Chapter 22: Style Change

12:45 PM (Japan Time), (Japan Time), Saturday April the 7th…

"… Alright, Beta. This is the route our fellow usually cross when looking for news or people… The plan is to jump into him and attack him without giving him a break… Let's go in this order: Elec, Fire, Water… And then finish it up with the Charge Shot."

"Roger, Zarashe – kun."

"I see. Not a bad plan, really."

"Yikes! When did ya…?"

"I've realized your scouting but I always played dumb to give you confidence… So you're one of Golden Star…"

"Yeah! Beta X's the name! Shadow Man! Showdown!"

"Fine. I was itching for one, anyway."

Beta X was glancing over a rock's edge while crouching atop a rocky platform hovering in the vast space of the Reverse Cyber World, looking at a road some tens of meters below; Shadow Man showed up behind him, so he gasped and whipped around and face him: Shadow Man drew his Muramasa Blade.

"Style Change! Beta Elec!"

"Oh? Interesting!"

Beta X's color pattern switched to lush green instead of blue yet his white-colored armor pieces remained unchanged; he did form a white buster weapon on his right forearm, which had a fin-like shape forming mid-way through its length; a golden edge ran up the right edge of the buster.

"Volt Sphere! Air Dash!"

Beta X formed a greenish sphere of plasma frizzling with electricity before jumping into the air and used his wings' built-in propellers to fly.

"Is that all? I'll slice it up in one clean slash!"

"Gotcha, Danna."

"Damn! HP Bug!"

"Eat this! 100,000 Volts!"

Beta X stopped in midair and built up electricity on his buster, which he shot towards a cloud; thunderbolts rained down on Shadow Man, so he warped to try to hit Beta X up close but he merely cancelled his anti-gravity drive to fall into the ground, making Shadow Man cut empty air.

"Flame Mode!"

His armor's color patterns switched to a flame red color and he aimed the buster at Shadow Man from below.

"Flamethrower!"

"Slow!"

Shadow Man formed a "Shadow Clone" to take in the attack but he realized Beta X was shooting streams of flames in several directions, and one hit his right foot; he growled under the mask and began to shoot shuriken at Beta X, who quickly flew into the air again to dodge.

"Flame Spin!"

His buster loaded up energy and he shot a tornado of flames in constant expansion at Shadow Man; he was caught in the middle of it while trying to head for Beta X, so he warped to reappear behind him; Beta X cancelled his hovering again and Shadow Man repeated his earlier mistake.

"Ice Mode! Ice Spreader!"

"Eat ice!"

Beta X's colors became ice blue and he shot several triangle-shaped masses of quick-cooled ice, which stabbed into Shadow Man's body from different angles and speeds;

"Damn it!"

"Not feeling almighty anymore, Ninja Man?"

Shadow Man tried to ignore them and focused on trying to reach Beta X, but he shot a spear of ice that plunged into Shadow Man's chest; he collapsed into the ground trying to take it out, and managed to do that, but then was bombarded by three laser shots from Beta X, who'd returned to his normal color palette; Shadow Man stood up and drew the Muramasa Blade, glowing with energy; Beta X formed a curved and indented red blood sword over his left wris,t which he used to block the incoming sword.

"Charge Shot!"

"Ugha! Damn…!"

The "Charge Shot" worsened Shadow Man's chest wound and he collapsed, letting go of the Muramasa Blade, which Beta X picked to attack Shadow Man again; he then sliced it in half with his odd sword.

"So Ninja Man has gotten rusty too! I thought ninja always remained in shape and ready for an assassination job… Or are those historical records pure exaggeration?" He taunted.

"Damn you…" Shadow Man growled.

"Screen Divide!"

"Fuck!"

Beta X barely dodged the attack just as Colonel landed on the spot with his sword drawn.

"Hmpf! I am the client who hired Shadow Man."

"Sheesh. Here I thought it was some Yakuza morons! Turns out it was this guy, huh!?" Zarashe growled.

"Indeed. Now I'll capture you and I'll figure out what you're up to!"

"Hmpf! As foolish as ever, Colonel! I shall cast down judgement!"

"O~h! That voice…!"

"That voice… Is it Slur!?"

Something in the "sky" produced a flash and a streak of yellow energy fell down, hitting the ground; it turned into Slur, who was emotionless as her bright "aura" radiated from her body.

"I apologize, Slur – sama! I underestimate the situation!" Beta X apologized.

"You are not to blame. We lacked information. This operation was intended to draw into the open the client who hired that mercenary. It has achieved the intended goal. Thus your job is a success." Slur calmly explained to him.

"Thank you very much!"

"You stay there and watch, Beta X. I will deal with this fool. They need to learn what the word "consequences" mean, indeed."

"R-roger, Slur – sama."

"Screen Divide!"

"Hmpf! Useless!"

Slur merely aimed her right hand forward and built up energy there in the form of a white spheroid; she let it go and it slowly floated across the air before getting attached to Colonel's chest, where it imploded; the energy released knocked him off the platform and into the road thirty meters below, where he left quite a crater.

"Have you realized it already? Your time is over. Serenade did not pass the torch into you or us… But into society."

"Who the hell are you? How do you know Serenade so much? I was the only one who understood him!"

"The only one? Did not Serenade accept a request from the then famous Net Battler Meijin to protect Rock Man and his Operator? Do you think he did not trust others? Benevolence was what defined him! He never pretended to impose his authority over others, and battled in an elegant way trying to avoid people from injuring. Look at how he fended off Rock Man and his "Saito Style"…"

"Damn it! Colonel Cannon!"

"Did I not say it was useless?"

She merely lifted her hand to show the palm and formed some kind of energy field, which repelled the blast from the Colonel Cannon and shot it back at Colonel; he managed to stand up somehow.

"Hmpf. Like the information said… You never admit a defeat."

"Who the hell said that!?" He growled.

"Your Operator did. Ask him if you do not believe me."

"Sheesh! Barrel! We need to talk once this is over!"

"Hmpf. You cannot even agree with each other, indeed. What a failure as a Net Navi… Unable to synchronize with their Operator…"

"What about you lowlife, huh!? Who's your Operator!?"

"I am an independent Net Navi. I do not need one. President Hades is but a business partner. A co-founder."

"Hmpf! Then you're not anyone to lecture me on that!"

"Maybe so. I do not care. I am not bound to any rules. I am free."

"What!? You damned anarchist! Aiming to destroy us, huh!?"

"Fool. Cannot think of anything but warfare, indeed… The Ryuusei Program is not a WMD. It is but deterrence. A means to show that there will be consequences to anyone who attempts to attack us. We merely imitated what your nation and other nations with nukes do. Blame them for coming up with the concept, if you want to blame anyone."

"GHJSJH! Damn them all!"

"Do not think that your sins have been forgotten. If needed, we will expose them to society so they can see the hypocrite you are. We are "anarchists", after all."

"Shit. I'm out of arguments… Screen…!"

"Too slow."

"W-what are these?"

"Punishment. Be gone."

"What!? Ugro~h!"

The wires which Slur had used against Forte in the past formed and tied Colonel to the ground; Slur became the streak of yellow energy and fell down on Colonel's position; the energy release wiped out the cords and the road in a width of three meters, plunging Colonel further down the abyss, as Slur reformed and hovered over there.

"Beta X."

"Ma'am! Command me!" He saluted.

"Where is the assassin?"

"Shadow Man…? By all the… He's fled!"

"It matters not. They were no threat. They had fallen to your own power and proven that they are weak. Next time do not take the eyes off the enemy." She told him.

"Roger, Slur – sama! As thou desire! It shall be done!" He quickly kneeled and made a reverence.

"Good enough… That sinner received a lesson which they are not going to forget anytime soon…"

"Hey… Guys… Did ya see that?" Zarashe asked.

"… Yeah. Impressive." Qong merely replied.

"Good fight!" Tom sounded pleased.

"The cocky military guy got done in by our Slur – sama. The revenge of the sacred female, I'd name it!" Tozukana laughed.

"Don't go shouting that out loud." Lily scolded.

"Could be." Kage merely replied.

"It's one's opinion." Andy shrugged.

"So the morale is high… That is good."

"Well then! My dear fellows! Let us start a new session! I've got a mission for those two guys so let's go see what they're doing… Aha! Working just like young wild boars! They're making the writing machines run at F-1 speeds!" Video Man began.

"Oho. There's more." Beta X grinned.

"If that is a morale boost then go on ahead. Let us retreat firstly since our mission is over." Slur shrugged.

"Roger, ma'am! By your commands!"

They used the purple "portal" to return into the Golden Star Cyber World; it was a large square with ramps climbing both upwards and downwards interconnecting the different levels; several private Warp Points were scattered around with others of general use; one was labeled "Reverse Internet" and it shut down as soon as both reappeared in the Cyber World where Legato, Andy, Tom and Lily were sitting in stone stools.

"Go on. I shall go speak to President Hades in the meanwhile."

"Understood, Slur – sama!" Legato saluted.

"A~ttention!" Video Man made an inhaling sound and then yelled out.

"So they were dozing off and had put a record to feign they were working then? Both the Boss and the dumb guy are pretty lazy!"

"OK! Got a very important mission for cha two… Are you healthy enough?"

"No, no! My foot was crushed by one hell of a cargo train… Multiple fractures!"

"As for me… I've got the Malta fevers! I'm burning! I'm melting!"

"What a pity, really… It was just about escorting a Miss in long trip, see… I've got their personal traits written down here… Francis Urracson… Swedish… Age: 19… Measurements: 92-44-92…"

"19, he says!"

"And Swedish, Boss! Swedish! Well… You know? I think that the foot's healing can be postponed until next year!"

"What a coincidence! The Malta fevers are gone! Let's get rid of the boiling malt teapot!"

"Splendid, splendid! I congratulate you on your quick recovery! Please allow Miss Francis in…"

"I'll greet her with an import flower!"

"And I'll extend my frock-coat for her to elegantly step in…"

Both made a dramatic pause and imitated the sound of heeled shoes walking over the ground along with a stick.

"How dares that granny to stain my frock coat…! I'm so gonna…!"

"Hold back, M! That light's worth a fortune! Hey, Mr. Super! Is this some joke or WHAT?"

"What is?"

"You told us this: "Age: 19, Measures: 92-44-92, Swedish"…!"

"I did! Age: 19 lustrums. Measures: spine 92, shoe 44, bun 92, and Swedish! That of Swedish was a red herring! Hey! Will you stop hitting your heads against the wall? Alright! Sit down and we'll talk about this."

"19 lustrums? One lustrum is 5 years, right? So the "Miss" is actually 95 years old? The Swedish thing was a lie! This is great bait, really! Else they'd be slacking the whole time!" Tozukana laughed.

"We've fallen! We've fallen!"

"I'll be taking this chair, thank you!"

"What a hit on the ribs! I'm so gonna…!"

"Hold back, Boss! That light's worth a fortune!"

"As I was saying… Miss Francis, AKA, Francisca…"

"The Paca gal!"

"Paca… They should've put that kind of camel in the zoo!"

"The original reads "Paca… Pa camello ya teníamos el del zoo!" which is a rude way to tell Miss Francis she's ugly and they don't want her around… Silence! The Miss is going to start a worldwide trip! But, as if it wasn't obvious, she is in need of protection."

"Who does? She or the world? SHEESH! They don't let one formulate questions or WHAT?"

"She is in need of protection because she suspects that some of her heirs are impatient to pocket in her great fortune!"

"They'll take profit that I'm alone and defenseless in those wild lands to do me in! They are evil people!" Needle Man joined, acting as the granny.

"No big deal, really…"

"Everyone has their hobbies!"

"Is that what they told her? Come on! What kind of agents are those if they don't care about doing a good job?" Zarashe laughed.

"No "hobbies" and no crap! You'll start the trip immediately as bodyguards! Go help her carry her four packages!" Video Man hissed, annoyed.

"… "Four packages"…!"

"Hey! Ma'am! Aren't your forgetting the piano, by the way?"

"So true! Thank you for reminding me, young man! What bad memory I have! I can't imagine going across those lands without playing Tchaikovsky!"

"So instead of "four packages" more like she brought the whole house with her, right?" Tozukana laughed.

"Hmpf… They had us carry weighed backpacks and… do a two kilometer circuit… to toughen us up…" Qong muttered.

"So! To sum up… They got to the train station but then one of those heirs abducted her to tie her in the track hoping a train would run her over but they found her thanks to a "plague detector" gizmo… What fright! Twenty to nine in the evening! If the ten past eight express had come out on schedule I'd be a goner by now!"

"So true! Such a vile, infamous and repulsive act demands vengeance! Let's go, Boss! The culprits are gonna pay it dearly!"

"That's what I like! So you're going to capture and lock up the assumed killer, right?"

"No, ma'am! We're going to beat the station chief to a pulp for delaying the express train departure!"

"You can't be serious… They wanted the killer to succeed and get away with it? They sure wanted to get rid of the job!" Legato laughed next.

"The granny got away, but…! I'll eventually do her in, anyway!"

"B-but… Ma'am! Don't be a brute! Don't put Boss inside of that! These locomotives can only work with coal!"

"I'm burning! Ua~h!"

"Ma'am! You're bottling the boiler up! I'm going to call the inspector!"

"And as punishment she tried to put the Boss inside of a steam locomotive's boiler too! That's so crazy!" Lily laughed.

"Hmpf… Can't say it wasn't original…" Tom muttered.

"Tune in again soon enough to enjoy some more scenes! Golden Star's Golden Trio! Video, Burner, Needle! The V-B-N three-party-deal!"

"Golden Trio? Why not." Legato laughed.

"Nevertheless… The way Slur – sama overwhelmed Colonel… As expected of Her Grace… They taught that fool how weak they were!" Andy smirked.

"Truly. They will spend the time blaming each other." Beta X smirked, too.

"Glory to Golden Star and Slur – sama! For victory!"