Chapter 9: Unleashed potential

11:39 AM (Japan Time), Tuesday December the 11th…

"… Huff."

"So, Akatsuki?"

"Solo? Nothing. We searched a lot of Yamaguchi Prefecture but like I suspected it wasn't the origin of the signal. We're trying Fukuoka and Ehime Prefectures too."

"Che. The rascal…! I've been investigating the Mu Continent and found that some pieces of the Ra Mu remains are gone. So the rascal got there and stole them."

"Lovely. Another Ra Mu recreation? Sheesh. And next will be Crimson Dragon: the Big Ugly Destroy It All Trio!"

"I fail to see the point, Shidou."

"Bah. Don't mind my ramblings, Acid!"

Akatsuki had been sighing in defeat while standing next to the replica of the "Dynamic Station" used to send Subaru to Meteor G some time ago: Solo walked up to him and Akatsuki sighed while Solo growled as he explained his discoveries.

"… Beep! Beep! Warning! Warning! Unidentified planes heading towards here! ETA: 2 minutes 13 seconds! All personnel: rush to the basement shelter! Warning! Warning!"

"By all the… An air strike next? Let's go tell them some things!"

"Delighted! I needed some action."

"NUWA~HA~H! SOMEONE SAVE US! IT'S THE CURSE OF THE NAMELESS KING!" Utagai yelped and his voice rang out through an open window somewhere in the building.

"Sheesh. Anyway! Let's go, Acid!"

"Get ready, Laplace."

"Denpa – Henkan! On Air!"

Both transformed and climbed into the Wave Roads to then warp to the Sky Wave: they could see a squad of about 50 UAVs heading in the direction of WAXA, each one loaded with 4 heavy missiles that looked bigger than usual.

"Scans suggest the presence of some gas. Gas missiles."

"So they plan on gassing us, huh? This is Akatsuki! Turn on the oxygen system in the shelter and the CO2 filters! We're going to be gassed: shut all ventilation shafts!"

"Roger! Both systems: on!"

"Estimated time of arrival: 1 minute 29 seconds."

"Let's bring down as many as we can."

"Fine. Go, Laplace!"

"Da…"

"Eat this! Omega Laser!"

Both began to strike at the UAVs from a distance and brought some down as they raced to keep up to their speed.

"I heard the news! I'll support with the lasers of my HQ." Vadous told them over the radio.

"Good. Open fire."

"Put on light filters: they're very bright since they're tuned to be of a green color." Vadous warned.

"Roger."

A laser about 2 meters wide shot down from outer space and swept through a row of 10 UAVs, severing them in half and having them fall into the mountains surrounding WAXA.

"37 seconds."

"And we brought down about 29 of them. We should try to bring more of them down." Acid Ace muttered.

"I'm on it. Lasers 2 to 8: open fire! Lock on targets! FIRE!"

Another 7 lasers shot down while forming different patterns of movement yet making sure to create a cage-like formation that would inevitably slice through most of the UAVs.

"11 seconds. 42 down."

"Only 8 left!"

"Let's try to capture one for analysis… I'll try out the "cage"… Gravity cage: on! Target: lock on!"

A bluish stream of energy shot down from outer space and wrapped around one of the UAVs, robbing it of its energy and speed: it stopped and it was then yanked into outer space.

"Omega! Use one of the shuttles, perform an EVA and bring the thing into the docking bays! Kir Osh will dissect it. It's not a Denpa Body: it's a real UAV so… Since it lacks power then it can't accept signals. First thing to do will be to remove the emitter/transmitter and isolate it."

"Gotcha."

"2 seconds. 48 down."

"So only 1 will make it! Well. It could've been worse."

"I know."

They saw how the UAV armed the missiles and shot them towards the entrances of the ventilation shafts: they got stuck there and their heads split in two to reveal a barrel that began to pump a brownish/yellowish fog inside of the building.

"Warning. Gas is toxic. Contains an element that steadily removes carbon dioxide from the air and allows the oxygen rate to build up... It will cause an increased lung activity, excess of oxygen, artificial delirium and laughter and, finally, death." Acid listed.

"By all the… That's what happened last winter! Those Neo-Soviet guys tried to use this to take out all defenders and then invade Japan to exploit our mineral resources! They did similar things to some Asian and African countries as well… Luckily we managed to stop them and we arrested their top scientist…" Acid Ace cursed.

"Heck. The culprit's gotten serious."

"Everyone alright down there?" Acid Ace asked.

"Yeah. Oxygen reserves will last another 58 hours. There's plenty of food and water calculated to last for 1 month." Ryuusuke reported back.

"Turn on the building's fans but on reverse mode! We must vent off this damned fog thing and then we'll have to make it get back inside of the missiles… To then find a way to destroy it… I guess it must be flammable so maybe by setting fire to it…"

"Or diluting it with water somewhere…" Omega suggested.

"I think it's better to try to set fire to it or cause it to detonate. Maybe the culprit found another of those weather-changing stations and managed to produce the stuff with their machines. How's it going with the EVA?"

"Piece of a cake. I'm about to tug this thing inside. Kir Osh: you on standby?"

"Confirm: on standby." A man replied.

"… Good. I'm inside. Shutting dock bay doors… Reestablishing atmosphere… Done. You can come in."

"Fine."

"The fans are working. The fog should be coming out."

"Good. Let's see… We can use Material Waves in the form of the vacuum cleaners as well to fill them up and then try to detonate the gas in an isolated spot." Acid Ace suggested.

"I'll commend you yet, Detective Acid – chan!" A Night Baron suddenly showed up atop the WAXA building and laughed.

"Sheesh. Not another of those."

"I'll be waiting in the mines' deep levels… Do you have the guts to come after me or did Guts Man steal them?"

"Dunno how the guy can do that: we deleted the guy back in Zenay III. It was but another "Darkloid", anyway."

"Heh, heh, heh, heh, heh, heh… Maybe one day you'll regret poking your nose where you weren't called for."

"Oh yeah? Like it ever happens."

"Grrr… You lowlife… I'll have you pay with your flesh the sin of looting Mu!" Burai threatened.

"Heh, heh, heh. I'd like to see ya try, Burai – chan." The Night Baron mocked next.

"GRUWRA~H!"

Burai got angered and warped next to the Night Baron to quickly slice it up into pieces using the Laplace Blade: the Night Baron growled and blew up while Burai panted.

"Shit! I'm fed up!"

"Alright, alright." Acid Ace gulped.

"Maybe…" Dr. Yoiri began.

"I don't think green tea is the answer, hakase~…"

"Oh my. I wanted to suggest Calm Peace."

"It was Peaceful Tea." The Chief corrected.

"Oh my. Chief. You do have better memory for those things! Heh, heh."

"Yes, yes. Now let's wait for the signal to get out of here."

"Let's go see what's in the mines."

"Fine. If I can slice up more bastards then I'm on it, too. Let's go!"

12:05 PM (Japan Time)…

"… What's this? The guy clogged the mini-tunnels the water of the well uses to circulate and caused for the water level in the galleries to rise to knee-high level! How annoying!"

"Yeah. And I'm sure it's not some vanity. Maybe it's some kind of aquatic freak to begin with."

"Wouldn't surprise me."

"No signatures found insofar."

"They must be deeper in or about to catch up with us."

"Hmpf! Rubbish."

"Hey. Did ya call for us?"

"What's this place?"

"Huh? Storm and Miles? No, I didn't. The culprit did."

"Sheesh."

"Too late! Become the prey of the Sea Creepers!"

Acid Ace and Burai reached the mines of the other day only to find the galleries partially flooded by knee-high water: they began to complain only to be joined by Miles and Storm: a Night Baron's voice rang out all of a sudden.

"Careful! Coming from the front and behind: swimming!"

"I knew it!"

Some silhouettes swam across the water and approached them: one leapt out to reveal that it was a human-like body with the main column exposed, hard skin over its back, devoid of eyes or nose, having teeth and six arm-like limbs.

The legs ended in an odd shape that surely provided better mobility while inside of the water.

"Storm!"

"OK!"

"Jump!"

"Eat this! Stormin' Thunder!"

The 3 of them jumped out of the water as Storm's body frizzled with electricity: he shot several bolts of lightning to the water and electrocuted the enemies inside of it: they got deleted and the Night Baron gasped as it seemingly realized something.

"You were Elec!"

"Did ya think Storm stood for "storming a place"? Wrong!" Storm announced.

"Shit. I bothered to come up with this and…! Come to these! Go, my Hunters! Smash them!"

"Let's go!"

"Let's split and try to use the flooding to our advantage." Acid Ace suggested.

"OK!"

They all split while shooting back and counter-attacking the "Hunters": Storm and Miles got into a large gallery but were suddenly attacked by the "Sea Creepers" as they jumped out of the water.

"Hah! I lied! There are tons of them all across the mines! Too bad they can't ride up the waterfalls but whatever… As long as they remain on this floor then…" The Night Baron laughed.

"Shit. We got confident." Miles cursed.

"Whatever! Let's just smash them up."

"Agreed. Eat this!"

"You eat this! Stormin' Ball!"

Miles pierced through the column of one of the "Sea Creepers" as it jumped outta the water: the blow pierced through it and it got deleted as Storm formed an electrically charged sphere that he flung and it attached to another "Sea Creeper": it got electrocuted and deleted along with a "Hunter" that was about to jump over it to hit Storm.

"Two birds killed with one stone." He muttered.

"By the way! You know what the "triangle" is about?" The Night Baron showed up to taunt them.

"Dunno. We needn't know. It must be some game or joke." Miles was uninterested to begin with.

"Go carp!"

"Go carp, eh? Maybe you need a golden "Koiking"?"

"Dunno what that is. And I don't wanna know, either."

"That the better you can do? You're crappy." Storm taunted.

"Hmpf! This will become you lowlifes' graveyard!"

"We'll see 'bout that. Spear Rain!"

Miles formed a group of spears and they plunged into the water: some pierced through the "Sea Creepers" while he brought up his shield to deflect the assault of the "Hunters": the counter-attack momentarily stunned them so Miles easily pierced them with his spear: he and Storm moved inwards and reached an elevator shaft: a waterfall originated some levels above them and they could see "Sea Creepers" ride down their length to deeper levels: they merely hovered upwards while the "Hunters" chased by climbing up the walls.

"I'll make you go berserk next time around!"

"Noise Cards? They won't work: we've got the Black Ace PGM."

"Wha~t?"

"Yeah. The Satella Police learnt the lesson. They're not stupid, you know."

"Sheesh."

Storm and Miles reached the surface: the elevator shaft was placed inside of a small valley and enclosed by a rusted fence that looked like it was very old indeed: some remains of pavilions and other buildings could be spotted close by too.

"There. Now the water freaks won't be able to attack us. We can handle the clawed rascals." Miles announced.

"Let's give them a farewell gift! Break Count Bomb!"

Storm formed the Giga Card and dropped it down the shaft: it exploded some seconds later and apparently formed a plume of water that didn't reach very far.

"The Bombing Brigade~!" The Night Baron made up some lame title as if to taunt them.

"That your best shot?"

"It's lame. Crappy. Low-level. Retarded."

"RETARDED! ME! HOW DARE YA! GEMINI WANNABE!"

"I'm no Gemini wannabe. You are. Conspirer."

"How is it over here, guys? Ah! Here you are."

"You lowlife… Get ready."

"Sheesh."

Acid Ace and Burai joined them coming from the outside (they'd tossed the fence's door to the ground) and the Night Baron grumbled as it hovered higher in the air.

"Heavy Down X! Be crushed like INSECTS!"

"Wrong. Reverse Gravity!"

Burai lifted his right hand and it glowed: a purplish energy field wrapped around the 4 Viruses and had them fly upwards.

"W-what?"

The Night Baron looked up but Burai suddenly used the distraction to plunge the right hand through the upper head to rip off the memory storage unit and "freeze" it: the Denpa Body became unable to move or act so Miles and Storm focused their attacks on it.

"Eat this! Stormin' Spark!"

"Miles Spear!"

The Denpa Body silently blew up while Burai nodded to the others and rushed away while forming an identical copy that he yielded to Acid Ace: it soon "unfroze" and, immediately enough, another Night Baron dropped from the skies while opening the cape and letting it flutter on the wind as if trying to look imposing.

"Petty tricks! Die!"

"You die, recycled piece of trash." Miles grumbled.

"Come!"

"And leave." Acid Ace snickered.

"Funny, aren't cha? Hrah! Mad Vulcan X!"

"Devil!"

The rounds from the Mad Vulcan X hit the fake and blew it up: the Night Baron laughed and floated higher in the air.

"Futile, futile, futile~!"

"I wonder about that! Payback time! Heavy Down X!"

"Ugra~h!"

The Heavy Down X dragged the Night Baron down the shaft to then crush it and blow it up: the group sighed in relief.

"Let's pull out. We're all tired."

"Che. Damned rascal." The two Wizards grumbled.

19:29 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Today…! Let's go!"

ZA~P! CRRRA~CK!

"Warning! Overload in Grid 11! Intruder! Battle Wizards: deploy!"

"Rubbish! Hah!"

"Battle…! Ugrah!"

"Deploy machineguns!"

"Deploy…!"

"Slow! Hah! Hrah! Hyah!"

"T-the barrels got cut off!"

"Damn it!"

Assassin Shinobi broke through the prison's defenses again and cut up all resistance, be it Battle Wizards or large-scale machineguns: he rushed ahead through the yard only to have to dodge a large sword's swing: he jumped out of the way and grumbled.

"Che! Sigma!"

"COME AT FULL POWER!" Sigma turned off his stealth camouflage and made a challenging pose.

"You asked for it! Bunshin Nightmare!"

Assassin Shinobi formed 3 "bunshin" and the 4 of them struck Sigma from different angles: the "bunshin" attacked from the front and the flanks only to be repelled by his shielding yet the real one dropped down from above and managed to pierce through the weakest point on the shield thus shattering it: Sigma gasped and got out of the trajectory just in time to dodge it: he was then assaulted by the "bunshin" while the real one rushed towards the building.

"There!"

"Going somewhere?"

"Shit! You too, Omega!"

"Yeah. You're so eager to get in… Then we'll get you in. To make company to your petty master."

"Petty! That's you!"

"Oh yeah? Bring it on."

Omega suddenly blocked his way with his sword drawn: Assassin Shinobi growled and began to exchange blows with Omega: his concentration on that implied that he couldn't sustain the "bunshin" and thus Sigma was able to march towards there: he frowned and then looked at an annex building: alarms rang out there as Viruses formed and began to assault so Sigma cursed under his breath and raced over there.

"This guy materialized Assassin and is trying to rescue Phantom! If Phantom reaches Hyde 'long the Mu Star Carrier then they can perform Denpa – Henkan…! Che!" Sigma grumbled.

"Hurry over there. I'll handle this guy."

"I'm on it!"

"I won't make it easy! Bunshin! Come! Dance! Attack!"

The "bunshin" formed again and quickly spun upon their axis clockwise while throwing scout knives at Omega: he swung the sword and deflected most of them but the real one ducked and quickly thrust the sword forward to make a shallow cut over the stomach area and slightly curving towards the right flank of the body: Omega ignored that but then Assassin Shinobi pulled back while curving the angle of the sword, making a shallow cut partly across Omega's right knee: he jumped away and suddenly threw a scout knife that got stuck there: Omega winced and hissed: he grumbled and was forced to remain on that position because he needed both hands to maneuver the sword and deflect the attacks from the 3 "bunshin" enemies.

"Che."

"Heh, heh, heh… So, Omega… How does it feel like? Bittersweet? Acid? Sour? Spicy? Mwah, hah, hah, hah… Bring it on! The pain will slowly and carefully overwhelm your sensations!"

"What was I expecting, anyway?" Omega muttered in a sarcastic tone of voice but mainly addressed to himself.

"Dunno. Maybe some acrobatics? Mwah, hah, hah, hah."

"Outta the way, ya lot! Show your hide, Halloween punk!"

"… Onoree… Shineii…"

Sigma was beating the Viruses around the annex building and challenged for Assassin to show up: it did so while growling something on its ancient idiom that sounded like a cursing word.

"Fight!"

"Hmpf…"

16 ghostly scimitars formed around Sigma all of a sudden, each aiming for him from a different height and angle: they all spun clockwise as they shot for him and some got through his defenses because they were too small and quick to be properly deflected by his big sword: Assassin chuckled as Mettori G easily used its pickaxe to break through the concrete wall next to the armored doors: a "Neo Flamer" (the Virus that yielded "Machine Fire 3") used its flame output to melt the supports of the right-sided door so it collapsed: a wave of Battle Wizards rushed out and had to face the Mettori G as it hit the ground with the pickaxe: Assassin rushed inside while Sigma tried to chase only to find the same obstacle: he got nowhere so he grumbled under his breath.

"Blood! Your turn!"

"Alright!"

"Shit. Blood Shadow too!" Assassin Shinobi growled.

"Always have an ace-in-the-hole ready."

"Sheesh."

Blood Shadow landed there and got inside of the building, filled with steel drawers each having an energy barrier sealing them: each drawer had a holographic tag indicating the owner of the device inside and Assassin was trying to break through the one labeled "HYDE – MU STAR CARRIER": Assassin grumbled and formed 16 swords that shot for Blood Shadow: he merely placed the shotgun's barrel on the ground and shot thus letting the recoil shoot him into the ceiling: the swords plunged into the Mettori G from behind and immobilized it so Sigma used the change to plunge his sword through.

"METTO~!"

It blew up and Assassin hissed something under the breath as he recalled the scimitars and tried to fling them at the protective field but got to nowhere.

"That field is designed to repel most Denpa Bodies' attacks. Denpa objects won't break it." Blood Shadow announced.

"Ugrh!" Omega growled.

"S-Sir Omega! What happened?"

"Shit. This rascal got faster and my left knee is busted too! I'll have to shut down sensory input from them and remain in this pose. But don't intervene: try to corner Assassin!" Omega ordered.

"Roger! Bring it on, punk!"

"Onoree… Onoree… Kiesareii~!" Assassin growled.

"Try it. Charged shotgun shot!"

Blood Shadow shot another round from his gun and it hit Assassin, making it fly across the building and crash upon the far wall yet Blood Shadow quickly aimed at the ceiling: there was another Assassin there and it growled back.

"After-images." Blood Shadow guessed.

"As expected of a Mu Denpa Body, huh?" Sigma wasn't surprised.

"Guess that. Oi. Come down here and fight."

"Ugroh!"

"Wha? Sigma!"

A familiar sword suddenly plunged through Sigma's reddish core and emerged from the front: Assassin Shinobi flipped over his body and threw 8 scout knives at Blood Shadow's chest: two hit his shoulders, two his torso, two his waist and two the center of his armor: the pain temporarily overwhelmed him and Assassin Shinobi picked off his helmet: Blood Shadow had reddish hair beneath it, red and golden eye irises and a face identical of that of Subaru.

"I'll be borrowin' this! Hah!"

He threw it at the contention field and the mass of it was enough to overload it: he picked the Mu Star Carrier from inside as Assassin formed the scimitars: a portal opened and Vadous rushed out while brandishing both swords: Assassin Shinobi warped and reappeared on the main building's rooftop.

"Here I come, my Lord!"

"Well done, my disciple!" Hyde laughed.

He dropped down and tossed the Mu Star Carrier inside through the gap in the window bars: Hyde (wearing prison clothes) picked it and grinned as Phantom popped out.

"Let's go! Denpa – Henkan! On Air! First stop… The storage! I'll get my clothes back!"

He transformed and warped elsewhere while Asssasin Shinobi ran out of the compound followed by Assassin: there was an explosion and Phantom Black ran out of another wing of the main building carrying the drawer with his clothes on it: a portal opened and both rushed in before it closed: Vadous growled under his breath as he emerged from the annex, having all the scimitars plunged into his body armor.

"Shit…! We underestimated Shinobi…! What an evening! Damn it all!"