Chapter 23: Rebirth
06:06 AM (Japan Time), Monday April the 20th…
"… Uo~h… Huh… Huff, huff… Uo~h… The pain… is gone…?"
"Are you awake?"
"Where am… I…? You… the gate…?"
"The gate? Destroyed."
"I've been… reborn…?"
"True. As a new being…"
"How much time has it been…?"
"About three years, more or less…"
"Three years… The others…?"
"There wasn't enough data to rebuild them."
"What's… your name…?"
"Legato. Golden Star's Legato…"
"Golden Star… Why have you revived me…?"
"We were interested in trying out your power! As well as to fill in the number of Navis… We're interested in being an overwhelming force which will keep the small fry at bay… Our goal is stability… Think about it: isn't destruction something hollow?"
"Hollow…?"
"What is there to life surrounded by destruction?"
"Nothing… Hollow… Vanity… I get it… I'll lend you my strength… Time to usher into this new age…"
"Excellent… Let's begin your training, my fellow…"
"Great… Let's have some fun…"
08:08 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Alright. I have been called because the night patrol has vanished into the blue! They were found drained of energy and knocked out, piled as a heap in a warehouse… Golden Star must be laughing at us."
"No mistaking it, yeah…"
"I shall continue the inspection, Enzan – sama."
"Do it."
Blues was patrolling across Cyber City's districts, in a bad mood, as he explored some unlit alleys filled with a low-height fog, which reached until the ankles.
"This fog thing is irritating me for some reason or another."
"Reminds you of Dartmoor, maybe?" A familiar voice asked.
"Search Man. When did you come back from another mission in Sharo?"
"Yesterday evening…"
"Good. Have you seen the Navis?"
"Yeah. They had something curious, though. Two small fang marks on the right side of their necks… Almost like they'd had their HP siphoned by a vampire…"
Search Man had showed up from behind Blues, calm and collected as always, while Blues was fed up with the whole setting and dramatics.
"Vampire? That rings a bell somewhere… It's something of some years ago which I heard second-hand but…" Blues trailed off.
"I'm picking up a signature close by… Video Man."
"Video Man AGAIN?" Enzan growled.
"Video Man: I'll be back! Mr. Lucy came to say hi and bye! Do you miss the feeling of powerless when you faced me?"
"Mr. Lucy? Legato?" Blues tried to guess.
"Current position… 5 meters SSE…" Search Man reported.
"But today's opponent ain't me!" Video Man announced.
"Oh yeah? Then who?" Laika demanded.
"The Baskerville… Vampire!"
"You mean the Baskerville Hound." Blues corrected.
"Time for the meal…" A voice rang out.
The fog grew in thickness and height; soon enough, nothing could be properly distinguished in the first two meters in front of them.
"This fog is interfering with my scan capability and the sounds don't come in too well either… We'll have to take any attacks we get as reference to know where they're coming from…" Search Man cursed.
"Come, you vermin!" Blues taunted.
"Crush Noise!"
Supersonic sound waves were shot at them, and provoked an explosion, which sent them flying across the ground; a figure formed in front of them, concealed by the fog and kicked them around; a claw gripped Blues' neck but he drew a Long Sword, which he drove into what he thought was the enemy's right shoulder.
"Battle Chip, Super North-Wind! Slot In!"
The powerful wind blew the fog away to reveal the enemy; Blues probably frowned under the shades while Search Man was scanning them as they clutched their wounded right shoulder.
"… Hmpf… A "Darkloid"… A former accomplice of Laser Man and Rock Man DS… Shade Man!" He announced.
"Now I remember! Rock Man told me about this guy!"
"Heh… That gnat did, eh?"
"So this one has memories of the past unlike the others?"
"They wanted to make an exception for me."
"And you're the one who attacked the night patrol!"
"Yessir! Should I say dawn patrol? I've barely been around for two hours so it doesn't make much a difference! I take it that Rock Man won't get in our way anymore, given what Legato – dono told me…"
"That's right! We're your opponents! Long Blade, Wide Blade!"
"Satellite Ray! Scope Gun!"
"Shade Hand! Red Wing!"
A gigantic claw formed out of nowhere and gripped Search Man while Shade Man became a colony of red bats, which cut the air on their wake and flew past Blues, leaving some cuts on his body.
"Damn! We underestimated the guy!" Blues cursed.
"I could also split your Operator's mind from "Full Synchro" like I did with Rock Man… It was so fun beating that powerless kid to a pulp yet the result of Rock Man's anger was unexpected… Beating me with just his bare hands… I now see why Laser Man – sama had so much interest in making use of the gnats!" He chuckled.
"Fuck. What do we do?" Enzan cursed.
"The usual last resource…" Laika replied.
"Program Advance! Sword, Wide Sword, Long Sword! Dream Sword!"
"Program Advance! Vulcan, Triple Slot In! Mugen Vulcan!"
"Come!"
"FIRE~!"
There was a large explosion, which eclipsed Shade Man's figure; the smoke began to settle and they found that they'd only managed to damage his wings and slightly scratch his main body but, apart from that, he was largely unhurt; he spread his wings open as fog began to form around him again.
"Not enough…" He chuckled.
"Fuck." Both Navis cursed.
"Crush Noise! Powerless! Rusty! Old-timers!" He taunted.
"Oh yeah? Eat this for a change!"
"What the hell!? A brat…! Where'd they come from…!?"
"Name's Tomahawk Man you moron."
Tomahawk Man stuck his weapon into Shade Man from behind; he whipped around to try to hit him, but was repelled by a green energy field; a shower of meteors bombarded him several times at the same time the spinning tomahawk plunged into his upper chest; he collapsed into the ground, moaning, and Video Man let out a gasp of horror.
"No, no AND NO! It was going so perfectly! Where did this unaccounted for actor come from? You MORON! You've ruined the filming! I'm gonna bring ya to court!" He exclaimed.
"You're next, video freak." Blues announced.
"Enough." A commanding voice boomed out.
"Damn it." Enzan growled.
Slur appeared on the scene, hovering over them and having her arms crossed, as usual; Video Man kneeled while Shade Man made a reverence while on his fours.
"Shade Man. Do not think of yourself as useless. You have said it yourself: you have been reborn barely two hours ago. We speeded it up too much. Yet we did not believe that that Navi would so foolishly come here… Unless it is a coincidence, which I do not say it cannot be…"
She directed an uninterested glance at Tomahawk Man, who gulped.
"That Navi just made my body chill with her glare… I better not say anything at all…" Tomahawk Man muttered.
"So? Why are you here?"
"Huh? Me? I'd come to visit Rock Man and I happened to find this mess!"
"Maybe you have forgotten something named time zones? It is past 6:00 PM and it is a Sunday in your nation… However, it is barely past 8:00 AM and Monday here… You have picked a bad moment… Generally, young people are at their academies by this hour, are they not?" She shrugged.
"That's right. I totally forgot about that." Tomahawk Man admitted.
"Time zones…? Oh now I remember… True, we say EST and PST there at home…" Dingo trailed off.
"What do you intend to do by reviving Shade Man? Open up the gate or what?" Barrel came into the line.
"You people destroyed it back then. Nothing is left."
"Hmpf… So Laser Man comes next?"
"Laser Man cannot be revived! There was not any data left of him outside of their world to be of use…"
"What did Serenade see in you?"
"I was wondering when you would ask that of me. Serenade taught me how to channel out my abilities, how mere presence could turn the tide of a battle, without having me attack or move a finger… He is the one who helped become who I am today… As such, I will bring the stability he desired to this society along with my collaborators. Maybe we would have disagreed on the manner but we seek the same, anyway…"
"Hmpf. And crushing Colonel is part of it, too?"
"Did you not complain too often that he was left unchecked and acted on his own? That whole farce with turning Rock Man into a "fugitive" and using him as bait for Nebula… You did not approve of it, no?"
"Sheesh! Yeah, I did admit that in a military investigation board shortly after the incident!"
"That fool believed they were invincible and that anything they did would later be "justified" would it not?"
"Are you trying to say that it was to make a favor?"
"I advocate logical humans. Not those who act out of petty interests or foolish traps such as "avenging"… As that report stated, you knew Colonel wasn't really interested in Nebula but into luring out Forte to "avenge" Serenade… Or are you going to say that that report is a lie?"
"Sheesh! It's not! I did say all of that during the questioning!"
"Think of it as another consequence of letting your man loose. They run into trouble and end up bringing shame to their unit. That neophyte over there is more rational than them, even." She ironized.
"Neo… What?" Dingo asked.
"Neophyte… It means a "new convert" or "initiate"… In short: a newbie, a freshman… They're saying that 'cause I haven't been around with the unit for so long, I'm more rational than Boss." Tomahawk Man sighed.
"Thank you, Slur – sama. I have recovered enough to walk!"
"Good. Video Man. Escort Shade Man back to the base."
"By your orders!"
"Shade Man! You must submit the battle data to Legato and then undergo repairs. Then train for the next mission!"
"By your orders, my lady!"
Shade Man had managed to stand up, leaning on Video Man, and both looked up at Slur, who calmly made a dismissing gesture; both warped away while she directed a dull glare at the three Navis.
"If you see Rock Man, then… Do not forget to keep him up to date. Let us say Andy would like to know if he is up to date. Anything that can raise the morale is welcome. Farewell."
"Man! For a moment I thought I was dead man."
"No wonder." Blues muttered.
"Anyone would've."
"Mr. Barrel… What happened to Colonel some days ago?"
"That woman tossed him into the lower recesses of the Reverse Internet and left him there in a pretty bad state… Shadow Man helped rescue him and they got back to base… Colonel took 60 hours' time to fully recover and Shadow Man about 12… Another example of just how damaging the opponent's attacks are…" Barrel replied.
"All we know insofar is that they hope to have something ready by May or June, depending on how fast they work… It may involve some kind of new-generation machine… It's all too vague and our informant is doing the best they can! However… One of their bosses being absent as of late. The other one is in the lookout for bugs. It's becoming harder." Laika detailed.
"The man named Agoras also is very sporadic. He comes to bring reports to Hades but apart from that he doesn't remain there! Comes and goes, like Kage… We did check his old address but only found a slashed and smashed photograph frame having a photo of a man whom we suspect to be his uncle…" Enzan added.
"The Bitter Party man, huh… We could do better without those morons! They are giving all of our agencies several headaches! Some in the base have family there, and having communications be restricted is just too much for them. The networks are boiling with protests and petitions to the White House to depose the guys there saying they're screwing the Constitution…"
"Huff! I prefer a brawl to dealing with that mess." Dingo sighed.
"Who wouldn't?" Barrel grumbled.
"Huff. Let's go submit a report, Blues…"
"Same for us, Search Man…"
"OK. Guess I'll go back and train for a while. Then I'll come back by break time and talk to Rock Man…" Tomahawk Man sighed.
"Yeah. We shouldn't rely too much on our current battle style, either…"
"Agreed. You two need training, too. Sheesh. What a mess!"
11:10 AM (Japan Time)…
"… and then Dekao – sama and Guts Man went and beat Angle the Fish in one blow, guts! After all Dekao – sama is the Number One Net Battler of Akihara City! Guts!"
"Wait, the Number One? Ever since when, Guts Man?"
"Huh… Guts Man doesn't know, Roll – chan…"
"It was predictable, was it not?"
"Yeah. Totally. I won't deny that I retired. However… Guts Man is light-years away from Blues' level."
Guts Man, Roll, Glyde and Rock Man were having a chat inside of their Cyber World classroom; Rock Man was sitting on his seat and looking at the other three standing close to him; he merely lifted an eyebrow when he heard Dekao's boasts, while Roll was offended with the ordeal, making Guts Man nervous.
"Dekao – kun. Mind to explain?" Sakurai Meiru called out.
"Explain what, Meiru?" Ooyama Dekao's voice asked.
"Your latest claims."
"Oh! Those? That's what I am, yeah."
"You damned liar."
"Wha!"
"It's true that Netto quit but that doesn't mean you're above Ijuuin – kun, are you? Have you tried even ONCE to battle him?"
"That guy's unrelated!"
"Oh yeah? Cha don't know he's the strongest Net Battler left around here, Dekao?" Ayanokouji Yaito questioned.
"I'm the strongest! Say it, Netto?"
"Enzan is. End of the story." Netto calmly replied.
"Why do ya defend that punk? He's stealing your glory!"
"And so are you." Netto pointed out.
"Yikes! T-that's…!"
"Aha-hah! You fell for it!" Both girls told him.
"Man. Here I thought it'd work!"
"You - FAIL!"
"Alright, alright. Don't overdo it either."
"Guts… Dekao – sama… Guts…"
"How many times do we have to go over this?" Roll complained.
"I do not know."
"A trillion, I'd say." Rock Man rolled his eyes.
"That Dekao…" Netto muttered.
"I know: he's so troublesome, Netto – kun."
"Anyway… I'm wondering what Miquel has been up to lately. Guess I should call Enzan." Netto wondered aloud.
"Guess so. Maybe Blues knows something new or Search Man is also around to ask of him… If he's in the mood to, though…"
"Listen up! I'm gonna become the Akihara Middle School Eternal Champion of Net Battling!" Dekao boasted.
"SHUT UP YOU MORON!" Both girls snapped at him.
"I prefer a hundred Viruses to that guy." Rock Man groaned.
"Yeah. I get the same feeling too, Rock Man…"
"Guts! Guts Man will become the King of Guts Men!"
"You shut up, too! Someone upgrade his AI!"
"Huff. Yeah. I really prefer a brawl instead of stupidity!"