Back to Japan...
Takuya : " welcome back everyone. Good job on bringing him back."
He greeted everyone as they entered his office with beamed faces before strolling over to William, holding up his hand.
Takuya: " you must be Himari William, nice to meet you. I'm Uzaki Takuya, Tiny Orbit's director."
William accepted the offered hand with a smile.
William: " pleased to meet you. And I'm really sorry for all the troubles I've caused."
Takuya merely shook his head before his attention went back to the rest of Seekers. His eyes fell on the green haired boy.
Takuya: " I can't believe I'm saying this. Glad for your safe return, Mizel."
The boy shrugged nonchalantly.
Mizel: " I had my sweet nap."
Evangeline: " no exaggeration there Mi."
She chuckled.
Lillia: " you guys are unbelievable, how can you be cool around him?"
Aya sweat dropped.
Aya: " they seem to trust him so much..."
Lillia: " hm, I don't know what kind of tricks he pulled to manipulate them like this."
Hiro: " more than a trick... He did really redeem himself in different ways..."
Lillia: " even if you say that..."
KeQing: " Lillia won't feel at ease unless she sees that with her own eyes."
Takuya: " also, I certainly see the group had grown bigger than last time I contacted you."
Jessica: " true. We have three more members."
She briefly introduced all of Sayaka, Ryan and Jennifer.
Kirino: " sounds really promising."
Ban: " Takuya-san, where are Kirito and the others?"
Takuya heaved a sigh.
Takuya: " as you can tell, they're busy around patrolling the city. Leviathan doesn't seem to have a break at all. We don't know when another break out would start."
William: " bet me that he doesn't even know what break means."
Arata: " since we're here, we should help them out!"
Muraku nodded in agreement.
Muraku: " they had been doing their best trying to hold off the situation with their number while we were away. We ought to lend them a hand."
Takuya's eyes fell on Aya this time.
Takuya: " Aya..."
She was surprised when she was addressed and when she saw his sympathizing look, she got what he was about to.
Takuya: " I'm really sorry about your father. I hope he get through."
Everyone blinked twice at that.
" Eh!"
Kirino took the explanation upon herself.
Kirino: " unfortunately, the head of the North African branch of Dream Future got into a car accident this morning, his situation is unstable."
Elie: " eh! Aya's father is..."
Everyone looked at the woman in question. She swallowed all of her worries and had a confident look on her face.
Aya: " there is nothing we can do but wait and pray, and what's meant to be will eventually happen."
Lillia: " Aya..."
Takuya: " Aya, we can prepare a flight-"
Aya: " there is no need to. There is nothing I can do even if I go."
Her clenched hands didn't go unnoticed by most of them.
Aya: " on the other hand..."
She had a determined look as she fished out her CCM and held it up to the blond male.
Aya: " there is something else I can do. Something Baba wants me to do. Mr. Takuya, I think you will find these data interesting."
Takuya merely squinted his eyes at her. Just what type of data could she be holding in her hand?...
A Nation...
Eva tapped the ground with her shoe, biting on her lip as she checked the reports.
Eva: " What's the meaning of this, Reiji?"
The man with the scar had an unpleasant face as well, and through his sunglasses, she could see his burning glare.
Reiji: " it means we've given Kazama Jinn more than enough freedom."
Eva slammed the papers on the man's desk and they scattered around, showing records of material Dream Future had received from them so far.
Eva: " I can't believe this! How did this slip our eyes! And now..."
Reiji knitted his hands tightly as he though about his situation.
Reiji: " we were toyed with."
Eva: " what should we do now?"
She kind of implored him for a solution. Reiji took off his glasses as he rubbed his eyes with his hand.
Reiji: " I'm afraid..."
His eyes squinted at nothing in particular.
Rieji: " we're done..."...
Japan...
Yagami gapped his mouth at what he was seeing on his screen.
Yagami: " Takuya, how did you...? Only someone from inside Dream Future could have laid hand on these, and I don't just mean anyone."
Takuya: " they just came to me. But with a price I'm afraid."
His calm voice sounded through the call. Yagami narrowed his eyes as he copied the data to a flash drive.
Yagami: " things doesn't look promising. I will let the prime minister know."
Takuya: " I'm counting on you. We must stop Dream Future no matter what!"
The auburn haired male grasped the flash drive tightly.
Yagami: " you can depend on me."...
Jessica: " why didn't you say a word about it?!"
Currently they were gathered in Tiny Orbit's hall just as they came out of Takuya's office where Jessica was shouting her lungs out at Aya.
Aya : " there wasn't a chance to tell you. I didn't know how to break the news without you guys thinking I'm an attention seeker."
She sweat dropped. Everyone almost gapped their mouths at her excuse.
Mirai: " we would never! And you can't just keep quiet about it!"
Aya: " alright, I got it, I'm sorry."
She felt a weight on her shoulder and her head span around to face a certain brunette.
Elie: " are you feeling alright? You still can go back."
Aya managed to smile at her.
Aya: " I'm fine guys, really. And not going is my choice too."
She cocked her head slightly.
Aya: " I'm worried, I'm afraid, there is no way I'm not. But, as we live, we're bound to get through hardships, get hurt, and part ways with a lot of friends. We will fall down hundreds of thousands of times... But the most important of that all is..."
" Aya Ibrahim, will you move forward no matter what?"
She rose two eyes filled with preservation.
Aya: " to keep moving on, to struggle up and to live on."
Everyone stared at her dead set on face, they didn't know if she was actually a strong person or was acting strong. But there was one thing she made as clear as crystal, she was fighting till the very end. Touko heaved a sigh.
Touko: " well, if you say so, we're having you working as hard as all of us today!"
Aya: " I won't accept anything other than that!"
She answered her with a confident smile. Ban nodded then his air expressed seriousness.
Ban: " yosh! Now we ought to assist Kirito and the others!"
"Roger!"
They decided on their groups and headed out to aid their friends...
Night...
The two men took their time to admire the place. It had quite a large aquarium with a lot of different fishes swimming around peacefully.
The desk was empty, seems the head was out doing some stuff.
" Quite interesting technology they had developed."
The long blue haired man said checking the holograms' projectors all over the room.
" You surely don't see anything besides science and technology."
The blond man rolled his eyes. Not that it was much visible through his sunglasses which he ultimately refused to take off. He stood straight, his chest puffed up with pride and his hands behind his back. Still in his military outfit, he gave a serious vibe all over the office.
" I can't believe we agreed to come here."
He said through gritted teeth.
" I'm truly sorry to hear that. Was my company unpleasant to you?"
A man with green hair and narrow eyes stepped within the room. From his look, it didn't take both men much time to know that he was the one they were waiting for.
" I wouldn't say unpleasant."
The blue haired male spoke up. His eyes flicked promptly around.
" It's more how your whole company is supported by our very enemies."
The blond male spatted out, taking off his sunglasses as he stared daggers at Jinn.
Jinn: " I see you've done your researches."
" We did."
He placed the glasses neatly in his left chest pocket.
" Your company is one of those under CIS... Central Intelligence Service. There is no wonder your company restored Omega Dain. It was a direct order from CIS. For if they brought it back themselves, it will rise suspicions."
" Though I have to ask. Why would you want to meet us? As Victor here said, we're basically your enemies. You even went as far as to send a former member of the World Savers."
Jinn merely smirked before the lights went off all of a sudden, startling both men.
" Because I deemed you fit to join us."
A new voice added and both of them stared the way of the huge window where a hologram of a certain L logo showed itself to them.
" What's..."
Jinn: " may I present the real head of Dream Future, the one who wanted to speak to both of you, Leviathan."
Victor: " Leviathan ?"
The L mark glowed as it scanned the two new comers.
Leviathan : " I'm the super AI, Leviathan. The one who will make this world evolve to its ultimate level."
" AI !?"
Victor: " I see this is your domain of interest, Albert."
Leviathan : " we're no supporter for the CIS. We merely needed their technology and materials so we played our part as their allies for a while. But their ideals doesn't meet with ours. On the contrary, I can see us having some similar goals with the World Savers."
Victor: " you think you can fool us around by that?"
Albert: " come on, it's an AI, I don't think it has the brains to overthink humans."
Jinn: " I wouldn't be sure."
He interjected with a sneer.
Leviathan : " we both want an optimal world. I believe we have to join forces in order to do that. With my help, the World Savers can easily take down those affiliated with the CIS in a blink. I can provide info about where they're, what they're doing, and at any time."
Pictures of a bunch of certain people popped up in front of them, all of which where labbled as ' live streaming '.
Victor : " how did you...?"
Leviathan : " also, Dream Future happens to have the newest technology so far with advanced gears and gadgets. What we can provide you with is limitless."
Studies and projects Dream Future was working on, namely the CCM suit, were pulled up. Albert's eyes sparkled like a kid at their sight.
Albert: " magnificent! With such technology, forget Seredy and Oozora Hiro, we can have an army of unstoppable soldiers!"
All the pictures then disappeared and the two men were left staring at the AI's mark.
Leviathan : " so what's your answer, Victor, Albert? Are you willing to grasp this opportunity?"
Both men did well hiding any more suspicions they had before nodding their heads in unison...
It was late in the night, everyone had collapsed down on the nearest bed as soon as they reached Tiny Orbit, drifting to sleep almost immediately.
Still, Ban, Ruri, Jin, Eva, William and Mizel were awake and with wide open eyes. Mizel and the two girls were working on fixing the damaged LBXs.
Evangeline: " how much were they again?"
Ruri: " hundreds of thousands! I can't believe we took that much in just one day!"
Jin squinted his eyes at that.
Jin: " I wonder what's Leviathan's objective from sending these much?"
William rubbed his chin in thoughts.
William: " one thing for sure, he does want to avert our attention from him as he prepares his next move. And from what I see, things are working out for him."
He had to bite down the frustration he had for not being able to help much around with LBX attacks. Ruri placed down the screw and she allowed her face to slightly fall.
Ruri: " everyone..."
She caught everyone's attention as they looked up at her.
Ruri: " the incident of Aya's father... It was Leviathan... Wasn't it?"
Their eyes flicked down at her questions.
Ban: " there is no doubt about it. "
Ruri held up her hand and they were surprised when they noticed it was shaking.
Ruri: " I knew it was dangerous... It was clear Leviathan would stop at nothing to get rid of us... But now... I'm quite afraid..."
Mizel's eyes met hers.
Mizel: " you're afraid your family may get hurt as well don't you?"
Ruri swallowed.
Ruri: " I don't want to lose another home."
Mizel: " then what you have to do is clear."
Evangeline : " Mi?"
Mizel: " you have something you want to protect don't you? Then you should struggle to keep it safe."
Ruri looked again at her hand and balled it tightly.
Ruri: " I don't need you to tell me what I should do."
Jin smiled at the girl's new found determination but it soon was replaced by a stern face.
Jin: " still, it's a reminder for us to heed caution. Leviathan is ruthless."
Ban seemed deep in his thoughts.
Jin: " Ban-kun, what are you thinking of?"
Ban looked up at both men.
Ban: " what Aya just showed us today..."
William narrowed his eyes as he realized the source of the brunette's worries. Not that it didn't bother him as well.
William: " the records of materials Dream Future had imported so far... All of them were from CIS..."
Jin: " basically weapons."
Evangeline: " eh?"
She looked up from KeQing at that.
Mizel: " it's not a secret for anyone by now, that CIS has been supporting Dream Future for a while."
William: " It would make sense to how Leviathan managed to reach so far."
Everyone looked back at him.
Jin: " William-san, what do you mean?"
William rubbed his forehead as he tried to sort his own thoughts. Who could have thought things would reach that far and put the world on the edge of darkness.
William: " I still didn't explain much about Leviathan and Minerva yet. Sorry but I will have you wait till we're all gathered. Everyone else have the right to know the story of how Leviathan came to exist."
His voice had a tone of regret at those words, something that made everyone else in that room confused.
Ban: " very well then. At the meantime, we have to do whatever we can to surpass Leviathan's strength, in order to be able to protect everyone."
His hand unintentionally fell on his laptop. He was met with everyone's serious and dedicated looks...
It wasn't long before Mizel decided to kick them all out and send them back to bed, whether they agreed or had to be threatened. For Eva, it was the latter.
Evangeline : " why would he kick me too. It's not like I'm sleepy or anything."
Twilight looked back at the dark bags under her eyes.
Twilight : " you're not convincing anyone while you look like that. You need to rest."
" True, you're way past your bed time."
Evangeline : " great, of all people now. All I need is you Kirito."
She looked back at the blond who had his arms folded in front of his chest while he leaned back on the wall.
Kirito: " if I ever slip to Kousuke about you breaking the rules he set for you, namely not staying late, maybe you would learn to greet others properly."
Evangeline rolled her eyes at him.
Evangeline : " hello Kirito."
The blond smirked as he turned to face her properly.
Kirito: " better, still you're not running away from scolding..."
He looked at her state.
Kirito: " but... Let's leave it for tomorrow morning. And..."
His air shifted to serious and Eva was caught back by the sudden change.
Evangeline : " did something happen?"
Kirito: " it's about Kousuke... And Kamiya Craft..."...
Next Day...
Ryan: " things are more messed up than what I thought."
He said before pulling his right hand in a smooth move, Astray swiftly pushed away from Zeon while the other kept pursuing him.
Jennifer: " that's why, we're here isn't it?"
The crimson LBX had her rifle locked on the blue one but she couldn't shoot him due to his speed.
Jennifer: " you really don't hold back even in training."
Ryan: " unless I do so I won't be able to improve."
After a few more rounds he took off his goggles and so did the girl across him.
Ryan: " it's not like we're needed here, but why did the old man insist?"
Jennifer: " because he says he no longer can predict what may happen. He is doing whatever it takes to prevent the tiniest possibility of Leviathan winning."
There was a whoosh as the door opened and they were met by most of Seekers.
Elie: " oh sorry, did we interrupt you."
Ryan: " nope, we've already done battling."
Jennifer looked at both Jin and Ban before glancing at Ryan.
Jennifer: " Actually, we were about to ask if you would want to be our opponents?"
Ryan rose his eyebrow at her but she didn't give him any answer.
Evangeline : " hm, if taking the specs of your LBXs by consideration, Jin, Ban you're the best choice against them."
Asuka: " no fair, why them!"
Ruri: " your Vampire Cat can never stand a chance against their armor and weapons. However, Odin MK2 and Zenon are matching them in terms of spec and power."
Jessica elbowed the brunette.
Jessica: " would you humor them with a battle?"
Ban's eyes sparkled at once.
Ban: " I didn't see their abilities with my own eyes, I've only heard from you guys so I'm more than thrilled to battle you."
Jin kept the stern face on, there was something nagging at the back of his head. And he knew he can't confirm it unless they battle them.
Jin: " alright."
The stage was set and the opponents stood against each other, Ban and Jin holding up their CCMs while Ryan and Jennifer put on their goggles.
Evangeline : "ready!"
Ban: " Odin!"
Jin: " Zenon!"
Ryan: " Astray!"
Jennifer: " Zeon!"
All four LBXs landed on the desert field with their armors and weapons gleaming in the sun.
Jin: " Ban-kun..."
The brunette turned to his friend.
Jin: " let's not go all out from the start."
His eyes were fixed on the unfamiliar LBXs. Ban frowned but bobbed his head.
" Battle start!"
Ryan: " Astray!"
The blue and white LBX zipped towards Odin. Jin's eyes widened as Zenon moved ahead to block Astray's dagger using his hammer.
Jin: " fast!"
Ruri: " that now..."
Evangeline : " he is on pair with Jin!"
Ryan: " not quite, him being able to intercept my attack is a proof that he is faster. Tsk, even now I'm no closer to you."
Jennifer: " you're talking too much Ryan! Focus!"
She flew up and aimed her Laser riffle at the purple robot but a thrust from Odin as he soared towards her made her back before her LBX gets hurt.
Ban: " I'll be your opponent!"
He bolted for her but Zeon was quick to dodge and flew away, trying to keep her space, but Odin was persistent.
Jennifer: " as expected, tough and hard to shake off."
She twirled around while she kept flying away from her adversary and tried shooting him down. Odin flew smoothly while he avoided her beams and kept closing on to her.
Jennifer: " tsk!"
On the other hand, Zenon and Astray's battle was a pure race of who could land the first hit. Both were fast to dodge and though they tried hard to attack through the opponent's opening, but it was hard.
Jennifer: " Ryan! Maybe we should swap!"
Ryan: " eh!"
Jennifer: " hurry up!"
Astray flew away and Zeon swerved towards Zenon. Odin and Astray clashed together while Zeon started immediately firing at the purple unit.
Jin managed to fend off with his hammer and Odin brushed away Astray's thrust.
Jin: " Now! Ban-kun!"
They typed away on their CCMs and Odin sped towards the unbalanced Astray, slashing at his back and damaging his wings. Zenon soared above Zeon and rammed down his hammer, slamming her on the ground.
Ban&Jin: " Hissatsu Function!"
"Attack Function: Glorious Ray!"
"Attack Function: Break Geyser!"
Their finishing moves made the two LBXs break over immediately.
Ryan: " man! We've lost!"
Jennifer looked down at her goggles in frustration.
Jennifer: " legends are truly not to be missed with. We still have a long way to go."
Ban retrieved Odin before heading to the younger players.
Ban: " that was an amazing battle! And your control was awesome, your LBXs were smooth and fast! Is it the effect of those goggles?"
He pointed at them and both were startled for a second.
Jennifer: " yeah... It's kind of a special CCM that allows better control of the LBX."
Sayaka narrowed her eyes at the back of the group.
Jin: " too good if you ask me."
He walked to his friend.
Jin: " nevertheless, I have to admit that was a good battle. Though we both held back on each other."
He pointed with a sharp look. Ryan chuckled awkwardly at that while Jennifer met his sharp eyes with similar ones.
Jennifer: " we had our reasons."
Ban: " ma, it's alright Jin. We now know that they're capable."
Suddenly the door opened and Kirito, along with the rest of them, walked in and slumped down on the benches.
Elie: " seems it was a busy morning."
Kirito: " tell me about that. "
He popped open a bottle of coke and drank half of it in one gulp.
Jessica: " Leviathan is set on keeping us busy until he finishes his body."
Ryan: " can't we stop him?"
" Not while we don't know where he is creating the D Manipulator deyo~."
Otacross, Mizel and William walked in.
Sendou: " isn't it in Dream Future?"
He questioned through a quirked eyebrow to which William shook his head.
William: " Leviathan is smarter than to create it there."
Touko tapped her chin as she had a thought.
Touko: " then, what about CIS? We know they're joining force."
Mizel rolled his eyes.
Mizel: " He would never entrust them with the D Manipulator. He was only using them. Even the materials Dream Future had imported were through a long period of time and separately so they don't suspect what he was up to."
Lillia: " hold on, CIS, Central Intelligence Service? What does it have to do with this?"
Most of the new members were befuddled as well. William pushed up his glasses and took a deep breath.
William: " I think it's time you know how Leviathan came to existence. And I will be explaining about CIS along the way..."...
