Chapter 3: Honor
08:24 AM (Japan Time), Saturday June the 13th…
"…Little does that punk expect this surprise strike! That contract will be mine! That's what ya get for telling me to go get lost in the Naraku! You brought that into yourself!"
"Yaito – sama… I have a bad feeling about this."
Glyde was sneaking across a Cyber World somewhere which was barely lit as if to signal lack of activity: he was hiding behind a column and looking forward: there didn't seem to be anyone yet a reddish glow pulsated from deep inside the Cyber World.
"That red glow…" Glyde argued.
"What the… Don't chicken! It's just the emergency lighting! Move on! Show some guts!" Yaito commanded.
Glyde gulped and flew forward while making sure to conceal from time to time: nothing moved and no sounds came out expect for what sounded like breathing of a large animal; Glyde began to sweat and slowly stepped forward until he reached a tall and large gateway with the banner "SERVER F11B" atop it.
"There it is! It's obvious! It was a good idea to make it look like I was planning on hitting their data backup center: they've diverted all resources there!" Yaito giggled.
Glyde slowly pulled the doors open: they creaked as they arched outwards and he gulped: the breathing sound became louder and a wave of heat rushed out of the room.
"Ya – Yaito – sama! S-something is there…! Something… dreadful! This pressure is no joke!" Glyde's teeth danced.
"It's a little setup to scare employees! Go! Go!" Yaito ordered.
"GROA~H!" A large roar rang out from inside of the gateway.
"A~h!" Glyde yelled in terror.
"What the…!" Yaito gasped.
The Cyber World shook as something large and heavy began to walk forward.
A gigantic red-colored Choina dragon came out of the gateway and unfolded its wings while roaring: it was easily ten meters large and close to five tall.
Its mere presence radiated intense heat and foresaw death and destruction.
"T-this is a real dragon…! I'm not a combat Net Navi…! I'm just a butler model…! A~h!" Glyde uttered before yelling in terror.
He began to run down the central lane while the dragon expelled flames through its nostrils and began to chase at a mad speed after Glyde: he soon spotted the firewall and stepped through the gateway labeled "TCP/IP PORT 80": it closed behind him and the firewall shook as the dragon seemingly collided with it:
"Uwa~h! Someone save me~!"
Glyde didn't stop there and ran outside of the IPC mainframe and into Internet City: he flew across the air until he reached the Ayanokouji Mansion's Cyber World entrance: he rushed in, crossed his firewall and then returned into the Link PET: he looked totally worn out.
"Yaito – sama~…! Please do not charge me such a mission again! IPC takes its security to the utmost limit!" Glyde pleaded.
"Crap. My "divide and conquer" strategy went ashtray! Bothersome Enzan! Ya knew the attack there was a diversion but ya set it up to have Glyde be eaten by yer pet: you even extended the red carpet and told us "come in, come in!" to make us fall for it!" Yaito cursed.
Her Link PET rang and she replied to the call: Omega showed up and was standing next to a wooden table with two wood benches attached to each side, which seemed to be part of a dining hall somewhere in the real world; he looked slightly amused.
"Ya are Omega! Whaddya want?" Yaito snapped.
"Yay! Uncle Omega's "terror n fear strategy" is a success!" A childish voice rang out close by.
"I told ya it'd be, Trill." Omega crouched and lifted Trill, who came onscreen.
"Good morning, Yaito – sama~!" Trill greeted.
"What… Cha two set me up? Aren't cha two neutral? Hmmm?" Yaito got a twitch over the right eye.
"Huh? Uncle Omega! What does "neutral" mean?"
"Hum… We aren't bad guys but we aren't good guys, either… It's a middle point in which you decide which side you pick to help.
"Ah… And we choose to help the good guys?"
"Correct! What Ayanokouji – sama means is that we weren't supposed to care for what happens between her and Ijuuin: but since we don't like friends fighting over a silly thing we asked Dragon to lend us his myth book to draw that monster and deploy it inside of IPC's Cyber World: as ya saw, they ran off because they were afraid of the big and mean dragon which hadn't had breakfast yet." Omega explained.
"Tee, heh, heh! Uncle Omega is a genius!" Trill exclaimed.
"Why, you…!" Yaito looked about to explode.
"Yaito – sama didn't like the joke, Uncle Omega?" Trill asked.
"Ayanokouji – sama doesn't like when others come up with jokes she couldn't think of: she'd rather get the credit for it."
"I'M SO GONNA BEAT YA~!" Yaito exclaimed.
"Oho. I'd like to see you trying." Omega calmly lifted his eyebrows.
"This golden-haired jerk…!" Yaito looked about to strangle someone.
"Yaito – sama…!" Glyde gulped.
"Maybe the Honorable Successor President would desire some humble advice from a humble cook?" A man's voice rang out off-screen using an old-fashioned speaking manner.
"Yay! Mister Dragon!" Trill giggled.
A man came onscree; he was about a meter and eighty tall and in his late 30s.
His eyes' irises were brown, his hair was black, and ended in a thin string behind his head which had a Chinese-like decoration.
They wore a goldenrod tunic and a brownish bamboo hat plus traditional wood sandals.
"Oho. Ayanokouji – sama: you're about to experience Dragon Hell's kilometric speech."
"What the…! This weird-haired guy…!" Yaito grabbed the TV remote and brandished it like if it was a sword.
"The humble cook would suggest to the Honorable Successor President to have an honorable bath in the swimming pool or, rather, in the purifying waters of an onsen: it would calm down the anger stirred up out of jealousy and envy while bringing about peace and stability."
"HUH? What did ya say?"
"The Great Confucius' teachings claimed that one's purpose in life could be found through prolonged meditation and concentration: it would be advisable to seek others' counsel and free mind and body from anger and fury which threaten to trigger a pointless conflict." The man calmly exposed without changing pose.
"W-where did you guys get that dude outta from?"
"We hired him 'cause he was discrete and had several years of experience… And he's a wise guy."
"Heck! Once I find the name of your company then you'll hear from my Papa: prepare to get kicked out!" Yaito threatened.
"Sorry. But we're no "company" per se. I doubt even your powerful father being able to put a stop to a small group like ours when we have the Net Police's support behind it." Omega sighed, disappointed.
"Excuse me! Is Trill over there?" A girl's voice rang out off-screen.
"Ah! Iris – oneechan!" Trill exclaimed.
"Who…?" Yaito frowned.
Iris came into the camera but it looked like she hadn't noticed it was there and was instead looking for Trill.
"Good morning, Dragon – san, Omega – san… Trill! How many times do I tell you to write a note? I've been teaching you hiragana and katakana for something, haven't I?" Iris scolded.
"No good, Trill. You must let Iris know where you're going to: she's responsible for you, after all!" Omega told him.
"Trill is sorry! Trill was told by Uncle Omega of the surprise and got so excited…" Trill apologized.
"Aha-hah!" Yaito exclaimed.
"Oh? Is that Ayanokouji – san…? Hikari – kun told me about his classmates one day… She's the heiress of Gabcom, right?"
"Yeah. By "Hikari – kun" do you mean Jr.?" Omega asked.
"Ah… Yes… That's correct. I just tend to have the habit to name his brother "Rock Man" but I should call him Saito – kun… Yet… Well… It sounds… somewhat… too personal, I'd say… We're not exactly classmates, but… Guess I'm taking the mannerisms of this culture a bit too literally, even…" Iris muttered.
"Say! Ya are the one who hooked Enzan up?" Yaito questioned with obvious suspicion.
"What did you say? I "hooked" Ijuuin – san "up"? Eh… I know who he is but I'm afraid we haven't met in person yet." Iris frowned and didn't seem to know the point.
"It's an expression to mean if you're his girlfriend."
"No. I am a Navi, after all."
"Ah. So this girl is a Navi… So who hooked Enzan up?"
"Huff. Nobody did, see. He's never seen any possible way to allow for such a hum… relationship… to happen."
"The jerk…! He's been fooling me for years and laughing at my back…! I'm going to make my flying sky-mowers mincemeat him and his stupid IPC company…!" Yaito got a twitch over the right eye.
"Come on… Were it not for IPC then we'd never gotten past the PET I model! They came up with the PET II, Advanced PET II, PET III and the current Link PET!" Omega told her.
"Heck. I'll remember this!"
The communication ended Omega walked over to the Link PET set atop a tripod and picked it up: Trill jumped into the ground and stretched.
"Morning…" A voice yawned.
A man stepped in; he looked on his mid – twenties, had messy jet-black hair and red eye irises.
He wore an open navy blue vest and a white t-shirt with the Chrysler Building's silhouette painted set on it plus black and white sports pants and white sneakers.
He looked like he'd come from doing a lot of effort given his sleepy face and the way he dragged his feet into the room.
"Boss… You overdid it again, didn't you?" Omega sighed.
"Can't be helped, Omega…" He muttered.
He sat on one bench and stretched while looking around.
"Ah. Iris, Trill… Good morning." He greeted.
"Good morning." Iris politely replied.
"Yay! Mister Vadous came! Mister Vadous must be like Clark Kent: he has a civilian identity, too! Mister Kir Osh told Trill!" Trill giggled.
"Yeah. He wasn't that much off the mark." Vadous made half a smile.
"Where did you go today?" Omega asked.
"Kyoto's Imperial Palace… Those gardens are just perfect for me."
"You're seeking something to shake off stress, then… By the way… Mr. Trouble dropped by last evening."
"Lovely. Whose turn is it now? The Four Knights of the Apocalypse?"
"They call themselves "Rama": there seems to be four field agents and a guy who Rock Man labeled the "puppeteer"… The guy who challenged him was named Ancient and his Navi was Ronin Man. According to Higure's witness… The other three guys had similar kanji on their clothes which indicated their aliases: Past, Present and Future." Omega listed.
"Ronin Man, huh… Heh. I guess he and Shadow Man will battle to death one day." Vadous grinned.
"Guess so. They use a tool named "Annihilator Chip" which can seemingly allow this "Puppeteer" guy to remotely control Navis. We don't have any idea of what Navis the other guys use. They even developed a machine named Duel Stage which allows up to 4 Net Navis to Plug-In and do a Net Battle with one/third proportion holograms." Omega finished.
"Hum. I see. If I could bet, I'd say we'll soon see that Ancient guy quarreling with Dark Miyabi. And that machine looks like an imitation of Duel Monsters' Duel Disk." Vadous shrugged.
"Sure. By the way, I think those guys are companions of our fellow Mr. Biker, "Past"…"
"No doubt. And I can't remember his Boss' name now."
"Guess they'll let it slip."
"Yay! Trill will go take care of helping with the cleansing of the room! See ya later! Let's go, oneechan!"
Omega's Link PET (which had the purple Alphabet 'V' letter set on it against a black background and was colored purple and red) rang, so he answered the call; Dark Miyabi showed up onscreen.
"Miyabi. Let me guess. A bearded guy with a Navi named Ronin Man showed up there." Omega guessed.
"Yeah. He's starting to give me a headache." Miyabi grumbled.
"… And such you can't be labeled as a true ninja, Miyabi – dono! You haven't pledged loyalty to any Lord." Ancient was telling him off-screen with obvious arrogance.
"You and I are the same: ronin!" Ronin Man told Shadow Man.
"Whatever. This guy killed my good mood." Shadow Man grumbled.
"Ronin's Counterattack!"
"Explosion!"
"I'll leave you two to your quarrel. Please ring me up if you need someone to kick that guy's nose." Omega snickered.
"Oh. Count on it." Miyabi looked animated.
"Who…?" Ancient grumbled.
"Hmpf! Your worst nightmare… The hairdresser!"
"The hairdresser…!" Vadous barely held back his laughter.
"Who are you? Jokes don't work on me!" Ancient questioned.
"Ask your Lord. Go meet him in Nagano prefecture!"
"Why, you…!"
"Are you supposed to be the Viceroy of the Trade Federation? Your monocle hints at it. Or better: the Archduke of Crap Land." He taunted.
"I obey the will of Present – sama! We Rama shall soon turn Net Navis back into what they should've been from the very start: tools to be ruled by humans!" Ancient proclaimed.
"Shoo. That's ripped off a movie!"
"You dare insult Priest – sama, too! Your venomous tongue knows no limits! Ronin Man will take your neck to my Lord!" Ancient was clearly pissed off by now.
"Oh. I'm so scared." Omega whistled the Super Mario Bros. tune.
"Mishirushi choudai!" Ancient exclaimed.
"That's the old-fashioned samurai motto for: "I'll slice your neck". You're so unoriginal, really… I guess the scriptwriters will have to change all of your lines by next episode."
"Hah! And you're supposed to be an assassin, Shadow Man? I've brought you to the edge of your strength!" Ronin Man exclaimed.
"Muramasa Blade!"
"Impossible! I've been fooled, you say?" Ronin Man gasped.
"No way…!" Ancient cursed.
"Hmpf. A Sengoku era ninja always has some tricks up his sleeves, you archduke wannabe come out from a 15th century engraving." Miyabi sarcastically replied.
"Guo~h!" Ronin Man groaned.
"The End." Vadous grinned.
"Damn…! Rock Man was one thing, but you lowlife…! You shunned me even further than I already am…!" Ronin Man cursed.
"I don't know what training you have done but all enemies I've faced knew about my strategies and Muramasa Blade use beforehand: you haven't done your research. You fail like Atomic Network."
"Correct. I think you'll come with us to the Net Police HQ."
"Wrong. Dark Miyabi." A manly voice rang out.
"Ah! Present – sama!" Ancient sounded relieved.
"Ancient. You're still useful, so… I know Priest – sama personally assigned you this target but you should've researched it up before heading up to challenge him in the same place as yesterday evening."
Miyabi looked at the western balcony through the PET; the lack of lighting and the angle made it hard to spot his face but he did take a photo.
"Dark Miyabi. You and your companions will soon experience the true power we Rama hold. Until then…" Present sentenced.
There was a loud bang followed by a white flash: two motorbikes ignited and ran off while the flash and bang died down.
"They ran… Whatever." Miyabi muttered.
"Hmpf. Sengoku V2 will knock at their doors before they realize it. So Says Shadow Man He Who Lives In Thou Creepy Shadow Of Doubt…"
"So… Their Danna is named "Priest": I'd almost sworn he was named "Far away past" or mukashi…" Vadous muttered.
"Or it could've been either "past age", kodai or "age", jidai. But we knew his name ever since October, anyway." Omega suggested with a smile.
"True. And I guess Twilight will soon stick out either his hide or will send his "Talon", Darth Bapgei, to battle Nelaus."
"By Confucius!" Dragon Hell gasped from the kitchen.
"What now?" Vadous sighed.
"There is a plush doll of a man clad in red and blue!"
"Ah! Here's Trill's Mario doll! Thanks, Mister Dragon! See ya!" Trill replied as he ran off with the plush on his hand.
"Sheesh. It's just Mario. Don't make such a fuss over nothing, Dragon!"
"I apologize to the Great…"
"And quit it with the kilometric speech! Next time I'll hire a Californian!"
"Yeah… I think he'll do wonders, even." Omega grumbled.
09:16 AM (Japan Time)…
"… So… That Ancient guy challenged you and Shadow Man but they didn't get to use the "Annihilator Chip"… They've must been confident."
"Wasn't it obvious?"
"It sure was: he fell for the Muramasa strategy."
"I'd rather he fell for my curse."
"A curse…? More references to SMT3: Nocturne?"
"The Sengoku curse! Followed by the lazy curse!"
Miyabi had come to the Hikari house and was speaking with Netto and Saito in the living room while they sat on the sofas: Shadow Man was chuckling, Blood Shadow looked uneasy and Sigma was laughing aloud: Miyabi was calmly sipping his tea and looked unimpressed: the twins looked slightly fed up with Sigma's jokes.
"What mood, really…" Miyabi muttered.
"Either way… He should've been hired to take part in one Meiji Era drama series so popular nowadays… Or gone to Bombay and dance the hula-hop by using a snake as a ring…"
"What kind of collage is that, anyway? And stop loopholing the serious mode switches I install. Else I'll tell Vadous to rewrite your personality file, once and for all!" Miyabi grumbled.
"Oh? Interesting. I'd like to see him trying." He chuckled.
"Sheesh. Don't provoke Boss or it'll be worse." Blood Shadow sighed.
"Yeah. You haven't seen his anger." Sigma sighed, too.
"Interesting. Guess it must be as fierce as the Mantra Army."
"Nah, more like a fierce deity unleashed." Sigma warned.
"Yeah. So behave or else you're in for a world of trouble."
"Fine. Then I'll go to the hidden village to learn new arts!"
09:43 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Have you understood your mission objectives?"
"Yes, sir."
"Good. Go for it."
"Yes, Master."
The three "Swordsmen" were kneeling in front of a large LCD screen placed within a room somewhere: it displayed a white circle with the black Kanji hametsu (annihilation) on it over a brown background: a man's voice had spoken.
"That stuff we told Ancient is to make the enemy believe we aren't serious and they won't be able to fight us in a real manner: our true goal is cleverer than that but I won't speak of it. You have your orders and you know what to do. Remember: keep your covers up. Rama will guide you towards your goal. Go." "Priest" commanded.
"Roger."
The screen switched off and the three of them calmly stood up: they exchanged quick shakings before heading off on different directions: east, west and south.
Heh. I've been shining for some months already but the others now get to shine too… The wait was totally worth it!
Past walked down a metallic corridor into a small garage containing his bike and some metal crates: he calmly rummaged into them and picked up some stuff which he placed in a backpack: he put in on and then equipped a motorbike helmet as he climbed into the bike and checked it out.
"Oil levels: check. Gasoline: check. Tires: check. Brake fluid: check. All checks complete." He automatically listed.
The shutter in front of him opened: the bike climbed up a ramp and emerged from beneath the ground in the midst of a factory-filled district
"Strategy Analysis: Start. Time for my pal to make their debut…"
10:52 AM (Melbourne Time)…
"… So, Master Twilight… These "Rama" guys…?"
"Yeah, Philip… "Past" and his buddy "Priest"… And I gotta agree with kyoudai that the thing's an attempt to make real Duel Monsters' Duel Disk. They also remind me of the Doma swordsmen, too!"
"I knew it was too similar to be a coincidence. Also, good point."
"OH YEAH! LET ZA DUEL HIT ZA DISK!"
"Cloud Man! Shut up!"
"Oh crap!"
Two guys had been talking inside of a living room in a house somewhere and while sitting on the sofa.
"Cloud Man: you don't learn…"
The one on the left young man could be about a meter and sixty tall or maybe a bit taller.
His hair was jet black and he had green emerald irises.
He simply wore a long-sleeved black t-shirt and jeans: he had white sneakers on too.
"Jeez. Master Twilight…"
"Cloud Man. You're starting to PISS ME OFF. AS ALWAYS. Stop provoking Darth Bapgei, my apprentice!"
Twilight could be about a meter and eighty tall or a bit taller.
His hair was blonde and his eyes' irises were green emerald too.
He had a black suit over a white shirt, a black tie and pants along with shoes.
"Cloud Man!"
"Yikes! Commander Freeze Man!"
"We've been like this for 10 MONTHS!"
"True." Yamato Man fumed.
"Not 10 days!" Swallow Man grumbled.
"And not 10 weeks!" Cosmo Man cursed next.
"This jerk!" Zoan Gate Man muttered.
"Metto~?"
"Legion 64! Spread across the 5 continents and bring me news of "Rama" and their activities! Such is my desire!" Twilight ordered.
"Roger! Go for it!" Zoan Gate Man ordered the Mettools.
"The guy doesn't learn. Feels like a gorilla!"
"I know, Bapgei, I know… Cloud Man drives anyone MAD."
"At least he's not as worse as Sigma and Shadow Man…"
"Huff. I know. Those two are so pathetic! I'm afraid that Cloud Man moron is using them as reference!" Twlight grumbled.
"Not like I intended to… So I guess the Justice Council will be visited by one of those guys too… They're too juicy of a target to ignore them. Guess the heavy builders are saved for them!"
"Obviously. Heh. Their debut wasn't half-bad either… No wonder they've been quietly growing ever since a year ago… And I've gotten a hunch of whom "Past" is… But I won't speculate yet. I need some evidence. It's only a matter of time, anyway!"
"Interesting."
"Isn't it? Well. Let's go resume the sword training."
"Glory to the Rule of Two… Darth Twilight shall rise!"
Both stood up and left the living room to head down a corridor.
"Just you wait, kyoudai… The seeds will one day bloom into flowers!"