Sneaking into Dream Future...


When Jin left, the beeping of the machines was getting louder. Elie worriedly rushed back to her brother's side as he grappled to stand up again.

Elie: " Onii-chan! Stay still!"

Ban: " ... can't..."

Her eyes slightly widened when he finally spoke. The pulses on the monitor were getting higher in level and the sound of beeping rising by the moment.

Ban: " Move..."

His eyes slowly regained their sheen.

Ban: " Everyone... Needs help..."

Odin: " Ban..."

Elie: " Onii-chan..."

Finally he managed to push himself up of his bed and stood on his feet, yanking all the wires that were linked to him under Elie's hesitant eyes as she looked after his back, unable to persuade him any more.

Elie: " Onii-chan... You don't have to..."

Ban: " I don't. But I want to."

He stated with a voice as loud and clear as it can ever be.

Elie: " but, in that body..."

Ban looked back at her and she was met by confident and resolved eyes as well as a wide kind smile.

Ban: " I'm fine, Elie."

He grabbed his CCM, tightening his grab of it.

Ban: " I need to help them out. That feeling alone is what broke me free."

Elie hesitated. Despite what he may say, she couldn't trust he was fine to go.

Ban: " Elie, please..."

She tried to speak, to protest, to stop him. But as she looked at his eyes, she gave in. She can't beat her brother when he has that look.

With a smile, she addressed him.

Elie: " I see. I can't beat you. So I'm going to join you!"...


Ban: " man, I thought they would let me out after this."

He said placing his hands behind his head as he laid down on his bed. Apparently doctors didn't decide on discharging him yet, so he had to go back to his room for further checks. That without mentioning the long lecture he had been through for flying out the hospital just like that.

Mizel: " you're not a cat or something. They can't just let you go without making sure you're fine."

The kid spoke out from the side of his bed. He decided to keep him company while the other male was getting checked on.

Ban: " but I'm fine."

Mizel: " that's what you say. But they still have to take in consideration a possible relapse. Don't make a great deal of it. If nothing is wrong you'll be discharged tomorrow."

Ban: " still..."

Suddenly the door of his room opened as Jin and Elie walked in. The male had a patch on his cheek and though it wasn't visible, his arms were wrapped in bandages. It seems that he didn't escape the whole mess without a few bruises. And when he reached the hospital, the nurses insisted that he needs tending to though he didn't consider it much of a deal.

Ban: " so?"

Jin: " it wasn't something that important, just a few grazes."

Elie: " say it again? You were about to fall down from Tokio bridge. How is that not important!"

Ban chuckled at that.

Ban: " you're really reckless."

Jin: " says the one who escaped the hospital."

He retorted with a roll of his eyes.

Ban: " hey, I didn't escape!"

Elie: " anyway, seems they will be monitoring you for today as well. So you can't go home, Onii-chan."

Ban: " Unfortunately..."

He sighed.

Jin: " don't take it slightly, we may not know if there is something wrong with you or not. It's better to be cautious. "

Mizel: " someone must report what happened back to everyone. I trust you two will still keep his company for tonight as well, right?"

Jin and Elie bobbed their heads.

Mizel: " very well. Then I need to take my leave. See you tomorrow in Tiny Orbit."

Jin and Elie stepped aside as he walked past them and out the room...


Next day...
Tiny Orbit...

" Ban!"

" Ban-san!"

" Ban-kun!"

Ban had to back off a few steps before they could strangle him.

Elie: " hey! He had just came back, don't kill him!"

Mirai sweat dropped at her words before addressing the man.

Mirai: " But, is it alright for you, moving around just all of a sudden?"

Ban: " it's alright, it's not like I didn't move or walk for months, it was just few weeks, my limbs are not really that numb, even the doctor said so. And my injuries are not severe."

Asuka: " that was a close call!"

Takuya: " you know that one second delay in bringing you back to Japan could have caused your death."

Ban blinked twice at that.

Ban: " eh! Then why not staying in Shang-pao?"

Kirito: " multiple reasons. First that we will need to explain why you ended up like that. But then it was Lilyan who said she knew someone in the hospital here and they would let you in without much investigation."

Ban then turned his look around as if to make sure of something and everyone swallowed at that.

Ban: " where is Lilyan?"

Jin: " long story, I will explain it later."

Ban rose an eyebrow, but he nodded.

Evangeline: " hold on, Ban, how did you know we were in Shang-Pao in the first place?"

She pointed out.

Jessica: " good question. Your conscious should have been sealed."

Ban scratched the back of his head uneasily as he tried to explain it.

Ban: " yeah... about that. Since I've been through the ECT, it was like if I've been shut away from the whole world. But then, as I started using the overload, I became slowly aware of what was happening with me, and my memories slowly came back. I hardly managed to take control for a few seconds to send the Cho Plasma Burst to Jin."

He looked back at the said man. Haruka on the other hand tried to formulate an answer.

Haruka: " the sudden rise in your mind's functioning must have restored the damaged regions in it, causing your conscious to partially come back, as well as your memories."

Odin: " but you fighting back made it easier for us to deliver the finishing blow."

Ban nodded with a smile before he looked down at his hand as everything from the past weeks played back in his mind.

Ban: " during the whole time, I was forced to fight against you with no mean to stop. It was like being in a dark place and being tied up while watching the people I care for getting hurt because of me. The same after the Oracle, no matter how hard I tried to move or to talk, my body felt like it was tied."

Ami: " Ban..."

He balled his fist.

Ban: " I wanted to be with you, I wanted to help you out, I wanted to have an LBX battle with all of you, all those feelings were what helped me break the chains finally."

Kirito let out a smirk upon hearing him.

Kirito: " just like Ban."

Kazu: " man, you moved me..."

He said rubbing the end of his nose. Ban's soft smile morphed into an air of seriousness all of a sudden.

Ban: " anyway, I know you've lost the Driver back in Shang-Pao."

Ruri looked down. Was she the only one who thought it felt more of a blaming? Everyone else solely sighed.

Ban: " I take it that you couldn't retrieve it."

Jun'ichirou : " unfortunately. We couldn't."

Takuya: " with the many attacks Leviathan led on us."

Ran: " we hardly slept."

She said pointing at the bags under her eyes. Ban also could notice the lack of sleep in the others' faces as well.

Muraku: " so we hardly had the time to put a plan."

Ban: " makes sense."

Takuya : " anyway, I've got word that the Fire Sweets will take car of the situation from here and for a while. Your LBXs needs to be maintained, right."

They all nodded as they handed their LBXs to the professors.

Otacross: " we will be working on them, deyo~."

Haruka: " everyone else, you should take this chance to rest properly. With the past tense weeks, you deserve it."

Everyone nodded their heads before they turned around to plan what they were going to do.

Jun'ichirou : " Ban."

He stopped his son as he was about to leave.

Jun'ichirou : " you need to go see your mother first. She was really worried about you."

Ban: " you don't have to tell me, dad."

He said walking away and catching up with Jin as he was about to leave. He snapped when's the brunette's arm fell upon his shoulder.

Ban: " not so fast, Jin."

There was something off with his voice. Something... Cold... Ban had a wide smile on his face. Yet, Jin new better than to take it for what it seems.

Ban: " I've heard from Mizel, you and Elie had a sleeping over in your house, right. Why not telling me about it. Every single detail if you may."...


Night...

Kirito: " what should we do now?"

He finally spoke when the older adults left for a break. Mizel narrowed his eyes at the blond.

Mizel : " about what?"

Kirito: " about the Driver."

Mizel said nothing.

Kirito: " we both know where it's."

Evangeline: " for god's sake Kirito, everyone knows where it's. But we couldn't make a move. That place is highly protected."

Mizel drummed his finger on the table thoughtfully.

Mizel: " I just wanted to avoid doing a reckless thing by trying to find the next one."

Kirito: " but you failed, right."

Mizel nodded.

Mizel: " as expected, he made sure the drivers can't be found unless by following the leads. I'm afraid I don't have a choice."

Evangeline: " you're really going to do it?!"

Her voice bore a tone of warning.

Mizel: " any other choice?"

Evangeline : " you were-"

Mizel: " I still remember what the creator told me. Still, I don't think we have an alternative as of now. Plus, the possibilities are with me. I will be totally fine."

Kirito: " if you say so."

Evangeline : " Kirito !"

Her eyes flicked back at him and he merely leaned back on his chair.

Kirito: " you better than anyone know what your bro is capable of, Eva."

Evangeline : " still-"

She was cut off by the screech of the chair as it was dragged on the floor when Mizel stood up.

Mizel: " it's fine. Then, I will be leaving the rest of the LBXs to you."

Evangeline : " eh! You're leaving now!?"

Mizel frowned slightly.

Mizel: " the sooner the better."

And he walked out of the LAB...


Ban sweat dropped at the mountain of food in front of him.

Ban: " mom, I really don't need all of this..."

Marie: " no! You need to eat a lot to recover!"

She said adding even more vegetables to his plate.

Ban: " mom..."

Kazu hardly even tried to hide his chuckle.

Kazu: " as expected of aunt Marie."

Yuuya: " thanks for having us."

Marie: " no need to thank me. I will be always glad to have you anytime."

Asuka: " and I will be glad to have your curry every day. One more please!"

She held up her empty bowl.

Touko: " you had already finished!"

Kazu: " I'm not losing!"

Ran: " one more!"

Jessica: " not again!"

Gouda: " I'm not gonna lose!"

Sendou: " and here the gorilla starts his show."

Gouda: " 'ut 'p!"

Sendou: " weren't you taught to not talk with your mouth full! And you literally showered me!"

He said wiping his face.

Ran: " it's sad Arata and the younger ones can't be here. But the house won't contain us all."

Elie: " they will be enjoying a sleep over in your house, Ran. Though I'm more concerned about Eva, she insisted that she has to help Kirito and Mizel out."

Jin couldn't hold back a sigh.

Jin: " she really doesn't hold back from helping anyone. I'm worried she is overworking herself."

Elie: " if it's the case you should have talked to her."

Jin: " I did."

He sighed for the second time.

Jin: " she said she was fine and that there was no need to worry about her at all."

Elie : " well, at least Mizel is with her for now. I'm sure he will stop her from tiring herself."

Ran: " much like Ken and Ruri."

Jessica: " hold on, speaking of them, where are Ken and Ruri?"

Hiro looked up from his plate.

Hiro: " they said they will be staying over at tiny orbit. Ruri needs to finish tuning the Hellfire."

Ban's eyes glimmered at the mention of the weapon.

Ban: " that aircraft was really amazing, to think Ruri made it."

Elie:" impressive, right! She is quite the mechanic!"

Ban:" I shouldn't slack off too."

H

e muttered to himself with a a smile. Marie beamed softly at them as they laughed and chatted together.

Marie: " I wish Lilyan was here."

Before she knew it, she blurted it out. Everyone in the room fell silent at that and in one way or another, chance a glance at their friend.

Marie: " Oh, I'm-"

Ban: " It's alright, mom."

He smiled.

Elie: " we will bring her back soon."

Asuka: " I will make sure to kick that brother of hers! More!"

Marie: " right on the way."...


Ken: " I figured you will try to do this."

Ruri snapped at that and looked at her side. She found her brother standing outside Tiny Orbit, leaning on the door's frame and folding his arms.

Ruri: " Nii-san..."

Ken: " I know what you're up to but I will ask, what do you think you're doing?"

Ruri narrowed her eyes before taking one step forward, closing to her brother and addressing him in a resolved tone.

Ruri: " I'm going to take back the Driver."

Ken: " why all of a sudden? Why deciding to do it today?"

Ruri: " it's just, I can't take it anymore. All of this is happening because of me. No matter what everyone says, I need to take responsibility for what I did. The fact that Leviathan didn't use the D Manipulator's technology on us, means Leviathan couldn't crack it open yet. We still can retrieve it. Now that I've completed Hellfire, then I can have a chance to make everything right."

Ken sighed.

Ken: " you're not going back."

The glimmer in her eyes didn't flutter.

Ken: " I don't have a choice. I can't let my sister go on her own, I'm tagging along."

Ruri: " Nii-san!"

She beamed at him.

Valkyrie: " Ruri, Ken, please have some sense."

Ranger: " are you seriously thinking of heading to their base!"

Ruri: " it's what I..."

She looked at her brother and smiled.

Ruri: "... We have to do."

Valkyrie: " but..."

" You better stop."

They both snapped their heads back to the voice's direction to see the green head boy walking out the building.

Ken: " Mizel..."

Mizel : " go back, I won't tell Takuya-san about what I heard."

He walked past them, his hand tucked in his pockets and he didn't spare them even one glance.

Ken: " hold on, and where are you going?"

Mizel stopped on his track but said nothing.

Ken: " you're going there as well, aren't you?"

Mizel slightly turned over his shoulder.

Mizel: " so what?"

Ruri: " we're not going back, you can do that."

Mizel: " you know it's dangerous for you-"

Ken: " and aren't you the one who was told to stay away from Leviathan?"

Mizel squinted his eyes at them.

Ruri: " I'm not going back. Let's go, Nii-san."

She walked on. Valkyrie was hesitant about her player's decision, but she was determined to support her no matter what.

Soon, Ken and Ranger followed her with unwavering steps.

Seeing that they weren't backing down, Mizel sighed.

Mizel: " I see no way around. We will have to infiltrate together."

They stopped and looked at him with suspecting looks.

Ken: " infiltrate together?"

Ruri: " with you?!"

Mizel walked over to them.

Mizel: " there is no point in infiltrating separately. Since we're doing it anyway, we have to cooperate, else we will hold each other back."

Ken mulled over it for a while before he finally voiced out.

Ken: " you have a point."

Ruri merely looked up at her older brother in shock.

Ken: " but if you try any funny things, you won't like what will be coming for you."

Mizel: " deal..."...


Hanasaki Dojo...

Arata: " I doubt you, Muraku!"

He said pointing one finger at the black head who smirked before flipping his card. Arata's guess appeared to be wrong.

Muraku: " too bad for you."

Arata: " eh!"

Muraku: " here you go."

He said pushing a bunch of cards to the red head who already had a lot of them in his hand, some of them even visible.

Arata: " I really can't hold one more card!"

Everyone bursted in laughter while Momona sweat dropped as he dropped all of his cards.

Momona: " you're not good with this game, Senpai."...


After a long walk through the dark routes, they were almost in front of the huge building.

Mizel: " give me your CCMs."

Ruri and Ken looked at each other, clearly reluctant.

Mizel: " we are infiltrating the enemy's base. We have to be extra careful."

They finally handed over their CCMs. They could see Mizel's eyes glowing in red and green lines appeared on the devices.

Mizel: " you have your gas masks with you I trust."

He asked them as they took their CCMs, and they nodded. Another of the precautions they took was to carry gas masks around when during missions.

Mizel: " very well, now we're all linked via your CCMs and LBXs. If anything is to happen to you I will know immediately. I have memorized the map of Dream Future and I send it to you. We will have to split up. I've hacked the city's cameras so Leviathan doesn't know we're here yet, but when I say retreat, you have to go back no matter what. Is that clear?"

They didn't answer.

Mizel: " is that clear?"

They begrudgingly nodded.

Ranger: " so, how to get in?"

Mizel: " follow me."

He led them around the building and stopped a few meters away from a side door so they wouldn't be spotted. A woman just walked out of it when they had reached there.

Valkyrie: " staff door?"

Ruri: " are we getting through there?"

Mizel: " not actually."

He walked over to the door and kneeled next to it, taking off a pallet that was hiding a secret trap door.

Mizel: " hurry up and go first."

Both Ken and Ruri obliged, crouching and crawling through the tight secret path.

Mizel checked the coast for the last time before crouching in and returning the pallet to its place.

Ken: " now what?"

Mizel: " we continue forward till we reach a dead end."

A few minutes later, the path in front of them finally came to an end.

Ruri: " what should we do now?"

Mizel: " press on the top of the wall in front of you."

Ruri: " this won't bring us to Leviathan, right?"

Mizel: " you can use some trust in me."

Ruri: " I can't trust the one who killed my mother!"

She hesitated before finally pushing the wall, it fell down, opening to a corridor. The three of them left the small secret path.

Mizel looked around and his eyes narrowed before he shape shifted to O-Legion's form.

Mizel: " let's hurry up, I'm sure Leviathan found out about us infiltrating by now."

With that, they ran down their path before it split to two.

Mizel: " I will go down the right way, you go to the left. You will have to split later as well, so be careful! The Driver should be at the end of one of the paths!"

And they took their own paths. As they finally split from Mizel, Ruri looked at her brother.

Ruri: " I can't believe we're trusting him!"

Ken: " is there any other choice?"

They stopped in front of the next fork.

Ken: " I've brought a bunch of Great Bombers in case. We should be fine."

Ranger: " you have Hellfire, right?"

Ruri: " ah, we will be fine too."

They split up. Ruri was running with Valkyrie on her shoulder while at the same time was looking through the map.

Ruri: " we're almost there!"

Valkyrie: " watch out Ruri!"

Soon, Ruri could glimpse red gas spreading through the corridor. Ruri quickly reached to her gas mask and put it on.

Valkyrie jumped of her player's shoulder as three black Killer Droids approached them.

Ruri: " he even send guards!"

She glared at the men in black suits who approached her.

Valkyrie: " Ruri..."

Ruri: " use Hellfire, but try to keep a distance because you won't be able to defend yourself from a close range."

She said throwing the aircraft up and it hovered in the air before Valkyrie jumped to take control of it.

Valkyrie: " what about you?"

Ruri drew a deep breath and took her fighting pose.

Ruri: " don't forget I'm trained in Martial art."

One of the guards launched of at her, she quickly span around him and hit him hard with her elbow on the neck. He dropped down unconscious.

Ruri: " I can defend myself!"...


Ken dusted off his hands as he looked down at the bodies thrown on the ground. He took off his gas mask and heaved a sigh.

Ken: " don't underestimate your opponent just because they're just younger and smaller than you."

Ranger: " let's hurry up."

They resumed thier run, only to find more LBXs were waiting for them.

Ken: " Hissatsu Function!"

" Attack Function: Sagitta Rain!"

The rain of arrows fell upon the enemy's units, opening a path for the blunette to get through.

He pulled out his CCM and checked his position.

Ken: " we will round right!"

They did so and found themselves in front of a closed door. Ken opened it and entered a small room. The driver was inserted in some kind of scanner with different devices hovering over it from all the sides, trying to crack it open.

Ranger shot all of the metallic arms there and Ken quickly grabbed the small device from the scanner.

Ken: " yosh! Let's tell the oth-"

His CCM rang as he got a call from Mizel.

Mizel: " Ruri was captured!"

Ken: " what!"

It was all he could do not to phase through the CCM and to where other robot was.

Mizel: " it seems she wasn't much to all of the guards sent after her."

Ken: " tsk, I always told her she lacked training!"

Mizel: " that aside. I'm heading to her right now. Don't act recklessly, head back immediately. The Driver doesn't matter right now."

And he hang up. Ken bit his lip an looked down at the driver in his hand...


In the dark room with the huge computer glowing in red, a certain purple head was held into a chair, a device like black helmet can be seen covering almost all of her head. Her expressions showed pain through the glass part over her eyes.

Valkyrie was thrown on the ground, missing a leg and seriously damaged.

The huge L mark on the screen was glowing before the artificial voice finally spoke.

Leviathan : " Reizetsu Ruri, a mechanic, am I right? I've been interested in your inventions lately. Especially the Hellfire that you've showed up this morning. I was actually thinking of taking you, but I couldn't. I have to admit you're very careful with your lives since your friend's incident."

Although she couldn't speak, but her expressions showed that she had already heard him.

Leviathan : " this scanner will collect all of your memories. With that, I will get all of your data. No one can save you. This scanner will launch Microwaves and fry your mind if anyone tries to forcefully remove it, destroy it or hack it."

A bare showed up on the screen with the percentage of 38% completed.

Flashes of the scanned memories appeared in front of her. She could see them clearly, the past memories with her parents, happy moments, sad moments, when she had to say goodbye to her mother, all of them...

Suddenly she heard gasps. She couldn't see what was happening out there.

Outside, Mizel had already broke there, striking the guards with electrical shocks and heading to the tied woman. He broke her cuffs before reverting to his human form.

Valkyrie: " Mi...zel..."

He looked over at the injured unit.

Valkyrie: " if you try to hack it... It will kill Ruri..."

Mizel: " kill her?"

Leviathan: " right, if you try anything to get the scanner of her head, it will destroy her mind with Microwaves. Then, what will you do, Mizel?"

Mizel's eyes glowed in red as he quickly scanned the device.

Mizel: " I won't be so sure if I were you. You may be a little bit stronger than me, but I'm your senpai when it came to trying to destroy earth. I have more tricks up my sleeves than you."...