BATTLE NETWORK CYBERSYSTEM: The Manic Saga
Volume 2: Pokerface
Chapter 8: Training Day
"Suspect at 10," Manic said behind dark sunglasses. He was leaning against a lightpost facing towards the street traffic in Marine Harbor with his hands in his pockets.
"Acknowledged, moving to intercept," Ryuu said into his jacket collar, also wearing sunglasses. He then casually walked down the opposite sidewalk from Manic towards someone reading a newspaper at the news stand. The man had a thick, brown beard and curly hair and overwhelmed both Manic and Ryuu in size. Ryuu reached into his jacket pocket just as Manic got up and walked on his side of the street so that he was now directly facing the man as well.
Suddenly, they made their move. Ryuu pulled out what seemed to be handcuffs from his jacket and quickly grabbed one of the man's hands and cuffed his wrist while Manic started crossing the street and pulled out what looked like a 9mm handgun.
"ONBA, don't move!" Manic yelled to the large man as Ryuu twisted the man's arm to behind his back. The man yelped in pain and dropped to one knee. People in the street were running as fast as they could through each other to get away from the crime arrest as Ryuu struggled to get the man's other wrist handcuffed. The man was not going in easily, it seemed. The man struggled to keep his arm out of Ryuu's reach until Manic came up and shoved the handgun barrel into the man's neck. A quick static shock seeped out of the barrel as the man lowered his head and was handcuffed by Ryuu. The man was still struggling, however, and managed to knock Manic backwards, but he still kept his footing and merely slid a short distance.
However, this was the opening the man was looking for. The man swung his fists around and knocked Ryuu out of the way as two large demon wings slowly came from his back and he took flight.
"Damn!" Ryuu yelled as both he and Manic watched the man fly into the air.
"Desperate times call for desperate measures, Ryuu," Manic said.
"Right!" Ryuu agreed as Manic holstered his cybernetic handgun, Fenrir. Manic then dropped to one knee and pounded the ground as Ryuu put his feet together and extended his arms as if he were performing Tai Ji meditation.
"Showtime!" Manic yelled.
"Spirits of the Earth, grant me power," Ryuu chanted.
Suddenly, Manic was engulfed in flames and emerged Manic/Infernos while leaves mixed with rose petals swirled around Ryuu. He emerged from the transformation Ryuu/Gaius. His black hair was now a forest green and had green armored boots covered by khaki cargo pants, a form-fitting black t-shirt with a green stripe that ran down one of the sleeves and continued down his left arm and had a clear green visor covering his eyes.
"Ready?" Manic/Infernos said to Ryuu/Gaius.
"Of course," Ryuu/Gaius responded. Both integrated deities then took to the air quickly and pursued the escapee.
However, the film stopped there.
"So, did you get the basic concepts of that?" Kinzoku asked as he walked in front of the screen. Tenjou Miyuu was sitting in a chair in front of the screen while Manic and Ryuu were sitting on their office desks.
"Um..." Miyuu thought, "...find a deity and become way powerful?"
Kinzoku slapped his forehead as Miyuu giggled. Kinzoku knew she was just playing around, but it annoyed him anyways.
"Planned arrest, that's what the basic concept was!" Kinzoku said. Manic and Ryuu even laughed at Kin's annoyance. "Had that not been an exercise the chief set up for us to do," Kin then glared at Manic and Ryuu, "and had they not wanted to show off at the end of the video, it would have gone cleaner. But you do get the basic concept, correct?"
"Hai," Miyuu responded. Kin finally felt proud. However, they were interrupted as a message played over the intercom. It was Massingale.
"ONBA Elites, my office. Now. And bring the rookie."
The four netbattlers now stood in front of Chief Massingale's office desk. It was littered with file folders and papers, along with three mug shots.
"Ok, we just got a call from the Netopia branch," Massingale started, "says that three of their biggest are on their way here to escape their jurisdiction. Now they're handing them over to us. We already settled the legal arrangements, so they can't get away if we nab them, so I'm putting my best onto this one. We did our homework and found they're taking up residence in Akihara."
The three Elites acknowledged this information and saluted the chief. The chief then glared at the three. "Take the rookie with you, she'll need the training."
"Sir!" the three said. Miyuu was making the comparison to them as if they were sheep in her head, but then felt someone jerk at the collar of her kimono and was dragged out of the room.
"Ok, off to Akihara, then," Manic said as they all walked through the ONBA doors and towards the Metroline. The train ride was a short one, but they finished their planning in that span of time just as the car stopped in front of the station.
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"Ok, battle plan?" Kinzoku started up as they all leaned forward to strategize.
"Most likely, they're in one of the ruins," Ryuu said.
"Right, but they'll take advantage of the internet locks there if they're hostile," Manic said in response, "So once we get them there, we're set."
"One of us should stay behind to see if the locks can be broken," Kin suggested.
There was a brief silence until Miyuu started to raise her hand. "How about we disable the locks before we get them? It'll keep us all together and we may all be able to arrest them."
Ryuu shook his head slightly, "We don't know how long it'll take to disable a lock. Even though it'd be risky for us, it'd be a lot easier to contain them in the internet rather than let them have both realms to wander about in..."
"Then how do you guys know you'll be able to survive against them!?" Miyuu said. The train stopped just as she finished her exclamation.
"Don't worry," Manic said, "We've been through worse..." Kin, Manic and Ryuu then stepped out of the car.
*Please,* Miyuu thought to herself, *don't share the same fate as Ame...* She then stepped out of the car and the doors closed just after she set foot onto the dusty ground of Akihara City.
"I know this place like the back of my hand," Kinzoku said, "so give me a few minutes and I'll get the locks open. You three get them into the net and beat them." Manic, Miyuu and Ryuu all nodded in agreement and they all walked silently along the walls of the building ruins, listening for signs of life.
Finally, Kinzoku picked up the sounds of voices coming from behind a wall. He motioned for everyone to hold their positions while he crouched down and sifted through the dirt below with his hand.
"There it is," Kin said to himself as he uncovered a small terminal used for PETs to jack into.
"Ok, I'll stay here and work on this," Kin said to the rest silently. They acknowledged this and walked towards the opening to the building.
"Yeah, we got away finally," one of the criminals said. The other two were laughing and conversed in a foreign language.
*What're they saying?* Manic thought to himself.
*I think they're saying...* Gaius thought to himself as he brushed up on his Netopian, *That's a good accent, it'll... drink everyone? what?*
*Trick,* Infernos said.
*Trick, right...*
*...do you really know Netopian?* Infernos asked skeptically.
*More than you. All you know is what you read from that brochure about the country,* Gaius retorted.
*That's enough,* Ryuu thought sternly, *We have a mission to do right now.*
*Right, sorry,* Gaius responded.
*Yeah, yeah... they're pushovers...* Infernos said mentally. Manic made the first move and threw a stone inside to distract them. Then, Ryuu and Miyuu ran inside and tried to take down two of the three criminals. Miyuu currently had one of them in a choke while Ryuu was busy holding a criminal's arm behind his back and slamming him to the ground.
"Damn!" the remaining criminal cursed in Electopian as he put on his cyberband.
"Two can play at this game," Manic said as he put his own on. However, the other two criminals were able to get their own cyberbands on as well, disappearing into the net. Ryuu and Miyuu pursued them and everyone met up in the internet.
Manic checked his cyberband quickly. The internet lock was still active. "Damn," Manic cursed as the three criminals had massively shaped cyberforms. They looked as if each of them could destroy buildings with their bare hands.
"So, you're Electopia's finest," one of the criminals gloated, "We hope you'll die serving your country!" Suddenly, the criminal rushed forward and swatted Miyuu aside and into the ground. Ryuu and Manic looked in shock, then turned back to the criminals with anger.
"Time for a real fight, then," Ryuu said as he backed up, then stepped backwards so both his legs were together and standing straight with his arms extended in Tai Ji meditation. Manic then dropped to one knee and slammed his fist into the ground.
Both Manic/Infernos and Ryuu/Gaius now stood before the criminals.
"Is that all?" the same criminal gloated.
"Not yet," Manic/Infernos said with a smirk as he extended both his arms. Ryuu/Gaius knelt down and extended his right arm to the side.
Suddenly, a short staff appeared in Manic/Infernos' hands with two large, intricately, shaped blades forming on each side. A large, rounded shield was forming along the back of Ryuu/Gaius' arm, the grip forming perfectly into Ryuu/Gaius' hand. Both weapons were well designed and had intricate engravings. They were the elemental manifests of the Sol Maxim.
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The Sol Maxim. The large sword that Manic first grabbed hold of was the first section of the Sol Maxim, in which it is the base form. However, for each attuned elemental deity, a special form of the Sol Maxim exists, combining both strengths of the user and the deity. Manic had preferred bladed weapons while Infernos preferred using the bo as a weapon. Thus, the Fire Swallow, a staff with two blades on each end, was manifested. Both Ryuu and Gaius preferred defensive measures along with a few offensive, therefore, the Earthen Shield became one with them. For Kinzoku, the bladed weapon is his specialty while Naoko preferred using polearms in days past. Thus, the Light Naginata came into Kin/Naoko's possession. Each deity held their own version of the Sol Maxim; however, there is yet to be a possessor of the True Sol Maxim, the large sword held by Manic for the first time since it was encased in stone.
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"You guys don't know who you're messing with," Manic/Infernos said as he readied himself with the Fire Swallow. Ryuu/Gaius grabbed the second grip on the back of the concave shield with his left hand and got ready to attack the criminals.
The three criminals never saw weapons like these before. However, they stood ready and uploaded datasilver regardless. One criminal shot a beam of scathing light at Manic/Infernos, who rolled out of the way just in time while the other two ran towards them with large swords drawn.
"Manic, support attack!" Ryuu/Gaius yelled as Manic/Infernos ran towards him. Ryuu/Gaius knelt down and held the Earthen Shield at an angle. Manic/Infernos then jumped onto the shield quickly and bounded into the air, high above the criminals, and came down with the Fire Swallow, ready to slice into them. However, Manic/Infernos was surprised to see that their swords could withstand his attack, and was pushed back while he was still in the air. He recovered his footing, but he wasn't in time to dodge the incoming light blast into his back. Manic/Infernos was sent flying past the criminals while Ryuu/Gaius smacked one of the criminals in the face with the shield before he saw Manic on the ground.
"Manic!" Ryuu/Gaius yelled just before getting hit in the side with one of the criminals' swords. He felt the sting and leaped backwards and into a kneel. Manic/Infernos quickly got up from the ground and readied himself again.
The criminal who shot at Manic/Infernos was now charging up another attack.
"Flood!" a voice yelled out.
The criminals looked in the direction of the yell to see a tidal wave of water rushing at them.
"Oh crap!" Manic/Infernos yelled as he jammed the Fire Swallow into the ground and used it to leap into the air as the flood nearly engulfed him. Even if it was an attack that helped them, Manic/Infernos was still susceptible to the element of water in the internet so much that it could nearly kill him.
Ryuu/Gaius swam towards the surface of the water, but stayed for a second to see a figure quickly swimming through the water and cutting through the criminals, one by one. They were helpless to do a thing and their data was sent swirling upwards into the sky.
Ryuu/Gaius then found out he couldn't hold his breath any longer and quickly swam to the surface, the Earthen Shield floating topside.
"Gah!" Ryuu/Gaius gasped for air as he reached the surface. Manic/Infernos was kneeling on top of the shield to keep himself out of the water.
"What happened to them?" Manic/Infernos asked.
"Something down there... a beast..." Ryuu/Gaius responded, still catching his breath. Both integrated deities then reverted back to their original cyberselves. However, Manic fell into the water once the Earthen Shield and the Fire Swallow disappeared. He quickly uploaded a BreakArea datasilver and broke a portion of space on the ground so the water would drain quickly. He gasped for air as he sat on the ground in front of the hole.
"Who was that...?" Manic asked Ryuu. He shrugged, then looked towards the figure materializing from the water. It was Tenjou Miyuu.
"Miyuu?" Manic and Ryuu asked as she shook water from her long hair.
"Tell me you didn't forget about me," Miyuu said skeptically. Manic and Ryuu exchanged glances before Manic remembered something vital.
Had she killed the criminals? If their cyberbands were depleted of energy in an internet lock zone, they could have died in the internet. Manic quickly checked his cyberband, but instead heard a brief message from Kinzoku.
"Guys, I got the lock disabled," Kin said, "but I see you've already taken care of the guys. I cuffed them and they're ready to be sent back to Netopia. Come back home."
Manic breathed a sigh of relief, along with Ryuu. Mission accomplished.
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On the train ride home, Miyuu was kneeling forward, twisting a small golden ring around her finger. Ryuu noticed this and leaned forward as well.
"So, you're married?" Ryuu asked.
"Yeah," Miyuu responded, "Er... I was married..."
"Were married?" Kinzoku asked, he and Manic picking up the conversation.
"Yes. I was married to Tenjou Amethyst," Miyuu started, "Amethyst was... a member of a Lucavi..."
"Lucavi... the Dark Knights..." Ryuu said in thought.
"Yes," Miyuu said, "Amethyst always took care of me, even when I wasn't even part of the Lucavi... but...but... they killed Amethyst after they found out that I was still alive... Amethyst was commissioned to kill me... because... because the Lucavi Minister willed it... I was spared, but... Amethyst... was killed..." Kin, Ryuu and Manic all felt Miyuu's pain at this moment. Kinzoku then put his hand on Miyuu's reassuringly.
"Don't worry, he's in a good place now..." Kinzoku said, "Naoko will take care of him... I promise..."
Miyuu then looked up to Kinzoku with a confused look. "Whoever said Amethyst was a man?"
Volume 2 Chapter 8 down. I'm sorry it left everyone on such a cliffhanger, but I'm hoping that I can get more chapters done more often, so please read and review! Thanks a lot! ^_^
...oh, and if you're wondering where you can get a more detailed description of the Sol Maxim weapons, you can find pictures of them in the Pictures section at