Chapter 2: Operation Trident

10:10 AM (Japan Time), Friday January the 24th…

"… That Koyota was supposedly a former soldier in some foreign mercenary legion, but his aim must've really rusted given how he missed his target altogether!"

"True, Enzan – sama. Hikari did recover two days ago, right, sir? The wound was not severe but it must have been painful."

"Yeah. At least I can focus on trying to find something out of place here in the Reverse Internet… However… There's nothing spectacular in here, really. Just small fry…"

"That used to be true! However! Starting today, you'll be met with more than you wished for. Such is our scenario!"

"Who the…?"

"Wind Cutter!"

"Huh! Where'd that come from…?"

Blues had been wandering the wildness of the Reverse Internet while being in "Full Synchro" status with Enzan; both had been chatting when a voice rang out a roll of tape was shot on their direction; Blues jumped back just in time.

"The magnificent director has come! Lights! Camera! Action! Video Man! I'll be back!"

"Video Man…?"

A Net Navi jumped down from a higher platform and stood up to his full height while having a smug smile on his face.

His face was colored black and his eyes were colored green.

He had a metallic structure set around and atop the head, which included two dials on the sides of it and three connection ports colored yellow, white and red from left to right.

The body's main color was black but he had a round "play" symbol colored green set on the middle of the chest with two round buttons on both sides of it; a shape reminiscent of the Alphabet letter "V" was set above the "play" symbol plus a round circle drawn around on the base of his neck.

His shoulders were shaped like spheroids but were different; the left one was gray metallic while the right one was black with a red dome-shaped piece set atop it.

His arms' "skin" was black in color, too, but he had two parallel circular green stripes set slightly beneath the shoulder; his forearms were metallic and had some kind of tape set on them, which interconnected with each other: his hands were colored black, too, and had no outstanding features on either of them.

The rest of his torso was colored black and it had another green-colored shape reminiscent of the Alphabet letter "V" set on it towards the spot where a person's stomach would be.

His legs had four small "V" shape stripes set on a vertical row around the hips: four of them.

Another two circular stripes parallel to each other were placed around the knees and on the ankles; his feet were shaped like rectangles.

"So you're Video Man… Who else is there?" Blues questioned.

"Your imagination, Holmes!"

"Hmpf! Very funny." Enzan drily replied.

"Your worst nightmare: iced coffee!"

"Come on."

"Your worst accident: slipping on ice and crashing against Meijin – sama thus staining him with the coffee!"

"By all the… This guy's as worse as Superintendent Oda if not crazier. Let's get outta here, Blues."

"Not so fast! Wind Cutter!"

He formed a roll of video-tape which grew in thickness while being fed by the main tape and then shot it forward; its mass and speed combined when hitting Blues sent him flying and crashing hard against the ground three meters away.

"Damn. This guy's no punk." Blues cursed.

"Wasn't this place way too boring for you? We're gonna turn it into an anthill, by Moran!" He laughed.

"You've spoken in plural twice: who else is involved?"

"My staff, obviously enough! I'm the director, after all! And we're filming "A Hero's Shameful Deletion" today!"

"By all the… Blues! Combat mode!"

"Useless!"

He suddenly warped out of his position and appeared again SE of their position while forming the roll of videotape.

"Wind Cutter!"

"Fumikomizan!"

"Tapeline!"

"No use!"

"Fast Forward!"

"What!"

Blues drew a Long Blade, and tried to warp to hit Video Man while dodging his roll of videotape, but loose tapelines began to form across the space, trying to impede his rush; Blues cut through them but Video Man warped at the last second; Blues had to land and scan.

"Wonderful. Filming stage is over. Didn't you spot the "REC" symbol on my body? My terrific "Special Ability" comes into play…"

"What!"

"Playback!"

He held the tape between his armlets forward and it produced streams of blue light which expanded to form a cone and a figure materialized; it was an exact copy of Blues yet his emblem had been replaced by Video Man's own one; the "copy Blues" drew a Long Sword and repeated the movements he'd executed before when the "real Blues" had tried to attack Video Man; the "real Blues" barely blocked in time but another one attacked from the rear followed by another two; Video Man was continuously generating an army of "copy Blues" units.

"See? See? You thought the "Darkloids" were hard to chew! They were, but… What about yourself, fellow? Are you hard to chew? Are you a rock? Are you a steel plate? Figure it out with your teeth, by Moran!"

"Damn. An enemy that can record your movements and then recreate them in the form of a simplistic program, which can multiply infinitely! This is nothing like what we've experienced before!" Enzan cursed.

"And if you've got trouble handling ME wait until you meet the high-rank guys and wish you hadn't underestimated US!"

"Who the hell are you guys?" Enzan demanded.

"The Moran Gang!"

"The Moran Gang…? Oh come on. That's a parody." Enzan groaned.

"Who knows, Mr. Imagination?" He taunted.

"I do. End of the tale, walking VHS."

"I feel the strong…" A voice rang out.

"Huh? Oh fuck. Not that guy!" Enzan cursed.

"Shit." Blues growled.

"Hmpf! As scheduled." Video Man formed a smirk.

"I've come to take this power…"

"Forte…!"

Forte slowly hovered into the area while an aura of power surrounded him; he ignored Blues and focused on Video Man as his eyes glowed with anger, yet Video Man didn't flinch.

"You. That power… I'll be taking it. With it… I'll be one step closer… to becoming the Ultimate Net Navi…" He muttered.

"Sadly enough, Forte, I won't be your opponent today. Someone of higher power is waiting to prove to you how vain your power really is. And they're coming…" Video Man smirked.

"Indeed. I am your opponent." A calm voice boomed out of nowhere.

A purple-colored vortex formed in the midst of the air and a stream of yellowish light jumped out of it to give way to a new Net Navi, which hovered above the area.

This Net Navi could easily be over a meter and eighty tall.

Its helmet design didn't look like a helmet to begin with; the forehead was covered by a diamond-shaped green-colored piece of armor from which two tall and white "antennae" emerged in a 45º inclination; something which looked like a mass of hair colored green formed behind the helmet and expanded downwards in a cone-like manner.

The face's skin was normal and the shape was rather feminine yet a bit androgynous at the same time; the Navi's eye irises were red in color.

Its upper body had a white cloth similar to a sweater with three parallel stripes set on its surface running down its length until it ended halfway across the torso.

The shoulders had greenish four-speared stars built into them and two large white sleeves which extended way past the total length of the arms extended from there; they looked thick and like they had some extra mass inside; they formed shapes reminiscent of the Alphabet "L" character.

The hands emerged from two oval-shaped cavities just where the sleeves formed a 45º turn to aim SW and SE; they were covered in white "gloves" or "skin" and were currently closed.

The rest of the body was colored green and looked like a one-piece suit extending until the middle half of the upper body; two greenish/yellowish stripes ran down the sides of the torso until the hips.

Two greenish/yellowish diamonds were drawn around the knees followed by oval-shaped patterns, which ended in a triangle on the ankle; the Navi didn't have the typical boots and the legs ended like they were pants which were larger than usual.

Some light radiated from the Navi's silhouette and made them stand out while emitting a powerful sensation; their gaze was calm and didn't display any emotion at all.

"My name is Slur. I am a ruler." She drily announced.

"Hah! This Navi's power is strong… Very strong… It's way better than that crappy Navi down there… I'll bring you down in one hit!" Forte exclaimed.

"Foolish one. Receive your punishment."

She aimed her right hand towards Forte and spread it wide; yellow round spots formed around Forte's body and some wires with metallic cylinders on their ends formed out of them; they spread and tied around his body, thus immobilizing him; he tried to break them but they wouldn't yield.

"What the fuck! I'm the strongest Net Navi on the world and I can't break some fucking wires?" He cursed.

"Strongest? Yet you alone could not take down "Greizer", could you? And you are drowning in power." She formed a sinister grin.

"Shaddup you fucker!" He scowled.

"Such an immature holder of power cannot be left to wander around! It is but an eyesore and mockery at those who really possess strength. I am one of those. I am in pair with Serenade, if not above him. I shall avenge his fall. Such is the reason I have come here. Yet he would not like of me to delete you! Instead I shall have you drown in the endless Universe never to emerge again." Her eyes glared with obvious repressed anger.

"Shut up! Shut up! I'm the strongest! I'm the ultimate!"

Slur ignored him, signaled the sky, and drew a circle with her right hand's index finger; the circle became a black-colored vortex similar to a "black hole" sucking everything up; Forte was sucked in and the vortex vanished as quickly as it had formed; she then glanced at Blues, who was still struggling with Video Man's copies.

"Video Man." She called out.

"Slur – sama! Please command me!" He kneeled and made a reverence.

"No deletion. Just prove to them how rusted they are. If they HP hits the 1 HP mark then pull back to the base. Understood?"

"Roger, ma'am! Please leave it on the hands of this servant."

"It shall be amusing… Operation Trident has started."

"Operation Trident?" Enzan demanded.

"It shall soon become clear. In the meanwhile, do play around and test if you yourself are a worthy fighter or else you need to pass the torch into someone else. Do not assume you are the strongest, either. "

"T-this jerk…!" Blues grumbled.

"Farewell! Ijuuin Enzan! Blues!"

She formed the purple vortex again and jumped inside of it while Video Man crossed his arms and let the 30 "Blues copies" fight against the "real Blues", who was getting overwhelmed.

"How's this one for a change? No pain no gain! Sweat! Struggle! Beg for your life! The audience wants that!"

"Shaddup! You! Walking VHS!" Enzan cursed.

"Wait, Enzan – sama… If that guy is a VHS then…" Blues whispered.

"Of course…! Why didn't I think of that one before…? Battle Chip, Heavy Shake!"

Blues formed the Heavy Shake Battle Chip and set it vertically to then climb atop it; the copies didn't mind and began to jump towards him.

"Useless! Truly useless!"

"Battle Chip, Elec Sword! GO~!"

Blues jumped into the air and then hit the Heavy Shake with the Elec Sword; the result was a sudden roar as some kind of wave spread across the area and the copies were all wiped out; Video Man's jaw hit the floor.

"I-impossible! Playback!"

The copy that came out was blurry and its movements were incredibly slow; Video Man found Blues behind him having the Elec Sword placed right next to Video Man's neck.

"Magnetism."

"Oh shit! My greatest weakness followed by humidity!" He cursed.

"That's the problem of using a VHS! It's too delicate. DVDs are susceptible to magnetism too but VHS is more easily damaged."

"Damn them all! I'll remember this humiliation! Eject!"

He escaped, and both sighed in relief.

"By Merton! There's a conspiracy here."

"Sir! Couldn't you knock on the door before entering? I was concentrated maintaining "Full Synchro" with Blues!" Enzan protested.

"Uncle Merton says that guy's Uncle Moran is his half-brother. Meijin ate a spicy donut. Wanna try it out?"

"There aren't spicy donuts! I'm off! Plug Out, Blues!"

Blues returned inside of Enzan's PET and projected outside with the hologram to see Enzan leaving the office and shutting the door on the way out: he grumbled something under his breath.

"How lovely. Forte gets beaten, there's a jerk which almost beats me to a pulp and that Slur gal who seems to be the head of some gang or another different from what we've met before. Sheesh! Now I understand why they say that "be careful what you wish for, least it become real"!"

05:49 AM (Moscow Time)…

"… Patrol 11. Status?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary, sir…"

"All sectors are normal, sir."

"Good. Report back in 30 minutes."

"Too bad. It turns out that your security has holes everywhere like a two-cent boat. I've left a trail of burnt corpses behind me: I'm surprised you haven't spotted them already, Mr. Universe. Or rather… Search Man EXE of the Sharo Army…!"

"Who…?"

"Burning Jet!"

"Whack!"

"No – one stops the grand and magnificent Burner Man – sama~!"

Search Man of the Sharo Army's 13th Network Unit had been speaking with another two Net Navis regarding the patrols when a voice rang out and someone rammed into him knocking him into the ground, and dashing forward while leaving a trail of heat and flames on their wake.

The Net Navi known as Burner Man struck as being around a meter and sixty tall or above.

His head was surrounded by a blood red metallic helmet which had two fang-like objects set on both sides of it; his emblem was set on the forehead and its drawing was anc oval-shaped flame colored sky blue.

His eyes didn't have irises on them and were colored blue.

Red metallic armor was built over his upper body and it had four metallic fangs set over the shoulders; each one had a yellow stripe close to the backwards edge, which had a small blackish metallic cover on it.

His shoulders were oddly placed lower than they should be at, halfway down the upper body.

Two short black arms without elbows emerged from them and ended in long cylinders colored red with a yellow stripe and having black hands at their end; the emblem was repeated there.

The body below the armor had armor with some vertical stripes set on them; his legs were free of armor until just past the knee; two cylinders with the same coloring pattern as the ones in the arms were set there; two armored feet having black soils emerged from below them.

"I burn 'em all!"

"How did you get inside?" Search Man demanded as he stood up and aimed the Scope Gun at him.

"Something called emergency exit?"

"Damn it. They were supposed to be alarm-rigged by now!"

"By now but I guess it'll be by the year 2020 at this rate. Or make 2033 when the world will go mad and we'll have to live in the Moscow Metro Tunnels."

"What do you want?" Search Man demanded next.

"For the time being… To try cha out."

"You aren't alone."

"Nope. Boss said I'd be enough. I guess that red punk in Japan's having one hell of a time by now."

"Red punk in Japan…? You mean Blues?"

"My pal has a very special ability, which even that punk can't possibly overcome. Enough chitchat. I'm gonna turn you into soldier a la BBQ!"

"Damn. Scope Gun!"

"Slow! Strike Burner!"

"Damn. This guy's no joke…!"

"Who said I was a joke?"

Burner Man aimed his burners at Search Man and he barely dodged the two streams of bluish flames, which claimed to be the hottest possible flames; Search Man took position again and cursed aloud.

"Burning… Jet!"

He expanded his arms and legs just as the burners set around his head turned on and he formed a stream of fire from his forehead; he rushed on forward while leaving a trail of heat and flames behind him as he rammed into Search Man.

"Satellite Ray! Search Grenades!"

He formed a small satellite, which shot a laser at Burner Man from behind, but had no visible effect followed by three grenades, which exploded in front of him; none had any visible effect while Burner Man dashed around the room forming orange-tinted flames to encircle Search Man.

"Uncle Moran says you're cheap!" He laughed.

"Uncle Moran…? Your Operator…?" Search Man guessed.

"We don't need an Operator! We're just like the "Darkloid" and the "Dark Four Heavenly Kings"… Autonomous Model Net Navis! We've banded together and will make you guys sweat!"

"Shit." He cursed.

"Starting to realize your own uselessness, Mr. Soldier?"

"Shut up. Nobody insults the Sharo Army and lives to tell it."

"We'll see 'bout that, Comrade Zakarov."

"What's going on?" Laika asked.

"Laika – sama, sir! An enemy has intruded the system."

"Not "an" enemy! THE Burner Man – sama!"

"Lovely. What are you?" Laika demanded.

"A grunt."

"So there are guys more powerful than you?"

"You'd be surprised, Comrade Ivan."

"This guy…!" Laika hissed.

"Laika – sama, sir! Do not fall into the enemy's trap, sir!"

"Burner Man. Do not waste time. Proceed with Operation Trident. Show them how powerless they really are and then pull back to the base so that we can execute Phase 3." A voice commanded over his radio.

"Who goes there?" Search Man demanded.

"… Slur. We are here to… judge you."

"Judge us? What have we done?"

"It is not what you have done but what you can do. We are here to judge your strength and ability and see if you deserve holding the torch the mighty Serenade bestowed into you." Slur told them.

"Se-Serenade…? You knew him?" Laika gasped.

"I did. That is all you need to know for the time being. Burner Man. Do not give them any interludes. Do unleash your fires of ruin. Farewell, Laika of Sharo and Search Man."

"Alright! Boss said to give you trouble and that's what I'm gonna do! Full power! Burning Jet! Burning Strike! Burning Sword!"

"Guwra~h! Damn it!"

"Search Man!"

Burner Man rammed into Search Man, bathed him on flames and then made burning cuts to his armor while stomping over his body; he jumped into the air to form a spheroid of blue flames which he threw at the ground to set in on flames.

"What. That's all? I expected more from the so-famous Sharo Army. Guess Boss is right and you've been slacking! Spiked Man will soon go visit the third in the list too… Farewell! No pain no gain!"

20:44 PM (Washington Time), Thursday January the 23rd…

"… Fuck! This watching post is so boring. Why couldn't they send us to the front?"

"Wars are gonna get closer to home, rookie. The hostile governments are developing newer tools for Cyber War. It's our duty to be on watch because they can strike anytime."

"Yeah. You two. Behave."

"That Tomahawk Man guy… He gotta think he's the boss."

"Chut! Watch your trap, rookie. That guy's Mr. Colonel' favorite and if you insult him you insult him you insult Mr. Colonel and you get a martial court…"

Two Navis affiliated to the Ameroupe Army had been standing watch when one began to complain and the other corrected him; Tomahawk Man walked past and the rookie began to grumble only to be corrected by his superior again.

"Fuck. Had I known this I wouldn't have enlisted."

"And I'm telling you there's no need to travel so far because war is gonna knock at our door sooner or later."

"Shah, shah, sha~h! Yessir! That's the reality! Needle Cannon!"

"What in the tomahawk?"

"Hey! Tonma Man! What's up? Shah, shah, shah!"

"Who the heck?"

"Needle Man's come to bust 'em all with spiky needles! Shah, sha~h!"

"Needle Man? Who's that? A buddy of yours, Tomahawk Man?"

"Come on, Dingo. Don't say nonsense."

"Hah! That Dingo fella needs to pay more attention!"

"What was that? SHEESH!"

Needle Man's upper body was shaped like a circle with a dome over it, and the color of his choice was navy blue; the front part of the circle had a rectangular vertical cavity cut out with eight slightly curved metallic pieces set in a vertical row.

His face's skin was black, too, he had no nose, his eyes colored yellow with red irises; a small red vertical rectangle was set on the forehead.

Four needles came out of the dome part of the body (and having an orange circular edge circling the spot from where they sprouted out from) around the head which was drawn inside of a larger needle.

His arms were human-like given how they were attached to the body; orange-colored bands split it in two halves with the upper half being colored navy blue and the lower half tinted sky blue; a needle came out of each shoulder, too; four blackish long fingers were set on the arms.

The armor ended below the torso; the rest of his body's skin was plain black in color plus a small orange spot below the upper body.

The boots began over the knees and followed the same pattern as in the arms; a needle came out from the armor over each knee, and they had a small hollow cavity cut close to the heel.

"Needle Cannon! Eat this!"

"Tomahawk Swing!"

Needle Man transformed his arms into cannon barrels and shot a string of small cone-shaped needles towards Tomahawk Man, who swung his tomahawk across the air and cut them all, to Needle Man's surprise; he grimaced and hissed under his breath.

"Tomahawk Air Raid!"

"Whack! Damn! Faster than what I expected!"

"Gotcha, ugly."

"Why, you~…!" He cursed.

"Come."

"Needle Attack!"

"Totem – sama!"

The totem formed behind Tomahawk Man and he began to glow with a greenish light as Needle Man enlarged the needles of his body and tried to ram into Tomahawk Man.

"Meteors!"

"Wha~t?"

Some meteors formed on the sky and began to rain down on Needle Man as he was stuck unable to pierce the field of green energy protecting Tomahawk Man; he yelped as his needles were shattered and one hit him from behind, dropping him into the floor; Tomahawk Man aimed one side of the tomahawk towards his neck.

"Speak."

"Yikes! I'm a grunt!"

"Guessed as much. Whose grunt?"

"Uncle Moran's!"

"What's going on?"

"Colonel! See: the intruder."

"Good job."

"Yikes! Colonel too! Shah, shah, shah! Those two are gonna turn me into the laughter of the club for the whole week! Damn i~t!"

"Hmmm? Those two? Whom do you mean?" Colonel demanded as he aimed his sword at him.

"Eh… VHS Man and Burn-Run Man!"

"They sound so idiotic that I don't believe those are their names even though I'm sure you came here by someone's command."

"And that would be me. Slur." Her voice rang out from the radio.

"Slur?"

"Colonel. Serenade has talked me about you."

"You knew Serenade? Why didn't he tell me?"

"Serenade was very reserved, do not you remember?"

"True." He admitted.

"I have sent this pawn here to see if you deserve holding the torch he passed into you… Or else someone else should accept it… I have picked the strongest… Two have failed. Your subordinate passes. I see why Serenade was interested in you… If you infused so much strength into this one then you are clearly very strong." Slur told him.

"Obviously enough."

"Just think of this as an examination. No personal feelings. I am just trying to see what Serenade contemplated in you before his demise. Yet that which makes your blood boil is no longer in this world and shall never return so the spirit of Serenade will be laid to rest. Return, Needle Man, and learn from your mistakes. Farewell, Colonel and Tomahawk Man of the Ameroupe Army." She added at the end of her speech.

A purple swirling vortex formed underneath Needle Man and he was sucked in before it closed; Tomahawk Man sighed in relief while Colonel rubbed his chin.

"Hmmm… It does sound like something Serande would do, indeed. Nevertheless… Something tells me that that intruder can actually do more than that, and they were over-confident." He muttered.

"Agreed. I was lucky that the guy was weak to flame attacks. Next time he'll have found a way to compensate for that."

"But what did that gal mean, anyway?" Dingo wondered.

"I guess they've defeated Forte. Sheesh. And here I wanted to do that myself but couldn't find a way to…!"

"Yikes. Then we better stay miles away from them!"

18:55 PM (Japan Time), Friday January the 24th…

"… Operation Trident's outcome is 2F and 1S… I guess I win the bet, don't I, partner?"

"Jeez. The irony of my name, really. The sniper guy says I think I'm number one but that's not it. You win, yeah. How much had we staked?"

"Relax. It was but 10Z."

"10Z? Ah! Of course. Our rules forbid bets over 100Z so as to not to trigger internal conflict…"

"You can hand them over another day. We gotta finish preparing for tomorrow's evening. Operation Legs is to happen and you're the one who is gonna be on the field."

"The President briefed me this morning. So the whole point of it is to show them what we can really do when it comes to the real world?"

"Yeah. Hey, A. What do you think about B-X? Will he succeed?"

"I'm sure of it! B-X is a strong guy."

"Thanks, A."

Two unidentified guys were riding in a discreet black Toyota car and along an expressway; they were chatting while two Navis also joined the conversation without projecting with the PET's holograms.

"Anyway. I'll be waiting on the rendezvous point. Just follow the program and all will go as smooth as silk." The passenger instructed.

"I think our little present to the Net Police will surprise them. I can't wait to see their reactions…" The driver was amused.

"If only they knew… That this is just the beginning…"

"Truly. Ijuuin will soon curse his own arrogance for wishing for something to kill the boredom. He'll have so much; he'll be fed up, even!"

"And the other jerks have now realized how foolish they've been. This is indeed the start… Of a campaign!"