Medabots: Open Ring
Chapter XII : Cursed Nirvana
=====
"Knowledge and enlightenment
are curious assets. They often are as malevolent as they are benevolent."
- Understatements
=====
Siden did a double take. "Wait a minute... Did you say, 'SISTER'?"
"That's what I'm telling you," Mizore answered. "The NAVI s-"
Siden abruptly interrupted Mizore's
sentence as he finished pondering the information. "That's enough,
Mizore. Tell everyone over the IMD that we've found MACHINA's base...
And another NAVI."
=====
The sewer main stretched down underneath the length of the city for what seemed like an eternity. Everyone, including Ikki, Erika, the Screws, Koji, Karin, Rintaro, and all of their medabots had all convened at Siden's house soon after Mizore had sent out the message that he'd received from Kaito.
"Okay, tell me once again why we're down here tramping through peoples' feces." As far as the Screws were concerned, Samantha was grumbling, Spyke was whining, and Sloan was giving the silent treatment. Everyone else was too busy concentrating on finding the objective of their search to notice.
Kaito regarded the slime that caked his shoes with a slight hint of amusement as the group continued to walk down the access path in the sewage main. "I still find it hard to convince myself with the fact that someone could manage to install a supercomputer in the sewers..."
"The NAVI server that resides here in the sewers was never installed... it was illegally uploaded," Siden corrected as he and Luminoustag led the way. "From what I remember while I was rooting through the old Robattle-Research archives, there was only one NAVI server officially created for data storage use, and that was on CLUSTER-001. The other NAVI systems that are in existence today, including the HEX Corp. NAVI, are illegal bootlegs; which were uploaded, copied and re-programmed for counter-cross blocking in order to hack into the actual NAVI server."
"But then why is it that this 'second-hand' NAVI server left the message 'SISTER'?" asked Erika.
"Because of two things," replied Siden. "First of all, the the NAVI developers had been planning to make several other NAVI computers in an international Wide-Area-Network and therefore incorporated this into the original NAVI's logistics in order to anticipate this need. Second, the NAVI servers had been created with the same methods as that of Medabot AI technology, allowing them to carry basic personality traits. It therefore isn't surprising that the NAVI servers have some sense of 'family ties'."
Luminoustag suddenly halted as he regarded an intersecting sewer main nearby. "Siden, the frequency seems to have strengthened in amplitude... I would say that we're getting close."
Siden nodded as he turned to everyone else in the group. "All right, guys, spread out from this area and look for anything that seems out of place... Loose rocks, bricks, paneling, or anything else that looks odd."
Ikki turned to Erika for a moment as everyone began to systematically examine every section of the sewer main in which they were in. "Erika..."
"Yeah?"
"About yesterday, I..."
Koji's voice abruptly interrupted Ikki's remark. "Hey, guys! I think I found something!"
Everybody immediately began to
cluster around where Koji was standing as Ikki slapped his forehead in
exasperation. "I'll have to get back to you later, Erika..."
=====
The immense passageway that Koji had discovered spiraled and corkscrewed around through the earth, causing a few of the group to lose their orientation as Luminoustag continued to track the homing frequency that was still clearly tingling in his sensors.
"Hey, Luminoustag, how much farther?" Sloan muttered as he massaged one of his legs. "I don't think my legs can take much more of this hiking around."
Luminoustag turned his head slightly as he answered the heavyset boy's question. "About a few hundred more meters. It shouldn't take much longer, since I recognize this section of tunnel."
After a few more minutes of trudging through the grime, the group was halted in their tracks as a huge, steel-plated door presented itself to the group of schoolkids. Helixbeetle regarded the hinges of the door with a bit of dubiousness.
"Geez... The door seems to have been welded shut."
Fubuki shook her head as she tried the bolt that kept the door locked. "I don't think so... The seam's been welded shut, but it's almost as if... something had melted part of the door from the inside..."
Siden turned to Kasumi. "I think the Medaforce might be welcome in this case... Kasumi, care to let Granbeetle do the honors?"
Kasumi nodded as he pressed a button on his medawatch. "Not a problem... Transport Granbeetle!"
There was a brief flash as the KBT-type medabot suddenly appeared in the tunnel next to Kasumi. Granbeetle shook his head for a moment. "Man... I've GOT to get adjusted to the re-entry... So, Kasumi? What gives?"
Kasumi merely pointed to the steel-plated door.
Granbeetle looked at the door for a moment. "Huh? You want me to knock another door down!? No way, buddy! You remember the week before! Remember, back when your little sister locked us both out of the house!? It got both of us grounded for three weeks!"
Kasumi tried to calm down his exasperated KBT-type medabot down with a slight wave of his wrist. "Don't worry, Granbeetle... It won't get you grounded this time. I mean it."
Granbeetle sighed as he stepped closer to the door. "Fine, fine... I'll do it. Okay, everyone, clear the area... "
KA-BWOOOOOOOM!!!
There was an ear-shattering explosion as a glowing, three-pronged bolt of medaforce energy pierced the thick steel, rending the hinges and bolt apart with the force of an angered Titan. The dust soon cleared away to reveal the wreckage of the door lying in pieces on the grimy floor, and a gaping hole where the door had once stood.
What lay on the other side made
everyone stand in silent horror.
=====
The charred bodies of MACHINA's lackeys littered the ground of the chamber, scattered in fragmented pieces. The sickly-sweet smell of barbecued flesh still lingered in the hallway, while pick-pocks of burnt craters in the walls marked where missiles had flown to on their lethal trajectory.
Siden gulped for a moment, then motioned to the others to continue walking.
Kaito regarded the bodies intermittently littering the floor with some distaste, as he kicked aside a severed hand. "What happened here? At the very least, I was expecting some guards... not a mausoleum. Was this Ragnarok's work?"
Siden shrugged as he picked his way between a pair of legs and an arm. "If it was, I wouldn't be surprised... While we were analyzing the Ragnarok schematics, we noticed something odd about the medals' synchronization module. The linking pattern was arranged in such a weak matrix network that the synchronization probably broke out of link, causing Ragnarok's central hybrid AI to behave irrationally..." The hallway suddenly made an abrupt turn, opening out into a huge chamber that Siden vaguely recognized. "Hey, Luminoustag, wasn't this the place where I was being incarcerated?"
Luminoustag nodded. "Indeed... Despite the bad shape this chamber is in, it definitely appears to be."
The blue KWG-type wasn't exaggerating in his estimation of the room's condition. The metal decking and platforms that had been snaking their way along the chamber walls had been toppled, leaving their wrecked remains twisted and mangled on the stone floor, while various computer panels and control consoles lay shattered and silent among the various niches in the chamber itself, with only a few hologram projectors and programming consoles still intact.
Siden turned to the other members of the group. "Okay, everyone, spread out and look for anything of interest... There might be something here that could give us some useful information about Ragnarok..."
A groan suddenly interrupted Siden's remark. Siden turned around and then saw a hand sticking out of the wreckage... which was also moving.
"Guys, get that platform off of him!"
Ikki and the other boys began wrenching away at the decking, then groaned simultaneously as the titanium planking proved too heavy for human hands to move. Kasumi turned to Siden. "We'll never get it off this way..."
Siden turned to Luminoustag. "I think that shiny little sword of yours might do the trick... Care to oblige?"
The blue KWG-type merely nodded, and with a few well-aimed slices, cut the planking apart as if it were nothing more than swiss cheese.
Everyone began to back away in some surprise as they saw the person that had been lying underneath the wreckage. The unfortunal fellow's body had been literally scorched, and Siden saw with some grim certainty that the pitiful, pathetic soul that now lay before them had mortal burns... probably from Ragnarok.
The hooded, lacerated face of MACHINA, still wearing that ubiquitous mask, wanly stared up at the group of schoolkids and medabots with all the tired resignation of a beaten prisoner-of-war. After a few moments, a weak voice, laced with a tinge of irony, spoke into the shadows.
"So... it appears that children
have come to observe me in the hour of my greatest failure."
=====
MACHINA coughed violently as Karin handed him another cup of water.
Siden bent down as he stared at MACHINA's face. "What happened, MACHINA? Or are you still too beaten to talk?"
MACHINA looked up, and replied in a hoarse, broken voice. "No... I... I will talk. It is the least I can do... to make amends."
"How can we trust you, you screwball? For all we know, you could be just trying to hatch another stupid scheme in that nutty little brain of yours!" yelled Hiyori.
MACHINA tiredly shook his head. "Do you really think a dying man would try to play tricks? Nonetheless..." His voice began to drift off as he closed his eyes, his chest heaving slowly as he took several labored breaths of air before continuing. "I have been... insane. Insane for a long, long time. The doctors told me that the part of my brain that controlled logic had been seized by some sort of catalepsy, some disease, rendering it fit for slow erosion... Although I have desperately tried to keep a hold on my mind, it appears... that I had lost."
"What were you doing with the RubberRobos?" Makoru asked.
MACHINA's voice wheezed for a moment as he answered. "They... I had intended to use them as pawns in my delusioned game of conquest..."
"Were you the one that killed those RubberRobos in that alley?" Siden asked.
"Someone killed RubberRobos?" Makoru asked.
Siden nodded. "Several... including one that they identified through her alias as "Gillgirl"... All of them had been killed by .26 revolver rounds.
Makoru shrugged. "She got what she deserved..."
MACHINA slowly shook his head. "No... I did not kill them... Pathetic though they were, I had intended to keep them... not eliminate them... Regardless of what evils I have worked, that event was not my doing..."
"Do you know who did it then?" Kasumi asked.
"No..."
"What about Ragnarok?" Kasumi inquired slowly.
"R-ragnarok? Merely a grandiose vision of a dream turned into the darkest nightmare. I had conceived Ragnarok in my mind to be the greatest medabot... of all time. But due to my fits of insanity, my dreams were slowly corrupted and twisted into a dark parody of what they would have been. I understand... that I have unleashed a monstrosity upon the world, one that should never have seen the light of da-"
MACHINA began to cough violently, as his chest violently spasmed. After a few more moments of violent coughing and retching, he slowly recovered for the moment and continued. "When we activated Ragnarok, things had already started to go wrong... But when it awoke, I had never conceived that it would come to this. Ragnarok broke free of its mental shackles, and turned on us, destroying everyone and everything in sight. However, at the very least, my injuries have actually cleared my mind, and I can think and feel clearly once again. Thus, I ask- No, I beg you to stop what my works have culminated in. You may doubt my intentions, but I swear on everything that I once held dear that what I intend is nothing but an honest effort in absolution..."
"What must be done?" Luminoustag murmured.
"Not much, my former pawn, but this... Ragnarok must be stopped at all costs. Even now, judging from what I remember concerning his design, he will be probably at this moment infecting and slowly merging with the CLUSTER-001 NAVI server... If that happens, the station will no longer be a place of pursuing knowledge, it will be a place... of glorifying destruction."
"So how do we stop him?" Kaito asked. "Get a monkey wrench and threaten him?"
MACHINA shook his head. "No. Unfortunately, I do not remember how to stop my creation... I am sorry, but you must figure that out for yourselves." The hooded man chuckled weakly as he continued. "It is strange... and yet, oddly humoring. An old friend of mine by the name of Tensuo once told me-"
Kaito's eyes suddenly widened at this remark. "Wait a minute... You said Tensuo. What was his family name?"
MACHINA turned to the young medafighter. "Shingawa. Shingawa Tensuo... Why do you ask? Do you know him?"
"He's... He's my uncle."
MACHINA's eyes widened slightly in turn, as he stared at Kaito more closely. After a moment's scrutiny, he nodded. "Yes... yes, Tensuo's face is reflected in you, somewhat... How is my old friend?"
Kaito's face darkened for a moment as he answered. "He's been dead for several years."
MACHINA's eyes reflected a silent regret as he received the news. "Regretful... As well as unfortunate. I will never have the opportunity to apologize to him."
"Apologize? Why?" Erika asked.
"Because of all the ways I slighted him," MACHINA answered quietly. "We had broken up over a disagreement regarding how medabots should be considered... We were such good friends too... One of the finest medabot engineers I ever met, and a powerful heart as well. While we were working together, he told me of his dreams of building the greatest medabot the world would ever see... It is a pity that his dreams never came to fruition."
MACHINA's breath began to grow fainter, as the color in his face began to slowly drain away. "I feel that my body is starting to give, so let me finish what I have to say... All of you, you must work together to stop Ragnarok. If you should fail, then there is no telling what Ragnarok might do with the powers of the CLUSTER-001 station under his control."
"Isn't there anything that you could tell us that might help? A weakness, perhaps?" Ikki asked.
MACHINA's brow furrowed, and then he answered. "There is... No. I'm sorry, but my mind is already starting to fade. You will have to find the answers on your own." The hooded man took a brief gasp of air. "Please... Stop this... monstrosity at all costs. The legacy of my friend Tensuo and I were the seeds of a greater promise to come... Do not let our efforts be in vain. And, at the very least, if a man could repent, I repent! Of everything, I repent-!!"
Suddenly, the broken form of MACHINA suddenly began to convulse, as the dimmed eyes suddenly rolled inwards into their sockets. The man's limbs began to thrash, as foam suddenly began leaking out the sides of the mask that the hooded figure wore.
Spyke started to panic. "What's happening!?"
"MACHINA's lungs are starting to fill with fluids from his body," Fubuki grimly explained. "In moments, his body will have literally drowned itself to death."
With a final, desperate gasp for air, MACHINA convulsed again in one final spasm, and then all was quiet. The limbs went slack. And where there had been a man that once possessed the name Moyotema Kizure, there was now an empty, shattered husk.
Siden slowly stood up, grabbed a tarpaulin cover that was lying nearby, and covered the lifeless body. After stepping away and pondering MACHINA's passing for a moment, the brown-haired teenager spoke briefly.
"Despite all that he did to me, and to others whom he must have come in contact with, I can't help but feel sorry for him."
The others silently bowed their
heads in agreement... For a man whose attempt at grandiose visions
had become nothing more than a pitiable, twisted nightmare.
=====
The chamber echoed dully as the moment of silence that the children paid to MACHINA's existence ended. Samantha turned to Ikki. "So what next? Ragnarok's officially on the lam, the world's threatened with total annihilation, and all we've got to work with are a few pieces out of a jigsaw puzzle."
"One thing is for sure," Makoru muttered. "If Ragnarok is indeed on CLUSTER-001, and is attempting to take it over, then there's no telling what could happen... If he takes control of the medabot mass-production sectors..."
"...Then Earth will literally be plunged into a war... A war of apocalyptic proportions," Siden finished.
"I will not let that happen..."
Siden and the others suddenly spun in alarm, as an unfamiliar voice suddenly boomed throughout the chamber. It was a hollow, deep voice, like that of an ancient demigod.
Everyone then noticed that one of the holographic projectors, which had been still left intact from Ragnarok's maddened rage, had begun to glow. Siden and Kasumi cautiously approached the projector.
Abruptly, from within the projector's depths, sprang forth an image... an image of a medabot, trimmed with gleaming gold and teal armor, and wings that seemed to be composed of energy itself. A gleaming sword shone in the medabot's left hand, while a huge tower shield, adorned with an eye, was strapped to the arm on its right. The voice spoke again, as Siden and the others noticed that the medabot's face was concealed underneath a hood. The image, after a brief pause, began to speak in the same voice that had startled everyone.
"I cannot maintain this form of communication for long, so listen closely..."
"Form? What do you mean?" Kaito asked.
"This is merely a phantom, a product... a product of my mind," the image replied. "In a past life, I was Andurial, the medabot archangel. Now, my medal resides inside a demon, a product of nightmares from beyond the grave, which its creator called Ragnarok."
"Wait a minute... So are you part of Ragnarok itself?" Mizore asked.
The image of Andurial nodded vehemently as it continued. "Yes... Even at this very moment, while Ragnarok's other medal seeks to gain control of the CLUSTER-001 NAVI server, I am lodged in the other half of its mind. I am fighting with all I am capable of in order to contain this monster, but it is clear that my other half is slowly gaining the upper hand." Here, Andurial's voice became faster, and more desperate. "You must reach CLUSTER-001 before Ragnarok's darker half is fully unleashed! I can feel it slipping its geas which I have attempted to place. You must hurry!!"
"But how do we stop this thing?" Kasumi asked.
"By re-taking control of the NAVI computer... At the very least, it will slow down the Ragnarok system..."
"So, what will happen if we destroy Ragnarok?" Goutetsu asked.
"Ragnarok will cease to exist... Although, regretfully, if Ragnarok manages to gain control of NAVI before you can reach him, then it will destroy the NAVI system as well..." Andurial's voice and image started to grow fainter as he continued. "I can feel the other half slowly gaining its control over my system... I cannot speak much longer. Please, hurry-!!"
With a flicker, the hologram winked out, as the room was suddenly plunged into darkness. Samantha gave a grunt of annoyance as she remarked on the abrupt occurrence.
"Well... Does anyone have
a flashlight?"
=====
A multitude of bumps, curses and scuffed shins later, the group stumbled out of the sewer grate... and into an utter horror. Siden was stepping through grating when he was suddenly knocked off his feet and sent sprawling to the asphalt by the force of a passing armored gunship.
"What gives!?"
As Siden slowly got back onto his feet, he noticed that the buildings around him had been set aflame, with Select Corp. medabots and agents rushing one way and another, yelling commands and status reports. The sky seemed to be literally ablaze with pyrotechnic conflagration, as screams, yells, and the sounds of chaos reached the ears of all who were present.
The group of schoolkids stared in shock and horror as a horde of black, fiendish-looking medabots began descending from the sky to join those already on the ground.
Luminoustag watched the chaos around him and murmured a soliloquy... a silent, sorrowful remark that whispered into the darkness.
"And so it comes to pass.
The War of the Gods... has come. The Open Ring... Has
now come full circle."
To Be Continued...