller towns I always seem to encounter more and more police officers and patrolling vehicles.' Thought Shadowmaru. The Ninja Detective had been wandering Germany for a couple of days in his car form, only retreating back to the airport to refuel at his personal assigned plane he arrived with. He'd just driven into a secluded parking lot with a sigh, slumping on his tyres. 'The faster I can locate one of the bases, the better I can communicate and ask the Commissioner about the choice of my appearance... I doubt many westerners go around like this.' The Brave had his iconic purple, red, and yellow colours swapped for with sleek black for his primary colour, with blue to purple gradient flame decals and some intertwined streaks of the same colour. Added, he'd ensured that he kept his siren located at the top of his roof concealed to further add to the disguise, even though the colour itself had been replaced with blue like that of Radiant Prism's own sirens, he still couldn't make the risk of exposing himself as another Brave.
'I have a feeling that I should start moving before I get-'
"Over there! That vehicle matches the reports we've been getting!" A man cried out, causing Shadowmaru to suddenly start driving, swerving a full 180 and out onto the roads despite scraping a few of the bushes in ensuring he'd avoided colliding into people. He suddenly swerved out of a car's way, forgetting for a moment that the driving direction was the other way around and quickly swerved onto the road he was supposed to be on, correcting himself. 'Damn it, I'm going to need to speak with the Commissioner about this later!' He made short work of tapping into the police's radio communications even though he had no idea what any of them were saying, knowing he'll have to be in for quite a struggle and a long drive to avoid the police until they would lose visual sight of him. He'd noted so far since his journey, he didn't pick up any nearby Brave signals. The assumption Shadowmaru made was that he either might possibly be too far away from detecting any of the country's Braves or he could be facing radar jamming systems emitting from the police force. 'What!?' Only spotting one way to go, Shadowmaru drifted into turning left trying to ensure he didn't slow down too much to give anyone a chance to catch him. Unfortunately, Shadowmaru immediately noticed just ahead that the police had lead him into a trap, with all three sides blocked off by barricades, police vehicles and helicopters. 'Tch, I don't see any way out of this situation...' He thought, noticing there was nothing for him to turn into, not even the slightest small shortcuts suitable for him to fit in. 'I'm left with no other choice but to fly out of this...'
"SHAPESHIFT!" Changing into his jet mode, Shadowmaru immediately took off, gunning his thrusters and carefully flying past surrounding helicopters. The Ninja Detective had hoped he'd keep things as they were but thanks to the Commissioner's poor choice in paint job appearances, he'd been forced to reveal himself as another Brave Police which was an incredibly dangerous move combined with the unusual amount of police officers. Worse, he knew he can't stay in the air too long, knowing it was dangerously risky even with his spy circuitry keeping him off the radars, he could still be seen visually as his only downside. Flying southeast, he'd been scanning for a secluded location to hide in and wait things out until he could safely come out again and resume his search. However, his search had been cut short as he spotted two lights in the distance, quickly identifying them as jets.
'This is insane... They found me already!' Thought Shadowmaru, quickly turning away at high speed as the jets gave chase, he'd attempt to lose them or get behind them but he wasn't able to shake them off as easily, discovering that even without needing to scan them, his guess had been accurate that what he's dealing with were unmanned jets, controlled by an A.I. which explained why it was much more difficult for him which in a sense had hurt his pride that there are well programmed basic A.I. that could keep up with a Brave to some degree. Shadowmaru continued to try and shake them off, yet they still had visuals on him. When he'd ascend, they began to fire at him, but when he was descending, they didn't fire. 'They must be programmed to avoid shooting down below so they can't injure people on the ground... Tch, I can't shake them off... I might have to-' He quickly noticed in front of him a large attack helicopter which only made him brace for the incoming damage, but he wasn't shot at... He did notice it bore the police markings of the country yet this one didn't bother attacking. Turning a sharp right, Shadowmaru knew he had to hide somewhere, and fast.
What he did see on his radar were the A.I. controlled jets turning away from the police helicopter, something disrupted them which gave him the chance to quickly find a place to hide and lay low, finding a forest nearby to take cover. "SHAPESHIFT!" Changing out of his jet mode, Shadowmaru kept his thruster use to a minimum, not wanting to risk attracting attention but made sure to lighten his landing carefully. Once he was back on the ground he laid low, quickly moving away from where he landed while activating his chameleon cloaking. 'The more I'm being met with hostility, the more I fear whatever is going on here is very wrong. I expected to be met with any of the Braves here, but I wasn't met with anyone save for the workers at the airport. I can't even pinpoint where any of the bases are.'
Right away, Shadowmaru could pick up some signals. He'd moved far enough away from his last location but it didn't seem to be enough, a small number of signals emitting from technology were moving near his location. He kept completely still, not wanting to give himself away. When the targets were nearby, he immediately spotted that they were Braves, seeing them walk around with flashlights. He wasn't sure if they were friendly, or were just as hostile as the treatment he'd seen from the police force, leaving him conflicted with what he should do.
He watched and observed for a moment, but knew it was best to keep his distance without being seen. Just as he thought about shuffling away slowly while no one was looking, he sensed someone seemed to have known where he was and in a swift motion, withdrew one of his swords out and twisted full 180, the tip of his sword meeting someone's throat.
A red and white coloured Brave froze on the spot, slowly putting his servos up in a yield. "W-Wait! I'm not your enemy!" The Brave said, speaking German. "My team and I are friends, please let me take you back to my station!" In the corner of his optics, the other Braves were alerted to Blazer's talking, but when they trained their handguns on him, he could hear the Brave he'd point the tip of his sword at make an order which caused them to lower their handguns. Shadowmaru wasn't sure what he was getting himself into but he didn't remove his sword right away but observed the others who also had their servos up in defeat. After a few more moments, he then moved his sword away, quickly sheathing it. "Blazer, we need to hurry before the police locate this Brave, with how the country is under lockdown after what happened... There's no way we can guarantee the safety of this foreign Brave out here!" One of the other Braves told him.
"Agreed. Hm, considering the crest on his helm, he's from the Japanese Team. I don't think Radiant Prism gave him a copy of her language file since he's not saying anything." Blazer thought for a moment, eyeing the fallen branches around them then gestured to Shadowmaru, picking up one of the branches and showing him. "Let's put some of these on you so you look like something out of the military, if you have such a form for the task?"
'He must be telling me that he and his team could disguise me with these... I can't use my car mode, it's not suited to look like something of the military... Looks like I'll have no choice... But it sounds like this must be Blazer, the leader of the Southern Division and the tell-tale of that crest similar to Deckerd's and King's...' Shadowmaru nodded as if he'd understood then shapeshifted into his tank form, keeping still as this appearance seemed to please Blazer, hearing him make another order which he assumed has to do with applying the branches on parts of his frame, but gestured Shadowmaru to change out of his form and follow. He quickly realised that they were nearing a road, but there wasn't much activity which made the Ninja Detective a little relieved but soon take notice of Blazer telling him to turn back into that previous form again and did. He watched as the others approached, applying the gathered branches and once their task is completed he was then gestured to follow.
The trip took three hours, and it was here that Shadowmaru immediately noticed that they were entering a large city. While it wasn't as grand and full of a large number of tall buildings and skyscrapers as when he landed in Cologne's airport, he could tell Munich was more of a city dedicated to buildings that appeared to be centuries old. He took notice that while there were some police officers, there weren't a large amount leaving him to believe that the Braves weren't into what the rest of the country was doing, but he wondered why. Fortunately, once he'd arrive at the station, he'd get the answers he had to multiple questions he needed to ask Blazer.
"Mechanics, I'd like for you to install a copy of our language files into our friend here." Blazer requested, he and his team removing the branches off of Shadowmaru to allow him to shapeshift out of his tank form. "You can see he's from Japan, unfortunately he does not speak our language which I speculate Radiant Prism whom is safely there for the time being hasn't given him her copy of the file. I'm sure he has many questions to ask us once he does."
"Alright, let's get him docked." One of the mechanics replied.
Blazer took the time to get Shadowmaru docked into one of the vacant docking stations while he instructed his teammates to resume their previous assignments and shortly afterwards left on his orders. Blazer then docked himself right next to the ninja as the mechanics proceeded to hook up both Braves, copying the German language file from Blazer and then transferring it to Shadowmaru. Once the process was done and the language files transferred successfully, both of them were unhooked and both could step out. "Now you should be able to understand us, friend." Blazer smiled.
"Yes, I'm also glad to have met you and the rest of your team. Before I could understand you and your team, I heard them call you by Blazer."
"That's me. I'm Blazer, leader of the Southern Division of Germany. You are...?"
"Shadowmaru, Ninja Detective. I'm known for performing independent work my other teammates can't exactly investigate and I work primarily for the Commissioner whenever needed. But, please accept my apologies for earlier, I wasn't sure if you were a friend or foe considering the treatment I received from the country's police officers..." Shadowmaru politely bowed, which Blazer found confusing why he needed to do that but didn't ask about it. "No, I understand fully and I'm very sorry about the treatment you received." Blazer sighed. "You see, for reasons unknown... Both the Western Division and the Eastern Division have gone into some sort of lockdown, which neither Surge or I are aware as to why nor did we see any point as this command was seemingly out of nowhere. We were given the order to go into lockdown but the problem was that it wasn't from Redlight himself nor did anyone explain the reason for all this..." Knowing it was better to discuss this elsewhere, he gestured Shadowmaru to follow.
"Come on, let's get to the office so we can give my mechanics their space to work, and it's getting pretty late so they'll be leaving soon. I'll also properly introduce you to some of my team members."
Once they relocated into the office, Blazer introduced his teammates to Shadowmaru while the foreign Brave introduced himself in return after the red coloured Brave introduced him to his teammates present in the office. "It's a pleasure to meet all of you." Shadowmaru gave a nod, then turned his attention towards Blazer, needing answers to what was going on in Germany. "I hope you don't mind me asking, Blazer, but since arriving here, I'm... Left with all sorts of questions."
"I understand, since you were attacked by our police without proper reason..." Blazer nodded. "Mane here sensed your energy presence and informed me while she then spotted you descending into the Black Forest. When we retrieved and escorted you back into the station, I was prepared for whatever questions you have for me, and I promise I'll answer as many the best I can."
"Alright, so when did this lockdown begin and why didn't you and the others up north go into lockdown?" Shadowmaru asked, which left Blazer thinking on how he could make his response, then sighed. "We're not sure, friend. This happened about three days ago. My team, along with Surge's team are left in the dark and when we tried to contact Redlight about this, but he never answered which was very unusual... Well, sometimes he'll miss messages but does come back to us about half an hour minimum, but when he never replied back or called even after a full twenty-four hours had passed, that's when I grew worried and told Surge what happened and even she could not get through to him. Shortly after, that's when the country went into lockdown." His response only made Shadowmaru narrow his optics in suspicion. If Redlight wasn't responding to them or even calling them from the station, then something must have happened at his place.
"I was sent here to Germany on request of my Commissioner. There were some suspicions we had about the people Radiant Prism previously worked with and I was to discreetly look into it without being seen, previously at least until I was caught..." Frowned Shadowmaru. "But, hearing what you explained I feel that I need to assist yours and Surge's team if possible even though... Well, let's just say despite-" His explanation had been cut short when Blazer's desk went off.
"Just a moment, Shadowmaru. Sorry about that." Blazer turned on his chair and answered the call, a part of the wall turning vertically until it revealed a screen, displaying a grey and yellow coloured Brave on the screen. "Surge, glad you called back."
"Blazer, was your investigation on finding that signal Mane detected successful?" Surge asked the red and white Brave who immediately responded. "Yes. That signal turned out to be Shadowmaru here, a member of the Japanese Team lead by Deckerd. The others found him flying away from a pair of A.I. manned jets, and as I suspected they also treat foreign Braves like enemies just as they treated us the same way before. I was just about to update Shadowmaru on what's going on, and in turn maybe he can contact his team so they know what's going on here." At his response, Surge narrowed her optics. "No, it's too risky. If the police attacked Shadowmaru, it would be bad optics if any of the Japanese Braves were sent here only to become damaged by our unusual lockdown and we can't risk something starting as a result. We need to keep this information a secret because the last thing his people need are seeing one of their own Braves damaged by foreigners like us."
"But-" Blazer tried to reason with Surge, but she'd cut him off. "Listen Blazer, I don't like this any more than you do but it's better we don't make this sort of risk like morons. This is a personal matter that we both need to solve together. We just need to trust in our strength... We can't always rely on Redlight every time there's difficult situations like this. There are times that we need to rely on our own wits to resolve things and I'm sure he's told you and your team this after your Team long after your division finally had those financial issues solved." Shadowmaru watched as both Surge and Blazer argued about what to do, but both of them seemed lost on what to do even when Surge made the right call that they can't always rely on Redlight for everything. When the conversation continued on, some pointers and arguments were thrown around until Shadowmaru stood. "Surge, Blazer." He addressed them both. "Why not contact Radiant Prism directly?"
"Is this some kind of joke to you!? Radiant Prism is practically useless!" Surge snapped as she leaned closer into the camera. "I don't care if you're one of the older models or have some big worldwide fame but Radiant Prism is nothing but a withdrawn, defective Brave clinging to Redlight like a worthless lost puppy! She lacks no single ability to make decisions for herself! We're not going to waste our breath over some idiot who has no place as a 'leader'!"
"Surge, that's a little too harsh..." Blazer frowned. "Don't you think that if we asked her to call Redlight she'd-"
"No."
"While I won't question your distrust, Surge, but at lease please allow me to inform you and Blazer updates about her." Shadowmaru replied with a smile. "I'm not sure if Redlight updated you two about her in the past, but she's become a lot more useful than when you last saw or heard of her."
...
"Yuuta, are you alright?" Azuki asked her Brother. Since the incident with Radiant Prism and their dealing with a criminal that was heard on the media, the young teenager seemed out of sorts, mostly quiet and spending most of his time either talking with some of his friends over the phone, or in Deckerd's interior talking with him or the others. Yuuta's attention snapped over to his eldest sister, but looked away with a frown, shaking his head. "It's nothing really, Azuki. Things just..." He paused with a sigh. "It's just not been that great."
"What are you talking about!? We saw on the media that you and the others stopped a criminal!" Kurumi exclaimed as Yuuta jumped. "Shouldn't you be happy that you kept everyone safe and stopped the criminal from whatever they were plotting!?"
"It's hard to explain! We did stopped the criminal but... But... Sorry, I need to head to school!" Yuuta turned away, grabbing his school bag and left just after he'd slip his shoes on. Deckerd, who was parked in the garage spotted Yuuta running out, calling for his friend but was met with no answer, hearing Yuuta's sisters call for him shortly afterwards. 'Since Radiant Prism has been unable to contact Redlight after that last call she made, Yuuta tried to cheer her up but she only just turned away which in turn made him sad, but I never thought that this is effecting him this much. Hm, if she doesn't improve before tomorrow, I'll have to speak with her myself.' He thought, slumping on his tyres. While he would need to speak to Radiant Prism about that she needs to move on and continue police work as normal despite what she's going through, he needed to think on what he could tell her. Not wanting to linger too long in the residence, he slowly rolled out of the parkway and towards where Yuuta is wanting to make sure he got to his school safely. 'I wonder if Shadowmaru managed to find what we need, I haven't heard from Kagerou that he made any attempt to contact since he's making sure to intercept any calls to avoid the rest of the team, or Radiant Prism in particular getting involved or finding out... But when I get the chance, I'll need to inform him if he can-'
Deckerd paused to let some people pass by, but at the same time spotted Radiant Prism flying from above as the sound of her jets could be faintly heard. Just before he could continue now that the road was clear for him to continue towards the main road, he received a call from McCrane who asked him to investigate an incident near his location. "What's going on, McCrane?"
-We received a call about some disturbance in the district you're in. They reported that they sighted an unusual creature unlike any they've seen.- Deckerd could hear a phone calling on McCrane's end along with a bit of muttering from both the Combat Detective and the Knight Detective. -Just now, Duke received a call about the same thing. Same district. The creature is... No, I'll send you information along with a rough sketch one of the callers sent us so you can get a look at it yourself.-
"Alright, I'll start investigating. I'll let you know what I find." Deckerd was about to inform Yuuta that there's a case he's got in their area but stopped himself, remembering his friend telling him last night that he couldn't miss too much school anymore and needed to be more responsible between both work and school life. With Yuuta getting older, the teenager was starting to see his education being far more important and that he needed to put that on top priority, something he couldn't fault him for and is actually rather proud of him. 'Fortunately he still keeps his job as a police officer top priority when needed, making sure that in case the danger happened to be nearby, he would take action and help get people to safety.' He thought, recalling something else Yuuta told him that the only primary exceptions he can make were during summer vacations, certain holidays, or primarily Sundays. With him being more busy due to the fact that it's his last year in junior high and that he needed to prepare for high school, Deckerd did not forget when Yuuta reminded about that he and the others can still combine without having to give them the command.
'He's trying his best to be the Boss of the Brave Police he's supposed to be...' He thought. 'The others and I are proud of him for starting on the basics of police training in his free time when he's able to make time for it so that he can prepare himself for when he can get into the real training himself.' Deckerd thought to himself, continuing onward towards his assigned investigation. He questioned multiple people within the area but none of them have seen anything matching what was shown on the rough sketch. After an unsuccessful lead, he was about to go try once more in a few previous spots he'd asked in hopes there might be sights while he was away, but soon enough he spotted Duke and Gunmax approaching. Both of them had offered their help in widening the search, which the Brave Detective immediately accepted. "You can't put the entire weight on your shoulders, Patrol Car." Gunmax pointed out. "I'll start searching in another spot around the most north west section, see ya!" Shortly after Gunmax drove off to do his part, Duke informs Deckerd that he'll search in a different spot as well, while he keeps at it around his current location.
The search continued, with the exception that it was progressively much faster in thanks to Duke and Gunmax. Unfortunately throughout each report back they made, none of the three had found a lead on anything that matched the creature from the rough sketch they received. It left them both wondering that perhaps it might be causing havoc in another district, making a decision rendezvous at a particular street address they agreed on.
Deckerd saw that Gunmax was the first to arrive. Once he was within conversation range, he spoke. "See anything unusual on your way here, Gunmax?" He asked the Motorcycle Detective.
"Nah, unless you want to count that I overheard-" Deckerd immediately interrupted him saying that he wasn't interested in what he 'discovered on the side' but quickly changed topic, noticing Duke wasn't here yet. "Have you run into Duke earlier?"
"Nope. He's probably making lots of detours, can never go wrong with that if you sometimes run into areas that are busy." Shrugged Gunmax with a smirk. "You know how stingy he can be around this area."
Deciding to ignore him, Deckerd chose to contact Duke through the comms, but received no response save for the noise of static. "Duke? Duke, are you there? Duke!" He tried once more, but got the same static response. "Nothing... I fear something's happened to Duke. Gunmax, let's go find him, we'll search the area he picked but we'll split up to cover more ground."
"Okay!"
The two traveled together until they eventually split off into different street addresses to widen their search. Gunmax in particular began to ponder if Duke had somehow decided to take a nap during an investigation which gave him all sorts of ideas to mess with the Knight Detective if that happened to be the case. He continued to cruise along the roads, turning after a bit. Just as he was about to pass another intersection, he caught a glimpse of red and white to the left corner of his visuals, where he stopped and slowly backed up. "Well, what do we have here?" Gunmax murmured to himself, parking his Gun Bike to the side as he climbed off. "Oi Knight, it's not like you to just sleep on the job like that in the middle of an investigation." He said, tapping the side of Duke's bumper with the tip of his foot. "Oi, wake up!" On receiving no response let alone a reaction, Gunmax was puzzled. Normally a slight kick into the side of one's vehicle mode was enough to wake someone, but for Duke to do this...
He continued to mess with Duke in order to wake him. While he was distracted in doing so, Gunmax wasn't aware that something was silently creeping up behind him. "Oh well, maybe Patrol Car might be able to wake- Agghk!" He was interrupted by a loud distorting shriek when he felt something clamp down on his shoulder before he could identify the cause of the sound, the creature had just narrowly missed his neck as he frantically threw the thing off of him, only for it to attempt to bite at him again but somehow managed to avoid getting bitten again. 'Damn, the thing's speed means it's a bio-machine... I can't even use my gun here either...!' As Gunmax focused, waiting to see where the creature would come from, he decided it was better to call for backup but the moment that he brought his badge out, he was suddenly grabbed in the arm by the strange being, it's bite strong enough to penetrate into his armour, damaging his forearm as he lost motor control as the badge slipped from his now lifeless servo. "C-Crap! Need to...- Aghk!" Just before he could contact Deckerd, he was suddenly bitten into his shoulder again, causing him to scream in agony. "N-No... Power... Dr-Draining...!" He struggled and struggled to get it off but to no avail as he was gradually weakening the more his power was drained away, eventually collapsing on top of Duke. Once the deed was done, the creature was just about to leave and start preying on it's next target, but noticed the badge was sounding off, picking up someone's voice as it screeched, smashing the device with it's paws then fled.
On the other end, Deckerd flinched when he heard a loud crackle on attempting to contact Gunmax. He took note of where Gunmax's signal was last located and made his way to his destination, it wasn't like him to destroy his comms badge on a whim, something must have happened. Worried for his friend, Deckerd turned a few streets as needed to get closer to the location until he arrived to the sight that he saw. There was Duke, completely unresponsive in his vehicle mode with Gunmax slumped over him. Not only that, but noticed Gunmax's injuries as fuel leaked from his arm and shoulder. 'This is bad... The creature still hasn't been located and these two were attacked... Who could have done this...?'
Deckerd immediately took out his badge, calling the rest of his teammates."Everyone, this is Deckerd. Something's happened to both Duke and Gunmax during investigation."
-What's wrong, Deckerd? Did something happen?- Came Dumpson's voice.
"I'm not quite sure, Gunmax received damage done to both of his arms and isn't responsive. He's found Duke but I wasn't informed which I assume he might have been attacked by something before he could report back to me. At least, I think this is the case..." He paused for a moment to use his basic scans, noticing something else. "Hm, I don't possess the same technology Shadowmaru and Kagerou do but I can detect that whatever happened to these two, they barely have any trace of energy but I have no doubt that there's more than this. Duke in particular, I'm not sure if he has any internal damage but he's the same as Gunmax where I can't sense any power energy from him."
-Understood, Dumpson and I will be on our way shortly to remove them from the area.- Came McCrane's response this time, and the communications were cut.
While Deckerd waited, all he could do was investigate the surrounding area. Other than Gunmax's crushed comms badge, there didn't seem to be anything else in terms of clues nor anything that caused this scene. He paused his search on hearing Kagerou was nearby, coming down to a land when he shapeshifted out of his avian bird form. "Kagerou, you've come just in time. I'd like for you to see if you can find anything else to what happed to Duke and Gunmax aside from that they're seemingly out of energy?"
"I think it might be better until we relocate them back to the station." Said Kagerou, uneasily. "I'm not comfortable conducting scans out in the open like this, not when we might be watched by a couple of criminals hidden nearby. You're sure there's nothing you can find aside from what your basic scans provided?"
"No." Deckerd paused on seeing something he missed, crouching to inspect the ground. "Other than scratches on the ground indicating a struggle, there's something here... Some of the scratches here are Gunmax's while there are much more thinner scratches... Indicating our possible target." The two of them discussed a few other possible things until the soft sound of sirens in the distance were quickly picked up by Kagerou. "The others are here." He told Deckerd as the sirens grew louder until the Build Team finally arrived at their location. Immediately, they assisted Deckerd and Kagerou in in moving Duke and Gunmax back to the station after carefully loading Gunmax into Dumpson's box and covered him with tarp. While Deckerd found the concept of controlling Gun Bike unusual, he'd know that he'd have to drive the vehicle back to the station since none of the others wanted to interact with it.
...
Back at the station, the mechanics were hard at work finding out what caused Gunmax and Duke's damage with Kagerou taking note once they brought Duke out of his vehicle mode had severe damage done to most of his stomach and upper legs. 'He must have changed form to avoid his exposed parts getting torn out of him. But this is impossible, how could something tear out our armour so easily...? This sort of damage isn't done by explosives or bullets, but... These look like bite marks.' He knew the answer to all this lie in his recording before he had shut down to avoid losing all energy to his Super A.I. and while Deckerd wanted to know, he tasked the Build Team in assisting with patrol but to search the area in pairs rather than covering ground alone not wanting to risk what happened to Gunmax and Duke. He soon turned his attention to Kagerou if he could try and persuade Radiant Prism into returning back to the team, since what they were dealing with is quite serious and he needs her assistance in the matter after their mysterious attacker got two of their team members out of action.
"Alright, I'll go speak with her." Kagerou blurred in the blink of an eye, disappearing from his current location while McCrane and the rest of the Build Team had gone out to do as asked.
It didn't take long for Kagerou to quickly locate Radiant Prism, finding her in an open meadow laying on the ground. She did nothing but stare at the blue skies, watching as time passed. When he blurred into her view at her side, he was surprised that she didn't flinch when he'd suddenly appear right next to her like she'd often do when either he or Shadowmaru wished to speak with her. 'She's really shut down...' He thought, but knew he'd need to get Radiant Prism back up on her feet. "Radiant Prism, Deckerd and the rest of the team need your help."
"I'm really not in the mood right now, Kagerou... Whatever it is, I'm sure the others can handle it without me." Radiant Prism replied, turning away from the Shadow Detective. "Nobody understands the pain that I'm going through, even if I haven't bothered to say anything about it, I just don't want to talk about it. You have no idea what it means to feel betrayed and lied to, I just... Tch, forget it."
Kagerou remained in place, taking a moment to think, then spoke. "Radiant Prism." He addressed the German Brave, giving himself a moment then moved back just slightly to lower himself to a kneel. "Duke and Gunmax are currently out of action because an unknown criminal had taken nearly all of their energy, leaving them shut down to conserve what little energy they had remaining. With Duke unable to perform as second-in-command until he makes a full recovery, Deckerd will need your assistance in place of Duke as a temporary second-in-command. I know you're still upset about that Redlight supposedly lied to you, but if you've known Redlight for so long, he wouldn't have wanted you to be upset over something as little as a lie. Yes, they can hurt but for someone of your status equal to Deckerd's and Duke's... You need to steel yourself and keep going even if it hurts."
After sensing her current feelings, the Shadow Detective knew she's silently listening as he continued.
"But something else you should know, I doubt that this could be a lie that he told you because I think instead is that it's highly possible that he may have not known that this criminal we captured had broken out of jail right from under his nose back in Germany. If anything, it could be-" Kagerou paused for a moment, detecting a particular type of signal. He then recalled that the Build Team were currently out on patrol searching for the bio-machine and that only left Deckerd in the office but could tell he was heading out. Radiant Prism slowly sat back up with a sad sigh, still somewhat shut down.
"Even when you told me all that, Kagerou... Deckerd has McCrane to assist him. It's not that hard to see that he's better suited to being the temporary second-in-command than I, who has never lead before in their entire life since first activated. Whether it's true or not, it still feels to me that Redlight told me a lie..." Radiant Prism sighed, sitting up. "That criminal we fought? That was one of the criminals I dealt with long ago, back when he caused a ruckus within my area I was assigned to protect when I was still watching over my part of the country. I called Redlight one night, asking him during my call if there had been any jail breakouts in my absence, and if any of the criminals I arrested had escaped, but he told me that no one had tried to beak out because he said the jail had been long reinforced since the trio were broken out of it but how that criminal escaped... I don't know, and it hurt that I was lied to."
"In that case... Radiant Prism, can you at least come with me back to the station? This is important. Before you say anything, whatever is important includes you."
"Me? But... I don't..." When Kagerou gave her a stern look, Radiant Prism sighed in defeat. "Alright... But I warn you, I'm not really in the mood for anything."
"Just trust me, alright?"
Once the both of them returned to the station by landing on the rooftop of the building, Kagerou gestured Radiant Prism to follow him into the lift and down into the office. Radiant Prism was the last to enter, and the moment she stepped inside, she spotted two familiar Braves she hadn't seen in a very long time. "Surge...? Blazer...?"
"Just the defective Brave I needed to see..." Surge grumbled, rolling her optics. "Blazer, I can't believe you talked me into agreeing to this, she's just about the same as before!"
"No Surge... I'm not the same as you last saw me. Not anymore. I have Deckerd and the rest of the Japanese division to thank for repairing me. Long story short, I had a virus in me that limited my freedom to a degree, something that I can explain to both of you in detail another time." Replied Radiant Prism, instinctively switching to her native language. She approached the screen with a straightened posture so that she wasn't too far in the background. "If I were the same, I would have been a hesitating mess as you last saw me when Redlight first introduced me, and later included me in private talks we would have. Even if I'm a leader with no team, I'm still committed to protecting the people of Germany, despite right now I'm protecting the people of Japan..." Surge was enraged the more Radiant Prism spoke, but forced herself to push aside her anger to mere grumbles. Radiant Prism then spotted Shadowmaru in the background on Blazer's end and she wasn't happy that he chose to fly all the way to her home country without her knowledge but pushed her feelings about it aside. "Shadowmaru, come closer to the screen." She ordered as Blazer stepped to the side to let Shadowmaru approach. "While I'm not happy that you chose to discreetly fly all the way to my home country without my knowledge, but I assume you have a good reason for this? Additionally... I also... Thank you for giving me this opportunity to speak with Blazer and Surge... And yes, I'm speaking in my native language because I have no doubt that Blazer gave you a copy so you could understand him and his team."
"Not a problem, Miss Prism." Shadowmaru gave a small bow. "Unfortunately the Commissioners gave the order to inspect what's going on here in Germany, they were made aware of something that the Scotland Yard forwarded to them. I'll allow Surge and Blazer to explain what's going on."
"Hmph, if you truly have changed and aren't clinging to Redlight like some helpless frightened individual that fails to realise they have their own helm up their arse, then listen up." Surge spoke, taking the lead as she explained everything she and Blazer told Shadowmaru to Radiant Prism and Kagerou. As she listened, Radiant Prism was taken aback that not only have the western and eastern divisions have undergone lockdown up to a total of three almost four days except for Blazer and Surge's divisions because they couldn't see the logic in doing so, but that her division has a proper team. Right away, she thought back if it had to be the ones Gustav revealed to her or if they happened to be scrapped in favour of a 'better superior model' she'd heard plenty of times from his mouth. But, the fact that remained was something she needed to ask.
"What about Redlight? Have you tried asking him what's with the sudden lockdown for?" Radiant Prism asked, a part of her hoping one or the other might still have some contact with Redlight.
"I'm afraid not, I tried contacting him a few times but got nothing, then I asked Surge if she could get to him but not even she could get in touch with him." Blazer replied with a shake of his helm. "The problem is, like with Shadowmaru here if we enter your division or Redlight's division radius, we're automatically attacked on sight without explanation or reason as to why! I tried sending Mane to look into it discreetly but she was quickly sniffed out and was forced to flee back to the station, while Surge did the same thing and sent out Spiral who also had the same results as Mane did."
"It's infuriating to say the least." Surge huffed. "I want to know exactly what's going on even if I have to cause a bit of damage myself in order to get to Redlight myself!"
Radiant Prism had to take a moment to think, she concluded that maybe there might be something they're missing but they just haven't noticed yet, but how could she put it into words? She then sighed and turned her attention to the screen. "Surge, Blazer, I think what we should do for now is try to come up with better improvements to stealth. Try figuring out what exactly is happening. If you can combine Spiral and Mane's abilities with Shadowmaru as a three-tech team to figure out what the hell is going on, I believe with their combined efforts, they can look into the situation better than just a single Brave with the tech to do this. Have you two tried combining your team's strengths?"
Neither of them answered, it was clear to Radiant Prism that they haven't. "Alright, so then try-"
-Drill Boy here, it's an emergency!- Shouted the Soccer Detective. -I found the strange thing Deckerd gave us information about but- Aaagghhhkk!-
"Damn it, I'm sorry but I need to help the others." Radiant Prism said, alarmed at what she heard as Deckerd's voice could be heard from the badge asking Drill Boy to respond, but soon addressed the Build Team, Radiant Prism, and Kagerou to back him up. "We'll speak another time, be careful alright?"
"Go get 'em, Radiant Prism! We'll see you later!" Blazer grinned. Radiant Prism saluted for a moment then relaxed once the screen turned off. She then turned to Kagerou when he asked for what her orders were.
"Let's go back up the others and help in any way we can!"
...
In the midst of engaging with the strange creature, Deckerd shouted for the build team to hold their fire, realising their shots weren't working as the creature's hide was stopping the bullets in place. "What is that thing made of!?" Power Joe exclaimed. "If bullets doesn't work on that thing, then what?"
"We're wrong before, but what I'm looking at is actually a bio-monster like that of Gawan." McCrane pointed out. "I don't detect any sign of metal so it cannot be classified as a bio-machine like with previous encounters. We need to make sure that we don't touch it as we attack. It's toungue and teeth alone could sap us of our energy to the point of putting us into emergency shut down." This only caused Dumpson and Power Joe to look at their elder Brother. "If we can't risk touching it, then how can we attack it!?"
"A bio-monster... It's been a while since we've fought one. Alright, let's take it out!" Yuuta reached for his badge and gave out the command.
"BRAVE UP! J-DECKER, BUILD-" Without warning, the bio-monster suddenly flashed momentarily out of view then reappeared behind Yuuta. Like the speed of a chameleon's toungue, the bio-monster shot it's slimy toungue at the teenager, easily reeling him into it's mouth, swallowing him whole.
"No! Yuuta!" Deckerd exclaimed. Enraged by this, Deckerd followed suit with his combine sequence, as did the Build Team. Once combined, they were just about to attack but a deep, sinister voice suddenly spoke to them just as it dodged their attack, flashing out of view momentarily before reappearing behind J-Decker. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Brave Police." It chuckled. "Slay me where I stand, and you can all say goodbye to the little kid." This immediately made the two combiners cease any plan of attack leaving them both unsure how they could approach. "Your power has been limited for the time being, and you Brave Police were rather dare I say, very predictable."
'It talks like us...!' Build Tiger thought nervously, yet they've come across another rare case of a sentient foe. "What's that supposed to mean!?" He responded.
"Like an apex predator contemplating on how best to approach it's prey as close as possible, I took the time to observe how all of you work. Yes, you may tell me that the two of you can still hold your own, but this is exactly why I've chosen to cripple the both of you." The bio-monster slowly approached boldly, circling around the two combiners. "I require... An exchange..."
"You mean a ransom!?" Dumpson shouted. "We don't make deals with criminals, especially bio-monsters created by criminals!"
"Ransom?" Snorted the being. "What a vile way to put it. But if you don't agree to my exchange, I can't ensure the boy's safety." It grinned with a lick of it's lips, further thrilled on seeing the anger and desperation build up in the two combiners before him. "Present me Radiant Prism's Super A.I. and then we can discuss about the boy's safety. I don't think you'll have much of a choice here regardless of what any of you do." This only served to anger the others, J-Decker in particular as a part of him wanted to tear open the bio-monster and retrieve his friend, but the fact that if what the bio-monster said was true in that they'd risk making it explode by going on the attack... 'Y-Yuuta...!' Needing to know the reason behind this, J-Decker stepped forth slightly. "Why are you interested in Radiant Prism's Super A.I.!?"
There was a long silence from the bio-monster. To J-Decker, he assumed that it had no interest of answering or it probably didn't seem to have much of a goal. Whatever the case, he was about to ask again when Radiant Prism swooped down and attempted to strike the bio-monster with a flight propelled kick but missed by just a few centimeters when it blurred out of sight. Just after avoiding Radiant Prism's attack, the bio-monster quickly picked up the sounds of something coming towards it. J-Decker immediately picked up the incoming set of shuriken heading towards the bio-monster and quickly threw himself in front to shield it with his own body, not wanting them to hit the bio-monster itself.
"Wh-What!? J-Decker why..." Radiant Prism exclaimed, completely bemused at this sudden action. "Why did you-" Without warning, Radiant Prism felt something sticky and gooey wrap around one of her forearms, noticing it was the toungue of that bio-monster she tried to attack, but shortly after being grabbed, she suddenly felt energy being drained from her. "Aagghhk! En-Energy... M-My-"
"I couldn't risk them hitting Yuuta who's inside it!"
This greatly alarmed Radiant Prism on what she just heard J-Decker said. "Ack...! What!? H-He's-"
-Grab hold of it as best as you can, Radiant Prism! Hurry!- Kagerou instructed her through the comms and Radiant Prism weakly did as told, using her free servo to grab hold of the bio-monster's toungue which caused it to chuckle. "Don't struggle now, lest you want the boy to die. You possess parts that carry great worth a high price in the black market that we want and if you attempt to struggle, your little human friend will perish." Radiant Prism continued to struggle despite her energy was being sapped away as it's words didn't register to Radiant Prism due to losing her energy, feeling close to slipping in and out of consciousness as she could see it slightly growing in size. But soon she felt that toungue uncoil from her forearm just as the bio-machine had been kicked in a blinding flash by Kagerou.
"Kagerou!" Build Tiger exclaimed, concerned at seeing the bio-monster tumble a few meters away until it stopped. "Be careful, Boss is inside!"
"What!?" Right away, the blue and black ninja scanned the target, finding that there was life inside it's stomach albeit faint, but still there regardless. "Build Tiger, J-Decker, how did this happen?" He asked them, quickly retreating with a few back flips and timed leaps when he saw the incoming toungue, not wanting to risk getting caught as he brought out his kusarigama, ready to attack. The two combiners updated him on how Yuuta was captured which made the situation much more trickier than he'd like.
"Well, looks like the human will be mine for now as my time is up. I look forward to our next encounter." Inhaling, the bio-monster suddenly sprayed a strange mist in their direction. As they tried to go after the bio-monster, something seemed to have slowed down Kagerou, J-Decker, and Build Tiger. When they saw the bio-monster target Radiant Prism, J-Decker weakly grabbed his J-Buster and fired a few shots before it could run off with Radiant Prism while she was too weak to fight back. Build Tiger managed to do the same thing, using his riot gun to assist fending it off until it eventually was forced to retreat. "Y-Yuuta...!" J-Decker weakly called out, before he and the rest of the team had completely blacked out.
Sometime later, voices could be heard as Deckerd slowly woke up, hearing that they sounded a little excited but he couldn't quite make out if this was the case, but when he had fully booted back up, he could hear and see everything more clearly, off to his left was a couple of mechanics on a platform lift having just applied another cable to his frame. "Where... Where's Yuuta...?" He asked weakly, to which both of them looked at one another, then shook their heads. "The others tried looking for him, but found no trace... From what we could find from your memories was that we saw him swallowed whole by that bio-monster.
"I need... T-To go and... Find- Aghhk...!" Deckerd tried to step out of the dock and remove the cables applied to him but the moment he did, he suddenly fell to his knees.
"Deckerd, you need to rest." One of the mechanics said. "You don't even know where Yuuta has gone. The police force and the special land forces are doing all they can to search for him."
The Brave Detective gritted his teeth, feeling like he'd failed the one thing he swore to do. Radiant Prism whom had just awakened just only a moment ago witnessed most of the scene unfold, frowning that the teenager had been taken away just like that. 'If only Kagerou and I were faster, this wouldn't have happened...' She thought to herself. 'And whatever that thing did really messed up my systems... Everything feels scrambled and disgusting... All I can really do for the time being is just rest and wait for the mechanics to clean my systems up of whatever it did to all of us... Well, those that were hit with the spray at least.' Radiant Prism wasn't sure how much time had passed once she relaxed into a slight doze, and had only reawakened again when the mechanics hours later gave her the all clear for her to undock and continue about her business. The moment she stepped out of the dock she'd been occupying, McCrane addressed her and asked to come upstairs. '...How long has he been there for?' She thought, following him into the lift.
Once they reached their floor, Radiant Prism asked McCrane what did he want to talk about, but he corrected by telling her that it's not just him that wants to speak with her, but so did the others. When they entered the office, Duke addressed her.
"Radiant Prism, come over here, please." The Knight Detective addressed.
When Radiant Prism did as told, she tried to locate Deckerd but he wasn't within the room. She knew Shadowmaru is still in Germany but for Deckerd to not show up... 'Now that I think about it, I haven't seen him since I woke up from the mechanics telling me I was clear to undock...' She thought, but focused when Duke spoke to her once she'd approached his and Deckerd's desk. "What is it, Duke? Where's... Where's Deckerd?" She asked uncomfortably, but her response was met with the Second-in-Command looking away with a frown. "I'm afraid... He's currently not fit for leading right now." He told her slowly, McCrane following up with his response. "Not long after you woke up, Deckerd stormed out of the station even though we tried to tell him the others are doing everything they can to search for Yuuta. Normally Deckerd has a cool helm in many situations, however..."
"When it comes to the kid, it's enough to rattle him." Gunmax pointed out. "Those two have a special friendship unlike any other."
"I've seen... And I understand that it's distressing when a friend dear to you has been kidnapped, but... What does this all have to do with me being present? That's what I don't understand. I mean... Well..."
"I... No, we need you to take command, temporarily of course." Duke announced to Radiant Prism, the latter staring in surprise. "Me!? ...You want me to lead!? But, Duke I... I-I have no skill in leadership! It's not the remnants or whatever of a virus talking but it's genuinely me telling you that I don't have what it takes to lead a team." Radiant Prism hesitated. "I'd feel honoured if I had the knowledge, but I don't... And it just doesn't feel right, because don't you have McCrane to assist you as you're taking over until Deckerd gets his helm cleared?"
"I discussed this with Duke earlier, while I was Deckerd's Second-In-Command in the past, that title wasn't official." McCrane pointed out. "Before Duke came along, we never really saw anyone take over in case Deckerd was unfit for leading. I've given some advice in the past but this is where I explained to Duke that it might be better that you take the lead until we see Boss safe and sound." This left Radiant Prism thinking and hesitating at the same time, she hoped to never find herself in a situation like this, especially under very grim circumstances. "If you're worried about making mistakes, it's all part of the experience. Like humans, we can make mistakes too. Even Deckerd has made a few mistakes of his own over the years. No one is perfect." Duke further pointed out as Radiant Prism nodded. The foreign Brave could see all optics were on her, waiting for her to accept or decline which only made her feel immense pressure, but since a leader is what she's expected of...
She had no choice and only sighed in defeat.
"My biggest mistake is screwing up and worsening the situation as it already is since this is one I cannot risk a mistake. But... Alright... But please don't expect me to be on the same level as Deckerd or Duke. I'm making it very clear that I've never lead a team of my own before." Radiant Prism sighed. "Duke, I hope you can give me advice along the way, because I don't want the Japanese Division's downfall to be pinned on me if things go horribly wrong."
"You will do just fine, Don't hesitate to ask for advice if you need it and I do trust that we will get Boss back with your assistance." Nodded Duke.
"The only major problem I have is that I still remember that thing wants my Super A.I. and that..." Radiant Prism looked away. "I can't say for certain but I think this is where I'll need to make my departure soon for Germany, and confront the one who forced me to flee for my life since I can't remain-"
Just then, Kagerou blurred into view which caused some of the others to jolt in startle at his sudden appearance. "Kagerou! Will you cut that out!? You're just as worse as Shadowmaru!" Power Joe exclaimed, but became even more angry when he was promptly ignored in favour of addressing Radiant Prism.
"Radiant Prism, while we were fighting the bio-monster hours ago, I recently discovered it's location." Kagerou began inputting commands into the desk keyboard until it revealed a screen focused on what he just displayed. "Not long before we blacked out, I managed to carefully plant a tracker on the bio-monster without it noticing it had something tangled in it's fur... They spent quite a bit of time wandering just about all over Japan until it finally stopped somewhere between Yokote and Daisen." Radiant Prism gave herself a moment to read out the information, taking note of it's odd path most likely to try and find a place to hide and lay low. To her, it didn't make sense, unless it had a lair of it's own either close to the two cities or somewhere inside of them. "I... don't think it would have stopped in the middle of the city, but just to be sure... Kagerou, Drill Boy, can the two of you investigate both cities? After what that thing is capable of doing, I don't trust searching independently to cover more ground. I can't... Risk anyone becoming an open target to something so fast and unpredictable... That thing didn't have wings, so it shouldn't reach either of you as long as you don't fly too low."
"Okay!" Drill Boy saluted in a goofy manner. "We can go investigate. But... Aren't the others coming?"
"I doubt it would be wise to send everyone right away in case the tracker Kagerou planted has been removed or fallen off. For us, we don't need to worry about the limitations of the road-" Radiant Prism paused and looked towards everyone. "Err, no offence..." She quickly said, putting her servos up mildly in defeat. "But anyways, if there is something worth looking into, then I'll send others to help speed up the investigation, but until now it's better to rely on you and Kagerou to investigate carefully."
"Understood, Radiant Prism." Kagerou acknowledged. "We'll leave at once. Drill Boy, let's go."
"Okaaaaaay!" Both Braves left the station. So far the others seemed to have been somewhat impressed but just as quickly, Radiant Prism ignored Gunmax when he points out about her talent being not that bad but still needs a lot of work. For now, while they're investigating, this left Radiant Prism the opportunity to start strategising with the other Braves on the next step on what they needed to do. Deep down, she was stressing herself out worrying that something could happen to the two Braves she'd sent out but a grip on the shoulder from Dumpson brought her attention to him, telling to relax and that they've been doing all sorts of police work for years. "Sorry, Dumpson... This is just nothing I'm used to fully..."
"That's fine, let's start working out plans for both results of Drill Boy and Kagerou's search." He told her. "One for if the search yields a location to where the bio-monster is hiding, and another if it turns out that if it was made aware and took off the tracker Kagerou planted."