Invading Mission...
When he next opened his eyes, he was floating in a wide space with bubbles everywhere with data floating in and out of them like small sparks. It took a moment for him to gather his thoughts as he took in his current place.
" That's right... I send my conscience through the infinity net... I wonder how long did it take for it to form and reactivate..."
He looked down only to find out his limbs where fading and dissolving into data. His whole body was glitching as well, barely keeping a form.
" I see... The loading progress was interrupted... These are all the data that were successfully transferred... And they seem to be messed up... It seems I won't hold on for so long like this..."
He leaned back his head, enjoying the digital space again. He could glimpse small forms of data soaring through the far away horizon.
" In the end, I woke up to die, how ironic..."
He said ever so calmly, like if it didn't matter at all. As he was staring at the far away, waiting for the inevitable, waiting to be totally deleted, a bright light blinded him for a moment His eyes opened again to the sight of blue feathers falling of the sky, from that light.
" Mizel..."
A voice called out. So gentle and calm it addressed him.
" Do you want to witness the humans' will?"
' why would he' was his first thought. However, he found his mind drifting back to his fight with both Ban and Hiro. His surprised expression when they made the impossible possible.
He took an interest into humans since he met them. How they didn't give up even in a pinch and how they decided to face him off despite the dangers that may unfold on their way. Not to mention Evangeline perplexed him a lot.
Although he thought they were similar. Although he expected her to follow him. Her decision was something unexpected. Something that wasn't foreseen by him.
Before he knew it, one of the feathers had already rested on his chest. His eyes focused on that far away light that seemed like a window opening to a new path.
Mizel: " yes."
He answered with all confidence.
" Chosen one who chose to fight, you shall receive a great power. Please use it wisely."
The light suddenly grew brighter before it wrapped him...
His green eyes snapped open as the memory came to an end.
" I was afraid you stopped functioning..."
From the shadow, someone spoke. It was hard to tell who he was, his profile could barely be glimpsed by the light of the laptop he w as sitting to. The green head boy looked back at him.
Mizel: " if you trust your handwork, then you shouldn't worry about that."
" You know nothing is actually perfect, even my handworks..."
Mizel: " Whatever..."
He stood up, the wires linked to his back detached themselves at his movement. He walked off to the man who has been skimming through multiple data and footages.
Mizel: " they're doing pretty well to be honest."
He folded his arms in front of his chest.
" But not good enough."
The man shifted his look to the boy to which he rose an eyebrow.
" It's time."
Mizel: " are you sure?"
The man merely nodded as he looked at the pictures in front of him.
" Those are the chosen ones, the ones she entrusted with the future. You're the same as them."
Mizel: " I'm not so sure about it..."
He reluctantly looked ar the pictures, identifying each and everyone of the ones captured in them.
Mizel: "but... I will give it a shot."
" I'm depending on you..."...
N City...
Few weeks later...
Everyone was working hard to repair the damage caused to the city. It wasn't so long until most of the people were able to go back to their basic daily life. N city was slowly coming back on its feet again, which made both the secretary and the president breath out in relief.
Ban and the others had another reason, they were finally allowed to rest properly for the past few weeks after the extra ordinary effort they had put to fend off what was left of the city back then.
However, it wasn't long before they had to gather at the briefing room again.
Kaios: " alright, that only leaves the communication."
Kirito: " we have to get it back."
Pandora: " the problem is how?"
Joker: " it seems you had to use Kamiya Craft's computer when you tried to get Tokio's communication back, and even had to invade Dream Future physically to be able to hack them."
Kirito nodded.
Elie: " but, it'll be different in A country."
She voiced out, catching their attention.
Jessica: " As Elie said. We know the communication center is in ruins by now. The only alternative that A nation has is the satellites."
Otacross: " what Jessica-tan said is true deyo~."
Jun'ichirou : " and all of the Satellites had been taken over."
Ran: " and the one who took over them is?"
The adults all shook their heads.
Haruka: " we've been working hard to discover their identities, but we couldn't."
Sakura: " the only strange thing is that when we investigated, we found no traces of trying to hack the National Defense Base from the outside."
Runa: " then how comes they're manipulating the whole Nations satellites?"
Twilight: " the only conclusion we've come to is that they're manipulating them from inside the base."
Lilyan: " but we went there. Even though we've been attacked, still if they were using the base, shouldn't we find them there."
Ban nodded in agreement.
Cobra: " it's not necessary to be there in person."
Yuuya: " eh!"
Jun'ichirou : " there is this very LBX that can manipulate the whole base without the need for them to interfere."
Jin: " professor, do you mean Master Command?"
He nodded as he pushed up his glasses.
Jun'ichirou : " if topped with the L Virus power, it won't be hard for such LBX to manipulate the whole system that controls satellite. Maybe the LBXs that attacked you were protecting it."
Ban mulled over it for a second.
Ban: " even if, Master Command needs to have a direct contact with the computer to manipulate it. It should have been in the central control room since no other computer is linked to it. Unless..."
His eyes widened in realization.
Jun'ichirou : " it's controlling it from the main server."
Lilyan cocked her head in confusion.
Lilyan : " then, why didn't it block queen Claudia from activating the extra satellite?"
Ban: " even though powered with the L virus, still I doubt Master Command's CPU is able to treat all the data of the base in such a short notice."
Evangeline balanced her glasses on her nose at that.
Evangeline : " true. From what I read, the base's CPU takes around 5 minutes delay to update all the satellites states. An LBX CPU should take longer, and so Master Command figured about the extra satellite and blocked it after a while."
Kaios: " 24 hours exactly."
Asuka: " I'm not getting anything here..."
Her eyes where spiraling around as she tried to catch on their conversation.
Kaios: " we have to assume the Master Command is down there, in the main server room, blocking off all of our satellites."
Ban: " we should do something about it."
Jessica: " not so fast."
Her eyes wandered around everyone there.
Jessica: " the Fire Sweet received the vaccine program, and so they're participating at random battles all around the city while disguised as normal players to stop the L virus from spreading. Even though, as Sendou and the others mentioned, lately players were involved. The attacks didn't stop and with the enemies being stronger, we can't leave the city unguarded."
Ruri: " so we won't be all going?"
She nodded.
Jessica: " if I may suggest, the ones who once sneaked in there should go."
Asuka: " us!"
Vampire Cat : " well, we know the base after all."
Arata: " so we will have to take care of the infected LBXs here. Alright."
Kaios: " good. Since it's decided. Everyone, get ready to carry on the mission."
And they all nodded...
As soon as they walked out of the briefing room, walked off after his daughter and called for her.
Elie: " what's the matter Dad?"
Jun'ichirou : " Elie, I've actually got a call from your doctor..."
She sweated at that. Her doctor in Japan had talked to a friend of his in Country A and told him about Elie's condition. Both her parents were told that the conditions of her operations are better off at A Nation rather than Japan.
Jun'ichirou : " Elie, the hospital was rebuild and everyone there are ready to do it at anytime... Will you go through with the operation?"
He didn't want to force her. After all, Elie has been trying to delay the operation until the incident of the rampaging happened. The professor couldn't blame her for being afraid. Still...
Elie: " dad, I don't think it's the best time now."
She looked down, fiddling with her fingers.
Elie: " I want to fight with Onii-Chan and the others. I need to help them. So, let's put it off for now, alright."
He sighed. She was running out of time, she knew it as well. The Optima won't be able to hold her body together forever. But he didn't want to force her to make that decision. He didn't have the heart to.
Jun'ichirou : " as you want. But don't tire yourself."
Elie: " I won't."
She said with a sweet smile before walking off to her room...
***
The boys' shared room...
Ken: " I never thought I will be fighting along side them..."
He whispered as he looked at the old members of NICS. It was quite a surprise for him. Even now, he can't bring himself to believe it, standing side by side with the heroes whom saved the world before.
Hiro: " Ban-san, you didn't find any other people with the same power as us in N City?"
He was slightly surprised to find out only five of them had been chosen while back at Tokio City, almost all of their friends were.
Ban answered with a shake of his head. After all, he had to deal with those enemies along with Elie and Yuuya for almost a month, just the three of them. Through strangely enough, they were informed other cities around country A managed to withstand the rampaging as well. Not undamaged, but still put a fight. That made it sure there were few other people chosen all around the country.
Gouda: " I wonder why?"
Sendou took out a card.
Sendou: " hermit, upright. The answer to that question will be known soon."
Yuuya: " you still can't talk without your cards?"
Sendou: " not you too, Yuuya."
Sendou groaned as he didn't actually expect the question to come from him.
Ban turned his look around the room.
Ban: " where is Jin?"
Most of them blinked as they noticed the male was no more around.
Sendou: " he isn't here?"
Gouda: " where could he be?"
Kirito: " leave him alone."
He said from the other side of the room where he sat down on a couch and drank his Coke.
Kirito: " he seems to have some things on his mind he needs to clear. Just give him some time alone to sort them."
Yuuya: " some things..."
Ban: " I can say he has been colder this few weeks. Did something happen back in Tokio City?"
Kirito: " not that we know of."
Hiro : " Jin-san... Doesn't really speak that much of himself..."
Hiro pointed out uneasily and Ban had to suppress a sigh.
Ranger: " that much is obvious."
Ken: " Jin-san is really tight lipped."
Odin: " it's just like him, but..."
Ban: " should we really leave him alone?"
Kirito: " for the meantime. Anyway..."
He placed down the empty can of coke and pulled a keyboard. The hologram screen appeared above it as soon as the keyboard was placed on the table.
Fenrir: " we tried to hack into the base's main system with Otacross."
Yuuya: " did you find something?"
Kirito shook his head with a defeated sigh.
Kirito: " not that much."
He pulled out a 3D structure of the base on the screen and everyone edged towards him.
Kirito: " we tried to find a way to the main server."
He pointed at the very bottom of the base.
Kirito: " this is the main server room."
Yuuta: " all that way down!"
The server room was build deep down in the crater, reaching it seemed like a long journey downwards.
Fenrir: " it's almost the same path as the one to the control center. But instead of going up the emergency stairs, you will have to go down this time."
Genesis : " but, there should be a tough security then, not everyone can get there. Not to mention the enemies."
Liu Bei: " we will need someone to get through the system for us."
Immediately all the eyes flung back to Kirito whose retort was a groan.
Kirito: " what a pain..."...
Later...
Duck shuttle...
Kazu: " I thought we're bringing only the old members who went to the base before but..."
Ami: " Kirito, Evangeline, Gouda, Sendou Elie and Lilyan ended up coming with us as well."
Elie: " I want to be by Onii-chan's side."
Lilyan: " I once went with Ban-kun, so, I think I can help."
Sendou: " the muscle head forced me to come."
Gouda: " I heard that!"
Kirito: " I got dragged here."
Yuuya: " because you're the only one who can break through the security."
Cobra: " hey! That's my role!"
Everyone the looked back at Evangeline who blinked and shrugged.
Evangeline: " I want to help."
Elie chuckled.
Elie: " typical Eva."
Evangeline : " don't want to hear that from you. Even if I didn't come on my own you were going to drag me."
Elie: " like the old times~."
Jessica: " anyway, what about the infiltration route?"
Kirito pulled his keyboard and a projection hologram of his own screen appeared in front of everyone above their heads.
Kirito: " instead of the path you took years ago. We will go through the path I used."
Ran: " eh! When did you-"
Kirito: " how did you think I followed Gardyne to the space? With my own rocket?"
Ran: " sorry for asking."
Jin: " then Kirito, the path you took was..."
Kirito: " right from the front door."
" Eh!"
Cobra: " how did you?"
Kirito: " I hacked the security and went through."
Hiro: " Kirito-san, you're amazing!"
Fenrir: " then we will be doing the same here."
He nodded.
Kazu: " isn't this... A bit risky?"
They would be more vulnerable to any enemy ambush using that route.
Kirito: " believe me. The main entrance has very little hidings to where you can put LBXs. Even if they have guards there, we could easily fight them with that space without worrying about any of us getting hurt."
If anything, Lilyan and Ban would have suggested Claudia's secret path. But she insisted on keeping it a secret. Plus, they can't use it without her anyway.
Ban: " alright then, we will be using Kirito's path. Everyone, take extra weapons with you, we don't know what may happen there."
They all nodded...
NICS HQ...
Arata let out a breath as he leaned back on the chair with his hands behind his head.
Arata: " they will get all the fun out there while we have to wait here."
Ken: " we can't help it. We can't go in a large group after all."
Ruri: " right. Plus, there are still attacks in here we have to take care of."
She was typing away on her laptop, searching through her data and saving new ones.
Arata: " even though..."
Momona: " I know! To cheer up, Senpai! Let's have a battle!"
She held up her Dot Phasor as she ran off to the red head. She accidentally hit the table Ruri's laptop was on, resulting in her tripping down and the laptop almost falling if Ruri didn't grab it.
Ruri: " safe!"
She sighed in relief after checking on the machine and finding it wasn't damaged.
Ruri: " thank God..."
Momona: " so... Sorry..."
She stood up, rubbing her head with a blush.
Arata: " as clumsy as ever."
Mirai: " it's no use."
She was sitting in another corner of the room while skimming through her data as well. But as she couldn't access what she needed, she finally shut the laptop closed and walked to everyone.
Mirai: " we don't have to wait for the enemy to come to us. Let's go out and battle randomly. I'm sure this way we can stop more Virus users than just waiting for them to appear."
Touko: " agree. It will be better to make the first move."
Muraku: " doesn't sound like a bad idea. That way we can reduce more of them with the Fire Sweets' help."
Magna Orthus: " shall we go then, Muraku-san?"
He nodded.
Yuuta: " very well then, let's go."...
National Defense Base...
This time surprisingly the
Duck Shuttle managed to make it right near the building without the need to take the rough path of the canyon. It landed down and the door opened as it let out all of the team.
Cobra: " so as agreed. There are actually two paths leading to the hanger when we go through the front door, we will divide ourselves into two groups and get through."
Evangeline: " while we are there. Otacross and Sakura are trying with the president's help to get through the security of the base."
Kirito: " everything should be alright but don't let your guard down."
" Roger that!"
He made his way to the front door and plugged in wires coming of his tablet then started hacking the system with Evangeline merely peeking down at him in case he may need her help. Though it could have been easier to let her do the task, but in case it was the same as the Second World, she was prohibited from doing so.
Suddenly the door opened and Kirito looked up from his tablet.
Kirito: " the cameras are also shut down."
With that they stepped inside the huge building and walked through the vast corridors. After a long walk, two paths were revealed before them.
Ban: " be careful."
Kirito: " don't do anything risky."
With that, Ban, Jin, Elie, Lilyan, Eva, Kazu, Ami, and Jessica walked on the left path.
Kirito, Hiro, Ran, Sendou, Asuka, Gouda, Cobra and Yuuya walked down the right way.
They kept looking down at their CCMs, being prepared for any enemies to get out.
Yuuya: " things seems to be fine her."
Kirito: " I hate this silence though."
His eyes flicked around in wary, feeling like someone had been keeping the tab on them.
Ran: " something bad is about to happen."
Ran was better than to underestimate her fighting instinct.
Minerva: " let's be careful."
She flew ahead with cautious.
Gouda: " Kirito."
Kirito : " what?"
Gouda: " you said you came through this way as you was following Gardyne, right?"
He nodded.
Gouda: " how did you get here in the first place?"
Ran: " come to think of it, the base is so far from any city. It will take you a day from the nearest stop."
Kirito: " hm. I borrowed a four wheeled bike."
" Eh!"
Asuka: " where did you even find that?"
Kirito: " just happened to know someone nearby who rent them and so I got one."
Hiro: " you're really amazing!"
Crimson eyes narrowed as they saw something moving from the shadow. Kirito stopped on his tracks and pulled out his CCM. Everyone else there did the same.
Soon enough, a certain white and pink LBX with pink wings divulged itself.
Gouda: " you should be kidding me!"...
Odin: " are you serious!"
The familiar purple LBX stood in front of them with its rapier brandished in hand threateningly.
Ban: " Kaiser!"
Jin: " what's it doing here?!"...
