VS Ban...


Elie: " I found it!"

She cheered up and everyone circled around her.

Odin Mk2: " well done!"

The brunette offered a smile.

Mizel: " now let's listen up to what it has."

Mizel's hand moved to retrieve the device, but it flew out of Elie's as if something grabbed it.

Everyone followed it with wide eyes and the Driver stopped mid air before that the invisible thing holding it appeared to their sight.

The same Killer Droid with purple armor and in its humanoid form stood there, holding up the driver at them like if mocking the way they let it be taken easily.

Soon, the Killer Droid started to fade away while jumping back through the window.

Mizel: " hold on!"

He quickly shifted to the LBX form and chased after the Droid, his eyes glowing in red.

Mizel: " even if you're invisible still you let out a detectable heat!"

Odin Mk2 : " let's follow him!"

Zenon: " right after you!"

Twilight : " we can't let it escape!"

Beargguy : " wait for me!"

The LBXs followed through the window. While the players hurried back to catch up with them.

Suddenly they got a call and when they answered, Cobra's face appeared on the screen as close as it can be.

Cobra: " we have a problem! We're surrounded! And a large number of them! From the sky! From the lake!"

Evangeline: " so that's their plan, steal the Driver and make us busy fighting off their forces."

Mirai thought about it for a while before addressing the others with a determined voice.

Mirai: " Eva, Lilyan, Elie and Jin. You follow after Mizel and retrieve the Driver. We will help the Fire Sweet out."

Lilyan: " but-"

Mirai: " we have to stop them before they take away the Driver!"

They exchanged looks and nods before rushing their way out. Mirai and Hiro hurried to join the others in the fight outside...


Mikoto: " there is no end to them!"

Her emerald green and amber proto-I version of Pandora was swiftly cutting through the gladiators and Warriors that stormed towards her using a twin dagger-fans.

Mikoto: " stand your ground, Anesia!"

Yuji: " leave the backup for me, Commander!"

His shamrock green Orion shot down the other LBXs that were aiming to take Anesia by surprise.

Mikoto: " you have my thanks."

Ruri: " hey! No one misses around with Mikoto-nee!"

Ken: " let's finish them all together!"

" Hissatsu Function!"

" Attack Function: Trident !"

Valkyrie launched three poles of blue energy out of her lance.

" Attack Function: Air Vortex!"

Ranger shot an arrow that morphed into a strong wind storm.

" Attack Function: Hawk eye drive!"

Orion shot the LBXs' chests.

" Attack Function: Fairy Dance!"

Anesia flipped open its dagger-fans and span around itself, causing blue energy slashes to fly off everywhere around it.

After two more rounds, the LBXs in that area were all destroyed.

Mikoto: " well done, kids."

Ken: " Mikoto-nee too, you're really strong."

Ruri: " it's my first time seeing your LBX. This is Anesia, mother's work. Awesome~!"

She said as her sparkling green eyes went over the LBX like a scanner. Ken sweat dropped as he knew his sister was memorizing all of the LBX's specs.

Jessica: " if you're done there, can you lend us a hand here!"

Mikoto: " right on the way!"...


Jin and the other girls were following after their LBXs as they chased the Killer Droid outside the Observatory. The huge robot stopped on the bank of the lake, just behind the building.

They all halted as the robot stopped. They were able to hear footsteps breaking the grass underneath them.

From the shadow, the outline of a certain brunette appeared.

Elie: " Onii-chan !"

Evangeline : " Ban!"

Jin & Lilyan: " Ban-kun!"

Mizel glared through the dull and void green eyes.

Mizel: " they had already brainwashed him."

Elie: " it can't be... Onii-chan..."

Ban looked at them with a face void of any expression. Then he held up his white CCM and the Killer Droid that appeared to their sight again jumped back to him.

The robot landed on his arm and dropped the driver in his hand before he turned around to leave.

Elie: " Onii-chan !"

But he didn't answer to her.

Mizel: " not so quick!"

Mizel charged forward and Ban barely dodged to the side as he pointed his lance at him.

Ban narrowed his eyes at the LBX hovering in front of him.

Mizel: " this is not the Ban we know. We have to fight him, in order to take him back!"

Elie clenched her hand around her pink CCM. She closed her eyes, sorting out her thoughts before blinking them open, full of determination and resolution to fight.

Elie: " let's go! Odin! Beargguy!"

Jin and Lilyan both looked at the woman between them.

Elie: " we have to take Onii-chan back! So I won't hesitate to fight him in order to do that!"

Eva couldn't help her lips pulling back into a smile.

Evangeline : " that's Elie for you. Let's go, Twilight!"

Twilight joined Beargguy.

Lilyan and Jin exchanged nods before taking their CCMs out as well.

Ban quickly shifted to face them.

Ban: " Gafran."

The purple robot landed on the ground in front of them.

Jin: " be careful. This Killer Droid is different from the others we fought."

Elie: " Onii-chan is controlling it after all."

Lilyan : " how should we move?"

Mizel: " first of all, we have to retrieve the Driver."

Zenon: " we will leave that to you."

Odin: " Ban! We're taking you back!"

The LBXs moved forward. Ban's finger flew over the buttons of the CCM as Gafran's tail moved over its shoulder and started shooting its Laser.

The six LBXs flew away of the way before Mizel zoomed forward again. Gafran summoned a blade of Laser and jumped up, blocking him.

Odin tried to get to his player, but Gafran hit him hard on the back and he was slammed on the ground.

Overpowering Mizel, he was pushed back and Gafran went back in front of Ban.

Gathering energy in its chest cannon, it unleashed a large Laser beam.

Odin held up his shield in front of them to protect all of them.

Elie and the others hurried to hide before they could be targeted.

Evangeline: " we have to open the way to Mizel so he can retrieve the Driver."

Jin: " first, we have to do something about those lasers."

Elie: " I have an idea."

The Laser cannon stopped and the robot started shooting at them using the hidden guns withing its hands.

While still holding the shield up, Odin pressed forward. Ban focused his attack on the LBX that kept pushing through.

Odin: " you won't... Take me down!"

He launched forward. The robot switched to the Laser blade, just as he was a few inches away from him and Odin ducked down under it. Zenon and Twilight rushed at it around that moment, swaying their weapons and attacking viciously.

Gafran immediately abandoned its blade and focused on defending.

While it was busy, Beargguy hurried over to them and summoned his Laser blade.

Elie: " go!"

Gafran was late to react and pushed away all three LBXs. By the time it tried to slip away, Beargguy had already thrusted his blade in its chest cannon.

As sparks flew out of its chest, Gafran quickly backed and brought up its tail rifle.

Lilyan: " oh no you won't!"

Unicorn: " we're taking down that rifle!"

" Attack Function: Grand Wall!"

With that attack function the dust rose up around the robots, blocking all of them from sight.

All of a sudden, Mizel flew out of the dust cloud and aimed for Ban.

Mizel: " when you're back I will make sure to apologize!"

Ban held up his arm in defense as Mizel approached and the small robot used that chance to slash at it, causing him to drop off the Driver.

He quickly went back to retrieve it and delivered it safely to Eva.

Mizel : " out of the way! All of you!"

All the LBXs backed as the dust cleared up.

Mizel: " Attack Function: Jet Striker!"

Mizel shifted to the jet form and rushed forward, hitting the other robot hard across the chest. The cracks that had already formed on its armor widened and the robot exploded.

Jin and the others walked out of their hiding spot and faced Ban.

Evangeline : " it's the end."

Jin: " you've lost, Ban-kun."

Lilyan: " now go back with us."

Elie: " please, Onii-chan!"

Odin: " Ban!"

The brunette merely rose two dull eyes as he slammed his CCM shut and walked back to the shadow.

Elie: " wait!"

They tried to run after him, but just as they reached tbe edge of the bank, Ban was already away of them in a boat that was crossing the lake back to the forest...


Touko: " so you couldn't stop him."

Elie shook her head with a look of disappointment. Jin approached her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

Jun'ichirou : " it's really sad that we couldn't get him back this time, but we shouldn't give up hope."

Haruka: " I'm sure we will be able to rescue Ban-kun soon."

Everyone were more determined to find Ban this time, so they all nodded with fearless faces.

Mizel walked ahead of them.

Mizel: " very well then, shall we listen on to the record."

Everyone then nodded in agreement. With that, the device floated up as it always did, emitting the same light blue particles that formed the shape of the man, the hologram was more clear than usual. The colors were more visible through the blue hue.

Lilyan had to blink twice at the man in front of her. For some reasons, he seemed familiar.

Creator: " so you found it. I can imagine your faces glaring daggers at me for this Driver was really hard to find. But, if it wasn't I won't have been safe. Anyway, to the continuation of our story. Leviathan's Evolution project aims for two things. First, to make human evolve. Second, so he himself can evolve."

Everyone had a surprised look at that.

Creator : " Leviathan's project won't end until he reaches his ultimate form, perfection may I say. He wants to be independent, capable of acting not through others."

Eva had a frown upon hearing those words.

Evangeline : " true, despite everything, Leviathan is nothing but an entity that can't existe outside of a computer or a network."

Kazu: " why not using a robotic body like this guy?"

He pointed out at Mizel.

Mizel: " because he will still need to maintain his body and fix it. For him, it can't be called perfection."

Evangeline: " Mi too?"

Mizel rolled his eyes.

Mizel: " of course, I had to maintain that old body of mine every now and then. It was troubling."

Jun'ichiru: " but if using the D manipulation technology?"

The older man cut in sharply and Mizel's eyebrows knitted at that.

Mizel: " he will create the ultimate body that would never malfunction."

Vampire Cat: " doesn't sound like a pleasant thing."

The record played again and the man held up his hand as he looked down at his wrist, apparently checking out time.

Creator : " otto, it's almost time. I have to pay old man Ben a visit."

He gave them a wink and disappeared. Mizel proceeded with dealing with the Driver while the others exchanged looks.

Yuuta: " is it me, or is the lead this time way too easy."

Runa: " it really is."

Gouda: " so the next Driver should be in the Britannia Clock Tower."

Yuuya: " should we head there now?"

Mizel: " nope."

Everyone looked at him.

Mizel: " moving right away will attract Leviathan's attention. Plus, the LBXs need rest, same for you. You hardly slept for the whole night."

Haruka: " I have to agree, we all need to rest."

With a groan, they all obliged...


A Nation...

The blond man slammed his fist multiple times on the door's surface, but the resident of the house didn't come out.

Even the neighbors rushed out their houses to check on the source of the noise at an early hour of the morning and most of them expressed their anger at the young man who disturbed them.

" Tsk, where could she have gone! This damn girl!"

The young man didn't answer to the neighbors yelling at him. He had a slightly long blond hair that reached past his shoulder and blue eyes. He was wearing a greyish sleeveless t-shirt underneath an unzipped sleeveless green jacket and dark black pants with red and white sneakers.

A silver pendant rested around his neck and a black bracelet surrounded his left wrist.

" Excuse me, are you one of Himari-san's relatives?"

One of the neighbors asked, hopping to calm down the situation.

" Yeah, I'm her brother, do you have a problem with it?"

The young man gave him a piercing look that it was all the neighbor could do not to run away immediately.

" I'm afraid Himari-san isn't here. We hadn't seen her for a while now. Maybe she had traveled."

" Traveled where? She has no relative she could be on touch with!"

" I really don't know!"

The neighbor backed in fear.

The blond man clicked his tongue as he walked past the old man, his hands hidden in his pocket, he walked down the stairs with an irritated face.

" She has disappeared just when I'm in need for money. That little..."...


Brinton...

In a building far away from the observatory, the grey haired man restored the balance of his glasses as he skimmed down the pages of data.

Gichii: " the readings seems perfect till now. Should we move forward to the next phase."

He looked back at the man lying down on the bed with a huge machine covering his head.

Gichii: " let's start then. This will hurt you for a while, but I trust you will pull through, Yamano Ban, don't let me down."...


Observatory...

Elie sat up in her bed as she couldn't sleep and looked out at the night sky.

Beargguy : " Elie..."

Elie: " Onii-chan... Looked really pale."

The pink LBX looked up at her as she gently caressed his head.

Elie: " we will bring Onii-chan back, right? He will be back safe and sound, right?"

Beargguy : " I won't hold back to do that for you, Elie."

Elie smiled widely at him.

Elie: " thanks buddy. "

Beargguy : " now you should get some rest. I'm sure even Ban won't like it if you tire yourself up."

Elie: " you're right."

And with that, she laid her head down and went to sleep...


In another room, a certain purple head was flipping her papers and checking her laptop screen continuously.

Ruri: " they have Ban-san on their side now. With the legendary player, and if they're to actually turn him to the strongest LBX player, we may have been pushed into a corner."

She narrowed her green eyes that glimmered for a second.

Ruri: " it's time to bring them out. All my mother and my works."

Valkyrie : " Ruri, it's late, you should rest."

Ruri: " I can't. Not now, I have to start working on those blueprints immediately."

Valkyrie sighed.

Valkyrie : " seems like I will have to call for Ken's help."...


Jun'ichirou, Cobra and Mizel were still awake, fixing badly damaged LBXs whose players couldn't fix. Eva was with them until Mizel kicked her out the room to get some rest like the others.

Cobra yawned and continued to complain quietly about how the professor is a slave driver. On the other hand, the professor had something else worrying him.

Jun'ichirou : " how, did you find him?"

He asked the boy that was bending on Anesia and Orion. Mizel blinked twice before rising his look to the professor.

Mizel: " he was brainwashed, but it didn't seem via a slave coller or the CCM as usual. And the fact that he returned. It's more..."

Jun'ichirou : " more like an irreversible method, isn't it?"

Mizel: " I won't lie to you. This way, even if we keep defeating Ban again and again, he won't come back unless we drag him. And then..."

Jun'ichirou : " there is no telling that he will be back to us."

The professor clenched his fist tightly.

Mizel: " have you already given up?"

Mizel scanned the male carefully and Jun'ichirou looked at him.

Jun'ichirou : " not at all. Even if it will take up the rest of my life, I will make sure to bring Ban back. But until then..."

He looked into Mizel's eyes in a pleading way.

Jun'ichirou : " don't tell anyone about this. They're already under enough pressure."

Mizel: " don't worry about it."

And he went back to fixing the LBXs in front of him...