Chapter 16: Advent

16:44 PM (Japan Time), Thursday September the 1st…

"My head! Where am I…?"

"Subaru! Are you alright?"

"That voice… Master…?"

"That's me. Calm down…"

Subaru slowly opened his eyes and blinked several times.

All was blurry to him, but he could recognize a figure leaning over him.

Subaru felt like he was laying face-up on something soft and cushioned.

"W-where am I…?" Subaru slowly asked.

"My lab, inside of the HQ. We're just 1 hour away from Earth!"

Subaru managed to focus his sight and recognized Lartes' face.

He was lying atop a black examination table, like the ones in a medic's consulting room.

There was a wooden desk set against the north wall.

Two capsules connected to a deposit set against the eastern wall.

The southern wall had a door marking the entry and exit of the room.

"Subaru! Ya have been dreaming of Tsukasa?"

War Rock joked as he hovered over him.

"Sheesh! Leave me alone! I have a terrible headache. I feel dizzy, as if the whole world is spinning around me!"

"It's no wonder! Being kicked out of that dimensional space by such a violent rupture of Time-Space continuum must have blown up your sense of stability!" Lartes calmly told him.

"Kicked out of…? What became of Tabuu?"

"No trace!"

"What exactly happened?"

"War Rock told us what happened to you, so… Omega and the others were still fighting the robots in that room, but he was worried about you. He blew a hole in the ceiling and climbed up the continuation of the elevator's shaft! He ended up in a room with two stairs heading to a room above that, which turned out to be a command center given the supercomputer built there! He found out that the "diamond" atop the tower was another "Dimensional Area" shaped like that!"

"The jerk must've believed itself the king of diamonds!" War Rock laughed.

"Silence! Omega accessed the supercomputer and skipped through its data to try to find you. The tower began to rattle and shake at the same Time-Space began to flow out of control with cracks forming and energy releasing out of nowhere. Stability was threatened, so he unlocked the elevator and ordered everyone to evacuate before it sunk into the ocean!"

"Then they climbed into the shuttle?"

"They were all reticent, no wonder, but they managed to flee just as the tower's supporting undersea structure stopped functioning due to the wild gamma, beta and alpha rays popping out of the Time-Space fissures! The tower began to sink into the ocean! Then, a GIGANTIC crack in Time-Space formed and began to "engulf" everything around it! It acted as if it was trying to equalize atmospheric pressures and drain out the whole planet's atmosphere! Two sounds rang out. Tabuu's totally insane laughter and your cries of fear! You were ejected out of the huge hole and Omega used the shuttle to rendezvous with you and could retrieve you!"

"As expected of Mr. Omega… He's an amazing pilot!"

"They saw Tabuu's true form for a few seconds as he was about to be suctioned into a crack of space. A secondary crack which was even larger than the one in the planet formed past it! He was sucked ALONG with the WHOLE TOWER before it imploded, and the energy release swept through the whole planet!"

"Impressive!"

"It blew up the AAC towers, which sank into the bottom of the ocean! THAT was a spectacle which even made Boss' jaw hit the floor. I swear that no movie can rival THAT!"

"That was artistic!"

"I doubt you have any idea of what art is about…!" Subaru sighed.

"The motherships, lacking a control signal, shut down ALL their systems and began to drift around! There were 6 of them left. They'll eventually fall off or crash with each other over time. We fled before things could worsen, since that phenomena could've sucked up the whole planet had the energy been greater, even! The shuttle returned, and we shot for hyper-space because we'd already "heated up" the engines for the trip! We've been travelling through it. The trip from Earth was two hours. However, we didn't have enough time to "heat up" to a 100% speed and could only afford 33% speed! Which is why we've been in transit for 5 hours already. Almost everyone is resting on their rooms after they underwent a medical check to make sure they hadn't been contaminated by the radiation!"

"I see… And I've been unconscious this whole time?"

"You deliberately filled up your body with Noise out of a raw source and the amount of effort done to use all those Mega Cards out of the blue took its toll on you. Besides… You were bombarded by a small amount of radiation, too, but… It wasn't worrisome and it won't have effects to your health. I did have to replace your device and re-upload its software because it wasn't designed to withstand such dangerous levels of radiation and ended up burnt out. Sorry." Lartes told him with a slight sigh.

"I don't mind, Master! That's a small price to pay for a greater victory… Did Solo admit installing the program to use the Laplace Blade?"

"He didn't want to, but since there was no-one who could've done it…"

"He begrudgingly admitted to it… What exactly could've happened to Tabuu?"

"Most probably… The crack in Time-Space sucked him and the tower at random through a chaos of Time-Space formations…"

"And…?"

"He could end up anywhere in the Universe. Yet… His last words saying something like "THIS" Universe… Maybe he was already conscious of what was going to happen… And maybe he will end up in another Universe…"

"ANOTHER Universe? Is that possible, sir?" Subaru gasped.

"It was already suggested in the last stages of the 20th century that there are countless "alternate" or "parallel" Universes or worlds. Time-Space physics are still a mystery to most of humanity!"

"I see… Yet… He wasn't being really "evil", I'd say… More like he wanted to demonstrate what he was capable of…" Subaru muttered.

"In fact, Boss received an email from him a few minutes before he pulled you out of the tower to fight you… He spoke about how he'd been plagued by paranoia when cooperating with us and the reason he left us is because that paranoia was consuming him, and he didn't want to fight us out of an outburst of said paranoia. He bid his time and prepared this "show" to prove that he could handle perfectly alone without the need of his "creators" to be always forwarding orders to him and controlling his life…"

"I see…"

"He attached something to the mail! It was a Mega Card based on him! Three waves of energy which spread across the screen with a little delay between each other. It deals 250 points per wave. They are for you, Subaru, because he recognized your power!"

Lartes grabbed a blue Hunter – VG and handed it to Subaru.

Subaru looked at the screen.

The image displayed a close-up of Tabuu's upper torso and face plus some segments of the wings could be seen on the background.

"And he produced them for me…"

"I was forgetting something else! All robots on Earth shut down the same moment the tower began to act in a wild manner. They didn't receive the broadcasting signal which was being repeated using Earth's relay satellites. The Satella Police stuffed them inside of their dropships and shipped them to a small island which is off-limits to civilians. We'll bring them to the Subspace for scrapping. Blood Shadow and Sigma managed to sabotage several of the motherships from inside to disable their weapon systems!"

"And Tsukasa is gonna kneel down in front of your Nanska Village statue to pray upon ya like the godly prophet ya are, Subari~!"

"That was… pathetic. Really!" Lartes fumed.

"The statue there is Gonta's, not mine. And he knows it very well, because he used to live in the ruins near the village!"

"As expected of smart Subari~!"

"Maybe you need a new detention!"

War Rock gasped and warped out as Lartes fumed.

Subaru attempted to pace around the room while Lartes watched him.

He ended up sitting down on the armchair with a sigh of relief.

"Relax, Subaru. These symptoms will most likely fade after a while when you've had proper rest!" Lartes told him.

"We should be getting back to Earth in a while, right?"

"Another 35 minutes, more or less…"

"I think that I'll sleep profoundly tonight. I feel so tired! I should practice some kendo again…!"

"All in due time…"

"I know, sir. We did what we had to do… I'm satisfied!"

"That's the spirit, my disciple!"

"Thank you, sir…! I look forward to a new training session!"

17:58 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Congratulations!"

Subaru, Misora and Akatsuki stepped into the WAXA Command Room to be greeted by their friends and the WAXA staff.

Confetti blew around the room along with clapping.

"Jackie~! I've found it out! You are the culprit!"

"The culprit behind what?" Jack grumbled.

"Tsukasa's disappearance! Take that!"

"Why would I do that? I never met the man!"

"'Cause ya want a monopoly~!" War Rock laughed.

"A monopoly on what?"

"On Subari~!"

Queen Tia lifted her right eyebrow slightly and Jack gulped.

"Sis! You're not going to believe that troll, are you?"

"No. I was merely showing that his childish attempts don't impress me!"

"Childish? Are ya asking for a brawl, Virgo?"

"I'm not Virgo, I'm Tia… Go fight a copy of her in the simulator!"

"Sheesh. War Rock. Don't start a brawl when we're partying!"

"Probabilities of a disaster happening clock at 89%..." Acid calculated.

"Hmpf! Go ask Lloyds for an insurance, Lawyer Man!"

"I am not a lawyer and it is not in my programming to do that…"

"Hmpf. Let the little lion bark…" Ox scoffed.

"When did you turn into the wiseman?"

"While you were fooling around?"

"Whatever! I've got a trump card! I'll use it to become the ultimate!"

"Let's make a cheer for Subaru: he saved the day again and this time he fought like never before!"

Daigo lifted Subaru's right arm as if to make him stand out.

"Bravo!"

"I know! Cygnus! It was you! You're giving Oxid ideas!"

"And what if?" Cygnus shot back.

"It's not fun!"

"Nothing obliges me to follow your criteria for "fun"…" He shrugged.

"Lawyer Man's sneaky wisdom!"

"I feel praised…" Acid ironically shot back.

"Chances of this escalating into all-out-war clock at 83%..."

Pedia whispered to Kizamaro.

"Don't be so dramatic…"

"You're one to talk!" Luna sighed.

"You broke the rules…" Mode reminded him.

"Yikes! That was… Helping a friend in need!"

"We'll talk about that with Mr. Ikuta! He'll decide that!"

"Yikes!" Both Kizamaro and Gota gasped.

"B-B-B-Bertie~! Clark Kent is about to claim Futaba as his "companion"!"

"Be quiet, War Rock…" Subaru sighed.

"Amachi~! Your namesake wants to hire you~!"

"Namesake?" Amachi wondered.

"Maybe he means Mr. Urakata Mamorou?" Misora guessed.

"Come on! Our kanji are way different!" Amachi grumbled.

"Stop eating "Sweet Candy" or you'll become as thick as Fat Man from Dead Cell!"

"I dunno who he was and what does he has to do with this."

"Brad Shad! Aren't ya in the mood to date B-B-B-B-Bertie~?"

"Don't hijack my radio, War Rock!"

"Amgis! Did Amigs bring you Amics (Friends)?"

"When did you lean to make puns like those?" Sigma grumbled.

"It was on a draft folder by Tabby~!"

"Sheesh. When did you…?" Daigo sighed.

"Hmpf. Guess you need some days switched off for a change…"

"Yikes! Run for the shelter!"

War Rock fled, to no-one's surprise.

"Huh! Sorry! I'm late… I ran into some traffic jam!"

Detective Goyouda panted as he ran in.

"Detective Goyouda! It's been a while, sir!"

"Sure, young man! Is there anything left?"

"Here's some onigiri!"

"Thank you, Mr. Amachi! Excellent stuff, indeed!"

"Alright! Once the party is over, we must resume the hunt!"

"Same over here… I had to chase some lousy hackers!"

"And I'll go enjoy a training session at the island, too…"

"Let's enjoy the break before we get back into action!"

"Sure thing… Let's do this together!"

"Mr. Unknown, Mr. X is asking you to become Mr. Question Mark!"

"Sheesh. War Rock doesn't learn…"

"By the way… Don't slack gym, Akatsuki…" Queen Tia giggled.

"Sheesh. I can't make promises. I'll do what I can…"

"By the way, Subaru! Would you mind if I joined you in training?"

"I wouldn't mind, Jack. I'm sure Master wouldn't mind, either…"

"I think I'll join you, too… I need a place to disconnect from stress…"

"It's still warm, so maybe we could bathe in the sea…?"

"Come to these… Maybe a quick trip to Shisa Island would do?"

"Maybe that'll work better, that way we can all go there…"

"I approve!" Luna exclaimed.

"The sea…? Why not…" Queen Tia distractedly muttered.

"I updated the systems to block War Rock's signals…"

"Thanks, Acid. He needs a lesson or two, really…"

"Say. Is there an amulet to shake off doomsday Fridays?"

"Sheesh. A stupid joke email… I'll update the filters!" Cygnus sighed.

"Same over here! I'll prove I'm smarter! Ox grumbled.

"Guess I need to work on that diet plan…" Gonta sighed.

"It's not like it's the end of the world!" Kizamaro tried to encourage.

"I also updated the filters…" Pedia sighed.

"Anyway! Forget the little prankster and let's enjoy!"

"You're right, Dad! That's what we're doing!"

"Youth having fun is great! Enjoy it!" Dr. Yoiri laughed.

Everyone laughed and enjoyed the party…

18:18 PM (Japan Time)…

"… Hmpf. The fools inside of that building must be feeling totally confident that their troubles are over by now… How foolish, really! I laugh at it! Because the problem is never gone until the very root is exterminated!"

A figure stood atop a cliff overlooking the WAXA Building.

It had reddish eye irises.

"I have located the "shells". I know how to assemble them together. However, my goal is for my "tribe" to rise back, to regain the glory of its days as a kingdom! I need an army. It shall not be an imitation of that ridiculous repetitive and plebeian mechanical army! I will build an "elite" troop capable of countering the modern warriors! I need schematics and instructions, though! I will achieve that, and collect the "shells" to fuse them with my "orb"…!"

The figure rummaged inside of a backpack.

They grabbed something with both hands and lifted it.

It was a black orb made of circuitry boards covered by transparent plastic.

Sparks of reddish electricity sometimes formed on its surface.

They held it with both hands as if peering into it.

They faced the Moon and their eyes sparkled with ambition.

"Power! It accumulates atmospheric EM waves to function! Hmpf! Nevertheless, to think that they built such a thing over the temple! Fools! They deserved punishment for insulting the Bloodthirsty God of Essence! Once I gather the "shells" and fuse them together, the "Ultimate Power" shall be formed! And now that the loathsome Mu empire is long extinct… Nothing will stop my tribe from regaining its old territories!"

They sneered as they looked down into the valley.

"Such will be the power of this "Lost Legacy"!"

THE END