Evening, Day 361 of the New Age…
"… Feel the might of Omicron!"
"We'll handle the small fry. Focus on the main target…"
"Same. Unless we beat that thing, we won't be able to progress…"
"CF" Yuriko and "CF" Miyabi fought the "soldiers".
"Well, well. Quite a party, man!"
"CF" Obihiro had come.
He looked almost identical to Hunter Man.
A mouth guard with purple teeth drawn on it protected his mouth.
A purple skull was drawn on his chest.
Purple lines spiraled across his limbs.
His shotgun glowed with an eerie black light, too.
"What a miserable look, Mr. CEO!"
"CF" Nakayami had some changes compared to Sergei.
The patterns on his face were replaced by silver cracks.
His bodysuit became jet black.
His chest had a pattern forming the Kanji symbol for "Ma" or "Demon".
His forearms patterns changed from golden to blood red.
His legs had two parallel purple stripes running down their sides.
"You bastards!"
Rufus roared, still trapped beneath the golden "Powy".
"I called them. The more, the sooner it'll end…"
The voice of "T" rang out through speakers.
"Fine. We can settle our scores on another day…" "CF" Netto agreed.
"Same. This freak is more important than any stupid "pride"…"
"I agree with Nakayami. I've been stupid, but that can wait…"
"Well. That's a first step…" "CF" Blues admitted.
"Focus!" "CF" Raika scolded.
"I'll tear you to pieces, gel freak!"
"CF" Nakayami formed his dual blades and the spinning objects.
The daggers flew and stabbed several foes at once.
They ignited, triggering localized explosions on the bodies of the foes.
He then jumped for another two foes and made his blades hotter.
He stabbed them on the chest and produced small explosions.
"I'll blow you up, gel freak!"
"CF" Obihiro loaded his shotgun and shot two plasma beams.
They pierced through several foes and ignited them, damaging them.
"Explosion!"
"CF" Miyabi and his "Shadow Clones" shot many fireballs.
They also ignited several of the foes.
"Flame Sword!"
"CF" Yuriko drew the blade and cut several foes as well.
"It is in vain! The power of the Universe is endless!"
"Shut up. Broken cassette tape…"
"CF" Netto was shooting at Death Shadow as it flew.
The foe merely laughed and dodged the attacks.
They loaded energy on the arm cannon.
A blue beam hit the floor and formed a new layer of "gel".
It was bubbling and hissing.
More "soldiers" emerged from it and had a metallic layer over them.
"They're already incorporating countermeasures!?" "T" gasped.
"The wisdom of the Universe is endless!"
"You're becoming more annoying than an Internet troll…" He sighed.
Death Shadow played deaf and continued firing, ignoring the others.
"I think that you will need to draw out your best right away…"
"Guess that. Else the situation will become worse by the moment…"
"CF" Netto opened a control panel and inputted some commands.
"It's a new thing that Dad and I built together. Hope that it works…!"
Emeral and crimson energy spheres formed to his flanks.
They emitted thin beams of energy towards his chest emblem.
An "aura" of energy surrounded "CF" Netto.
Two crimson wings formed behind him.
Emerald armor ending in claws covered his right forearm.
Crimson armor ending in claws covered his right forearm.
An emerald tail formed behind him as well.
A "head" of a beast, colored emerald and crimson, covered his head.
Crimson and emerald boots ending in claws covered his feet.
"That's…!" "CF" Blues gasped.
"The 3rd "Beastilize Style" of a year ago, the final "Beyondard" battle!"
"What!" Rufus gasped.
"Interesting… What can a beast do against the Universe…?"
"Don't you know? A cornered fox is more violent than a jackal…"
"Nothing can overcome the Universe!"
"Brag on. You were driven to the edge of deletion once…"
"VADOUS! Same trick shall not work again! Be gone!"
Death Shadow became angered and dived for "CF" Netto.
However, he simply hovered and poured energy into the claws.
Death Shadow drove their blade into the right shoulder.
"CF" Netto stabbed both claws on the foe's chest, piercing the armor.
Crimson and emerald light glowed from inside the cracks.
The blade that had stabbed his shoulder vibrated and shattered.
"What!?"
"CF" Netto flew away by beating the wings.
The tail loaded energy and shot a beam cutting through the space.
It opened a diagonal, shallow cut across the chest.
It reached the right shoulder of the foe and detonated something.
The right shoulder and the whole arm dropped to the ground.
"It must be a power core to feed the arm cannon…!"
Death Shadow growled and hissed.
"Impossible! The power of the Universe…!"
"I poured in a program to disable your healing abilities!"
"Ridiculous! Feeble lifeforms cannot…!"
"Again, all of that is imprinting by Rufus over there…"
"CF" Netto signaled the foe.
"Blame him!"
"TWILIGHT! Our score is not over yet! Be gone from the Universe!"
Death Shadow roared and flew for the field keeping Rufus trapped.
They stabbed it with what remained of the blade.
The field frizzled and electricity traveled across the blade.
Death Shadow howled as parts of their armor were deleted.
Skin, veins and bones became visible beneath it.
Rufus smirked and lifted the shotgun.
"Die!"
He shot at close quarters and pierced the field, hitting Death Shadow.
The foe howled but stretched the arm past the hole.
They gripped the muzzles of the shotgun and easily bent them.
They pulled it away and threw it away.
They poured in the arm again, but Rufus grabbed it with both hands.
He formed a blade over the right arm and cut across the foe's arm.
Death Shadow howled as purple energy traveled across the body.
"It burns! Ridiculous! What is this!?"
"If your systems are based off Blood Shadow, then…!"
Rufus smirked and became confident.
"You must have antibodies against the "Dark Aura"…!"
"He's purposely triggering those to weaken it!?" "T" gasped.
"What madness!" "CF" Blues gasped.
"I won't go down so easily! I'll drag you to Hell with me!"
"Do not become conceited! Feeble life-forms!"
"Die, Blood Shadow's defective brother!"
Rufus roared and stabbed again with the dull blade, piercing the arm.
"You shall become dust of the Universe, too!"
"Brag on!"
"Come to these…!"
"CF" Netto loaded energy and formed two busters on each forearm.
Emerald and crimson energy spheres formed on their muzzles.
They fused into a simple sphere, and it shot a beam.
It pierced through Death Shadow from behind.
The beam also hit Rufus and pierced through his chest, too.
"The… will… of the… Universe…!"
Death Shadow's core glowed and it imploded.
It became a growing energy sphere and engulfed it all.
"Even if you fully delete me…! Clark will come! And finish you off…!"
Rufus laughed as the sphere destroyed the field and erased him as well.
"Mode cancel!"
The "Beastialize Style" reverted and "CF" Netto sighed in relief.
"For something that we built in a rush, it sure worked out…"
"As expected of Dr. Hikari!" "CF" Blues muttered.
"But, if possible, I'd rather not use it often…"
"Agreed. We don't know what side-effects it might have…"
"Considering how "Bestialize" was uncontrollable at first…"
The "soldiers" dried up and shattered, deleting.
The "gel" covering the space also dried up and shattered.
"I confirm the deletion of those four "Asteroids", too…"
"Proto" was deleted as well and the power field vanished, too.
"This thing is no longer needed. I'll delete it for good…"
"Alright. While we're at it, how about you tell us your name?"
"Or rather… Show us your appearance?"
"It was our deal, after all… Wait a minute…"
A round hatch on the center of the space unlocked and opened.
"T" descended from there.
He had a humanoid shape and was two meters tall.
The helmet around his head lacked nose or mouth.
It had two cavities for the eyes, which were plain red and lacking iris.
Although, looking closer, those were drawn eyes, and not real eyes.
Black armor made of an unknown material covered his body.
His shoulders were plain.
Each hand had a dome over them, with a rainbow "T" drawn on them.
The armor extended across his legs, becoming thicker around the knees.
It ended in ellipsoid segments protecting his feet.
Rainbow-colored lines travelled down their length.
He had a pattern forming the same letter in the middle of the chest.
The colors of which were constantly shifting and mixing.
Four large and irregularly shaped wings formed behind him.
Their colors were also constantly shifting, too.
"Pleased to make my acquaintance. I am Tabuu, the Nomad Emissary!"
"What's with that armor?"
"It helps focus my powers. I was but a scout, but now…"
"You can fight yourself?" "CF" Miyabi guessed.
"Way before that stupid piece of junk was made…"
"You mean Duo? You're from the same planet?"
"Yes. Several generations apart, though…"
He sighed and shook his head.
"That civilization wanted to catalog their galaxy…"
"And sent you as a scout?"
"Me, and many other "brothers". I am No. 379…"
"379!?"
"We slept inside of capsules, traveling at near light-speed…"
"And you awakened when you found a solar system?"
"Yes. We would silently observe and collect data…"
"To then beam it back at your makers…"
"Yes. Like the probes that you often send out…"
"And how come that you met "Vadous" out of all humans?"
"Well… A bunch of coincidences piled up…"
"Such as?"
"That both of us stumbled upon an odd phenomenon…"
"And when investigating it, you bumped into each other…"
"By then, I was growing bored of my mission and my makers…"
"Sure. Because they considered you but a tool…" "CF" Nakayami guessed.
"Yes. And we established contact. I learnt a lot from his and his crew…"
"And how did you end up here?"
"During a test of a new system, I triggered a "Fossa Ambience"…"
"Well. Ayanokouji also did with that hologram projector…"
"And before I knew it, both I and the tower ended up here…"
"And you couldn't make it back to your "world"?"
"I did, eventually. But before that, I scouted this one…"
"And that's why, at first, your reactions were so bizarre…"
"Yes. Because, at first, I thought that it was a barren planet elsewhere…"
"Makes sense. Given how devasted this world is…"
"The differences did surprise me, but Death Shadow…"
"Well. Since you thought that it had been deleted…"
"As for my name, one of the crew members thought of it…"
"Because you resemble "Tabuu" from Smash Brothers X?"
"CF" Obihiro guessed the why.
"Exactly. Since they liked games, and all…"
"What about Clark?"
"Never met him. Heard about it from Vadous sometime after the fact…"
"But it wasn't a "parallel" version of Clark, right?"
"No. The same man that you know. Openly gloated about it…"
"Classical!"
"And boasted about how he'd already beamed a copy of his mind away…"
"To make the "victory" feel bitter?" "CF" Raika guessed.
"Sure. As insidious as ever…"
"What's with that fool, anyway?"
"An inferiority complex. Possibly programmed purposely…"
"To make him eager to compete with his rival executives?"
"Yes. Probably imitating what dictators and mafia bosses do…"
"Have them fight each other so that they won't join forces…"
"Vadous and Kanou Shade were smart, though…"
"Yes. Mr. Kanou told me last summer about it…"
"That each worked on their own to bring down that tyrant…"
"Clark is but a bully. Only came here because he was unopposed…"
"Suspected as much. Given how Rufus behaved…"
"At first, I thought that Rufus was Clark in disguise, too…"
"That's… Hadn't stopped to consider that…" "CF" Netto admitted.
"But when analyzing his data, I found that it was but a pawn…"
"Naturally. I suspect that Clark doesn't want to be seen as desperate…"
"Or decrease his dignity by making endless copies of himself…"
"Well. I'll wait some days to see if those two had hidden assets…"
"Such as yet another army of Hojo copies?"
"Possible. That was annoying, true…"
"And once you ensure that all is over?"
"I'll go back "home" and see if something major happened there…"
"Fine. But we will be keeping watch, nevertheless…"
"Feel free to…"
He shrugged and flew back upwards.
"As for your scores, talk it amongst yourselves. I won't meddle…"
The hatch closed and everyone sighed in relief.
"Let's go back. We'll talk this over on another day…"
17:07 PM (Japan Time), Thursday March the 1st…
"… Insofar, nothing odd has happened…"
"No enemy attacks or anything?"
"Nothing noticeable. Nobody has brought Rufus since yesterday…"
"What about those bomber locations?"
"All data vanished. Nothing is coordinating them anymore…"
"Wouldn't be harmful to keep an eye out, nevertheless…"
The three "Net Saviors" were partaking in a meeting.
Kifune, Manabe, Misaki and Meijin were also present.
"Princess Pride reported that they destroyed a factory in her nation…"
"Had the guts to build one right under her noses? Clark…!" Raika sighed.
"We also found that one of our factories was hijacked, too…"
Enzan sighed and crossed his arms.
"Hoshita – kun told me that they found one below Tokyo Dome, too!"
"Fortunately, they had all stopped working, lacking a control signal…"
"From the master factory, in Beyondard…"
"Sure. Dark Kirisaki found it in the old Zoan Cut Man base…"
"Our attention was too focused in the Wily Lab…"
"And we didn't expect such a location to become a factory…"
"Can't be helped…"
"Yamikawa and his partners found a special tanker in Cape Town…"
"Let me guess. It was modified to hold a bomber?"
"Sure. But the bombs and missiles were empty…"
"Fortunately!"
"Nakayami and Obihiro were seen raiding a drugs lab owned by Clark…"
"What about our "friendly" samurai?"
"Told us that he, Needle Man, and Shadow Man raided a server…"
"What did they find there?"
"A cache of Hojo copies…" Meijin sighed.
"Saw it coming!" Netto sighed.
"Knight Man also found a cache in a Cream Land TV relay satellite…"
"Naturally…"
"A group of rioters tried to assault the palace, but were driven off…"
"They were hired by Rufus?"
"They tracked them and saw one trying to contact Rufus, to no avail…"
"I see…"
"Same happened in the Embassy's residence, too…"
"What was Rufus trying to achieve with that, anyway?"
"Probably trying to stage a show of "dissatisfaction with the monarchy"…"
"To divert the attention of the Princess…" Raika guessed.
"She and Yuriko worked together to crush many of their plans, after all…"
"And since Rufus couldn't fight her directly, tried to use proxies…"
"The only positive thing that came out of that tyrant, even!"
"How ironic…"
"Did something happen to non-combatants?" Enzan asked.
"We did keep officers to protect Yuuki – kun and Ms. Anetta…"
"But nothing noticeable happened around them…"
"I guess that Rufus had enough with that stunt of the ship…"
"What about Blackbeard and Chirol?"
"They're awaiting trial. But since they did surrender…"
"Their sentence will be partially reduced…"
"Well. They were petty criminals to begin with…"
"And they did steal components from Gabcom, too…"
"Maybe it's about time that they learned the consequences of theft…"
"And of hording up water and robbing money from the locals…"
"And of kidnapping Trill…"
"Unfortunately, since those happened in Beyondard…"
"I don't mean in a legal sense, but in a moral sense…"
"Sorry. Didn't properly understand…"
"No point in becoming worked up over those two, anyway…"
"Agreed…"
"What about Dingo?"
"He took a break from the work and returned home with his friend…"
"OK. I doubt that they would use him again, but you never know…"
"What about the former Neo WWW members?"
"Held in different locations, each in isolated detention…"
"Good. Especially Inukai. Looks eager to start a fight…"
"We choose muscular wardens adept at brawls. Won't have it easy!"
"Don't take Saiko lightly, either. He's very sneaky…"
"I know! Tried to trick a warden into buying an amulet…"
"What good would it do to him, anyway?"
"Probably to fuel his ego…"
"How lame…"
"Sunayama has been quiet, but he might be plotting something…"
"Sunayama always felt like the planner of the group…"
"Hidenoshita… Narcy… Is constantly talking to himself…"
"About art and pink color and such?"
"Naturally. Believes that he's recording for a radio interview…"
"Could be acting, too…"
"We gave him a blank canvas but no tools…"
"And?"
"He began to dance before it and pray for a pink apple to manifest…"
"A pink apple…? Sure, sure…"
"But since it felt too stupid, we are wary of it…"
"Maybe he will try to pretend that he's deranged during the trial…"
"Good point. Might try to convince the judge to be sent to a clinic…"
"And then use the chance to escape… Seen that in a movie…"
"The other Asteroid Operators are no big deal…"
"Wasn't there a serial bomber?" Enzan recalled.
"Domon? Don't worry, he's under heavy watch…"
"That's reassuring…"
"We did carry a blood test, and it was the real one…"
"Speaking of fakes. What happened to those hypnotized folk?"
"Eight of them tried to raid a bank, but it had changed locations…"
"I see. The data that Rufus had was outdated…"
"And after slamming the shutter, they snapped out of it…"
"They can sue Rufus for damages…"
"They thought that they were drunk and didn't think of it…"
"Fine. But maybe there more of them pending "activation"…"
"We set up drones to keep watch of such groups…"
"Say. What about Control X?" Enzan gasped.
"Now that you mention it…" Meijin muttered.
He drew his PET and made a call.
"What? It was relocated to Sears Tower, Chicago? When? Who did it?"
He waited for a reply.
"The Solemn Presiding Judge Brother? Come on! That's Rufus!"
He grumbled as he heard the name.
"Ask Officer Hunter if it's there! If not, ring all alerts!"
He finished the call and sighed.
"It was displaced during that day that Shade Man reappeared…"
"Tabuu did say that Clark hid the control program in a satellite…"
"Maybe he feared that we'd locate it as well and forestalled…"
"Let's see if he tried to get rid of it or hack it…"
"It'll be sent to the MOS for analysis…"
"Understood. We shall keep several lines of investigation open…"
"Which means that we must keep an open mind, too…" Netto summed up.
"And open curry…" Raika chuckled.
"I fail to see the point. If any!" Enzan sighed.
"Curry? Count me in!"
"A motivational factor is the key to victory!"
17:28 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Alright. The issue is… What do we do now?"
"There are still many of Clark's stupid businesses…"
"I know. But they're not endless…"
"I am aware. I'm not saying to chase all of those forever, either…"
Nakayami and Obihiro were talking in their living space.
They sat opposite each other and with a table between them.
Bottles of orange juice and glasses were set atop it.
There also was a dish with potato chips.
"Maybe you can do like I and study remotely…"
"Why not… Now that I'm free from that humiliation…"
"This is also what spurred me to wish to break free…"
"Sure. When you realize that they only wanted us for that…"
"I can't believe how brainwashed I was to do it on my own, too…"
Nakayami sighed and crossed his arms.
"At least we managed to break those stupid tools of control…"
"I know. It makes me shudder when I think about it…"
Obihiro also sighed and lowered his head.
He distractedly intercrossed his hand fingers.
"I was so stupid. That Clark jerk played me from the start…"
"Same for me. It's a creep that lures in kids like us to toy with us…"
"I hope that the man really never comes back here…"
"From what Kuroumi told me, he's still missing…"
"Must be enjoying a vacation in Jawaii, even!"
"Somehow, it wouldn't surprise me…"
"He believes himself a super spy and so…"
"Wouldn't be odd if he mixes in with the crowds…"
"Maybe looking for new preys, even…"
"Seeing the crook that the man is, it wouldn't be a surprise…"
"I'm sure that he meant to eliminate Yuriko sooner or later…"
"Naturally. Such types never share power with others…"
"Nevertheless… We mustn't take anything for granted…"
"I'm aware. Clark is unpredictable…"
"Surprised that he dared to try to kill Hikari and the others…"
"Probably because he knew the outcome beforehand…"
"What?"
"Don't you remember the logs on Death Shadow's OS?"
"Time travelling…! I see…" Obihiro gasped.
"But the decisive point in making me hate Clark was that…"
"He used us as feedback data to build himself a new body…"
Sergei joined them, sitting on another chair to the right.
"Sidier… Saw him once or twice…" Obihiro recalled.
"And the masked samurai is probably that Sidier…"
"I see. Would explain that level of skill…"
"I am back, Master. Everything is in order…"
Hunter Man also joined them.
"Good work, Hunter Man…"
"What are our next steps, sir?"
"We're trying to decide those. It's not easy…"
"I would want to have a real battle with Hikari one day…"
"Go ahead. I am aware that my sloppy attacks are no match…"
"I apologize for not being of help, sir…"
"It's not your fault, Hunter Man. But Clark's…"
"He made you weak in purpose to keep you under control…"
"I see. That fool…!"
Hunter Man closed his left hand and scowled.
"Hence why I had to go through that farce…"
"Sure. Which was pointless to begin with…" Obihiro sighed.
"Clark has a trend to look down on others, hence why it fails!"
"But what became of Star Man, anyway?"
"Probably grew bored of being errands boy and escaped…"
"He doesn't have permits to use the portals, can't leave our world…"
"Fortunately. Least he goes and drags Clark back here…"
"He's cowardly enough to try to do that…"
"Maybe we can make an imitation of Rufus to lure him out instead?"
Hunter Man brought the left hand to his chin and suggested an idea.
"That could work. Maybe he has info about Clark's hidden assets…"
"I'll contact Kuroumi about this. Maybe he can help…"
"Sure… Go ahead…"
Obihiro inputted commands on the laptop.
A beep rang out.
"Everyone's beloved Tomachika can't answer. Leave a message…"
"What kind of answering machine is that?" Nakayami sighed.
"Probably Kagehi did this to troll him!" Sergei sighed next.
"That big sis sure has an odd sense of humor!" Obihiro sighed.
"Did you call for the big sis, bad little brothers?"
Kagehi appeared on the doorway, leaning against the frame.
She was crossing her arms and giggling.
"When did you…!?" They all gasped.
"Learned some tricks from Sneaky Man…"
"You mean Shadow Man…"
"Tomocchi is busy dating Ms. Kanae, so I came instead…"
"You never grow bored of that meme?" Sergei sighed.
"It's fun to tease a childhood friend!"
"Alright. Won't ask personal questions…"
"I agree with the idea to lure out Starry of Staring Stars…"
"But where do we begin?" Hunter Man asked.
"Easy. Place a dummy in the portal machine…"
"I see. And when he comes to check for orders…"
"We catch him like the cowboys catch the cows!" She giggled.
"S-sure…"
"And then we pull his cheeks to make him sing!"
"Let's hope that Clark didn't build a self-destruct system on him!"
"Leave it up to us. We know how to remove those…"
"Did that Tabuu guy say anything?"
"No. But we did find Freezing Freezer…"
"What did he want?"
"Merely smirked and said that the smart will prevail…"
"No surprise… Surprised that Forte has been so quiet…"
"Actually… He was trapped in a pocket "dimension"…"
"I see. Rufus feared him and removed him…"
"And forced to fight endless "carbon copies" of Slur…"
"To remind him of when he was weak… Typical of the fool!"
"Sure. Even he has his limitations, and is still recovering…"
"Understood. Don't want to start a fight with him…"
"Don't worry, neither of us means to… Save for, maybe, Sid…"
"He seems eager to prove his worth…"
"Maybe we need to tune his personality program a bit…"
She corrected her pose and walked in.
"By the way. Did you use the bus stop as a weapon?" She giggled.
"Why would we?"
"To look as cool as Mr. Aragaki…"
"Sorry. We dunno the reference…"
"Anyway. I'll tell Oda and Tomo to get ready to snatch Starring Stars…"
She walked over to the table and grabbed a chip.
"This is my fare. Enjoy the horror movie, my chaps!"
She walked out, giggling, before anyone could argue.
Everyone rolled their eyes (Hunter Man's weren't visible).
"Let's get to work, Obihiro…"
"Agreed. The sooner, the better…!"