PART XXXII: DAWN OF A NEW DAY
ADVER SATELLITE CENTRAL CORE NETWORK…
"We can't possibly hold off this many!" a very battle-worn Rockman screamed as he attempted in vain to control the increasing numbers of Adver Mets as they formed a barrier and began attacking him and Aquaman. "Argh, they're multiplying faster than we can destroy them!"
"Shuuko!" cried an equally battered and beaten Aquaman. "Help!"
"We're doing all that we can up here!" Shuuko responded desperately. "I'm running out of battle chips…not to mention options!"
Meanwhile, in the U.S.A. Euwessae's cockpit, Yaito sipped away at a freeze-dried strawberry milk shake, trying to enjoy her last moments of normal life before a doomsday she was almost certain would come. Then, pointing at a luminescent beam of blue light emanating from Earth's surface off the coast of Japan, she shouted, "Hey…what's THAT?"
"Don't tell me they actually started making one of those!" Netto cried in disbelief, yet for some reason oddly relieved.
"One of what?" Shuuko asked curiously.
"The Code Booster!" Netto replied. "It's not even supposed to exist. Supposedly it amplifies the power of a destructive code so that it is capable of destroying an Internet area ten times more than what it could have destroyed on its own!"
"Y-you're right!" Shuuko stammered. "And now…we've been called on to use it! What do you say, Yaito?"
"I have to say I'm surprised that someone as inept as Netto was able to figure out, much less know about something like that!" Yaito cried in response. With that, she started pressing a multitude of buttons on the Euwessae's main control console and stated exactly what she hoped to accomplish by pushing said buttons: "Programming Code Booster signal to align with Code Destroyer's engagement matrix! The boosted destruction code will initiate once it's connected to the satellite core processor!"
"Wow," Netto and Shuuko responded with sweat drops adorning their foreheads. "We don't understand a word of what you just said, but we'll insert the code anyway!"
As the Adver Metools continued to multiply, the Code Booster's signal made contact with the Code Destroyer, causing its cylindrical body to expand into yet another array of antenna. A series of whirs and mechanical movements indicated that the Code Destroyer was now operating at full power.
"Now's our chance, Rockman!" Netto shouted in a determined tone. "Destroy the Adver Satellite's core with the Code Destroyer!"
"Aquaman, back him up!" Shuuko ordered as her little Navi leapt onto Rockman's back. "We'll fight with what we can from here!"
"Wait a minute, who says we're going to fight?" Yaito asked, leaning forward nervously. "We have to escape! So Netto, let's use the same trick that the former World Three used to get away from Gospel's virii in Wily's old headquarters!"
"Argh, you think I wouldn't know that by now?" Netto cried as he rubbed his head frantically. "Very well! Double slot in! Kawarimi! Area Steal!"
With this, Rockman and Aquaman appeared on the other side of the Adver Metool wall as the little minions assaulted the clones they had left behind.
"Have fun playing with our clones! Bleh!" Aquaman squealed gleefully, but fortunately not loud enough as to alert the Mets to their real presence.
"Sheesh, déjà vu all over again," Netto murmured, remembering that Colorman had once said the exact same thing.
"All that's left now is to destroy the satellite core!" Rockman shouted dramatically as he pointed toward the towering central processor. Looking at the glowing energy orb and standing before the monolithic structure, he took a moment to contemplate exactly what he was doing.
"It's okay, Rockman!" Netto shouted, and then stated in as technically as he could, trying to one-up Yaito: "Push it into the big microchip thingy!"
Simple, but effective language, Shuuko thought to herself.
Rockman inserted the glowing orb into the processor in nervous apprehension, and then plugged out with Aquaman as soon as their task was completed.
The Code Destroyer continued to glow even brighter…
SAN CONSTANTINOPLE BEACH…
The attack strategy had failed. It was obvious at this point. Enzan and the others looked on in horrification as their plan to have all Net Savior Navis attack Adver Man simultaneously had resulted in all of them carrying around wimpy Kids WB-friendly swords.
"You don't know how demeaning this is," Ciel huffed.
"This is infinitely worse, and far more evil, than even my devil form!" Roll cried.
"I despise that little cretin," Blues murmured between clenched teeth. "How can he humiliate us like this and then dance around so stupidly? I've heard of despicable villainy…but this is wrong on so many levels!"
"Whee!" shouted Tiesel and Ring as they fought each other with their pink blurry swords, obviously being the least serious of the bunch.
"Now you're all finished!" Kenishiro cackled. "I'll finally be able to infest the world with ads and make you all do my bidding!"
"We're not done fighting yet!" Kristen grinned. "Look over there!"
Kenishiro glanced at the far-off horizon, and as soon as he saw the Code Booster antenna emanating its glowing arc into the sky, his expression became one of certain impending horror. Turning back to the Net Saviors, he gritted his teeth and shouted, "Argh! How could you…what did you…I…I…"
"Aye aye, Captain Hook," Tron continued with a sweat drop on her forehead. "Blow me down and shiver me timbers."
"That doesn't matter!" Kenishiro replied, understandably somewhat desperate. "This battle will be won…within the few seconds I have! Adver Man, we must destroy them before the Code Destroyer is fully powered! Paladin Sword! SLOT-IN!"
"Now," Adver Man squealed as he stopped dancing and turned his right arm into a long and impressive glowing metallic sword, "if I go down I'll take all of you with me!"
"Not if we can help it!" Meiru shouted as Enzan placed his hand on her shoulder and moaned ominously:
"We can't…not at this point. Face it, there's nothing we can do."
"Okay," Mary said as she raised an eyebrow, "I don't know much about you except that you're egotistical. And when the most egotistical one gives in to defeat, that's pretty bad news…"
"I understand how you feel Mary," Meiru said while gritting her teeth and lowering her head, "but until the Code Destroyer is fully boosted, we have no way of attacking him in our weakened state."
"So it's over then?" Tiesel shouted. "We're just going to give up like that?"
"What else can we do?" Roll murmured. "Our current weapons don't stand a chance against him."
"Every attack we throw at him, he either deflects or turns it into comic relief!" Blues continued.
"Never thought I would fight a battle THIS hopeless…" Ciel whispered softly.
"This is all screwed up!" Ring cried as she started kicking angrily.
"The way everyone's talking makes me sick," Laika grunted. "I can't believe you're all willing to give in to this Kenishiro so easily. Well, that suits us just fine. If you're not going to do something about it…"
Searchman continued as he raised his rifle dramatically, "…then we will! H34DSH0T!"
"Sales Technique!" Adver Man replied. "Foot in the Door!"
With that, Searchman's shot turned back against him and severed his rifle arm from his body.
"Argh!" Searchman yelled. "My GOOD arm! Couldn't you have least taken…the OTHER one?"
"I'm not giving up just yet!" Tiesel shouted angrily. Just as he was about to attack, he looked at the weapon he held in his hand: the pink, blurry, Kids WB-friendly sword. At that point, he realized the harsh reality of the situation.
"You know what?" Tiesel muttered as he shrugged, indicating his acceptance of the demise that awaited them all. "I don't even care anymore."
"Well, guess it's time then!" Kenishiro shrugged. "Adver Man, we can't wait any longer! Delete their Net Navis NOW!"
"Gotcha!" Adver Man shouted as he leapt into the air. "PALADIN SWORD!"
The other Net Navis stared at the tiny blue menace rising into the air, wanting so desperately to kill it, and yet knowing that there was not a single slight chance of winning. Closing their eyes as Adver Man's brilliant blade descended upon them, their lives flashed before their eyes. Hopes, dreams, and memories long past. Within moments, Adver Man's sword made contact…
…but something unexpected happened.
"CODE DESTRUCTION MECHANISM COMPLETE."
Adver Man's sword de-materialized and once again became his normal right arm.
"That's our cue!" Blues called out as his right arm became a normal sword. "Everyone at once! For the sake of the real world, this menace must be destroyed, so that Earth will no longer be infested with annoying ads!"
"For the sake of the Cyber World," Ciel called as she summoned her Cyber Elves once again, "this little menace must be eliminated, so that the Internet will never again be littered with irritating pop-up windows!"
"For the sake of my sanity," Tiesel shouted as he turned both his arms into Long Swords, "I have to kill this little thingy before more marketing jingles get stuck in my head!"
"I second Tiesel!" continued Searchman as he re-materialized his rifle arm and prepared to fire at Adver Man. "I'll add that we must destroy all those annoying little company mascots like the Bar None Puppet or Ronald McDonald! Only then will I be lovin' it!"
"So it's settled then!" Ring cried. "For the sake of making friends, I'll kill somebody!"
Everybody looked over and raised their eyebrows at Mary, who shrugged obliviously, as obviously no logical explanation could be offered on Ring's behalf.
"Who are you people?" Adver Man asked as he tilted his head.
"Have you gone senile already, Adver Man?" Kenishiro shouted. "Those are our rivals! I won't bother to name them all, though…"
"Who are YOU?"
"I'm your operator!"
"What is an operator?"
Adver Man was nearing his deletion; his memory and body were being erased as he slowly began to de-materialize.
"NOW!" Blues cried. "ALL AT ONCE!"
Searchman fired. Blues, Tiesel, and Ring sliced. Ciel brought down her sword. All of their five weapons rained down on the chubby blue dissipating Net Navi like a hail of death descending from the heavens beyond.
And within a matter of almost instantaneous moments, Adver Man's physical form was deleted.
DEEP SPACE, LOW ORBIT WITH THE ADVER SATELLITE…
"It looks like the Code Destroyer and Code Booster worked!" Netto deduced happily. "Adver Man's Net Navi form has been deleted! That's OUR cue!"
With that, Slur appeared in the shuttle's main surveillance monitor with a brilliant white glow that was her signature entrance, calling to Yaito: "I've finished with the decoding of the final data required for the satellite's deactivation! Input code 1-3-3-7-WOOT-WOOT-H4X!"
"Only you, Kenishiro, only you," Yaito smirked as she put in the ridiculously amusing yet juvenile data entry, sealing Adver Man's fate.
The Code Destroyer's glow faded as its sequence completed…until suddenly a brilliant wave of energy emanated from its processor and shot in the direction of Duo's asteroid.
"Sir!" a NASA official called back to General Broad. "General Specific's device worked, and Adver Man's data has been returned to Duo's asteroid."
"Looks like we've done it for sure this time," Broad replied, grinning and sitting down to relax, something he obviously had not done in a while. "And look…just in time for the sunrise!"
The NASA personnel looked off into the distance as the brilliance of the sun's rays painted the once scorching and desolate desert wastelands into a magnificent crimson sea.
SAN CONSTANTINOPLE BEACH…
"Look at that," Enzan murmured as his eyes drifted off into the horizon. "Have you ever seen a more beautiful sunrise?"
"Well, I've been on vacation here many times before, so yes," Mary replied as she shrugged obliviously.
"Count me in!" Kristen replied as well. "I live here! I see it all the time!"
"I agree with Enzan, however," Laika said softly as he stared off into the sunrise. "Somehow this one seems better than all the others. Seeing the sun come up after a desperate fight makes it seem so much more worthwhile."
"Yes," was all Tron and Meiru really had to say.
"Have you forgotten about ME?" Kenishiro shouted as he rushed up from behind…only to be bonked over the head by Manabe and Yuuochirou Hikari, who had arrived with a squadron of Net Police to arrest Kenishiro.
"You have the right to an attorney!" Manabe dictated to the corrupted salesman. "If it turns out you're unable to afford one, one who is free but not nearly as good will be provided for you! You have the right to remain silent…and for goodness sakes, please do!"
"We're just glad we came in time to stop you!" Dr. Hikari shouted. "People, take him away, and lock him up somewhere we know he can't escape!"
"We DO have names, you know…" grunted one of the officers inaudibly.
"You haven't seen the last of me!" Kenishiro screamed as he was dragged into a police car, then continued as he was shoved into the back seat and had the rear door shut behind him, "…Or then again…"
"Calm down, Pops," a Net Policeman said as he got into the driver's seat. "You'll have all the time you need to sell your goods in prison…Ow! Hey, why'd you hit me?"
"Because I wanted to say that!" shouted the Net Policeman's partner as he got into the passenger's seat.
"Say," Kenishiro muttered suspiciously to the somewhat inept policemen, "…how much do both of you make?"
"Dude," said the driver as he slowly turned to face him, "that's not something you just straight-up ask someone, you know. Least of all a cop."
"Let me put it another way. Nobody really knows I've been arrested, yet? So there's really no trial scheduled, and the public still thinks I'm running around. That said, I'm talking about how much it'd take to get the both of you to put me back on the streets and pretend nothing ever happened."
The two policemen looked at Kenishiro, then back at each other, then toward the open road. As the police car moved down the road, they said the words that would once again release an unspeakable evil:
"…Keep talkin'."
The police car continued to drive off into the horizon…
U.S.A. EUWESSAE, RE-ENTRY INTO EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE…
"Wheeee!" Netto screamed as he waved around his astronaut helmet, moving around in his seat as though he were riding a bucking bronco.
"Netto, would you cut that out?" Shuuko screamed, although she had to admit she was pretty tempted to do that herself.
"You know," Yaito called back to the other two, "with all we've been through, if we died now during landing, it would definitely be ridiculous!"
"You're telling me…" Shuuko groaned, "considering I have a reputation as the Bad Luck Girl!"
"Hoo…that's bad," Netto murmured as he suddenly stopped playing cowboy and grabbed onto his bucket seat armrests for dear life.
The Euwessae, freshly incinerated from the friction heat of re-entry, descended slowly towards the San Constantinople runway and landed roughly with a loud screech of its landing gear signifying its return to the ground. A plethora of airport personnel walked toward the shuttle to congratulate the heroes…as well as award them with numerous sponsorship checks.
"This is where the heroism pays off!" Yaito said gleefully as she turned back to the others. "Let's go home, people!"
With that, the shuttle opened its doorway and an inflatable slide shot out of a hatch just below the exit, providing an amusing way to slide back to the ground. Yaito and Shuuko went first, followed by Netto, who had to be restrained from going down the slide again, all the while crying out, "I wanna go again! I wanna go again!"
Television reporter Midorikawa Kero was first on the scene, as usual. She greeted the returning heroes with a statement that was pretty much obvious by now:
"You've just saved the world! What do you plan to do now?"
"Drink strawberry milk on the beach until I explode!" Yaito responded happily, while flailing her arms out so that Kero could get a mental image of said explosion.
"Umm…work on my tan?" Shuuko blushed madly.
"Enjoy a world without commercials!" Netto shouted wildly as he raised his fists, his response producing the most rousing cheers of all. And with this, the airport personnel squirted champagne bottles all over him and his crew, as a few adults tried to catch the drops of otherwise wasted wine with their tongues.
SAN CONSTANTINOPLE BEACH…
"Hey guys!" Netto called out to Enzan and company as the entire group met in one place again, everyone dressed in their swimwear. "Hope we didn't keep you waiting!"
"Actually, you did!" Enzan replied as he placed his hands on his waist and glared at his somewhat clumsy but still reliable partner. Then he smiled for the first time in a long while as he shook Netto's hand and continued, "But somehow, we saw this one through anyway."
"So what do we do now?" Yaito asked with one eyebrow raised.
"For now, there doesn't seem to be anyone after us," Shuuko said, looking towards the sky for no apparent reason.
"I want to play at the beach!" Netto replied happily.
"We're with Netto!" cried Mary, Kristen, and Meiru.
"I plan to make the most of what I can of my paid vacation!" Enzan shouted happily, although with all due respect fighting off Adver Man wasn't really a vacation.
"I could use a little relaxation myself," Laika said as he stretched his arms and breathed deeply. "A week without a break can make a guy pretty ripe."
"So it's settled then!" Tron said gleefully as she took out her wallet and closed up the Mobile Network Array, hopefully for certain. "Non-alcoholic margaritas all around!"
"YEAH!" cried everyone else as they rushed off into the sunrise, or at least to the bar, to get their drinks.
DEEP SPACE, ABOARD DUO'S ASTEROID…
Duo looked hesitantly at Adver Man's returned Asteroid data as he murmured, "Now the real trouble begins."
"Real trouble?" Slur asked as she tilted her head in wonderment.
"On this entire planet," Duo said as he looked worriedly toward the Earth's curve, "there are hundreds of criminals exactly like Kenishiro, each at least as powerful as him, perhaps even more so."
"Yet there is still hope," Slur replied as she looked toward the stars. "As long as there are heroes like the Net Saviors to defend the world, humanity still has a chance of survival. They only need more time to prove themselves, and perhaps we will see that this is the worthiest planet of all."
"Agreed, for now, Earth shall live," Duo replied, closing his eyes. "It is simply too weird a planet to destroy."
And with that, Duo's asteroid shot off into the distant horizon, on toward the next planet to await his ultimate judgment.
In the battle for good and evil, there were heroes on both sides, fighting for one single purpose of victory, using a number of reasons as multiple paths to achieve that one end. A corrupt salesman and his devilishly evil yet adorable Net Navi challenged the combined might of the Net Saviors and their powerful Navis, and for this reason he had faced his ultimate folly…or had he?
The clashing and clanging of numerous glasses of champagne echoed across San Constantinople Beach. The Net Saviors cried rousing cheers as they downed their non-alcoholic drinks to the rhythm of the foaming, crashing waves.
As far as they were concerned, the battle was already won.
END PART XXXII
