Chapter 21: Pyramid
07:35 AM, Sunday July the 2nd…
"… Whoa. How did this pop out of nowhere?"
"It'd seem it was camouflaged but its camouflage device malfunctioned thus revealing it."
"I see. But I doubt Rama building this thing."
"Yeah. I get that same vibe."
Rock Man, Omega, Blues and Search Man were standing in front of a large pyramid-shaped building somewhere in the Cyber World: the surroundings mirrored a desert and the pyramid looked worn down by the winds and time: it was over a hundred meters tall and had a clear entrance gateway built on the front face at ground level.
"Look at how worn out it looks… Whoever built it up was fond of realistic details." Rock Man signaled.
"Yeah. And it's almost saying "I'm a trap: come and tackle me"…"
"Traps are our specialty." Search Man calmly replied.
"Yeah. Let's find out who built this." Blues agreed on it.
"Maybe there's a cool Battle Chip, too." Netto grinned.
"Who knows?" Enzan shrugged.
"Vice President – sama does." Laika joked.
"Will you quit it, Laika?" Enzan grumbled.
"Dunno." Laika shrugged.
"Heh, heh, heh! You two are like ice and flames." Netto joked.
"More like hammer and nail…"
"OI! What was that for?" Both protested.
Blues and Search Man were barely holding back their chuckles.
"Go!" Omega rallied.
They ran inside of the pyramid and found a small stone bridge crossing a deep abyss and ending in a square platform which had a round metallic object set on its surface.
There was a set of two metallic doors in front of them locked by three padlocks, a bridge leading over to a descending stone spiral stair at the left and an ascending stone spiral stair at the right: the ceiling was out of sight since it was unlit and so was the area beneath the platform.
"Lovely decoration: it's obvious they rang up Kheops' ghost to ask him how to furnish it." Omega sarcastically muttered.
"I'd rather say the Egyptologists." Rock Man calmly suggested.
"Ah. Sorry. Taboo word… Eh… Yeah. The Egyptologists surely told them about how to do the job."
"Should we split?" Blues suggested.
"Why not… Rock Man: you have both the Omega Soul and the other Soul Unisons, so… Even if Annihilator Man or Zoan Gate Man ambush you then it shouldn't pose too much of a problem. I'll pick the elevator platform, so… Search Man and Blues could check the ascending staircase. Hikari, Rock Man: the descending staircase is yours." Omega instructed.
"Roger. We meet here in 10 minutes time to check up."
Everyone split: Omega stepped into the platform and it floated upwards while Rock Man began to run down the descending stair which soon became engulfed in blackness.
"Some light would be appreciated, Netto – kun!" He called out.
"Eh… Let's see… Accessory Chip: Flashlight! Slot In!"
A flashlight materialized and Rock Man picked it up to illuminate his path as he descended: he soon lost count of the pass of time and stopped to sit down and shake off his dizziness: he rubbed his eyes and stretched as he tried to grasp the length of the staircase.
"You've been climbing down for 5 minutes… I guess we won't be able to meet the others in another 5 unless I could make you fly up to the ground floor…" Netto muttered.
"Oh. Just form the Giga Cannon and I'll put the muzzle on the ground to let the recoil push me upwards: I could always use my Jet Vernier: it was about time we installed that "Cross Fusion" function into Navis, too." He calmly replied.
Rock Man reached the end and found an open gateway: he crossed it and marched forward along a central stone corridor without walls and flanked by endless wide pits on both sides.
"Very wide rooms but the lighting is a disaster." He muttered with a hint of sarcasm.
He eventually reached a spot where a small stone slab about half a meter tall and twenty-five centimeters wide: it had nothing peculiar written on it but, about five meters further in, there was a stone table with a brown lance atop its body.
The lance's body was about a meter large and its end had a triangular metallic object set there: two small half-an-hexagon-shaped segments had been built half-way along its length and it was coated on what looked like dried blood.
"Yikes." Rock Man gasped.
He looked beyond it and gasped again: there was a large wooden cross set on the wall which had some dried blood stains on it as well: it contained restrains for both the forearms and the feet which even had sharp and thick needles on the inner band to plunge into the flesh.
"W-what's this place…? It looks like a room of rites, even…"
"Yeah… Is there any key over there?" Netto asked.
Rock Man crouched and picked a vulgar padlock key from the ground: it looked rather new.
"Yeah… Let's go back."
"This is as far as you come, brat." A manly voice rang out.
"That voice…?"
Rock Man turned around as some purple flames formed out of nowhere and began to converge towards an energy spheroid pulsating with purple and white light.
"Huh? What's that?"
The flames began to turn black and turn into matter: a person's shape began to be drawn around the spheroid which was covered by the mass: blue-colored electricity formed out of nowhere and began to refine the black mass to give it color and detail.
"W-whoa…" Rock Man muttered.
"I have resurrected!" The voice exclaimed.
This newcomer's form design was highly reminiscent of Rock Man's one.
He wore a helmet with a mouth guard activated: his eyes' irises were visible and it could be seen that they were colored crimson red.
His chest emblem consisted on just two shades of black and white split by a horizontal grey line.
He had two curious shoulder pads, which were shaped as two split halves of a diamond.
His main body's color was navy blue although the forearms and his boots were colored in purple.
A black smooth cape hung from the back of his shoulders and reached all the way to the floor as well as an add-on to his bodysuit.
"Hmpf! My followers brought upon sacrifices to resurrect my body! Since my consciousness remained intact and was able to take an electronic form! I hid in this base I'd prepared and they brought upon Navis which were strong enough and met the necessary qualifications to be offered as sacrifices in a slow and agonizing ritual of death. Their blood and agony makes me stronger!"
"… Rama… They know Twilight's alive and all and… They pull this Ganon imitation into us?" Rock Man fumed.
"However! I am missing one of the Eight Flames to become the Demon God which rules over Chaos… And I shall have it here and now!"
He signaled the entryway with his right hand's index finger and it suddenly collapsed thus blocking it off; his right forearm glowed and the lance jumped out its place to be gripped by him.
"Brat! Your Ultimate Program has what I need: the flame of "Light"! With it Chaos shall be complete and not even that Defective will be able to stand up to me. The Demon Ritual awaits you! Die slowly amongst utter pain and agony!"
"Huff. Ganon wannabe. Go back to the Beyond." Netto grumbled.
"Yeah. A Ganon wannabe sure is. Anyway… O – Program: Start!"
Rock Man transformed into the Omega Soul and quickly drew the O – Buster to charge it up and aim it at the imposter's lance.
"Hmpf. Bothersome Defective! Thought of everything… Whatever. A mere imitator can't rival the real one."
He aimed his open left palm at Rock Man and a blackish aura surrounded him: he was suddenly made to hover and turn around before being propelled across the air and hitting the wall behind him with his arms and legs spread open; those restrains closed around his left forearm, left boot and right boot and began to close around his right forearm, too: Rock Man made a grimace and managed to aim the O – Buster to shoot a sphere of plasma at the lance: the weapon atop it instantly melted and Fake Twilight looked at it with obvious disbelief.
"Impossible!" He cursed.
"This weapon emulates real plasma! Mere metal can't stand up to its high temperature and energy: anything which enters in contact with it is immediately vaporized!" Rock Man managed to grin as he aimed it towards his left forearm.
He shot at the restrains and melted them while he did the same with the boots' ones: he then tugged his right forearm and ripped the remaining restrains off the cross although they remained attached to his forearm: he ignored it and aimed the weapon at Fake Twilight: the guy had discarded the useless weapon and looked totally pissed off.
"Bothersome brat! Feel the pain!" He cursed.
He shot blue-colored electricity from his fingers at Rock Man but he merely kept on aiming the weapon and loading it up: all electricity traveled towards it and the consequent plasma sphere was accompanied by a field of electricity: it impacted Fake Twilight's upper torso and melted some of his armor to reveal his skin beneath it.
"T-this BRAT!" He roared.
He jumped towards Rock Man but he calmly used the right foot to kick Fake Twilight's nose and break it thus making him cover it out of instinct: he tackled Fake Twilight with his right shoulder and elbow while moving towards the right edge: he finally rammed his head into his chest and Fake Twilight roared as he fell: Rock Man wasted no time into heading towards the archway and shoot a plasma shot at it to melt some of the rocks and make a hole to slip out: a distant splash sound rang out along with some other unidentifiable sounds.
"Rot in your own tomb, Fake Twilight." He muttered.
He ran out of the room and removed the Omega Soul's vest to be able to ignite his jets and fly out: he reached the ground floor and found the others waiting for him.
"You're late by 9 minutes! What happened?" Omega asked.
"A Fake Twilight."
"Fake Twilight?"
"He looked like some Ganon imitation. He was saying his consciousness survived and some accomplices have been using Navi's data to rebuild a body for him." He explained.
"Reminds me of how Mitos sought to create a new body compatible with her sis Martel's "Mana"…"
"He wanted to steal my Ultimate Program to become "complete" but I could toss him into what seemed to be some kind of dwell."
"I doubt that even a fake would die so easily. Anyway… Let's open that door, check out what's there and then run out. The other rooms only had some Viruses and the keys." Omega commanded.
They ran towards the main door and unlocked it to find a large stone shaft with a large square elevator platform: they rode it up.
"Up we go… I guess there's a room in the pyramid's apex." Omega muttered.
The elevator stopped in a stone platform floating in the middle of the apex room which had eight pedestals with seven black flames burning on them: the south one was yet unlit.
A spheroid was set on the ceiling and was humming with the sound of machinery; eight medallions were set on its surface and one with the Kanji hikari or "Light" was unlit; a cylindrical open capsule hung from beneath the spheroid: it was empty.
"That machine accumulates energy which they used to re-design Fake Twilight's body. This is where the power gathers. The spheroid can be overloaded and it'd blow up like a supernova. We could make use of it to destroy this place." Omega muttered.
"You lowlifes! How dare you set your dirty feet into MY sanctuary? I shall see to it that you lowlifes end up as food for the sharks!"
Fake Twilight appeared inside of the open capsule: his cloak had segments missing which looked like they'd been bitten off and his body had signs of having been bitten as well.
"So those shafts had pools of water with sharks on them… It reminds me of Michelangelo." Rock Man muttered.
"How original."
"This time around I'll get the remaining flame and become Absolute and the Demon God! The Flames of Destruction, Sorrow and Despair will be lit to signal the descent of Ice Queen – sama!" He exclaimed.
"Typical of RPG villains. Make a grand entrance. And those "Flames" are rip-offs from the GBC games Mysterious Fruit: Time-Space Chapter and Earth Chapter."
"You traitor! Save that venomous tongue for the plebeians: but you lowlife will die for insulting Ice Queen – sama's honor!" Fake Twilight roared and looked psychotic.
"Something tells me the personality file was purposely set him to be always angry or in rage: they must've though he'd look more intimidating like this... Whatever. Let's beat this guy up and be on our way back."
"Hra~h! Power! Come!" Fake Twilight roared.
"Slow."
Omega had suddenly jumped in front of him and plunged his O – Saber into the chest emblem: Fake Twilight uttered something but Omega merely pressed a button to make the saber glow with a rainbow aura: he took it out and then gripped a medallion with the Kanji yami or "Dark" on it: he ripped it off and then tossed a Mega Energy Bomb inside followed by a shot of plasma: the machine began to make terrific noises and some streaks of energy jumped off it.
"There. Let's get out: my Vaccine Chip effects should keep the guy from moving and his incomplete body won't be able to withstand this explosion nor will his consciousness. Farewell!" Omega announced.
"Y-you lowlifes…! Guo~h!" Fake Twilight roared as he collapsed into his knees: part of his body was starting to delete.
"Your so-called "followers" lazily assembled a lot of "Dark Aura" inside of your body so it'll be your undoing, you fake! Vanish!"
The four of them jumped off the platform and down the shaft before igniting the jets to lower their speed and cancel them to drop down.
"Hurry!"
They quickly began to run out as the whole building rumbled and shook: parts of it began to collapse.
"Heh. It'd seem Bond's "standard operating protocol" which he quoted in Goldeneye is taking effect." Omega joked.
"IMPOSSIBLE~!" Fake Twilight's voice roared.
The group ran out and quick employed Area Steal to warp about four hundred meters away: they saw how a sphere of energy was occupying the whole apex of the pyramid and growing in size before it stopped and suddenly collapsed into itself leading to its implosion and annihilation of the terrain: a white light engulfed the area.
"That Fake Twilight thing… They've been playing too much Zelda and Tales of Symphonia." Netto chuckled.
"Sure thing." Rock Man shrugged.
"I wonder what the real one will say when he hears about this." Omega wondered.
"He won't like being degraded to the barely-intelligent-level of Ganon, truly." Blues sneered.
"He'll be annoyed and even his Darkloids will fear him." Search Man smirked.
"Good one, Search Man." Laika chuckled.
"You're right, Blues. He'll place a curse on Anderson to delete his cartridges' data."
"But he could download them and play them with an emulator so it'd be rather pointless to begin with." Omega sneered next.
"You lose."
"Game Over. And there are no continues left. Today I feel in a rather good mood to begin with…"
08:05 AM (Japan Time)…
SPLASH!
"… Wha! Cold!"
Saito suddenly sat up on his bed and looked around in a confused manner: his face had been splashed with water: Netto was standing nearby and holding an empty glass while looking worried.
"Finally! I've been trying to wake you up for 45 minutes now, niisan! I had to resort to this." Netto sighed in relief.
"What happened to the pyramid? Did it get destroyed?" Saito asked.
"What pyramid?" Netto frowned.
"We were there!"
"Sorry. But we haven't come out of home yet: we're still on our pajamas, mind you. And it's 08:07 AM." Netto replied.
"On the Cyber World…! Fake Twilight's pyramid! He was there! But we beat him again!" Saito exclaimed.
"W-what? All I know is that you were barely breathing and you were convulsing the whole time: I couldn't wake you up no matter what! It had me sick worried, niisan!" Netto argued.
"Then… The whole of it was… a dream?" He gasped.
"So it'd seem. But it's not natural for you to act like that when asleep. And you have light sleep: my yells would've woken you up a while ago already, you know." Netto frowned.
"… Wait… If this dream was connected to Twilight… Maybe that Bug Style and Bestialize Factor data he infected me with two years ago? I know Omega erased it, but… Some fragments could've been left and have slowly grown over the years… Or maybe the real guy found a way to loophole security again…" Saito muttered.
That annoying guy…! He won't stop messing with our heads…!
"And they were trying to drive you crazy by recreating The Matrix: you can't spot where reality begins or where it ends." Netto guessed.
"Maybe we should go to the Science Labs and have Papa check my systems out…" Saito offered.
"Yeah. But please try to stay awake: I don't know if I could wake you up again. I don't want anything weird to happen to you, niisan."
"It won't, Netto – kun. Let's get dressed up and fix everything before making the breakfast and heading over to the Science Labs with the escort car. Do you remember today's passwords?"
"Yeah. They're hilarious: leave it to Denpa – san to come up with them. He has an endless amount of them." Netto grinned.
"Denpa – san is the champion of jokes!"
"Ah. That's a first." Blood Shadow calmly commented.
"I guess the Military Crush Brothers will wanna straighten that head of ya with their hammers." Sigma laughed.
"Great. I'm off to warning the escort car and checking up." Blood Shadow grumbled.
"Raoul is gonna become a disco's owner, even!"
"Raoul? A disco owner? Oh come on." Netto sighed.
"That' so LAME." Saito sighed.
"You never know, my fellas!" Sigma chuckled.
"Oh yeah? I know you're not taking security seriously!" Omega growled over the radio.
"YIKES!"
"Why does this repeat every a few days?" Netto groaned.
"I'd like to know, too. I'd really like to." Saito fumed.
"Can't use more than the muscles? Go do something useful!"
8:51 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Go! Full throttle! Go! Go! Damn! Ended up 2nd…! Elec! This game is rigged!"
"What! How dare you!"
"Trouble, trouble…"
"The start of the Great Cataclysm…!"
Hinoken and Count Elec had been playing Mario Kart Wii and were now arguing over the result inside of the storeroom: given how the door was open, their yells echoed in the main restaurant as Madoi and Maha were working on opening up: Dr. Wily, sitting in the rearmost bench, was chuckling and looked amused.
"This punk - like jerk…! Bring it on!"
"The caveman…! The jerk…! Fight!"
Yells of a fight rang out from inside of the storeroom: both Madoi and Maha looked totally defeated while Wily kept on chuckling.
"Anderson's emissaries are doing a good job, I'd daresay…" He muttered with obvious amusement.
"Dr. Wily – sama…! Please do something! This is a shame to the WWW: we are fighting amongst us!" Maha groaned.
"Yeah! It's starting to bring out memories of what happened in November, 2004, with that incident at Maha's restaurant!" Madoi added.
"Ah… That was…"
"Don't mind it: we were a bit silly back then."
"Sillier than Mr. Silly~!" Colored Man made up a pun.
"That's impossible…" Magic Man groaned.
"Hinoken – sama's pride puts him in tight spots…! He picked a motorbike with Mario and Yoshi and even so ended up in the 2nd position…"
"Count Elec picked a kart with Wario and Koppa: even though it's a heavy vehicle and couple, its acceleration in straight roads proved crucial to win the race." Elec Man muttered.
"Yo! Good morning." Charles greeted as he stepped into the restaurant along with Martin.
"Oh! Mr. Charles and Mr. Martin. Welcome."
"Could we have a glass of water? We're in a rush and we know you guys aren't open yet per se, but…" Charles requested.
"The vending machine broke down." Martin admitted.
"No problem." Maha smiled.
"I'd say a guy named Joker Man pulled one on us." Davis grinned.
"I'd say the saloon's cheater is back at it." Lander joked.
"Here you have, gentlemen."
Charles and Davis picked the glasses of water and drank it up in slow sips before leaving the glasses back on the table.
"Shadow Man might be behind it, even." Wily chuckled.
"Wouldn't surprise me." Charles sighed.
"Really… Why do the guy and Sigma feel the need to troll 99% of the time instead of patrolling or busting Viruses or what?" Martin grumbled.
"Guess Vadous wanted Sigma to be a mood maker but overdid it with the "loose" personality…" Davis guessed with a sigh.
"Dunno why Shadow Man's got those moods, too. Guess the guy wanted to go against the image of dry and serious guy…" Lander sighed.
"I'M GONNA HAVE YOU SWALLOW THOSE CHEATS! PUNK!"
"LOOK WHO SPEAKS! FIRE MANIAC! GOD SAVE THE ELEC FAMILY!"
Everyone but Wily sighed, exasperated, over the stupid brawl of Hinoken and Count Elec…
10:04 AM (Melbourne Time)…
"… Really… Why did you degrade yourself so much, Master?"
"Heh! I wanted to be ironic with myself."
"Huff. Guess that."
"OH YEAH! LET ZA GANON HIT ZA TRIFORCE!"
"Cloud Man! You're doing that EVERY DAY!"
"Yikes! W-well, I… I thought to…!"
"Go tuna! Get lost!"
"R-roger! Beef and Tuna! I'll pay a visit there… Later, guys!"
"Huff. I get the feeling everything becomes crazier with every passing day ever since October and we're at July."
Philip looked defeated as he looked at the playback of the whole "dream" and Twilight was sneering.
"I'm a genius with capital G. The other day I helped those misses by directing them to a new club who needs veterans like them to handle trouble." He chuckled.
"I know, Master. I was there, you know?"
"Of course, of course… So?"
"So what? If I want to try out their arts? Sure." He shrugged.
"Excellent. By the way! Gotta admit that Game Freak has a lot of imagination and talented staff who come up with good PKMN… Yo and behold: the Apocalypse PKMN Apocalipsus! Normal Type!"
"Apocalipsus… How lame."
"Totally." The other Darkloids (Zoan Gate Man included) sighed.
"Don't be so defeatist, my subordinates!"
"We are!"
"Well? Maybe we need Mr. Dragonus to cheer us up? Or TMNT's "Shredder"? With his cool escapes?"
"No~…"
"Or Dragon Hell's banners? Or Shadow Man's mottoes?"
"No~…"
"Listen up! Welcome To The Eternally Flowing Hatred And Desire Which Are Carved By Humanity!"
"How stupid."
"Guess you need something exciting. How about a trip to the Bahamas?"
"No~…"
"I know! We gotta invite Count Elec to sing us "Let It Be Count Elec V 2009" in live and VIP!"
Philip had had enough so he stood up and walked off the room groaning while the others warped out of the PC leaving Twilight alone save for some Mettools in the PC.
"Metto~?" They wondered.
"Guess I pushed them to the limit of their patience, then. Ironic. I was the one getting annoyed, now it's them."
"Me~tto~…"
"Go, Legion 64! Bring me news! And a Coca Cola along the way… Find me the magic formula kept in the safe, too!"
"Metto~?"
"And some pop-corn to eat while I watch the newest chapter too… They need to crave and reave! And beware of princesses with black humor… Miss Amagi of Inaba City, for example." He sneered.
"Me… Metto~?"
"Just you watch, kyoudai! Once this season is over… We'll get to shine!"