Chapter 13: Of gel and plasma
13: 20 AM (Japan Time), Tuesday June the 16th…
"… My power has become stronger! I shall erase you forever!"
"Less talk. Bring it on, punk!"
"Hmpf. Become confident and let it destroy you!"
"You're one to talk! You ran away last time!"
Death Shadow drew his arm cannon and began to shoot a stream of missiles towards Omega.
He dodged or cut through them as he tried to hit Death Shadow.
The foe hovered and jumped from spot to spot at maddening speed.
He hit the floor with his left hand to form thick frozen columns of "Omicron Factor" across the field thus hindering Omega's movements.
"Death Screw Attack!"
Death Shadow began to somersault across the air while forming a field of pare blue electricity around himself.
He impacted into Omega and left indentations on his main body while knocking him away.
Omega didn't seem to take notice of the attack and he merely assumed a fighting stance.
"Is that all?" Omega taunted.
"Hmpf. Copy Summon!"
Death Shadow flipped the left while making an acrobatic maneuver.
His body emitted light, and a copy formed, flipping to the right.
Both stood up and began to execute a complicated dance by remaining in front of each other while wildly moving around.
"Death Spheres!"
Both Death Shadows formed blue spheroids on the muzzle of their arm cannons and began to bombard Omega with them before facing away from each other and starting to shoot out a continuous stream of orange flames towards Omega.
He was able to dodge by ducking and his shot impacted into the copy given its sudden silent explosion.
The real one leapt into the air and shot out a straight blue beam which travelled diagonally across the ground.
Omega rolled across it to dodge and then managed to stand up to shoot out a spear made of super-cooled ice which barely inflicted a dent on the foe's body.
The foe brusquely dropped into the ground and caused a blue energy shockwave upon landing which Omega dodged by leaping into the air.
Death Shadow hadn't wasted a second and was already aiming the arm cannon at him while shooting out missiles.
"Plasma Shot!"
"Death Column!"
Another frozen "Omicron Factor" column formed in the middle of the attack's trajectory, and it melted into raw "Omicron Factor" gel from which a Mettool formed and silently hit the floor with the pickaxe.
Omega had landed on the ground, and he merely swung his saber to create fins of blue energy which headed in the opposite direction and which sliced the Mettool in two halves.
It dissolved into raw gel while Death Shadow hovered above the ground.
"You're like the Dream Virus! Summoning lesser opponents to keep you busy until you load your main weapon…" Omega taunted.
"I have nothing to do with such a weak existence. The "Ultimate Virus", they named it? What ignorant fools! I am the Ultimate! The will of "Omicron Factor" moves me! I am beyond human limitations…!"
"Hmpf. Did you think that'd impress me?"
"My power is enough to seed this planet with "Omicron Factor" and make it become another "Origin Point"… A planet fully made of "Omicron Factor" which holds its own will and shoots seeds towards the space…!"
"Guess the rumors that this guy believes its "setting is true!"
"Stay out of this, Mine… This is serious!" Omega grumbled.
"But when the HD is complete, you will taste despair and hopelessness!"
"Shut up already and do us favor! Charlatan!"
"No more games! I shall become serious! Spheroid Mode! Death Bombs! Be gone!"
Death Shadow's shoulder spheroids detached and expanded in size while he crouched and became smaller in size.
The two spheroids fused together, and it glowed as eight "Death Bombs" materialized around it before it speeded forward, hit a streetlight, bounced off it, hit a building's front, and then headed for the one across the street to climb up into one of their rooftops.
The eight bombs detonated and covered a 40-meter radius.
Omega jumped atop a streetlight and into the air before the explosion crippled it and he landed in the rooftop opposite the one where the spheroid form had landed at.
"Starting to realize your powerlessness? Too late! Vanish! Death Bombs!"
Death Shadow shot at Omega but he managed to halt him by using both hands and throw him back at the rooftop where his bomb had been set at.
The explosion damaged him, but he was unfazed at the experience instead using the shockwave from his own bomb to return forward and impact Omega in the chest thus forming a considerable dent on his vest.
Death Shadow returned to his normal form and bombarded him with missiles next.
"Truly weak! All is over!"
"Not yet…!"
"Impossible!"
The smoke from the missile explosions cleared to reveal how a red "aura" had formed around his body and was glowing.
His jewel had turned blood red as well and the flash of it became white.
His sight was lowered, and his face was partly hidden but he had a grimace on his face and had the looks of a beast about to be unleashed.
"It'd seem you've forgotten why you three ran away, Death Shadow!"
"You lowlife…! Vadous!"
"I guess the big guy finally showed up!" Mine giggled.
"That's Omega's "Dark Messiah" mode! All normal processes are cancelled to free up processor space and follows a single rule! It doesn't halt until the enemy has been destroyed. His power will be unleashed at 100%!"
"By all the…! Not again! Death Bombs!"
Omega lifted his sight to reveal that his eyes had become mere blood red stains and he moved forward in a blur.
Death Shadow gasped and had to lay a bomb to shake him off.
Omega quickly corrected his trajectory by bouncing off a building's wall and swinging the saber across the air.
Death Shadow built up kinetic energy and bounced off the ground at a straight angle thus getting shot quite high into the air.
He switched to normal form and began to somersault into the air as if trying to get away from the relentless pursuer.
"You lowlife… Die! Red Beam!"
He built up energy on a device which formed over his left forearm and shot a red beam of energy, which hit the chest.
Omega simply sliced it in half using the saber and Death Shadow barely dodged by dropping into the ground to cause his shockwave.
"Bothersome diehard fool…!" He grumbled.
"Not so confident anymore, mighty Damus?"
"What the hell is that!?"
"A nickname for Dark Samus. Damus!"
"Do not put me in the same level as weak animals!"
"It's the character which your maker used to build you, no?"
"Hmpf! Mortals! Always trying to find a weakness…!"
He kept jumping from place to place but his pursuer was catching up.
"By all the…! I need to find how to stop this berserk fool!"
"He ain't berserk! He's simply unleashed." Vadous corrected.
"Silence! Once your pawns have been removed then you lowlife are next!"
"I'm always several steps ahead. I've got a couple of trump cards!"
"Friendship power?" The woman laughed.
"Very funny. Go hoist the mattress!" Vadous sighed.
"Did I rob you of your moment of glory, Zataki~?"
"Who knows. Ask your rival!"
"Hmpf. They tried to take me out with that bomb! But I was smart enough to tip off the cops and see I'm no fool who walks into traps!"
"Whatever. That sneaky jerk comes later…"
"Death! I'd rather say we pull out! We're not ready to face this beast yet! We can't let the HD Project end like this!" Kurayami rallied.
"Fine! But not before I show them what PAIN is about! Hyper Bug Bomb!"
"What's that!?"
He formed a grey spheroid about the size of a badminton ball, which he threw at his chaser when he tried to drive the saber into him.
The spheroid cracked upon contact and Omega's body frizzled as he howled and tried to keep on with his relentless attack, yet his body wasn't being cooperative.
"Devil! It's filled with bugs that slow him down!"
"How foolish! To neglect the only weapon capable of stopping this beast! Foolish! I shall leave! When HD is complete, this foolish planet will fell it! Such is my raison d'être... To accomplish the goal of "Omicron Factor" itself and allow for its expansion! Farewell!" Death Shadow proclaimed.
Omega, however, recovered in the blink of an eye and managed to leave a gash spanning from the NW corner to the SE corner which poured out "Omicron Factor" into Death Shadow's body.
He stepped back in an erratic manner before becoming raw data and vanishing from the scene.
Omega's "aura" became paler, and his eyes reverted to their usual blue:.
He growled and shook his head as if trying to get his bearings.
"Fortunately, I had powerful defenses!"
"Sir! Any comments?"
"Crap. The DNN…"
Toad Man showed up in front of Omega, and he sighed as he saw a horde of reporter Navis rushing for him.
"That was the Navi named Death Shadow, one of the "Death Club"! They're extremely dangerous! If you see them, flee!" He summed up.
He quickly exited the area before they could ask more questions.
"That handy boy's name is Mars Warrior, the grand master of trolling, who'll soon make it to the top of the Kansai comedian world, and…"
"Mine! Don't distort facts! It's Omega!"
"Bite me, my former boyfriend!"
"I never was your boyfriend! I've never met you!"
"My! This sounds interesting!"
"I've still got buddies in the gossip press business!"
"Not that again!"
"I can make up an exclusive and the magazines will fly off the shelves!"
"Human curiosity is such an annoying thing!"
"I know, right? Let's title it! Mine Fujiko II and Lupin IV's love affair!"
"Wonderful!"
Vadous grumbled something under his breath as the line disconnected.
"By the way! Little toady! The wolf is coming to eat you up!"
"What!?" Toad Man gasped.
"Because it's short-sighted and thinks you're a piggy!"
"No way~!"
"Someone! Call for the wolf hunters!" Midorikawa gasped.
"By the way! Beware of Irino Vanitas AKA DTV! The bomber!"
"That's the culprit of the bombing incident of the other day?"
"Indeed! They probably are hiding in Yokohama! To smuggle into a ship and flee overseas!"
The reporters began to mutter amongst themselves while she giggled.
"I'm gonna beat those kiddos to trolling! Take that on, kiddos!"
"Why, you~!" Kurayami and Kanaya cursed.
"And that's all for today, my folks!"
"Why, you~!"
13:22 PM (Japan Time)…
"… I see. This information will be of great help, Kanou…"
"It took effort to compile this, so I hope it was worth it…"
"Sorry to have kept you busy for half a year…"
"Don't mind it. It was a good change of airs, and way to gain experience…"
Two men were sitting on cushions with a wooden table between them.
The space was the living room of a classical Japanese house.
Two steaming green teacups were placed on the table along with sweets.
One of them, sitting on the north side, was on his early 20s, had neatly combed black hair and blue eyes.
He could be about a meter and eighty tall.
He wore a black suit over a white shirt, a navy-blue necktie, and black trousers as well as white socks.
"I will stay a bit longer to see how this affair concludes, Cousin Vadous. Afterwards, I'll resume my trip because I must keep tabs on that man…"
"Understood, Kanou…"
The other man could be on his mid-20s.
His hair was neatly combed and was brown.
His eyes' irises were also brown.
He also wore business attire although his necktie was dark green instead.
"By the way. About the bombing incident… My agent happened to be next to the building where it happened. And he saw how a policewoman was reporting about receiving a letter summoning her there… Maybe "Mine" is the one who redirected the letter to her so that she'd bring in the police and thus eliminating the need to go there herself…"
"I see. Wouldn't surprise me…"
"I suppose our business is between both of us?"
"I did tell Omega so that he keeps a record, but the others don't know…"
"Good. Else it would make things too complicated…"
"I know. I should've assumed that, sooner or later, someone would stumble upon the technology that can make those "trips" possible…"
"I'm surprised that the "Death Club" doesn't brag about it…"
"Death Shadow's habit of calling it "power of the Universe" repeatedly already makes him look like he's being "edgy"… If they started to say that then nobody would take them seriously… Would you?"
"Fair point. Weren't it for my bizarre circumstances, I wouldn't!"
"That's why I can't tell others about it. It's not because I don't entrust them to keep secrets… They did keep the secret of the "body" tech…"
"But this is another scale altogether, Cousin Zataki…" Kanou argued.
"Exactly. Least some lunatics show up and try to use it for drastic goals…"
"No wonder. To think that Anaya scattered those in other places…"
"It's possible that Izono hid the information in separate locations, too…"
"That man is sly. It's very possible that he readied backups…"
"This mysterious mercenary might be one of them, too…"
"The man of many faces… DTV… Maybe this is a fake lead, too…"
"Of course. I don't assume that's his real name or codename… If only we could get a hold of something more solid to track him…" Zataki sighed.
"Maybe he's bidding his time before he strikes at us…"
"That could be it, too… He might be gathering up money and resources to launch a major attack or operation…"
"If he dares to openly bomb a building, he can do more than that…"
"Sheesh. As if dealing with that freak wasn't enough…!"
Zataki grabbed some sweets and munched them while Kanou sipped tea.
"Sorry for the long ramble…"
"I don't mind. No-one is perfect…"
"By the way. Where did you get the idea to call yourself "Furukawa"?"
"An irony of my own… Furukawa Masaru was the alias of the criminal Kanou Saizou… Featured in episode 174 of Detective Conan…"
"I see. And "Kanou Shade" is taken from that character but switching "Saizou" for "Shade"… Typical Anaya sense of "edginess"…"
"I know. But since my role was to be a detective wannabe then it works…"
"OK. What about your man, Keitai? Do you know what he plans to do?"
"Insofar, he seems to want to have payback on his former bosses…"
"No wonder. Given how they treated people like that…"
"Afterwards, guess he'll simply stay out of sight…"
"Fine. I won't say anything to the "Committee". If they feel like they need to keep tabs on him, so be it. I know he's a bank robber, of course, however that's petty compared to the danger of that other man…"
"Do as you see fit. I will come up with some believable tale and end my contract with him… If there's good reward involved, he won't complain…"
"OK. But I hope you do warn me before you leave. To at least give you something that could help you in the future…"
"If that's your wish, so be it. By the way. Excellent sweets…"
"Ms. Hikari recommended them to me. Excellent choice…"
"Nothing is invincible. If you insist, even Death Shadow can be beaten!"
"Thanks for the cheer-up, Kanou. Counting you, too…"
"Naturally. Cheers…"
"Cheers. Let's end this drama!"