Chapter 17: Reflection
16:58 PM (Japan Time), Sunday December the 18th…
"… Netto! Are you alright?"
"Somehow!"
Netto walked into the Science Labs' main room and Yuuichirou ran to check on him.
He was troubled but had no injury.
"Thank goodness! Meijin told me you were fighting a robot that kept on countering everything you threw at it! I was worried! What was that?"
"STS." Saito announced.
"What! Then it was as Dr. Regal had deduced! It's a robot remotely controlled by a supercomputer!"
"And they built it in just four days… The Navis must've been working on 24 hours without almost breaks to get it ready." Meijin muttered.
"I managed to leave it unable to battle thanks to the Kawarimi Battle Chip and that it tried to use a Curse Shield against a Program Advance, but… They'll fix that before they send it out again." Netto admitted, sighing.
He sat down on it while looking unhappy or depressed given how he leaned his head on the desk.
"Damn. I should've tried to stop it from running away so that we could've dissected it and try to find out where they are at." Netto cursed.
"I doubt such data would be installed on it! They'd only bother to put the combat program and damage report data."
"But we'd know the frequency of the supercomputer or some other data and we could track it down!" Netto argued back.
"What's done is done. We can't go back and change it, otouto."
"Sadly enough…!"
"Netto. Don't be depressed. We'll get an opportunity sooner or later… What matters now is that you're safe. We must report this to everyone and have their Battle Chip strategies checked to see how they should handle like…" Yuuichirou told him.
"Papa…"
"Come on. Otouto. Don't get depressed. Cheer up."
Saito tried to encourage him.
"Saito – niisan! Understood…"
"Just think of the last three days of the trimester ahead and that we'll finally be able to spend the Christmas together, the four of us."
"True, true!"
"It'll be a nice winter. And I'm sure even those guys will be rational enough to give us a little break." Yuuichirou added.
"Guess I'll have to go get the ramen knockout before it sells off…"
"I'm into it, too!"
"That's the gluttony outouto I know!" Saito teased.
"I'm not "gluttony": I'm a food maniac!" Netto protested.
"They're the same thing." Yuuichirou told him.
"No way!" Netto groaned.
"Sure!"
"Please gimme a break, Papa!"
"You'll have it on Wednesday with the first term's end. I hope your notes will be good enough."
"I'm sure they will. Otouto's been working hard on 'em."
"I have!"
"Excellent, then!"
17:09 PM (Japan Time)…
"… You. Speak."
"Yikes!"
Miyabi stood inside of an alley, interrogating a man by threatening him with the sharp side of a katana.
"Who's your Boss?" Miyabi demanded.
"C-Caiman!" The man uttered.
"Hmpf. Caiman… There's a bounty on teir head set by the Gunma Prefecture Police… Where is he?"
"D-dunno!" The man replied.
"This is real." He warned.
"Yikes! The old sushi factory by the sea…!" The man gasped.
"Hmpf. Run."
"Yikes!"
The man ran away while Miyabi holstered the katana.
His Link PET beeped and he frowned.
"Miyabi. Mail." Shadow Man announced.
"From who…?" Miyabi asked.
"…"Empress"…"
"I don't know any "Empress" unless it's another S&M witch. I despise them! I know what they did to Hikari Netto's companions a month ago…!"
"The contents don't look like it… It seems to be a self-made song's lyrics, but they're so stupid." Shadow Man added.
"Bring it up." Miyabi commanded.
"Roger. Don't blame me. I warned you!"
"… What the… "There was a Sengoku Ninja family descendant named Dark Miyabi who by using his katana slaughtered a hundred mercenaries before drinking their blood 'cause he was Dracula~! Dracula reincarnated and alive~! That was that guy's true identity~! He tried to protect his Lord but he betrayed 'im and called Hero – sama~! Hero – sama jumped into the stage and shot a Silver Bullet at Dracula's reincarnation burnin' him up and nothing remained! The Lord grabbed the katana and killed Hero – sama 'cause he wanted to be the new villain in charge of the popular drama~! The story ended there~!" … Who the hell wrote THIS?"
"Maybe I would?" A voice rang out.
Miyabi looked at a nearby wall to see the hologram of Harp Note DS standing atop its edge.
"Kagehi." He muttered.
"I'm very flattered! Dark – sama remember Empress Kagehi – sama's name! Wanna brawl with the Queen – sama?"
"Queen – sama…?" Miyabi wondered.
"Come! Queen – sama!" Harp Note DS commanded.
A gigantic Spark Bee and a swarm of normal-sized ones filled the crossroad and Miyabi cursed under his breath.
"Heat up before we send out the next machine! Bye – bye!" She giggled.
The hologram faded away while Miyabi dodged the electrical attacks shot by the Spark Bees.
"Science Labs! I need a "Dimensional Area"!" Miyabi called out.
"I see the situation! Dimensional Area: Activate!" Meijin confirmed.
"Come, you monster. Your pitiful remains will plunge into the Naraku forever." Shadow Man challenged.
"Not again… Synchro Chip, Slot In! CROSS FUSION!"
"CF" Miyabi showed up on scene and drew his two swords.
"Shadow Blade!"
He cut through the small Spark Bees and jumped on top of a streetlight to face the "Queen".
It aimed its sting at "CF" Miyabi and shot an electrical blast, which blew the streetlight up.
"Damn!"
"CF" Miyabi jumped into the air and landed on its back.
"Sneak Attack!"
He made four cuts and clipped off the wings, so the Virus hit the floor and made a deep crater on the ground.
"CF" Miyabi plunged both swords into its forehead and it blew up.
"Hmpf. No big deal…" He muttered.
"You'll get a nice challenge on Tuesday, which will make you sweat."
"CF" Miyabi turned around and spaw Sidier casually standing on the same spot Harp Note DS had been at, wearing that red mantle.
"You! Come and fight!" "CF" Miyabi challenged.
"I don't have a permit to do that. But maybe there's something you're forgetting about? My hint is: it contains the Alphabet character H. Best regards!"
He snapped his right hand's fingers and vanished in that flashy manner.
"H? Damn. Gotta hurry or else…!" He cursed.
"The police are rounding up the grunt and his boss by now."
"Then there was no need to hurry." Miyabi sighed in relief.
"Yuriko was in charge of that today." Shadow Man reminded him.
"Hang it. That bastard fooled me. Anyway… Let's go talk with Dr. Wily. He may have an idea of how to deal with those robots."
17:15 PM (Japan Time)…
"… What? Robots that can counter any battle pattern? Damn. I should've come up with that."
"When will you stop saying "I should've come up with that" since you know you'd never think of it?"
"Hmpf! Silence, commoner!"
"Man. She's gotten into aristocrat" mood!"
Tesla got another of her moods when Airstar told her the news.
She played the offended while Airstar sighed in defeat.
"Oh boy…" Gyro Man muttered.
"How could we have thought of that, anyway?"
Magnet Man shrugged and didn't seem to care.
"Magnet Man! You're conspiring!" Tesla blurted.
"No! Tesla – sama! I shall not present any excuses!"
"Tesla! Accept reality! There are smart people out there."
Gauss scolded her as he walked in to cleanse.
"But! Father! They are making a fool of me!" Tesla protested.
"No, they aren't. I always recognized that Wily – sama was more of a genius than I was."
"Dr. Wily is your obsession, so…"
"This daughter of mine…!"
"I'm off. I don't want to be dragged into a parent and child fight!"
"Guess we're cursed." Gyro Man grumbled.
"Don't say that! It gets worse!"
"You're right! Sheesh!"
17:17 PM (Japan Time)…
"… North!"
"East!"
"North!"
"East!"
"No…!"
"Stop that already!"
"Jeez. But…!"
"Sheesh. No "buts"…!"
Dingo was trying to insist of heading north while Tomahawk Man was correcting him before he lost his patience.
"The GPS says it! Go east!" Tomahawk Man growled.
"The G-something is broken! Totem – sama says north!" Dingo argued.
"This guy…! Behave yourself!"
"Sheesh! I hate being treated like a brat!" Dingo grumbled.
"You're so stubborn…! I wish Netto hit you on the head with something to straighten you up! Look! If you don't act properly, Maha will finally run out of patience and fire ya!" Tomahawk Man growled.
"No way! East, east, east!" Dingo gasped.
"This guy… Gotta straighten 'im out or else we won't get anywhere at all in life… Man… I'm cursed. I know it." He grimly muttered.
"Guess Dekao's to blame…"
"Dekao's to blame: there's no mistaking it."
"Gotta hurry, gotta hurry!"
"Prove to Shanka you're a worthy dude!"
17:24 PM (Japan Time)…
"… So! Has Crown Thunder DS earned his lesson, Ox Fire DS?"
"So it would seem, Saruba – dono."
"I'm now in "Dark Ryuusei" mode, so…"
"Excuse me. Dark Ryuusei – dono…"
Dark Ryuusei was talking with Ox Fire DS as they stood inside of the Death Temple's main arena.
"Crown Thunder DS has learned not to try to pull the "electrified doorknob" on us anymore! We had him work with the Fortress Tribe in upgrading the electrical systems instead. He's taking things seriously but the others still resent his prank a bit." Ox Fire DS explained.
"Guess it can't be helped… Anyway… Sorry for longing so much around here, but Somari – chan's mood keeps on being weird and she's making up weird songs! Sidier reported that to me."
Dark Ryuusei scratched his hair with the right hand.
"That must be too much for him to handle, even." Ox Fire DS muttered.
"I'm afraid so, too. Solo went to camp out with the Fortress Tribe, too… I'm sure that if I know Somari – chan well, she won't let go of Sidier anytime soon. Jeez." Dark Ryuusei muttered.
"Intriguing, by sneaky snake!"
"Ophiucus Queen DS! How dare you eavesdrop on our conversation? Are you plotting something?"
"I apologize, Emperor S – sama and Ox Fire DS – sama, but… I thought it was somewhat amusing." She announced.
"Not so much when you've been at it for 10 years!"
"But it may be female intuition, after all!"
"Never understood that!" Dark Ryuusei sighed.
"Do you have any business? Wait. Weren't you in charge of keeping an eye on Crown Thunder DS today?"
"No, Chief… That's Wolf Forest DS." She corrected.
"Alright."
"I will go check if those mice Viruses are behaving… Good-bye."
She giggled under her breath as she crawled across the ground towards a gateway on the west wall.
"Girls! They have their complexes, really. Not I like I'm complaining, though! We are how we are. And we can be glad of it."
"I get that same feeling from time to time, Saruba – dono! By the way! Is the STS project progressing?" Ox Fire DS asked.
"You didn't hear? We already tested the first unit. It had one or two flaws, but, overall, it did a very good job! The same trick won't work twice."
"…"Fool me once, you're to shame. Fool me twice, I'm to shame"… We are going by that principle?" Ox Fire DS guessed.
"By the way… Are our favorite Siamese twins around here?"
"… Please, sir… That "Siamese twins" joke is running old, sir…"
"Danna likes bringing up old jokes."
The Gemini Spark DS twins walked over to them.
Purple sighed and rolled his eyes while Black grinned and laughed.
"Take it easy, Purple."
"That's easy for you to say, Black."
"I see you're keeping in shape. Was Rocky hard to handle when you needed to change the electrical systems over at the Fortress?"
"Yes, sir. He was trying to rush it all and we had to set a pace."
"Wanted to go and have a high-voltage date with Dia Iceburn DS, even!"
"Black. That ain't funny."
"Come on, Purple! You're so stiff…" Black told him.
"It's not "stiff"! It's being polite, Black!" Purple protested.
Dark Ryuusei brought a hand to his chin and smiled.
These two remind me of the Hikari Twins! Hikari Netto tends to be hot-headed and make up jokes! Hikari Saito tries to be cool-headed and polite. These guys have been around for more years than them! Maybe it's one of those similarities you see in life!
"Anyway! Sir! We handle well but I'm starting to be fed up to have put up a show in front of Ophiucus Queen DS. If only the elements worked as in PKMN, Elec wouldn't be weak to Grass. Man. I hate having to do that."
"Ya always can quit! I'm the macho lil bro and I handle everythin', big bro."
"That's easier to say than to do." Purple complained next.
"Man. Guess we'll have to do something about it!"
"Before she comes up with tentacle hentai again…"
Solo was right! These girls are WEIRD. TOO WEIRD. Man!
"Sheesh! I did tell her to not to do that! OPHIUCUS!"
"Did ya call, Lord Ifrit?"
"Sheesh! I'm not a summon beast from the Final Fantasy series!"
Ophiucus Queen DS crawled into the arena, smirking, and Ox Fire DS grumbled at her joke.
"Stop! Pestering! Others!" He grumbled.
"Else I'll punish you myself!" Dark Ryuusei added.
"Yikes! R-roger, Dark Ryuusei – sama!"
"Sheesh. See, I told you…" Purple sighed.
"Hmpf! Anyway! Let's see the next episode of the show!"
