The Rama Conflict
By Zoram Selrof
Chapter 1: Shaky evening
19:44 PM (Japan Time), Friday June the 10th, 2009…
"… Really… Time flies by! Next week we'll know the results of our final exams and vacations kick in! Next year… 4th grade! Aren't you amazed, Saito – niisan?"
"Yeah. It'd seem it was still yesterday when we ended 6th grade in elementary school…"
"Mwah, hah, hah… I guess Dragon must have one of his Confucius mottoes for that!"
"Huff. Don't bring up the newest banner."
Hikari Netto and Saito were talking while ordering their house's bedroom: both were sixteen years old by now and over a meter and sixty tall.
Netto's hairstyle kept on being his usual chestnut messy style.
Saito's was neatly combed instead.
Both of them wore the middle school uniform.
Two Link PETs were set on top of the desk and in front of the PC: Netto's was colored blue while Saito's was green.
Two Navis were projecting out of them and talking with them.
"Mwah, hah, hah… Sigma's warned ya!"
Sigma (the Navi on Netto's Link PET) was colored jet black and a red spheroid could be seen set on his chest area.
This spheroid seemed to be missing the armor over its mass.
His face had two red eyes and one shone brighter than the other did: two horns, one of which was almost erased, were set on both sides of his head.
These horns added a "demonic" look to him.
Green data flows moved around his body and he held a massive black and green sword in his right hand, which was easily over a meter tall.
Overall, he seemed to be tall and imposing.
"And Blood Shadow tells you to be quiet."
Blood Shadow (on Saito's Link PET) was about a meter and sixty in height or maybe closer to a meter and seventy: his main color of choice was red.
He sported black shades: a flock of messy reddish hair came out from behind the helmet given how it only covered the face and the front of the head: his ear-pads had two purple "V" letters drawn inside of them.
His armor had the purple letters "BS" engraved on the chest area while his legs were colored black and had two red stripes running down the legs' sides in a parallel manner.
A device covered his right forearm, colored red, coupled with a piece of it, which was colored transparent red: a small indentation near the wrist had the same "BS" initials engraved there.
Where the hand would be, a large double-barreled shotgun emerged instead.
"Mwah, hah, hah… Come on, Blood! You can be a good joker from time to time, too! Pick a hammer and give it to Donkey Kong: he'll build ya a hut in just 12 hours, banana breaks included!" Sigma laughed.
"Very original." Blood Shadow drily replied.
"You guys… What's the plot?" A new voice asked.
"Uh! Commander Omega!" Both saluted.
A third Navi projected from Netto's Link PET.
He was about one meter and eighty tall.
He wore a red vest over his mainly black body and red armor over his forearms and boots.
Two golden circlets were set around his forearms and on his boots as well.
A blue jewel shaped like an inverted triangle was set on the forehead of his helmet, which was emitting a cross-shaped flash.
His eyes' irises were blue and they displayed calm and concentration while long blond hair came out from behind him and reached all the way to the floor.
"Nothing, sir! Sigma was getting confident but insofar he hasn't done anything too annoying, sir." Blood Shadow reported.
"Fine. Remember to properly patrol, Sigma!"
"Y-yes, sir… Understood, sir."
"Fine! I'll go check with the others: Boss is lately into the hobby of going for long walks to make exercise so I take care of checking up while Kir Osh runs all systems." Omega looked satisfied.
"It took effort but we managed to convince him it was for the best. He needs more exercise to be up to the task." Blood Shadow nodded.
"Else Dr. Lartes gets stressed trying to convince him…"
"Huff. I know. Anyway. I'm going to check with the others. Things have been quiet but that rascal is sure to pull some stunt soon enough. Don't lower the guard."
"Roger, sir!"
"Really… We rummaged through everything to find old Battle Chips and we now have to fix the mess. I really should put them on the box."
"We aren't perfect, Netto – kun." Saito calmly replied.
"By the way… Twilight. No clue?"
"No. They keep on giving us random addresses." Blood Shadow sighed.
"And the "Talon"…? I thought they'd battle Nelaus again."
"Maybe they're bidding their time and improving their skills."
"Mwah, hah, hah… I'll aim a spotlight at them imitating sunlight's power and they'll flee to the nest! 'Cause they're an owl!" Sigma made up one of his lame jokes.
"Jeez. Just because their outfit is based on some yet-to-come-comic, which will feature the "Court of Owls", that doesn't mean they're owls… Your sense of humor, really."
"Mwah, hah, hah… "Oh! Foolish angel. Thou have been deluded by the power of the Demon Sword. Toss it into the Hell it came out from and bring peace to the land!"…" Sigma quoted.
"Huff. Oi, Sigma… See… That sounds like a Tales of Symphonia parody to me." Netto sighed.
"Totally." Saito agreed on that.
"Mwah, hah, hah… Good catch, Hikari – sama~…"
"Sama wa iranai."
"Meijin – sama is gonna complain!"
"Jeez. Sama wa iranai!" Saito sighed.
"Sigma! I take my eyes off for a couple minutes and you're up to nothing good again? SHEESH!" Omega growled over the radio.
"Yikes! Forgot it was connected!" Sigma gulped.
"That's what happens when you get cocky…" Blood Shadow sighed.
"You better not do something to annoy me. Else I'm gonna have you take a nap in the capsule for some days!" Omega warned.
"U-understood, sir."
"Leave Dragon Hell alone and focus on the patrol! Don't try to play smart, either! I know you all to well! It's been 5 years, you know!"
"I know, sir! I shall go patrol ASAP! And renew the defenses!"
"About time… Sheesh. When will you stop acting like a lazy guy?"
19:52 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Good evening. It's me: Omega. Is Blues there?"
"Yeah. Good evening, Omega."
Omega was talking with Blues just in front of the IPC firewall: several automated programs and heavily armed Security Navis were stationed around the area.
"You look more tense than the usual. Are you worried that Twilight is going to come hit you? He still has a grudge with you over that stunt of a couple years ago, after all."
"Not Twilight, but Gabcom… We've been working on a new coding for a digital TV channel and we know they're trying to do one, too, to see who gets that company as a partner… They probably want to see how we're doing it like and then come up with something "better" to appeal as doing the job more efficiently…" Blues whispered.
"I see. Maybe you want us to lend you guys the "maze"?" Omega suggested while closing his right hand around the chin.
"That'd do wonders, really. When could you bring it?"
"Well… It's easy to program and we have several copies floating around, so… I could be back with it in less than 2 hours: I firstly want to check out with the rest of the Net Saviors. When are you expecting the hack to happen? Do you have any estimates?"
"Our product should be ready by next week, so… I'm afraid they might try targeting us on Saturday or Sunday. But I see Saturday more probable: there's less staff and in Sunday the system is shut down to impede any external access." Blues whispered to Omega.
"Hum. Gotcha. Well then, I'll make sure to bring one copy over as soon as I finish checking on Isaac… Laika is at Sharo Nation, right?"
"Yeah. He went back four days ago: something popped out and he had to go back in a hurry: it'd seem they were in high need of Search Man's skills but they wanted Laika to be there, too." Blues confirmed.
"Talk about curious."
"Is security alright, Blues? Oh. Omega. Good evening." Ijuuin Enzan greeted as he opened his communications window.
"Enzan – sama: there are no abnormalities. I've double-checked to make sure only the trustable persons know about the project. Others are still charged with the new Link PET software."
"Fine. If Gabcom tries to come they'll have to leave with the tail between the legs."
"Say… Instead of confronting them… Will you allow me to give you guys an original idea? Something to dissuade them. This way no-one is harmed and no damage is done to either party." Omega looked like he was up to something.
"Sure. Don't worry, there won't be a record of it."
"Gotcha. I'll be back in less than 2 hours. One advice, Ijuuin: Lartes will soon be placing his "Pressure" Special Ability on you: he must be about to tell you that your diet is a hoax." Omega warned.
"Uh-oh. I had that feeling." Enzan grimly muttered.
"Crap. Last thing we needed." Blues muttered.
"My bad. It was sarcasm. Didn't mean to make fun of you."
"Ah. That's better. More tolerable than Shadow Man."
"Huff. You needn't tell me. I really want to install a serious mode switch into that guy, too. Miyabi has tried many times but he always finds some loophole to avoid it taking effect." Omega grumbled.
"Even if we did we've still got to deal with Cloud Man, too."
"Huff. Trade one evil for the other, huh? Anyway. I'm going to check with the others. Twilight might feel like attacking at 4AM, even!"
"That wouldn't surprise me, coming from that bastard…"
"Good point. Let's reinforce security and the passwords!"
19:57 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Crap! What bad memory! Today was Bargain Day at Higureya: I wanted to get a 50% off Hell's Burner and I now remember! Luckily, he doesn't close until 20:30 PM… I can make it on time!"
"Ah… Nelaus… You can have somewhat of a short memory when you want to: did you know it?"
A guy was running down a street.
The guy was about the twins' age and maybe some inches taller than either Netto or Saito.
He had neatly arranged blonde hair, which ended at his neck's base, and his eyes' irises were green emerald.
His facial features were rather smooth and suave, thus making him stand out somehow.
He carried a Link PET arm strap: his Link PET was colored golden and purple: its emblem was the Alphabet letter "I" colored purple.
"I know, Isaac."
"Guess you don't."
Isaac, his Net Navi, had a unique design and was about a meter and eighty tall.
His face was young and looked like a guy on his teens: his eyes' irises were purple and they had a hint of amusement to them.
His helmet had a central ruby jewel over the forehead shaped like a cross having four triangle ends: eight lines radiated from the central of it and spread across its surface.
The helmet's main color was navy blue and it was also filled with small round and random green dots.
His ear-pads had a white edge and a reddish central body: the Alphabet "I" letter colored purple had been printed there.
His neck had a piece of armor shaped like the Alphabet "V" protecting its base before the start of the chest: it had a cyan edge, which split it into two halves the insides of which were colored yellow.
His shoulders were slightly curved square pieces with brown edges, a central silver matrix and five bronze paws forming out of the southern edge, which weren't even 5cm long.
His main body color was blue and a central thin purple line spread from the neck's base until his waist, being interrupted by his chest emblem, which had the same design as that of his ear-pads.
Some small jade-colored pieces made of two triangles aiming in opposite directions fused at their base were set in columns along the sides of his upper body: none of them were taller than 2cm.
His waist had a belt with three converging rectangular stripes of white edges and black body.
These fused in a diamond having a gray body plus a repetition of his Navi emblem on its center.
His arms had purplish DNA imprints painted over their surface.
His forearm armor had a magenta matrix on them while his wrists were colored in a bronze color.
His hands were blue in color too and they had a circle with a white edge the insides of which depicted the Katana "I" colored purple: some "stars" were drawn at random over the background of the symbol.
His legs had some round dots set along their height, which contained a drawing: the edge was brown, the core of it was purple and eight slightly curved lines painted red stretched from the core: the gaps between each one were colored blue.
The knees contained a circling bracelet colored mahogany and having those two fused triangles on the front colored golden.
The boots were colored purple and had an eight-pointed sapphire set on the inward side just below the ankle
Eight thin indigo lines spread from each spook of the sapphire and across the boot.
Overall, he was very cool and looked advanced.
"Ironic! I have a chip implant on my brain and it doesn't help at all to keep my memories for little things: I got engrossed watching Super Mario Sunshine over YouTube and this happens to me." Nelaus muttered with a hint of irony.
"That's because the chip implant isn't there to do that…" Isaac sighed.
"I knew that! I was being ironic. You, too, can be somewhat rigid when it comes to this stuff: like Blues or Search Man." Nelaus quickly replied as he increased his pace.
Nelaus spotted the Higureya store about two street blocks ahead: three custom-looking motorbikes had been parked in front of it and Nelaus lifted his eyebrows.
"A crimson red Yamaha… An azure Honda… A brown Toyota… Higure – san got famous all of a sudden? I guess Ms. Glassy's horoscopes are smiling on him, for once… Despite that she turned out to be a spy by that Gate rascal who wanted to use Tamashita – san as a means to get info on me or make me feel more vulnerable. That blood jerk…" Nelaus muttered with a hint of intrigue.
"Yeah. But that's a tale of the past. Higure – sama's got his fan-girl club, too." Isaac sarcastically added.
"Yeah, yeah… Fan-girl club, alright…"
Three figures ran out of the store and climbed into the motorbikes: they ignited and ran off towards the south: Nelaus reached the store just as Higure Yamitarou came out: he looked panicked.
"… M-m-m-m-my Rare Chips! De masu~! Thieves, de masu~! Someone please stop them, de masu~! Call the police! De masu~! Net Saviors, de masu~! Someone~!"
"What the… Those guys stole Higure – san's Rare Chips?"
"Ah! Nelaus – kun, de masu! It's terrible, de masu!" Higure gasped.
"What happened, Higure – san?" Nelaus asked.
"Huff! These three persons wearing helmets came in, de masu! One asked this: "Cha are THE Higure Yamitarou?"… "Indeed, de masu~! Welcome, de masu~! What can I help you with? De masu?" "Sadly… We're gonna have your Rare Chips." "What did you say, de masu?" "My bad!" … One of them knocked me out and they then picked all of the cases on the shelves before running off, de masu!" Higure explained.
"Huh? What's this?" Nelaus wondered.
He spotted a piece of paper on the ground and he crouched to pick it up: both he and Higure had a look at it.
"Nelaus Rainon: if you want the Rare Chips back, call Hikari Netto and Ijuuin Enzan then come to the Kazaitou Insurance Inc. under construction satellite office. We shall be waiting."
"No signature…" Number Man muttered.
"I see. So that's how it was like!" Isaac gasped.
"What? Did you notice something?" Nelaus asked.
"Number Man… Today was Bargain Day?"
"No. It's tomorrow."
"Wait! But, then… The email I got half an hour ago about several Rare Chips being at 50%...? Those guys sent it?"
"Heh! So it'd seem! They wanted someone to pick that note up and they picked us for obvious reasons! One: although we've been living here for one year, we might not remember which days are Bargain Days. Two: Hikari Jr. and Sr. would come with the "Committee" escort and it wouldn't benefit them. Three: Blues is busy at IPC. Four: Search Man isn't around and Davis can't be counted as a Net Savior. Five: we're the only Net Saviors who could be lured here easily." Isaac exposed.
"Huh… You sounded like Holmes." Nelaus lifted his eyebrows.
"Whatever. Point is: we've gotta bring the twins and Blues along or else we won't get those Battle Chips back." Isaac summed up.
"Please, de masu! Get my Rare Chips back, de masu! Rare Chips are an otaku's passion in life, de masu!" Higure pleaded.
"Don't worry, Higure – san! I won't back up from a challenge. Let's call the guys!" Nelaus grinned.
"And bring out Bond's latest gadget, too." Isaac joked.
"Very funny!" Nelaus didn't find it funny.
"I'd rather say it was clichéd." Number Man muttered.
"Maybe, de masu…"
"Whatever… Eh… O. K. Found Hikari's number: let's dial them up first and then call Ijuuin." Nelaus muttered.
"Yo! Nelaus. What's up?" Netto asked.
"Trouble! Bring Rock Man over and head to the satellite office under construction: Ijuuin and I will meet you there. Some punks stole Higure – san's Rare Chips and wanna challenge us before return them."
"Cra! OK! I'll call Rock Man over. Meet you there in a few minutes!"
"Now onto Ijuuin…" Nelaus muttered.
"Nelaus? What's going on?" Enzan asked.
"Get on the move and come the under construction satellite office building: some punks wanna challenge us three to return the Rare Chips they stole off Higure - san." Nelaus quickly told him.
"A challenge, you say? I won't back up from any. Blues! Call a taxi to wait two blocks away so that it doesn't realize who the customer is. We've got work!" Enzan commanded.
"Roger, Enzan – sama!"
"I'll be heading over there, Ijuuin. Hikari and I will meet there."
"O. K. See you there." Enzan confirmed.
Nelaus switched off the transmission and placed the Link PET back on its spot before nodding to Isaac.
"B-be careful, de masu!" Higure warned.
"OH YEAH! LET ZA HIGURE HIT ZA NUMBER MAN!"
"I'm cursed! De masu~!"
"That's "Darkloid" Cloud Man, Yamitarou."
"So! Nelaus. You got some work, eh?"
"Talk for yourself. Always annoying your boss."
Cloud Man's 3D image suddenly appeared in front of them; he spread his arms open and a grin filled his face.
"Ex –senpai got bored of holding back and he's going all out? About time. We were starting to grow bored." He was unimpressed.
"Wrong, Comrade." A new voice rang out from nearby.
"Ex – senpai. Care to give me a teaser?" Nelaus discreely glanced around as if trying to find the origin.
"The "Talon" will soon figure out who they are along with Legion 64… We orbit around you, Nelaus… Also, no point in searching! I just materialized a speaker nearby! I'm not physically there!" The man sneered.
"No wonder." Isaac wasn't surprised.
"By the way, Arimetic Man! Did you figure out the sin, cos and tan of the infinite?" The man laughed.
"Very funny. Unlike Yamitarou, I'm hardly impressed by trolls."
"Kya~h! Someone call the head priest, de masu~!" Higure yelled from the store.
"Huff! Forget about them and let's go tackle these guys… Let's see what stuff they're made of… Let's hope it's quality steel!"