Chapter 19: Copy Roids
14:55 PM (Japan Time), Thursday March the 22nd…
"… Hello? Ijuuin – kun?"
"Suzuki – san. Has something happened?"
"Vice President Noir requested of me to give you a message."
"What message?"
Enzan had been going over something using a computer in his workspace when Suzuki contacted him.
"He'd relayed it himself, but lately he seems to have been off the HQ and somewhere else, working on something consuming his time and his energies as well. Anyway… He called on my door a few minutes ago and after saying twice he felt sorry for burdening me with something so simplistic and such he requested of me to tell you to go to "Onibi Island" because there's going be a "show" of some sort…"
"Hmmm… Anything else?"
"He suggested bringing Laika – san."
"He's back from a quick trip so it'll be no problem."
"Kage – kun has not shown up lately and Vice President Noir seems to be having a lot of stress. Sometimes he even seems to have bad dreams because he yells and sounds panicked. I guess he hasn't had some nice experiences in the past. I'm sure that's his real reaction and not some red herring. Legato had to try to rise his mood because he suddenly seems to be looking at something with defeatism."
"I see… Did he mention that "Twilight" man again?"
"Once or twice, yes… But he always cursed his name."
"I should've asked this time ago, but… Did he ever say where did he come from or anything?" Enzan asked next.
"Not as far as I can recall."
"What about Hades?"
"I can't listen into him! He always checks for bugs twice a day and even if I manage to get on, he seems to be working with the computer and making calls in a low voice so that it's hard for me to hear but I heard some key-words… "Clients", "insurance terms", "VIPs", "BCN Office", "NYC Office" and such… BCN is a common abbreviation of Barcelona and NYC stands for New York City… I guess he's dedicating to Golden Star part-time and is part of some legal insurance company… But there are several with offices in Barcelona and New York…" She detailed.
"That's interesting. By the way… What's the secretary's name?"
"Nobody seems to know it. We just address her as "Ms. Secretary" and she seems to be satisfied with that insofar. Right, Akemi?"
"Right. She's dull and uninteresting yet Tozukana – san speculates that she's his lover. I doubt it! Their personalities don't match and he always seems to regard her as being someone with a lot of intelligence: he's offered her another bureaucratic post but she's declined and insists she is fine enough as she is and doesn't want favoritism." Akemi explained.
"Why do you think Noir doubted so much before asking of you to tell me that, anyway? Was he playing noble or…?"
"No, I don't think so. He has to be younger than me and thus must feel like he's not in a position to ask things out of me even if it's just forwarding a message…" Suzuki replied.
"Alright. We can settle that later. I'm off to that Onibi Island. Blues: contact Search Man and then tell me where that island is supposed to be at and how we can get there."
"Roger, Enzan – sama."
"They want a trap? I'll trigger it but they'll regret pissing me off. I'm so gonna drive them into the concrete!"
"Enzan – sama, sir. It's not advisable to feel overconfident, sir."
"Sheesh! Whatever. Let's get moving already and end this farce!"
16:08 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Man! Now we needed to pick a rubber boat with off-board engine to travel to that forsaken island! Nobody's lived there since WWII when it was an armaments factory… What can Golden Star do here? It's not like it's out of sight from everyone, either. There's a whole town two kilometers across the bay! How could they ferry in stuff and such without anyone noticing?"
"Maybe they used camouflaged boats with muffled engines so as to disembark and load in silence… Or else they used those "Dimensional Converters"…"
"That could be it, too…"
"I'm detecting a power spike in the central building, Enzan – sama, so it'd be wise to investigate it, sir."
"We should be careful, Laika – sama, sir."
Enzan and Laika were crossing a bay and heading for a small island clustered with houses in the middle of it; the island appeared to be deserted and there didn't seem to be anyone there given the silence lingering in the air.
"Here we are! Onibi Island. Let's rock."
"Alright."
Both disembarked and headed for the central building; Enzan and Laika rammed a door open and found recently destroyed conveyor belts and other equipment as well as four "dolls" hanging from wires in the middle of the room.
"What are those? Dolls?"
"How strange."
The "dolls" were about a meter and fifty tall and looked very simplistic human frames of no specified sex; their "skin" was made of a grayish material.
The head merely had a small protruding metallic rectangle in the middle of it and had no mouth, eyes or ears whatsoever.
The arms ended in small spheres instead of hands and had no care to detail like the legs; the chest had a small metallic circle set on it with three metallic trapezes forming at the north, SE and SW spots of the structure and having a small dome-shaped emerald jewel set in the concave cavity inside of it.
"If this is why we've come all the way here then I'll be damned. Noir set us up again." Enzan growled.
"No. These machines are modern and the destruction is recent. There's a working computer over there!"
Laika scanned the area before spotting a computer further on ahead.
"Welcome to Onibi Island, comrades! Today we shall prove how dreams become reality. Video Man! Get ready! You can't miss a second of it and I want my figure to shine in the film."
"Please leave it up to me! Video Man: I'll be back!"
Two IR lasers shot out of the computer and bounced off a piece of a mirror to be redirected at the emerald jewels set within the dolls' chests, which immediately began to glow with greenish energy and to grow in size; raw data began to form inside of the field of energy and assembled to form a Navi's body; both Operators stepped back, surprised.
"Welcome to our trap, foolish mice!"
"3! 2! 1! Lights! Camera! Action!"
"By all the…!"
"How's this possible!?"
"Surprised?"
"This is another sample of our triumphs!"
"No way!"
Cosmo Man and Video Man were standing in front of them: Video Man's chest was a "REC" symbol and the tape between his armlets was rolling.
"That's Cosmo Man of Nebula!" Enzan cursed.
"But what are those dolls?"
"The result of the Omenda Program and the micro-cores' schematics: the "Copy Roid"! The first step to allow Net Navis to come out into the real world and explore it without any more limitations than their own size, mass and abilities…!" Cosmo Man chuckled.
"Yessir! This is another proof of how clever we are when it comes to inventing new tech! There are another two for your Navis: I'll be recording on the background and Cosmo Man will handle the field because he wants to shine. No pain no gain!"
Video Man jumped out through a shattered window while Cosmo Man hovered into the air to their disbelief; he flew out too, but not before signaling the remaining "Copy Roid" devices.
"Alright! Plug In! Blues, Transmission!"
"Plug In! Search Man, Transmission!"
Both Navis' IR lasers hit the dolls and they shifted to adopt each Navi's form and traits; they looked around in obvious surprise.
"Admiration later! Fight back!" Enzan commanded.
"That's an order!"
"YES, SIR!"
Both jumped into the air and out of the building to confront Cosmo Man, who was waiting for them.
"Cosmo Gate!"
A "gate" opened in the sky and projected a rain of planetoids towards the ground; Blues jumped over them and tried to hit Cosmo Man.
"Hra~h! Long Blade!"
"Scope Gun! Satellite Ray!"
"Slow! Cosmo Buster!"
Cosmo Man formed some smaller planetoids with a ring surrounding their poles (like the planet Uranus) which hit Blues and drove him into the ground: he groaned and managed to stand up along with Search Man who'd been hit as well.
"Area Steal! Long Blade, Wide Blade!"
"Optical Camouflage! Satellite Ray, Scope Gun!"
"Cosmo Ring!"
Cosmo Man swung his ring around him and deflected the new incoming attacks back at their sources; they growled in frustration.
"Alright! No more Mr. Nice! Program Advance! Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword! Dream Sword!"
"Program Advance! Vulcan, Triple Slot In! Mugen Vulcan!"
"GO~!"
"Cosmo…!"
Both attacks met their intended target and Cosmo Man roared as he quickly aimed his palms at a nearby post with CCTV cameras built into it; his form "split" from the "Copy Roid" and the doll blew up into several pieces; Video Man became visible and stopped filming, sighing in defeat.
"Too bad. It was going so smoothly… We aren't perfect! I'm off to the base and to show this to everyone. O~h! What's that? A plane? An UFO? An albatross? No! It's… Falzer!"
"FALZER? WHERE?"
The four of them looked behind them but Video Man snickered before aiming his hands at the same Plug – In port and shooting the red IR laser at it to "split" from the "Copy Roid" and leave it behind; the Plug – In port frizzled and was burnt out.
"Shit. The oldest trick in the book…" Enzan grumbled.
"I had a chance to pay back for that humiliation!" Blues growled.
"Damn. Just what are these "Copy Roids", anyway?"
"Yes, sir. Analyzing… The micro-core functions by absorbing atmospheric EM and signals in an indirect manner. It has nanomachines to alter its mass and size to adapt to each Navi's program… The energy conversion program uses 10% of the Navi's HP to generate a "materialization field" allowing for the Navi's attacks to substantiate." Search Man reported in his calm and analytical tone.
"So now we know why they wanted that program and the micro-cores: and I can't say it's a bad idea. Yet… I'd rather have these brought to the Science Labs for further analysis and keep their existence as secret as possible too… I'd rather not report about them or a war to get their hands on it will begin. Let's pick the remains too. The factory has been sabotaged because they must have produced enough units by now." Laika concluded.
"I agree with you on that one."
"Enzan – sama: a call, sir."
"Eh bien, cher ami? Convinced?" Noir asked.
"Noir. I knew it had to be you."
"I'd rather prefer to be named Chat Noir."
"What are you gonna do next?"
"Huh? Laika, huh… Sheesh." He got annoyed.
"You have a problem with me." Laika guessed.
"Of course. You threatened the stability of Japan's Network just to have Rock Man face you! You could've knocked at the door and said you wanted to test them! I find it odd that you didn't really try to scan for that fake's intrusion route or retrieve the data of the fallen soldiers to then compare it to any existing record. Even a 10 – year old kid could've figured out that the attacker was not Rock Man." Noir growled over the line.
"You're still going over that? The past is the past: there's no need to dig it up and the present is what matters." Laika drily replied.
"Types like you just make me feel… Rabidly! Overwhelmingly! Vehemently DISGUSTED!" He roared.
"So?" Laika was unimpressed.
"I'm so going to make a catastrophe rain down on you!"
"Come anytime." Laika taunted.
"That's my motto you spoiled serviceman! Do you think I don't know your uncle is the Commander of your base? Huh?"
"I never asked for favoritism and Uncle just sees me as another soldier except when off-duty times." He shrugged his shoulders.
"Nya~h! I'd like to pick a Gravity Hammer and beat you over and over again with it! Colonel too! Using Rock Man as mere bait and illegally holding him hostage… Please! He wasn't even 13!"
"Tell that to him. I didn't have anything to do with Colonel and Barrel!"
"You just wash your hands clean as if to prove you want to have nothing to do with the whole ordeal, eh? Tomahawk Man can be considered a traitor! He tossed Rock Man there and never apologized for that betrayal! It wasn't funny for Rock Man to find that they suddenly were restraining him." Noir hissed.
"As I said, discuss it with the man."
"Sheesh! I'll do that, yeah… I'll send him a little nightmare to battle and they'll regret their arrogance…My word!"
"Vice President Chat Noir, sir. Please calm down, sir."
"GRTFJX! I'll remember this you carrot! Hah!"
"I'm telling the Superintendent to bring a civilian van to the port to help us carry them! Let's put a cloth over them or something and pretend they're boxes of faked iPods which are just plastic imitations." Laika told Enzan.
"Good idea. We'll shake off any curious. Besides, unless they had a telescope I doubt they saw anything! The noise was contained here and if anything we can say there was a stolen Sony Pictures prototype 3D projector here putting up a show." Enzan smiled.
"Drown yourselves! Strangle yourselves! Cool yourselves! Leave yourselves! Sign yourselves! Attack yourselves!" A voice rang out of a rusty speaker.
"Video Man again? Jeez." Blues grumbled.
"How idiotic." Search Man fumed.
They began to carry the "Copy Roid" into the boat and covered them with a cloth before speeding away from the island; they failed to notice a figure standing in a rooftop, looking out through a pair of binoculars at the boat.
All's according to the plan…
"… Here's the van. Let's get moving."
"Yeah. I don't wanna linger here for long."
What, afraid that this place is gonna become your watery grave, Ijuuin?
"Call from Mr. President… He wants to know how everything is going like and stop pulling up that "mysterious figure" hologram over your body 'cause it's obvious who you are… Zarashe – kun."
"Too bad."
The figure turned out to be Zarashe, having taken out his sunglasses to better look through the binoculars; Beta X's life-sized hologram had projected behind him having the arms crossed and a face that mean to say "nothing-impresses-me-anymore" on.
"Those mottoes of Video Man were actually funny because they were translated from Spanish in which the verbs conjured in plural and to multiple persons end up making up a rhyme."
"I knew that. It's become his latest obsession. That and some Spanish crazy humor comic book, too."
"I gotta admit something! Ever since I was told why we needed that program that old Moneda had to make, I was looking forward to this day. Now ya could come out and be my sword and shield."
"That's my duty as a Navi anyhow." He wasn't surprised.
"Maybe next time we'll find Shadow Man and beat the crap outta him with your terrific secretive abilities?" He teased.
"That'd be entertaining." "And if ya think this is all there's to us… Then wait. 'Cause we've got the biggest trump card hidden in our sleeves…"
"You'll soon be met with despair."
"Hi there~! Video Man on the scene! Whom do we have to crush next?"
"Aren't you supposed to report to VP Noir?" Beta X grumbled.
"I already did. He told me to rendezvous with you two."
"He did? Huff. Alright, alright. Don't pull your latest jokes on me because I'm not in the mood for those." Beta X sighed.
"Next time tell them that the "Reaper" is coming… Y'know, the boss that pops up in Tartarus and the TV world…" Zarashe joked.
"Excellent. I'll borrow footage of it and unleash it into them. It'll be great to their hides covered in terror and fear!" Video Man laughed.
"Send Mr. Feet to play around with them too."
"Bravo! I'll bring it Mr. Blizzard too. The old guy who freezes the air with his lame puns! They're so gonna run up the walls!"
"Sheesh. Can't think of something more useful?"
"Nope! I feel in the mood! You'd need a bucket of cold water to stop me!"
"Lovely. Handle it yourselves, I'm going back already!"
"Beta, you really can be a tsundere sometimes, ya know?"
"SHOLGJSH! Save me the jokes! There's still a lot of work to do! Else, they'll think the only thing we're good at is acting like clowns! Sheesh!"