23:13 PM (Japan Time), Tuesday February the 28th…
"… This is really annoying…"
"I apologize for not being able to gather more data, Master…"
"Don't mind it, Sidier. We'll eventually fight them, anyway…"
"By your wishes…"
Yamikawa was speaking with someone in a room somewhere.
He was about the same height as him.
His helmet had a blood red diamond set on its center.
His irises were red and golden.
Silver hair emerged from behind the helmet.
He had three parallel thin vertical blood red lines traveling down his body.
They began at the neck and shoulders and ended at the hips.
His bodysuit was jet black.
The forearms were purple.
Blood red DNA patterns travelled across their length.
His emblem was a silver cross surrounded by a bronze edge.
His boots were red and had silver patterns on their surface.
The room was circular, and the walls were plain and unadorned.
The floor was made of ceramic tiles.
There was no ceiling, exposing it to the skies.
A black throne stood up atop a round platform in the center.
Five steps climbed up towards it.
The throne was empty.
Yamikawa sat on the stairs, crossing his arms and thinking aloud.
Sidier was kneeling before him, lowering the head.
"What we must be careful is about Death Shadow…"
"Yes, Master…"
"Not only in general, but the possibility of it sneaking here…"
"Is it possible?"
Sidier looked up, surprised.
"Managed to escape from the bunker. Might find a way back inside…"
"True, sir. What should be done, sir?"
"It's impossible to predict how and where it will appear…"
"We can't do anything but wait…"
"Of course, if it shows up then…"
"We fight it with all that we have, sir?"
"Yes. We can use our full power here…"
"But what if it's a fake and it brings back the combat data?"
"That doesn't mean that it becomes invincible…"
"True…"
"It's about finding another way. We're used to that…"
Yamikawa sighed and shook his head.
"Maybe we need you to lure them out as "Yoshitsune"…"
"It would be an honor to contribute to the defeat of such a threat…"
"It's not a matter of honor, but of survival. Understood?"
"Yes, sir. Survival is anyone's topmost priority…"
"Good. I want you to understand that…"
"What about the "System", sir?"
"Maybe we can make use of it and pit it against Death Shadow…"
"Understood, sir…"
"It's possible that it might send a pawn or two as scouts…"
"But we leave it up to the Tribes, yes?"
"Yes. They might be distractions to split our forces…"
"What happens outside is competency of the Net Saviors…"
"I am aware, sir…"
"Don't take everything at face value. Rufus might use fake news…"
"To give the impression that the Net Saviors are struggling…"
"And try to lure us out into helping them…"
"Understood, sir. I shall await here for your orders…"
"Better do that. Makes coordination easier…"
A display formed, showing a grid map.
Three dots located west, south and east blinked red.
"Devil! They came!"
The map zoomed into each area.
Several small and medium dots were drawing closer to big, blue dots.
"This is Ox Fire DS. Viruses and Desert Man copies are assaulting…"
"This is Phantom Black DS. Viruses and Flash Man copies…"
"This is Acid Ace DS. Viruses and Video Man copies…"
"This is Grave Joker DS. Add Beast Man to the mix!"
"They are distractions, clearly enough…" Yamikawa guessed aloud.
"What we do, master?" Sidier asked.
"Stay still. Death Shadow is saving up his forces to assault us…"
"We deployed the special barrier…"
"But we can't guarantee that it'll stop it…"
Kagehi and Kuroumi rushed into the throne room, too.
"We sealed the tunnel and added traps, but…" Kagehi began.
"Maybe it'll find a way to bypass those…" Kuroumi warned.
"We did erase the shelter, so there's nothing underground…"
"What about above us, sir?" Sidier asked.
"I have several drones deployed to act as bait…"
"Maybe it'll try to hijack them to break the barrier?"
"Could be. Let's destroy them before that…"
He opened a control screen and inputted commands.
Several blue dots spread in a formation vanished sequentially.
However, one of them shifted to yellow.
"It doesn't accept my commands… It's come?" He wondered.
"Maybe it's a dummy, too…" Kuroumi suggested.
"Could be. Let's use the AAC guns…"
"When did you did install those?" Kagehi asked, surprised.
"A while ago, when deploying these drones…"
"Better be ten steps ahead of the foe…" Kuroumi agreed.
"How is it going, Tribe Chiefs?"
"We're handling, but they keep spawning…" Acid Ace DS sighed.
"I'm blowing them out of the bridge with my arms!"
"Leave some for the warriors, too…" Yamikawa reminded them.
"Don't worry. Rocky Deluxe is having his share of fun!"
"Boss! I ain't Rocky Deluxe! Spade Magnets DS!" Someone growled.
"Who cares?"
"Jackie! You're asking for a brawl, aren't you!?"
"Jack Corvus DS!"
"How many times have these two fought over that?" He sighed.
"At least… 180 times?" Kuroumi recalled.
"THAT MANY!?" Both gasped.
"Focus! On! The! Battle!"
The scuffle and attacking continued on that end of the line.
Kuroumi frowned and gasped.
"Wait. There's nobody watching over the main room?"
"Sirius DS, Club Strong DS, Dia Iceburn DS, Queen Virgo DS…"
"Alright. Maybe it might try to hijack the energy generator…"
"Turned it off, added a control program, and hid it…"
"Excellent. Let's forestall!"
"I sent messages to the other two Temples to do the same…"
"Good. Least it tries to sneak inside through that…"
"I also turned off the device on our end, too…"
"We can use jets to fly down and up, anyway…"
"How did it get in, though?" Kuroumi wondered.
"Maybe it was spying on us or Sidier…"
"And studied the composition of the portals…"
"I offer no excuses, masters…"
"We're not saying that you're to blame. Calm down…"
"Roger…"
"The issue is how to stop the spawning…" Kagehi warned.
"True. They could be coming from across the world…"
"Why not tip the Net Saviors about it?" Kuroumi suggested.
"Why not… We share the same enemy, it involves them…"
"If Deathly Shadowy didn't send them hordes, that is…" Kagehi sighed.
"Could be. But it's worth a try…"
"But let's not call from here, least it bursts into the channel!"
"Don't worry. I set up a "landline"…"
"Brilliant, by Kirijou!" Kagehi giggled.
"Not that again…" Kuroumi sighed.
Yamikawa headed to behind the throne and opened a panel.
He grabbed the receiver of a phone and dialed a number in the keypad.
"Is this the Net Police? I want to report something to Mr. Mejin…"
"May I have a name?"
"Yamikawa. We are acquaintances…"
"One moment, please…"
A melody rang out and they sighed.
"Well. If they can take it so easily, then they're not being attacked…"
"For now, that is…"
"Or maybe the attack is over at the MOS and not the NP HQ…"
"Yamikawa. What's the issue?" Meijin asked.
"Death Shadow's armies are attacking our territory…"
"Nobody on that end is being attacked?" Kagehi asked.
"Insofar… No. Not even Rufus and his cronies…"
"What about "Beyondard"?"
"Blues went and checked a few minutes ago. Nothing odd…"
"Maybe Rufus means to lure Death Shadow into fighting him…"
"But the foe isn't stupid. Will probably send a fake…"
"Same as Rufus… If there was a weapon to wipe them out at once…"
"Life would be a million times easier!"
"Easy. Do like Seppy and drop a burning boulder…" Kagehi giggled.
"Who or what is Seppy…?" Kuroumi sighed.
"… You don't mean Sephiroth, do you?" Meijin sighed.
"And the burning boulder is the meteor? Come on!" Yamikawa sighed.
"Masters! The Chiefs report that copies of Death Shadow appeared!"
Sidier called for their attention.
"Another distraction? Must try to strike us directly…"
"But from where? Below?" Kagehi wondered.
"We have the flanks covered, too…" Kuroumi muttered.
Alarms rang out and a screen popped out.
A huge, burning meteor was descending towards them.
"See!" Kuroumi sighed.
"Heck. It was listening?" She gasped.
"No time to start blaming each other… Let's deal with it!"
He inputted commands and aimed the AAC guns.
"Fire!"
The guns shot powerful blue beams at the meteor.
They pierced across it from several points.
It shattered into many pieces as a small spheroid fell from inside of it.
"The Morh Ball!" Kagehi cursed.
"It must want to build up speed to overload the field!"
"Won't make it easy for it. Let's deploy a portal…"
"To where?"
"The Central Hub. The System has already deployed a toy…"
"Interesting. Let's do this!"
Yamikawa operated the system and inputted commands.
"Jinem. The Shiba-UG is waiting for your bones…"
"Devil! Rufus!" Meijin cursed.
"Shiba-UG? The Shibuya underground shopping mall?" Kagehi sighed.
"A new lover?" Rufus sneered.
"None of your murky business, Mr. Plotter!"
"What's in that tower?" He demanded.
"Dunno. Go knock at the door. Maybe it's Metatron…"
"That piece of junk? I'll send it back to its maker!"
There was groan followed by a punch.
"Fight someone of your size, spoiled CEO son…"
"Yamabi!"
"Miyabi. Remember it…"
Miyabi had come over there and was fighting Rufus.
"How is it over there?"
"Look on…"
The screen showed Death Shadow in a plain.
It was fighting a tank covered in a green energy field.
It had two wide wings with jet engines.
Apart from the main cannon, it had machineguns atop the turret.
Missile launchers were built on the turret's flanks.
Flamethrowers were set below the wings, too.
"Maybe it's trying to combine a tank and those Thanatos robots?"
"Possible…"
"But we can't be sure if that thing is a fake, too…"
"I'm going to cut this call, least the foe bursts into it…"
"Sure. I'm going to evacuate, anyway!"
The call ended and Yamikawa replaced the receiver.
"The issue with the tank is that it's slow at firing anything…"
"And by the time that it does, the foe has slipped out of range…"
Kuroumi and Kagehi were talking as they watched the footage.
Yamikawa crossed his arms, mistrustful of things.
"Too simple, too easy… Something is missing…"
"I can't feel the feeling of dread from the foe…"
"Maybe it has information about that tower thing…"
"Could be. Rufus might have leaked it to lure it out…"
"Maybe means to use it as a scout to see if it has traps or such…"
"Wouldn't surprise me if he did…"
"What's the status, Chiefs?"
"We beat them all. Nothing odd tried to intrude…"
"I did check all warriors, and nobody was infected or replaced…"
"We'll do the same. I added aerial mines and sea mines, too…"
"The System formed Viruses inside of the Fortress, too…"
"We recreated the Leviathan…"
"And the Sand Worms…"
"Stay sharp. It might wait some hours to attack again…"
"Understood…"
"Let's send those three to scout and gather data…"
"Look! It's suctioned the field's energy and is going to…!"
They saw how Death Shadow glowed and flew for the tank.
It broke down into masses of glowing blue "gel".
They attached to the main body of the tank.
They detonated and heavily damaged the vehicle.
"It's a fake, alright…" Kagehi concluded.
The phone rang and he answered to it.
"It's me, Meijin. We found the source. The old WWW base…"
"Naturally!"
"Yuriko and Needle Man busted it and destroyed the equipment…"
"Alright. The invasion over here reeks of distraction. Be on your toes…"
"Agreed. Guess that we need to scout that tower, too…"
"Go ahead. We'll clean up and ready for possible assaults…"
"It's going to be one of those long nights, alright…"
23:48 PM (Japan Time)…
"… You're more persistent than a rabid dog, Ninja Man!"
"Glad to know that. Furus…"
"But I'll soon show you how I destroy you!"
"You've barked that so many times, I lost track…"
Shadow Man was chasing Rufus across a Cyber World.
"But I brought reinforcements…"
"The 7 Disciples of Hell?" Rufus laughed.
"Patent it for a manga…"
"Delighted!"
Shadow Man stepped into the battlefield of some days ago.
Rufus followed him and dropped a stone slab to seal the entrance.
"I rewrote some of the program. No more sulfuric acid pools…"
"Whatever. It's not like I always rely on the same stunt…"
"Well then… It's your time to shine…"
The three hooded warriors dropped around Rufus, who fumed.
"The nameless, faceless fools of the other day? Whatever…"
The trio silently lowered their hoods, surprising Rufus.
"What in the…!?"
"I am Warrior Roll DS, the Deathless…"
"I am Warrior Zero DS, the Fearless…"
"I am Warrior Search Man DS, the Ceaseless…"
"Surprised, Mr. CEO?"
"What the hell is this about!?"
The warriors turned out to be copies of Roll, Zero and Search Man.
Roll DS had red irises, and her helmet was black.
Her ribbons were silver.
Zero DS had a purple head, and the topmost jewel was red.
Search Man DS had a dark blue helmet and golden hair.
"Clark readied these in his "home world" as a reserve force…"
Shadow Man crossed his arms to announce what it was about.
"And Yamikawa "borrowed" these when he went there…"
"Why wasn't I informed!?"
"Because it's something happening in another world…"
"And outside of your "jurisdiction"…"
Yoshitsune joined them, ready to unsheathe his blade.
"Wait. Then is that tower something that Clark readied…?" He gasped.
"Who knows? Why not go check it yourself?" Shadow Man challenged.
"If it hadn't vanished off the radar, I'd done that already!" He growled.
"Guess that you made too much noise, and it decided to hide…"
"Whatever. I didn't come alone!"
"I will never be a memory…"
"Damn. It had to be that man!"
Sephiroth descended into the arena, carrying his blade.
"Be gone, fools…"
Yoshitstune stepped forward and drew his blade in the blink of an eye.
He managed to intercept Sephiroth before he could hit the others.
Rufus laughed and turned tail.
"I'll handle this! Chase him!" Yoshitstune ordered.
"Roger, Master!"
The warriors and Shadow Man chased Rufus.
They heard the clash between the two swordsmen far away from there.
They saw Rufus speeding away, using a jetpack.
He was dropping old bombs on his wake.
"Imitating Bomber Man of the WWW? Deplorable…"
The quartet also formed jetpacks to fly over the bombs.
Rufus then formed flying mines that travelled across the air.
Search Man DS calmly tracked them and intercepted them with his shots.
"I'll remove the obstacles. Speed ahead…" He dully instructed.
The remaining three did so and Rufus formed Hell Condor Viruses.
The Viruses flew for them, but Zero DS cut them up with his blade.
"I'll deal with this chaff…"
"Roger that…"
Roll DS and Shadow Man continued the chase.
"Awaken your hidden desires! The Mighty IQ welcomes you!"
Rufus turned to taunt Roll DS.
She didn't bother to reply, and her face was inexpressive.
"Show that stupid "hero" who's the superior Net Navi!"
She merely formed a black bow and shot the Roll Arrow at him.
He barely avoided by inches and gasped.
"Shadow Clone!"
"Damn!"
Shadow Man formed copies and surrounded Rufus.
Roll DS flew above them and took position to aim at Rufus.
Rufus scowled and aimed at her, but hesitated.
"Awaken! Dominate those fools!"
She paid no heed and charged up her attack.
A black, thin energy beam shot out and pierced Rufus on the chest.
The Shadow Men rushed for him and stabbed their blades at once.
The Rufus glowed and self-destructed, wiping out the Shadow Men.
The real one appeared in mid-air, flying using a jetpack.
"Sorry for the wait. Finished cleansing up the trash…"
"Same…"
Zero DS and Search Man DS met up with them.
"We discovered a weakness of Rufus. He can't attack women Navis…"
"Why?" Zero DS wondered.
"Must be some stupid order by Clark…"
"That Clark sure is a fool…" Search Man DS sentenced.
"Shut up! Deserting soldiers!"
Rufus appeared again and flung a Poison Seed towards them.
Search Man DS shot at it and burst it open.
The poisonous gas dropped to the ground due to its weight.
It spread across the ground, but the DS warriors didn't mind it.
"Have you forgotten that we come from a poisoned land?"
Roll DS sighed, annoyed, and aimed her weapon.
"Devil!" Rufus cursed.
"This farce is so stupid, it's obvious that you're not serious today…"
Shadow Man sheathed his blade, unimpressed.
"I'll go smack some Indian curry on a wall scroll…" He sneered.
He vanished from the scene as the trio surrounded Rufus.
"Lord Yamikawa says that you're not worth his time anymore…"
"Blame your ego for fueling Death Shadow and not disposing of it…"
"Go regret that in the Void…"
"Don't become cocky, defectives!"
Another copy appeared again and flung a fragmentation grenade.
Zero DS quickly stabbed his blade through it and erased it.
"My Erase Blade can delete small things at once…" He announced.
"What in the…"
"Lady Kagehi and the Chieftain built it together…"
"Devil!"
"… It wasn't easy, but I bested the infamous one-winged angel…"
Yoshitstune met up with them, filled with cuts and wounds.
"It clearly was something half-baked, pulled out before it was finished…"
"Shit. Obihiro! Warn me!" Rufus growled.
He frowned and seemed to stop to think of it.
"Hell. The fool is now working in the "part-time job"!"
"Makes you wonder why you bothered to hire him to begin with…"
"For the sake of that stupid stunt, of course!" Roll DS sighed.
"Whatever! Next time, you won't be so fortunate!"
"All loser dogs say the same… Let's return…"
00:10 AM (Japan Time), Wednesday February the 29th…
"… I'm back. Did something happen over here, Nakayami?"
"No, sir. Some drunkards were fighting a drug seller in the street, but…"
"We ignored them, and they eventually left when the cops came in…"
"Fine! What about Hunter Man?"
"Undergoing training, as you ordered…"
Rufus returned to an office space, hissing and angered.
Nakayami looked up from the laptop that he was working with.
Sergei was sitting on a chair next to the desk, solving crosswords.
"Fine!"
Rufus sat on a rotating chair and dropped the shotgun on the ground.
"What about that bloody tower?"
"Turns out that now there's countless signatures across the planet…"
"We don't have resources to check them all…"
"Hell. They reused our tactics!"
"It was a matter of time, sir…"
"Fine! Grumbling won't change things…"
He impatiently tapped the left armrest.
"Has Obihiro been behaving as of late?"
"Yes, sir. The fear of "full-time job" keeps him in place…"
"Excellent…"
He became animated.
"What about the freak?"
"Raided 127 locations in less than 4 hours… Using dummies…"
"Serves you well, freak! You can't escape from my "hypnosis"…"
He laughed and leant back on the chair.
"Anything about Yuriko?"
"We suspect that she's posing as a Cream Land agent, but…"
"She's constantly on the move, can't tell where she is…"
"Didn't expect it to be easy, anyway…"
"As for Dark Miyabi, he's using holograms as dummies…"
"That damned dog…!"
He brought down the right fist on the armrest.
"What about Gauss Magnets?"
"Some folk said that he was in Aomori, but it's probably a lie…"
"If the old fool stays away from my business, I don't care…"
"Roger that…"
"What about Star Man?"
"As always, there's no clue to where he is…"
"Maybe that bloody cat lured him to work for him…"
He fumed and resumed tapping the armrest.
"Whatever. Was going to expire their usefulness, anyway…"
"And our usefulness will eventually expire, too?"
Nakayami calmly looked straight at Rufus.
Rufus clicked his tongue and struggled to answer.
"I've heard the "trainer" argue with the "clients" about that…"
"What?"
"That after a set age, we "workers" lose value…"
"And that we are thrown out there, like broken toys…"
Sergei followed up, also concerned.
"T-that's…"
He growled and stood up, yielding the shotgun.
"Silence! If I want to, I can turn you into mindless puppets! And…!"
Sergei quickly drew his blades and stepped forward.
He "dashed" and cut both shotgun and right arm.
Rufus roared but Sergei quickly stabbed both blades in the chest.
Nakayami had stood up, closed the laptop, and set inside a bag.
"Finally. Our chance has come…"
"Sure, brother. You can come out, Obihiro…"
"Roger…"
The restroom door opened and Obihiro stepped out.
"A Third Triumvirate will be born. Us, you and the Dark Realm…"
"But our goal is to wipe out Rufus and Death Shadow…"
"And be free from their chains, binding us and stealing our future…"
"Rufus didn't expect to be struck here. And there's a jammer, too…"
"Let's hurry! I set up a bomb to wipe out traces…"
The two Operators lowered the hoods of their hoodies.
They grabbed their raincoats from the perches.
They opened the door into the corridor and rushed down the stairs.
They exited through the backdoor and into an alley.
The manhole was open, and Kagehi stood next to it.
"Hurry!"
They both rushed down the stairs into the sewers.
Kagehi followed them and lowered the manhole's cover.
"I added a stealth field over it!"
"This way!"
Kuroumi stood on a ledge and guided them.
They silently followed him as Kagehi covered the tail.
She used a spray to erase traces from the ground.
They eventually reached another ladder.
"I'll go first and scout!"
Kuroumi climbed up the ladder and opened the cover.
He exited outside and partly replaced it.
A couple of minutes ensued.
"Clear!"
He opened the cover, and the group climbed out.
They exited inside of a warehouse.
"We rented it using money stolen from a Mafia…"
"And made sure that all paperwork looks OK at a first glance…"
"Won't there be a raid one of these days?" Nakayami asked.
"We already made a tipoff 2 weeks ago and found nothing…"
"Because it IS empty!" Kuroumi chuckled.
"I see. Leave the impression that it's not being used…"
"And that the tenant is still pondering what to use it for…"
"It has an office space on the first floor…"
"We readied food and other basics…"
"Understood. As we agreed, we'll help in the battling field…"
"And providing information about those nasty businesses…"
"On our end, we'll cover basic necessities…"
"And act as your backers…"
"Did your buddy approve of this, though?" Nakayami questioned.
"Sure. It's simply that he's coordinating homeland defense…"
"Death Shadow?" Obihiro guessed.
"Probably means to keep us tied with that, but…"
"We'll find a way to stop it from spawning nuisances…"
"But if we find those Asteroids, can we fight them?" Sergei asked.
"Yes. But don't take them lightly…" Kagehi warned.
"That Hyper Mode output is no joke…" Kuroumi added.
"Noted…" Hunter Man confirmed.
"I'm not saying to become buddy-buddy, either…"
"We won't ask questions about either…"
"I know. That's a clause that we'd agreed upon…"
"We'll leave you to handle things. But call us if major issues spawn…"
"Yes. If we see that we can't handle it, we'll call for help…"
"But there is a question I want to solve. Who's that samurai?"
"Your cousin…" Kagehi giggled.
Kuroumi rolled his eyes, exasperated.
"That's my only hint. Boil your brains!"
"Whatever. We'll eventually figure that out…"
"And now let's go say "hi" to our beloved cat…!"