Chapter 11: Virtual Reality
07:48 AM (Japan Time), Monday June the 22nd…
"… Wow. You're early today, Nelaus."
"Yeah… Something was bugging me, I guess."
Nelaus was standing inside of his house's kitchen and preparing two toasts with some strawberry jam to them.
He placed them on a dish and served some water in a glass before sitting down in the table and slowly began to munch them:
He was wearing navy blue summer pajamas and white socks along with brown slippers.
His Link PET had been left next to his right hand on top of the table.
"But we don't have anything today: even Tamashita went to Nagoya to see some relatives and will be there for a week's time… Or do you think you shouldn't get bad habits?" Isaac brought up.
"Guess that's part of it, too… But I really wanna take part in a VR mission: I'm missing those. I need some thrill." Nelaus muttered.
"Good idea: we could wait for the twins to wake up, too, and then Mr. Denpa would come pick us up: it's been a while since we've seen him around… I guess some investigation popped out."
"No wonder. The "Committee" is putting a large crackdown on organized crime in some of the most important Japanese regions…" Nelaus shrugged and drank some water.
"By the way, Nelaus… You know what happens next Monday?" Isaac brought.
"Monday? Is there a national holiday or what? Sorry. I'm still not really used to the Japanese national holiday calendar…" Nelaus frowned.
"No… It has nothing to do with Japanese national holidays… It's an important day!"
"Hmmm… Someone's birthday, you mean to say?" He tried guessing.
"Yours."
Nelaus coughed and spat some water.
"Mine!" He gasped.
"You're not gonna tell me you'd forgotten… I guess so many things in just 358 days have been too much for you to handle."
"How could I…? 17… Wow. Only one year… It seems it was yesterday when I was working for Deadly Pandora…!" Nelaus gasped.
"I can't blame you, then… Don't be surprised if the guys throw you a surprise party, even. I heard that even the twins forgot their 15th birthday that summer and the Subspace threw a surprise party at them because it was an important moment: they were gonna begin the second half of middle school. This year's party was slightly scaled down but you saw how cool it was nevertheless." Isaac grinned.
"And I even thought I wouldn't age…" Nelaus muttered.
"Silly. You age. Just because aNAYA had messed with your genes to try to write off "love", "shyness" and made you sterile that doesn't mean you don't age as a normal person. Sure, maybe you won't grow much hair in either the face or the body, but… Hey. You'll look cool."
"Guess so… I better get ready for any surprise party they throw at me… I'll like it: I'm sure of it." Nelaus looked animated.
He finished his breakfast and cleansed up before heading upstairs and checking his cupboard.
He picked up a white t-shirt, a pair of black boxers, jeans and white socks: he calmly dressed up and then folded his pajamas and socks to place them under the pillow as he fixed and arranged the bed back.
"Good. All's set. Let's get moving."
"Yeah! Looking forward to a good VR mission to get into shape. And to vent off the exams' tension!"
07:59 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Oi. Aibou. All systems are now down and security is outta the league, too! Ya can make your entrance: I'll play along my theme."
"Hmpf. Do as you like."
Past was riding his motorbike which was parked near a decrepit-looking building which the name "BLACK BINDINGS" written on its façade: two grunt-looking men were standing next to the entrance.
The building's windows were painted black; it was two meters tall and surrounded by concrete walls which had glass shards embedded on top of them: it seemed to be eight meters wide by ten large.
Warehouses were erected at both left and right of it.
"Let's go." Past commanded.
"Wroh, hoh, hoh, hoh! Burnin' flames are comin' to burn ya guys!"
"Yeah. Future has been sticking his Kansai dialect into you."
He opened the rear box and took out a Heckler & Koch sub-machinegun: he checked its ammunition and quickly shot at the two thugs' feet to scare them: he accelerated and spun the bike around to hit them with the sides and knock them away.
"Get lost." He announced.
He then shot at the main door's handle and burst in with the bike into a small hall: he quickly descended a ramp leading to a basement room and broke the lock of an armored with a short burst of bullets.
"Out of the way!"
He rammed into it with the bike to open it and quickly aimed at four or five thugs who'd been sitting on chairs placed around a desk set in the middle of a dimly lit stone corridor while playing Trumps and drinking beer: they stood up and looked baffled.
"What?" They all gasped.
"Lift your hands." Past ordered.
"Who the hell are you lowlife?" One demanded.
"A bounty hunter: I'll be rewarded if you lowlifes go down. If you wanna hate someone, hate your rivals in the business."
"Damn." They cursed.
The sound of police cars' sirens filled the air: Past suddenly jumped out of the bike and landed on top of the table to then deliver some precise kicks and punches to knock the thugs out: he broke all of the metallic doors' locks and then climbed again into the bike.
"Let's get out."
He ran off the building and quickly entered the warehouse at the right: a "Dimensional Converter" was waiting there.
"Mission: complete." He announced.
"Wroh, hoh, hoh, hoh! It was fun!" Balrog laughed.
The "DC" ignited and Past was warped into the garage room inside of the HQ: he cut the contact and climbed down from the bike to then look at a LED above the door, which was lit green.
"I'm being expected." He muttered.
He calmly stepped into the LCD screen room and kneeled; the screen turned on to display the logo.
"Good work, Past. That was the biggest bunch of thugs in Fukushima Province, so… We're making large progress. Keep it up. Those bastards must be starting to get desperate, and that fits them! Let's keep it up and slowly lead them to destroy each other. That'd be fitting indeed."
"Indeed, dir. By yours orders, sir."
"Also… Remember to keep yourself at bay but don't decline any invitations or anything. Dismissed."
"Roger, sir. Goodbye, sir."
08:11 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Eh… Priest – sama? You look somewhat down, sir…"
"Huh? Eh? Ah… That's… I dozed out."
"Aren't you overworking yourself, sir?"
"Maybe…"
Priest was sitting in a black armchair inside of his command room and a holographic screen's glow illuminated him.
He had a hood and veil hid most of his face and he had sunglasses on, too.
He looked slightly over a meter and sixty tall and wore crimson robes with the Kanji shisai (priest) written over the chest.
He also seemed to sport white sneakers and black fingerless gloves:
Annihilator Man's upper body could be seen displayed in the lower right corner of the screen: he looked somewhat concerned.
"Sir. It wouldn't be reasonable to try to stay up so late and wake so early: it will have a toll on your body, sir. I could perfectly take care of such research myself, sir…" Annihilator Man offered.
"… Yeah. You're right, Annihilator Man, but… This is something personal to me: it isn't just fueling Past by having him destroy these thugs who left him marked for life… Thus I feel obliged to help him, too, more than anyone else. Prophetess may "deliver" but since that helps finding out new businesses then it's valid." Priest sighed.
"I wasn't intending to question your personal motives, sir… I apologize."
"Don't mind it: I ain't that strict on protocol or anything… Maybe I should go nap for another while: simply tell any others that business popped out and you'll be relaying my orders." Priest barely repressed a yawn.
"Yes, sir. By your orders, sir."
"… I don't know how far this will come, but… It's too early to tell… But nevertheless… I'll do all I can to ruin Twilight's businesses!"
09:48 AM (Japan Time)…
"… O. K. We're all set."
"Sure. It's been a while since last time."
"Yay! VR! VR!"
Nelaus, Netto and Trill were standing inside of a cubical metallic room about eight meters tall, and eight wide.
A device was set on the ceiling along with a few LED lights which provided the illumination and the only entrance/exit was a set of double armored doors on the south wall: a "Dimensional Area" was taking effect.
Netto and Nelaus were holding their Link PETs with both Rock Man and Isaac inside and their "Synchro Chips": while Nelaus' was the normal Science Labs model, Netto's one included a central brownish dome with an emerald edge and eight straight spokes radiating from it in all eight directions: the purple "V" logo was set on place of the Hikari family crest which had been displaced to the body just before the contacts.
"It's been over a year since we got this new "Synchro Chip". It works splendidly!"
"Go!" Nelaus rallied.
"Synchro Chip, Slot In! CROSS FUSION!" Both exclaimed.
"CF" Netto's design was unchanged but he couldn't avoid glancing at his right to see "CF" Nelaus' design.
"CF" Nelaus' helmet kept the blue coloring yet it had gained three square dots on the ear-pads and on the middle of the forehead which were colored golden, crystal and silver from left to right: a black matrix filled the rest of the helmet's surface.
His eyes were unchanged, and some short blonde hair came out behind the helmet.
The emblem remained unchanged and so did the armor protecting the base of his neck.
Yet, on the space below the emblem and before the waist belt (unchanged) the alphabet letters "N" and "S" colored in a platinum color had been drawn: the "N" was on the left and the "S" to the right of the vertical line splitting the body in two.
The shoulder design hadn't changed and the arms' patterns remained the same yet his forearms armor was different: the armor over the wrist was transparent purple in color and the Alphabet "N" letter colored green was set over it.
The space over the palm had a black circle which contained a small red dot in the middle surrounded by different scales of red from dull red to crimson red.
The fingers had transparent red rings set on each one which glowed with a dull red glow.
His waist belt design hadn't been altered and his legs' drawings and knee guards were still the same.
His boots had slightly changed because they now had red and black matrixes across their whole surface.
These matrixes included those "eyes" like in the space over the hands and set on both sides of each boot.
"Let's go!"
"Ready… Start!"
The lights dimmed and the device on the ceiling hummed: the environment was surrounded by green and black matrix.
"Bootstrap: started. BIOS check-up… Complete. Initiating VR OS Version 1.5.7…" An automated voice announced.
The surroundings were surrounded by a pale blue halo and changed to cybernetic-like space; circuitry boards could be seen spanning over a large distance to converge in one irregular round shining "portal";the three persons in the VR Room seemed to "fly" towards it and all became an intense white light.
The three of them appeared inside of what looked like military barracks somewhere: most of the building looked torn down and like it'd been violently attacked: the streets were largely unlit and there was no moon in the sky.
"Wow. Nighttime sneaking mission…" "CF" Netto whispered.
"Sounds cool." "CF" Nelaus grinned.
A holographic screen opened and displayed a map of the area: some purple spots were moving either alone or in pairs along some of the streets: there were two black ones and a red one complimented with three blue spots.
"I guess the purple spots are the "Darkloids". We're the blue spots. But who are the two black spots and the red spot?" "CF" Netto wondered.
"Hmmm… Mr. Vadous! Did you add something at the VR at the last moment, maybe?" "CF" Nelaus called out.
"Well…" Vadous trailed off through the radio.
"Guess he did. The point must be to take out the Darkloids without raising alarms and then proceed to the other end of the city where we'll most likely find the goal flag… Let's get moving." "CF" Netto shrugged.
"Let's go! Yay!"
The three of them ran off the barracks and made sure to take cover under the unlit spots: they heard sounds coming from a nearby alley and both Darkloid Bright Man and Sword Man came out while discussing.
"I insist! The great I alone can handle this! I don't need a Cerberus-inspired swordsman to stalk me!" Bright Man grumbled.
"Shut up. You're no more than little crap which sparkles." Sword Man's read head drily told him.
"Wha~t?" Bright Man growled.
"Have a problem? Speak it with Shade Man – sama. He is the one who organized the patrols, after all." Sword Man challenged.
"Shade Man – sama ain't involved! End of the tale!" Bright Man yelled.
"Hmpf. Then go ahead and disobey: Shade Man – sama will put a prize on your neck." Sword Man shot back.
"Nya~h! Check it out! We'll see 'bout that!" Bright Man growled.
The two of them kept on discussing after they crossed through the street and vanished: the group silently moved forward and soon reached a wide round plaza: most of its surface was covered in a blackish-colored mud-like substance: the Alphabet letter M with two "strokes" drawn over it and colored red was set on the east wall: the highest mud concentration seemed to be around the center of the plaza.
"What the… Bubble Man was here and this is his idea of a strategy to trap intruders?" "CF" Netto muttered.
"Yay! Mud!" Trill giggled.
"I've seen this somewhere before." "CF" Nelaus frowned.
"Super Mario Sunshine." Isaac concreted.
"So that's the add-on Mr. Vadous placed… Then… Could those three mysterious spots be…?" Saito muttered.
"Mamma mia!"
"Mwah, hah, hah…! Burn!"
"Get 'im, daddy!"
Mario, carrying the "Pump" device from said game attached to him, was running away from Koppa and Koppa Jr; the second carried a brush-like tool and a cloth with a pattern over his chest.
"Sorry. I got inspired…" Vadous sounded shy.
"Don't mind it, Vadous – san. I've always wanted to meet a video game's character in the flesh." "CF" Netto joked.
"Technically, this isn't in the "flesh" since your body is now a simulation inside of the VR Room's system."
"Yeah, as he says…" Isaac added.
"Your "flesh" per se is still in the real world and affixed there." Rock Man added.
"Jeez. I didn't need ya to tell me that, Wikipedia – sama!" "CF" Netto sarcastically replied.
"Mamma mia!" Mario uttered.
"Burn, burn and bu~rn!" Koppa laughed.
"Hit 'im, hit 'im!" Koppa Jr. laughed.
"Let's go classical style! Hop!" "CF" Netto laughed.
He jumped over Koppa's head and he suddenly was deleted: "CF" Nelaus did the same for Koppa Jr. and the same result ensued.
"Whoa. It works just like in the Super Mario Bros. DX game Omega lent me, even…" "CF" Nelaus whistled in surprise.
"Mamma mia!" Mario uttered.
He began to use his Pump to cleanse the mud around the area: once the central mass vanished, a large graphite statue of Shade Man in a victorious pose emerged from beneath the ground while being still covered in large mud stains: Mario then ran off somewhere else while the other three barely held their laughter back.
"Let's g-go on forward… Let's leave this thing as it is… If Bubble Man is included he'll be given the job of making it shine again…" "CF" Netto was barely holding back his laughter.
"Y-yeah… Come, Trill… We're gonna sneak past the bad guys and find the goal." "CF" Nelaus instructed.
"Yay! Let's hide!"
They ran off the square and hid in a nearby abandoned repairs shop: Darkloids Beast Man and Flash Man walked past them and into the square only to gasp.
"What the…!" Beast Man uttered.
"Shade Man – sama's statue…!" Flash Man gasped.
"Oi! Let's make Bubble Man clean up this mess: if Shade Man – sama comes here at morning to proclaim the full victory then he'll have all of the night patrol's members' heads!" Beast Man urged.
"Y-yeah! Let's go!" Flash Man gasped.
They ran southwards while the three of them made their way through some more streets until they spotted another barracks building: they hid between some debris and watched on as Darkloids Desert Man and Video Man walked past them.
"This apocalyptic sight is what Shade Man – sama enjoys the most. I'm making sure to record plenty of it." He chuckled.
"Now we Darkloids control 60% of the world. It won't be long until we control the remaining 40%!" Desert Man laughed.
They walked or crawled out of sight while the trio entered the barracks and found a ragged black flag with the word "GOAL" written on it using red letters: they grabbed it and green-colored 3D letters showed up in the midst of the air:
MISSION COMPLETE!
The "portal" showed up and they flew towards it: the group appeared inside of the real-world VR Room while the matrix and the "Dimensional Area" vanished: Netto and Nelaus picked their Link PETs and placed them on place as a new holographic screen showed up in front of them:
VR CUSTOMIZER
MODE: SNEAK
TIME: 04:44
RANK: A
USERS: H. NETTO, N. RAINON, ROCK MAN, ISAAC, TRILL
HAVE A NICE DAY!
"… Not bad." Netto commented.
"Heh. It was original." Nelaus grinned.
"Yay!" Trill exclaimed.
"Those improvisations add some fun to the picture."
"Yeah. It was fun meetin' the Super Trio."
"I'm glad you guys actually liked it… I thought you'd told me I'm too much of a gamer, even…" Vadous admitted through a speaker.
"Please think for some more of them by the next time we come: it'll add a new level of thrill to it!"
"Sure. I'm always looking to make my little ideas come real."
"We'll drop by Trill and Iris' room before returning. Good morning."
"Ah. And don't trust any rumors about diets: they're faker than any Picasso copy." Vadous warned with a hint of amusement.
"I guess Dekao will be trying them out in vain but will find out they're just talk." Netto grinned.
"Boo~…" A familiar voice echoed.
"Sigma. Don't mess with the speakers." Blood Shadow grumbled.
"Sigma!"
"Yikes! Commander Omega!"
"Sigma… Always messing it up. We told you about the mess by trying to upload Tzar: The Burden of the Crown into the system a year ago, right?"
"Yeah. You got trapped into the sprites because he made a mistake when uploading the software and had to fight to the end to get out."
"He spent several days switched off in the capsule and that was enough of a lesson or so we think."
"Oh. Non-fortunate traveler of sin and crime. Thou path shall lead thou to the Halls of Sun Tzu where eternal struggle awaits." Dragon Hell calmly quoted in English.
"Jeez. There goes Dragon – san again." Netto sighed.
"By the way, Netto – kun… Let's not forget to arrange for Tooru – kun to come over so that we can play some Wii games."
"Sure. It's funnier to play together."
"Smash Man will visit Nam Hsams!"
"Not with the "mirroring curse" again…" Nelaus groaned.
"Shadow Man will visit Nam Repus!"
"Sigma!"
"Yikes! Commander Omega, sir…!"
"Shut the trap up NOW."
"R-roger."
"Huff. You NEVER learn!" Blood Shadow fumed.
"…endless struggle and battling which bring about collapse of the Natural Balance Spirits and such…"
"DRAGON HELL! ANGER GOD'S COMING!" Vadous roared over the speakers.
"Huff! Man! Dragon – san and the others… The city goes mad in the summer!"
"Yeah, I can see that." Nelaus rolled his eyes.
"Almost as if Cloud Man's stupidity infected us all." Isaac grumbled.
"Or ex – Boss sense of humor which was so LAME." Nelaus grumbled.
"Somehow, that doesn't surprise me." Netto rolled his eyes.
"Seeing how that Twilight moron had it, too…"