12:12 PM (Japan Time), Sunday February the 19th…
"… Where am I…? What happened to me…?"
"My head…! Who hit me from behind…!?"
"If this a joke, it's not funny…!"
"Same…!"
"That voice… Is that you, Hoshita – kun?"
"Yuuki – kun! You were also at the merchandise sale…?"
Two teenagers were awakening somewhere.
One of them was Hoshita Kyuuta.
He wore a green hoodie, jeans and white sneakers.
The other was a teenager with silver hair.
He wore a purple hoodie, jeans and dark blue sneakers.
They were standing, their backs glued to a metallic pillar.
Chains were closed around their upper chests, binding them there.
Wool blindfolds covered their eyes.
Hoshita stood on the left side and Yuuki stood on the right side.
The room was unlit save for a spotlight in the ceiling, aiming downwards.
"We came to the wharf to buy anime merchandise…"
"But someone struck us from behind…!"
"Despite that I did check that the sale was real!"
"Same! I asked the police, even!"
"It's been a while, Akira! Feeling powerless yet?"
Someone's voice sneered out of the darkness.
"Akihiko!" Yuuki hissed.
"I can finally show you that I am the superior one!"
"By abducting people and keeping them prisoner!? You're STUPID!"
"Silence, fool! I'm in charge of this!"
"No, you aren't. It's Rufus, isn't it?" Yuuki fumed.
"First it was Hojo, now it's Rufus? Shit!" Hoshita growled.
"Why involve Hoshita – kun in this?" Yuuki demanded.
"Both of you will make for excellent merchandise!"
"Merchandise!? People aren't merchandise! You're nuts, Akihiko!"
"Such is the underground! Anything has value!"
"What. Going to use that trick of altering perceptions again?"
"Maybe yea, maybe nay…"
"You speak so mighty, but ended up scolded by Rufus…"
"Hikari! That parrot!"
"Parrot? You're the parrot! Repeating what Rufus says…"
"Whatever! You won't laugh so much once we reach Macao!"
"M-Macao!? Wait. This sound…!"
Yuuki strained his ears.
"It's a ship!?"
"What! It's not an abandoned factory?" Hoshita hissed.
"You wish…"
"But why bother if you have tech to warp people?"
"T-that's…!"
"Maybe the MOS found a way to track it!" Hoshita suggested.
"Could be. It's not like they'd be sitting idle, anyway…"
"Whatever! Despair and shiver!"
"And if we don't want to?" Yuuki challenged.
"That wasn't in the script!"
"Because it sucks. Parodying live-action series won't make you win!"
"I'm the chosen one!"
"That's sweet lies to make you feel important…"
"Nobody will find you! Ever!"
"They said that they wouldn't find Hojo's core and they did…"
"That stupid piece of trash doesn't matter!"
"There's no point to this setup, anyway!" Hoshita challenged.
"There is! Terror and fear!"
"We only feel annoyance!"
"How's that possible!?"
"Because we've seen so many stupid stunts, we're bored of them!"
"If you don't shut up, I'll have you whipped like sailors were!"
"Try it. I'm sure that Rufus didn't approve of that one…"
"Maybe you're the one who'll be whipped instead of us…"
Akihiko growled something undecipherable under his breath.
"You won't laugh so much once they train you as sex slaves…"
"W-what the hell is that!?" Both gasped.
"Simple! Meat to be fucked all day long! Your mind will shatter!"
"You're mad!"
"It's business!"
"Let me guess. That's what's waiting for you if you don't obey!"
"W-what are you talking about?"
"Acting so mighty, but it's not like you're in a privileged position!"
"Matters not! I'll enjoy seeing you break down into pieces!"
"You're stupid, Akihiko. You're only going to destroy yourself…"
"Don't act like the might sage, Akira! I'm fed up with that!"
"Never did that. Guess that Rufus feeds you lies to motivate you…"
"LORD Rufus!"
"Sure. Force me to say it…"
"Whatever! This ship has a stealth field and jamming emitter!"
"How high-tech. Did you steal it from the Ameroupe Navy?"
"Of course not! It's but a retrofitted cargo ship!"
"Must be from the 60s, even…"
"And what if! If it works, that's all that matters!"
"And you believe yourself to be its captain, too…"
"I am the captain!"
"Objection, kid! Mr. Rufus hired me for the job!" A gruff voice argued.
"Knock before entering!"
"The door was ajar to begin with…"
"Stupid junk!"
"Also…"
"What?"
SMACK!
"You need some lessons on not becoming too cocky!"
"How dare you, fool!"
"Selling kids!? I am ruffian, but I won't steep so low! Right, bud?"
"Sure! I won't claim to be a saint, but that's going over the top!"
A girl's voice joined the "Captain" and fumed.
"Stupid clows! I'll have my Navi blow you up!"
"Bring it on!"
"We won't run!"
"I knew it…" Yuuki fumed.
"That's your brother, the one that ran from home, right?"
"Sure. My envious brother…"
SLAM!
A door was kicked open nearby and a figure rushed in.
"Calm down. I have come to help…"
"Who are you?" Both questioned.
"A lone, wandering samurai… Yoshitsune…"
"The masked samurai that fought against Rufus!"
"Same one…"
A samurai wearing red armor, and a white Noh mask came in.
He unsheathed his blade in the blink of an eye and cut the chains.
Both quickly removed their blindfolds and blinked to adjust to the light.
"Follow me…"
He formed a flashlight over his right shoulder.
It lit up the door that he'd burst open.
They ran outside into a ship's corridor.
"There's an odd room further down the corridor. Let's go there…"
They followed him until they reached a door like that in the dummy ship.
"GOD-ODIN? Someone was inspired!" Yuuki sighed.
"They must be hiding something important…" Hoshita guessed.
"Not necessarily. Witness!"
He cut through the trompe l'oeil, surprising both.
"A fake wall!?"
"That is their newest trick. Optical illusions…"
"They sure bothered to be ARTISTIC about it!"
There was a simple door with a viewing window below it.
However, since the shutter was lowered, they couldn't see inside.
Yoshitsune tried to open it, but it was locked.
"Cannot be helped. High-frequency mode!"
His blade hummed and he quickly cut the door into several pieces.
He kicked them to collapse them inside of the room.
"Is that…!?"
"Mr. Higure!?"
The room was a cargo hold with a central, round column.
Higure, wearing his store apron, was tied to the column with chains.
He had a cloth acting as a gag.
Yoshitsune quickly broke the chains and tore the cloth.
Higure gasped for breath.
"T-thank you, mighty Lord Samurai!"
He dropped to his knees and clasped his hands in gratitude.
"I am no mighty warrior. I have many things to learn yet…"
He sheathed the blade and lent him as hand.
"Stand up, Sir Higure. We must escape…"
"Y-yes, sir! I shall follow you to Edo!"
"Mr. Higure… What point is there to going to Tokyo?"
"Yuuki – kun and Hoshita – kun!? Am I dreaming!?"
"Unfortunately, no…"
"But why bother abducting him, too?" Hoshita wondered.
"Maybe they wanted my expertise about Rare Chips?"
"Or your tricks to sneak across the Cyber World?"
"Who said that!?"
"You did. Many times. When trying to impress Ms. Kido…"
"Out of the mouth comes evil!" He gasped.
"Rather… They must be recreating some work of fiction…"
"Again? They sure love doing that!" Yuuuki sighed.
"Then the Rare Chip Exchange Market was a lie!?"
"It was. They probably had an agent in the police…"
"Heck. That explains why we fell for the trap despite double checking!"
"… Finally found you, fools!"
"Well. If it isn't the biggest of all fools, Akihiko…"
"I'm the mighty Obihiro Shun, leader of Bronze Sword!"
Akihiko was practically identical to Akira.
His irises glowed red with anger.
He wore a red hoodie, jeans and black sneakers.
He had signs of a fight on his face.
"Had Hunter Man teach those two deserting rats a lesson!"
"Naturally. Since you weren't up to the challenge, Akihiko…"
"Obihiro!"
"Force me to say it. Fool that runs away from reality…"
"Why is that everyone must praise you!?"
"Because you're pointlessly prideful about things…"
"Men live on pride!"
"Some might. But I know that it only harms oneself…"
"And that aside… Can you make it past me, Bronze Sword?"
Yoshitsune stepped forward, gripping his blade's sheath.
"It had to be you! I'm sure that you're in league with those gloomy fools!"
"Who knows? Do you need to know that to survive?"
"Acting so mighty, but it's only you, Hunter Man and your secretary…"
"Really? How disappointing…"
"Silver Arrow used a lot of mercs, but it was Nakayami, Sergei and Starry!"
"As if it was a matter of how many "actual" members it is…"
"Hunter Man! Don't waste time with the rats! Come here!"
"Roger!"
A Navi rushed down the corridor.
The Navi was about a meter and fifty tall.
A sturdy ivory helmet protected his head.
Black shades hid his eyes.
Three levels of red curved stripes circled its whole diameter.
His body's color was ivory.
His forearms were forest green.
Random black diamonds scattered across his forearms and legs.
His emblem was a hollow diamond set inside of a red cross.
The insides of the diamond were ivory.
His Navi's right arm ended in a built-in one-barreled pump shotgun.
It had thin green stripes running across the length of it.
They glowed with a slowly increasing and fading green glow.
His boots were light brown and had two round circles set there.
"It has been a while, foolish hunter. Did you improve your skills?"
"Not you again!" Hunter Man hissed.
"I would like to deal with you, but I must rescue these humans…"
"Not if I have something to say about it!"
Akihiko drew a remote with a red button.
"I only need to press this to blow up your houses!"
"Amateur…"
Yoshitsune unsheathed in the blink of an eye and cut the thing in half.
Akihiko looked it at it with disbelief.
"It's empty. A prop…"
Yoshitsune collected the other half and saw that it was empty inside.
"Bluffs? How the mighty have fallen!" Yuuki sighed.
"Whatever! Doesn't change that there's no way out!"
"On the contrary. Gauss Magnets gave us a hint…"
"Magnets!?"
The ground rumbled as three "Dimensional Converter" units emerged.
"I shall warp you to the police station. Explain things to them…"
"R-roger!"
The devices ignited and shafts of light formed around each of them.
They were warped out of the hold, to the disbelief of the foes.
"Now… Where were we?"
Yoshitstune readied to unsheathe his blade again.
SLAM!
A door was burst open nearby.
"What!?"
"You won't shake off Captain Blackbeard so easily!"
"And his bud, Chirol!"
"I see. These were the proxies chosen to run this ship…"
Blackbeard and Chirol rushed there, having signs of a fight.
"Giving us these will backfire on you!"
"What!"
Each drew a Chip from their pockets.
It resembled the "Dimensional Chip" but had a red diamond instead.
"Vortex Chip! Slot – In!"
They slid the Chip into the PET slots.
A transparent spheroid with "cities" and a "sun" inside of it displayed.
The "sun" turned red and grew to engulf the spheroid.
That spheroid formed in the real world.
The spheroids reshaped into Dive Man and Circus Man.
"Smart Missile!"
Dive Man shot two missiles for Hunter Man.
"Shotgun!"
He unloaded his shotgun to intercept them.
"Happy Clap!"
He jumped away to dodge the huge hands trying to catch him.
"Trash will fight trash. I shall find what you really are smuggling…"
Yoshitsune ran off, ignoring the fight between the Navis.
He kicked open the doors of other holds.
He found crates filled with canned crab cans.
He removed the fake first layer to find bags of drugs below.
He also removed those fakes and found "Dark Chips".
He grabbed one and examined it.
"The real deal…"
He turned it around to find the Shinra logo draw behind.
"They were careful. Double fake layer…"
He set a Count Bomb inside the crate and ran off.
It detonated a few seconds later, taking out most of the cache.
He did the same for the remaining crates.
He eventually reached another hold locked with a chain and padlock.
He broke them open and rushed inside of the room.
He stopped, surprised, as he scanned the darkness.
"Radar and IR vision show that there is no enemy presence…"
He tensed as he stepped out of the room.
KA-CLICK!
"Welcome to the Hall of Despair, Yoshitsune…"
"Rufus Shinra!"
The man himself stood behind Yoshitsune, aiming his shotgun.
A growl rang out and his purple "dog" stepped forward, too.
"Those fools were but bait to lure YOU out!" He sneered.
"I have become famous, truly. I can see that…" He calmly shot back.
"Akihiko was on the right track. You work for the gloomy fools…"
"And what if? Does that make you stronger?"
"Information is power, nowadays!"
"To forestall others, maybe. But not in an actual battle…"
"I'll turn you to pieces! Go, my loyal servant!"
The "dog" howled and jumped for Yoshitsune.
He, however, sunk in a hole that opened beneath his feet.
It hit Rufus instead and he became annoyed.
"Useless animal!"
He violently shook it off and kicked it on the lower stomach.
He formed a grenade and dropped it inside of the hole.
A pillar of flames formed and shot through the ceiling.
"What the…!?"
An explosion rang out at a distance.
"President, sir! The stealth generator has been destroyed!"
"Hell! The fool wasn't inside the hole, then!?"
Another explosion rang out.
"Now it's the jamming device!"
"Matters little. This ship is also a distraction to begin with…"
"… Giga Wave!"
"Fear Ring!"
"Shotgun! Earthquake!"
The scuffle continued some meters away.
"By the way, Akihiko. Too much adlibbing makes you look WEAK…"
"Y-yes, sir. I shall be careful about it…!" He gulped.
"I never said anything about selling those two or Macao…"
"I am aware of it, sir…! But I thought that it was necessary to…!"
"I decide that. Not you. Remember your place…"
He shook off the dust and saliva from his jacket.
"Maybe you need another "special session" like yesterday…"
Akihiko gulped, nervous, over the line.
"I was lenient. Clark won't be so much…"
"I am thankful to such mercy!"
"Good. You can pull out. I'll liquidate those rats myself…"
"B-by your orders!"
"Besides. The "dungeon" here is but a setup to intimidate that fool…"
"If there's anything that can scare them, that is!"
"In that, I agree. But it will seed impatience in their hearts…"
"I-I see! Making them more prone to mistakes!"
"Exactly…"
He cocked the shotgun and headed south.
"Objection, Mr. President!"
"What? Who dares to…?"
A hatch was kicked open in the ceiling.
Cait Sith and his Moogle dropped into the corridor.
"I already evacuated them!"
"You finally came. The Nomad Emissary, T…"
He smirked and aimed his shotgun.
"What are you?"
"A cat!"
"Tell that to Natsume Soseki. Die!"
"Where has civilization gone to!?"
Rufus shot at him, and he jumped to dodge.
However, the "dog" tackled him, and they rolled across the ground.
"Get off me, doggy!" He pleaded.
"A great actor, I see. Did you win the Oscar at Best Acting?" Rufus laughed.
"Very funny, Mr. Uncivilized!"
"Animals love to play with each other, after all…"
"The Animals Protection Society will have a word with you!"
"Let them come. They don't impress me…"
The Moggle managed to grab and split the "dog" from Cait Sith.
It turned and flung it towards Rufus, who calmly sidestepped.
Cait Sith stood up, shaking off the saliva.
"That was close!" He gasped.
"Hojo was looking for a new guineapig. You'll do fine…"
"Anything is better than that!"
"Beware of what you wish for, least it become reality…"
"Guess that I'll do that!"
"And it's only a matter of time before God-Odin activates…"
"That's but a bluff, anyway!"
"You'll soon tell if it's a bluff or not…"
"That Clark isn't almighty or invincible. He'll fail one day!"
"Possibly. But that's why I exist. As a contingency plan!"
"Then we only need to beat you and end this!"
"Maybe. But there might be other plans that I don't know!"
He formed a grenade and flung it at Cait Sith.
The Moggle caught it with both hands and flung it upwards.
It detonated and countless fragments flew off in all directions.
"A fragmentation grenade!? You were last night's assaulter!"
"And what if?" Rufus laughed.
"Fine! I stalled enough! I'm off to the Rusted Saucer!"
Rufus smirked as he snapped his left thumb and index.
"Burn…"
"What's this drone!? A flamethrower!? Call the firefighters!"
"This ship ended its purpose. It can now join the Titanic!"
He laughed as he formed a control panel and inputted commands.
"44 seconds to detonation. Farewell!"
He warped out as alarms blared across the ship…
13:08 PM (Japan Time)…
"… What a fright that it must've been!"
"Yes, Officer. Were it not for that Samurai…"
"Makes you wonder who he is…"
"Is my store safe!? Is Shuuko – chan safe!? Is Number Man safe!?"
"Calm down, Mr. Higure. They are…"
The two teens and Higure were being questioned by Misaki and an officer.
There was a knock on the door.
"Come in!"
"Yuuki – kun! Kyuuta – kun! Mr. Higure!"
"Hikari – kun!"
"Netto – kun!"
Netto rushed in, out of breath.
"M-Mr. Misaki told me about what happened…!"
He managed to sit down on a chair.
"Sorry. I should've been the one to help you, and yet…!"
"There's no point in blaming yourself. Nobody could predict it…"
"I know, but…"
"You want to feel of help, to protect your friends…" Misaki guessed.
"That's… Yes…"
Netto hesitated for a moment but then sighed.
"I know that you've been active and solved many incidents, but…"
Misaki shook his head.
"This is different from what we know…"
"I knew that since last year, when things became "international"…"
"At least they are safe and sound. Shouldn't we rejoice at that?"
"That's… Well. Yes, but…"
"Now, Netto – kun. Why don't we simply rejoice at it?"
"Rock Man… But that's… Being too carefree?"
"Nobody demands that we stern the whole time, either…"
"Exactly! You must enjoy your time and life!" Higure added.
"Mr. Higure…"
"Yamitarou! Glad that you're in one piece…"
"Number Man! Did someone abduct you, too!?"
"No. Nothing happened on the store's end…"
Number Man appeared on the screen of the police laptop.
"By the way. About that issue…" Yuuki began.
"There was malware in your PETs. The phone app was hacked…"
"Devil!" Hoshita hissed.
"Also… We confirmed through airplane scanning that the ship sunk…"
"Sunk!?"
"More like it was destroyed. Must've been a dummy, too…"
"Clark sure loves blowing up ships! Like in the summer…"
"Sure… And was hiding in a ship to begin with…"
"Speaking of ships… There was an odd spam email…"
"What was it?"
"… "FSS: Fools Sailing Ship spearheaded by G-ODIN"…"
"G-ODIN! That's a name that they were using for something…"
"Mr. Misaki. Excuse me, but someone named Yoshitstune…."
An officer looked over there, carrying a wireless phone.
"Wants to tell you something about that sunken ship…"
"Set it to the speaker… And record the call…"
"Roger…"
The officer pressed a button and left the phone atop the desk.
"This is Yoshitsune. That ship was a dead end from the start…"
"What did they have onboard?"
"Fake cans, fake drugs and Dark Chips… But probably fakes, too…"
"Anything else?"
"There was an odd room with odd instruments and tools…"
"Really?"
"But since it was dark and could only briefly scan it with IR vision…"
"You couldn't properly tell what it was about…"
"Given how they sunk it along with the ship, though…"
"It probably wasn't important to begin with…"
"Rufus was there, along with his pet…"
"Probably wanted us to think that it was relevant…"
"I used a hidden camera and saw that the cat showed up there…"
"Cait Sith… The elusive kitty…"
"Unfortunately, their identity remains an enigma…"
"Anything else?"
"The cat evacuated that duo somewhere…"
"Blackbeard and Chirol… Weren't they under witness protection?"
"They were, since Hojo tried to abduct Chirol…" Misaki confirmed.
"But the logs were altered to pretend that that status had ended…"
"And that they were back in their workplace…"
"I remember! They had those odd "Vortex Chip" things…"
Yuuki recalled and explained to them.
"Been a while since we'd heard that name…" Misaki muttered.
"Naturally… It's how they materialize normal Navis…"
"I did briefly check the bridge's computers…"
"And?"
"The ship was headed to Shanghai, but it's probably a dead end…"
"You never know. We'll ask if there's traces of smuggling there…"
"Say. Have you found Death Shadow?" Rock Man questioned.
"Why. It's Sir Rock Man… Unfortunately, no…"
"Must have become proficient at hiding, too…"
"I did see Magnet Man chase some chaff that stole money from him…"
"Ironic. He was the one messing up with bank accounts!" Netto sighed.
"Countess Electel also complained about it, hours ago…"
"But then Freeze Man appeared and defeated the thieves…"
"Why bother?"
"They had tried to steal data from him, too…"
"I see. They must be trying to find a way to deal with the freak, too…"
"Magnet Man and he had a brief scuffle but soon fled the site…"
"Why?"
"An army of Bowl Men tried to assault them…"
"Bowl Man! Nostalgic!" Netto sighed.
"Our biggest shame...!" Higure and Number Man muttered.
"Forte has not been seen yet. Must be saving up energies…"
"No surprise. Must want to fight the freak head-on…"
"Say. What about the "gloomy folk"?"
"… They have their ways of investigation beyond my reach…"
There was a momentary pause as if he was thinking of how to reply.
Rock Man's expression contracted into suspicion for a moment.
"As much as you try to track this call, it's pointless…"
"You never know…" Misaki shot back.
"Interpret things as you wish. I shall not object…"
The call brusquely ended, and everyone sighed, tired.
"We're all tired. We'll drive you home…"
"And give you emergency beacons as well…"
"Understood, sir…"
"Mr. Higure. Remember not to come close to the school, too…"
"Y-yes. I am deeply aware of it!"
He dropped to his fours and lowered his head, touching the ground.
"No need to be so dramatic, either…" Misaki sighed.
"Yamitarou… Learn to behave like a reasonable adult!"
"If you notice anything odd, please tell me at once!" Netto requested.
"Don't worry. We're friends. We help each other!" Yuuki replied.
"He's right. Count on us as well!" Hoshita added.
"Thank you…!"