Chapter 6: Black Hole Server

09:09 AM (Japan Time), Monday August the 29th…

"… Strike~!"

"… Hmmm…"

"Strike~!"

"Hmm…"

"Futaba dates Subari~!"

"WHAT?"

"Gotcha!"

"War Rock…! That wasn't funny!"

Subaru sat up on his bed as War Rock laughed, but he wasn't amused on the least as he yawned.

"It's barely 9 AM and you wake me up… Whaddya want?"

"Tease ya~!" War Rock grinned.

"By all the… Leave me alone." Subaru shot back.

"And while ya are alone, dearly Futaba will come and ask ya out for a manly date~? Ya will go eat ice cream and play at the arcade~?"

"This isn't funny! Don't mess with his dignity, War Rock! And go slice Viruses up! Jeez! Off you go!" Subaru growled.

"Off to nowhere~!" He sang.

"GET OUT OF MY ROOM!" Subaru commanded.

"Okay, Admiral Nelson!"

"Who…?"

"Later, Subari~!"

Subaru slapped his face in defeat as a grimace formed on it.

"Sheesh! He hasn't learned the lesson at all!"

He stretched and stood up to look out into the skies.

They were unclouded and a bright sun was illuminating the whole town.

"Tabuu… What will he come up with today?"

His Hunter VG rang, so he answered it.

Cepheus, the FM King, appeared on-screen.

"Why! Cepheus! It's been a while!"

"Indeed. There's been happenings…"

"Has something happened to Planet FM?" Subaru gasped.

"The Black Hole Server… The guards in charge of it were deleted and now it's filled with those "Darkloids"… It hasn't changed position or anything, but we can't do anything about it…" He reported.

"Tabuu's handiwork…" He grumbled.

"Vadous contacted me and told me about him. But I wasn't expecting him to be so bold!" Cepheus admitted.

"It's his way of challenging us… I guess we'll need to gather some of the fighters to storm it…" Subaru muttered.

"We can't do much but encourage you. Be careful, though… Because it'd seem there's a new one amongst them which wasn't in that planet, according to data from the surveillance system!"

"New or not… I'll pulverize them!"

War Rock boasted as he suddenly showed up in front of Subaru.

"Come on…" Subaru moaned.

"Come out, jerks! War Rock will beat ya down the very last bolt!"

"Sheesh. One day you'll get beaten up yourself!"

"Did ya say something? My ears are ringin'!"

10:49 AM (Japan Time)…

"… Okay. We four should suffice for the time being. Harp Note and Acid Ace are waiting outside in standby…"

"Sheesh! Why are you being so stiff, man?"

"A mission's a mission… Not time to fool around!"

"Roger! Let's go!"

Omega, Blood Shadow, Sigma and Rock Man were gathered in the entrance of the Black Hole Server.

The usual blackness was present, and it was totally silent except for their own hushed voices.

Omega was serious and focused today.

"I'll slice and dice through them! Beast Man's claws are unrivaled!"

"Slash! Slash Man will chop them up!"

"PIKA… RIKA… PI~…"

"We know the rest, Element Man. But Plant Man over here will turn them into food for his flower garden!"

"The "Darkloids"…!" Rock Man muttered.

"I, Beast Man, go first!"

"I'll pick this guy… Who goes next?"

Sigma drew his sword and took a step forward.

"Slash! Slash Man goes next!"

"This one's mine!" Omega drily announced.

"PI~… KA… RIKA…"

"Is that the guy named Element Man? I'm surprised he doesn't seem to be able to speak normally! Guess his speech program is impaired and nobody has bothered to fix it!" Blood Shadow sighed.

"Calling on Plant Man… Rock Man! You lowlife are MY prey! I will enjoy torturing you and hearing to your pleas before I grant you my secret weapon… The "kiss of death", like the KGB used!" He laughed.

"K-kiss of death…! This guy is a weirdo or what?" War Rock grumbled.

"You are the weirdo, being the alien that you are!"

"And Tabuu ain't that?" War Rock shot back.

"How dare you shun Lord Tabuu0s grace, you barbarian? I'll make you regret it!" Plant Man got annoyed.

"Let's go! Jumping Claw!"

"Rolling Slasher!"

"PIKARIKA~!"

"Plant Weed!"

Beast Man drew his claws and jumped towards Sigma, but the black giant only had to lift his sword to make Beast Man's claws shatter upon impact.

Sigma used his knuckles to hit Beast Man's forehead and sent him flying across the server.

"Send me a postcard when ya reach the Bahamas!" Sigma taunted.

Slash Man began to spin upon his axis at a mad speed while heading for Omega who merely lifted the right eyebrow, crossed his arms, and stepped to the right.

Slash Man shot past him and crashed against a wall, getting embed on it.

"Weak!" Omega muttered.

"You lowlife… I'm not over yet! Rolling Slasher!"

"Plasma Shot!"

The shot from his gun ended up melting part of Slash Man's armor.

Omega thrust his sword into his exposed core program.

Slash Man roared and was blown up, but Omega was unimpressed.

"Enemy deleted!" He merely reported.

Element Man, on the meanwhile, had made the red spheroid shift position and switched his color palette to red.

He made meteors rain down on Blood Shadow, but he easily dodged and loaded his shotgun.

"Charged shotgun shot!"

He placed the barrels on his chest and the zero-range blast pierced through Element Man, thus deleting him.

Blood Shadow dropped into the ground and sighed in relief.

Rock Man, however, was having trouble hitting Plant Man even by using Ox Noise Change.

Plant Man had formed a maze of weeds having thorns into them plus a shield made of leaves, which was protecting him.

"Useless. Take this! Ice Cannon Ball!"

"What!"

The sphere hit Rock Man and cancelled his Ox Noise.

He'd barely had time to react when the weeds suddenly coiled around his legs and arms.

Plant Man loomed over him and tried to strangle Rock Man while those weeds began to coil over his body and drive the thorns into his skin, inflicting further pain.

Rock Man closed his teeth and eyes while trying to endure the pain.

He suddenly formed the Muramasa Blade.

"Go… Rock!"

War Rock materialized, to Plant Man's surprise, and grabbed the Muramasa Blade, which he used to sever his waist in half.

"M-my prey~!"

He blew up, too, and the weeds vanished.

Rock Man dropped into his knees, and he panted.

"Rock Man! Are you alright?"

Blood Shadow checked on his wounds.

"S-somehow… This guy was creepy…!" He muttered.

"Checkmate!"

"Look out!"

"What?"

Omega tackled them out of the spot as someone came crashing down on the spot where they'd been at.

"Hum! King Man is going to checkmate these fools!"

"This must be the "new Darkloid" that Cepheus mentioned! King Man! Somewhat ironic, I think… He claims to be the "king" yet he's but a mere piece in the playing board… A piece to be controlled by the player!"

Rock Man looked up and grumbled.

"How dare you…!" King Man growled.

"Be gone!" Omega coolly announced.

He showed up in front of him and plunged his saber into the upper torso.

He then drew a circle and extracted it to reveal the core program inside of his body, which he stabbed with the saber.

"Lord Tabuu!"

He blew up as well, so Omega collected the saber as it flew across the air to then shut it off and holster it on a compartment built upon his right hip.

"Is that all? I guess this is another teasing move… The fool loves to beat around the bush!"

"Wha~t? Already over? I want more~! Go fight the evil twins and let's make them dance the goose dance!"

"In my state? Are you mad? Go do that YOURSELF!"

"Listen to Hoshikawa, War Rock… Or you'll crave your own watery grave like Prophet Jeremy…" Tabuu laughed.

"Show your useless hide!" War Rock taunted.

"Show me your moves!"

"Ya jerk… My blood's boiling!"

"No good. At all!" Rock Man muttered.

"Our beloved monsters… Enjoy… I'll soon treat you guys to a VIP tour!"

"Signature's gone… As always!"

"Nice warm-up!"

"Nice? Sheesh. This jerk was a creep! Let's bring Rock Man to the HQ and make sure he's not infected with any weird programs!"

"Listen, Tabby! War Rock curses ya to receive troll emails!"

"Will you shut up?" Omega grumbled.

"Wha~t? What happened to your usual mood?"

"No need for it! Things are tense enough! Boss improved me!"

"Vadous! Not fair!"

"Fair enough! One day I'll install one in you too!" Vadous replied.

"Go ahead, sir!" Rock Man dully encouraged.

"Subari! You traitor!"

"I'm no traitor. This is for everyone's sake!"

"That goes for you too! Sigma!"

"R-roger, Boss!"

"Saw it coming!" Blood Shadow drily muttered.

"Wha~t? What a conspirer league!"

"No – one's conspiring. You're to blame for being so counter-productive: and that means that you bring headaches to people instead of doing something useful!" Vadous fumed.

"What's Tabby's weakness? I'll smash the guy myself!"

"I haven't found the files yet!"

"Wha~t? How's that possible?"

"My laziness! I didn't bother to update the search engine ever since ages ago and I'm struggling to re-code the whole of it!"

"That's… It must be hassle…." Rock Man gulped.

"I'm not perfect! I never said I was! If you've got some constructive criticism, then go ahead. You needn't feel intimidated by my bad mood!

"R-roger, Boss!"

"You're free to do as you like! You only need follow orders from Akatsuki and that's it. I only request!"

"Maybe you could ask Acid to lend you a hand?"

"Why not… We'd end sooner! And maybe he gains from it too! That'd be mutual benefit, wouldn't it?"

"I'll suggest it to him!"

"Go ahead…"

"Claw Man stole my climax!"

"Did you say… something?" Omega asked with a hint of annoyance.

He was glancing over his right shoulder.

"No!" He gulped.

"My imagination, then!"

He turned dull and resumed facing ahead as they walked out of the space.

"The brotherly fight has begun again, Sir Omega. We better get out before they involve us!" Blood Shadow signaled.

The residual forms of Acid Ace R and Grave Joker R had begun fighting each other some tens of meters SW of their position.

Ty both roared as they interchanged attacks.

"Solid and Liquid back at it!"

"Sigma…!"

"YIKES!"

"You cool it too, Omega! That's an order!" Vadous sighed.

"Roger that…"

"Beware, ladies and gentlemen. The town's handsome fellow is about to return from having a date with Cia, the Black Witch. And the number two handsome fellow had one with Lana, the White Witch!"

"I dunno what that crap is about! Ignore it. Get out of there!"

"Subari~! You're the lucky number two!"

Omega whipped around and walked up to War Rock to glare at him.

"Do you need another detention like if you were a rebel student?"

War Rock gulped and looked away as Omega resumed heading to the exit.

"We need Detective Gouto to figure out the truth!"

"Save me the fiction references! Show yourself!"

"I'll show you a bouquet of white roses by Mr. Calculus!"

"Send those to some actress!"

"Such as Hibiki~?"

"Don't pester children!"

"And I'll hold you responsible for Plant Man's behavior, too!"

"Go ahead. Guess Overlord or one of his men added pointless stuff on that man's programming before making a copy in the data area over there…"

"What? Twilight had a data storage hidden here!? Sheesh!"

"Be assured that there wasn't any backup of himself…"

"Sheesh. Lesser of two evils…"

"Guess it was Liquid, who was always fooling around…"

"Excellent deduction, Brat Shat!"

"Sheesh! Why can't you call people by their names?"

"Mega-O senpai inspired me~!"

"I really hate myself for that!" Omega growled.

"No point in hating oneself for that, Omega…"

"I know, Boss… But… Sheesh! I'm such a mess!"

"Tabuu! Now you've done it! Take responsibility!"

"Guess I did overdo this time…" He sighed.

"Go fish codfish in the Mediterranean!"

"Guess I'll do that…."

The transmission ceased while Omega fumed and punched his right cheek.

"I need to switch off some hours to cool down!"

The group managed to get out of the darkness and sighed in relief.

"Blood. Bring Subaru to the med room and Lartes will inspect him!"

"As for you, Sigma… Stay quiet!" Lartes ordered.

"Sheesh! The mood's gone!" War Rock grumbled.

Because you contributed to breaking it! Sheesh! Behave already!