Chapter 2: Happy Birthday!
16:45 PM (Japan Time), Monday June the 9th…
"… Alright! Will you tell us the reason for this entire hush-hush atmosphere, Blood?"
"Yeah! Could you explain?"
"Heh, heh, heh!"
Netto and Saito along with Blood Shadow were walking down a corridor somewhere.
This corridor had a curved shape and was metallic too: it had some metallic arches set every a few hundred meters, more or less: the ceiling contained fluorescent tubes which provided the illumination and several armored and labeled doors could be seen showing up at either side of the corridor.
"Surprise, surprise."
"Oho. Teasing us?" Netto grinned.
"It's gotta be some big deal!"
Blood Shadow shrugged and they stopped in front of two doors with the banner "MESS HALL" atop them: he signaled them with his left hand while making a mischievous smile.
"After you."
Both shrugged and stepped in to find the whole room unlit.
"Huh… Hello~?" Netto called out.
"Anyone home~?" Saito called out next.
The lights suddenly came in along with the sound of a trumpet and of crackers being blown up.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY~!"
"W-WHOA~!"
They could now see various persons (apart from Vadous, Omega and Sigma) who had gathered behind a table having two side benches to sit at: confetti fell down and there were some colored paper decorations across the room along with the banner "HAPPY BIRTHDAY" hanging from the ceiling as well.
"W-whoa~! Saito – niisan! Today is… June the 9th!"
"OUR birthday!" Saito gasped.
"I'd forgotten!"
"I'd forgotten too!"
"Congratulations!"
"Ah! Thank you, Dr. Lartes!"
Dr. Lartes had black hair and brown eye irises: his age was aobut the same as that of Vadous.
He wore a medic's coat with the ID "Dr. Kazimura Lartes" written on it and sported brown pants plus shoes.
He also had a pair of reading glasses on, too.
"Feel proud!"
"Kir Osh – san…!"
Kir Osh was a man sporting a similar armor to that of Vadous and being about his and Lartes' age.
His hair was neatly combed and blond in color while his eyes' irises were emerald green.
Like Vadous, he sported armor over his body which had a purple Alphabet "K" letter as its chest emblem plus a sword sheath.
"Heh, heh, heh! Surprises and bangs! It rhymes!"
"Daratsu – san…!"
"San wa iranai and I know Meijin's gonna call me "motto thief"…"
Daratsu had brown hair and blue eye irises: he had a small cut on the SW corner of his chin, which looked recent.
His clothes were a plain black wool sweater, wool pants, socks and sandals plus a red & brown katana sheath, which had a leather band spanning from the left shoulder to the right side of the body.
He had a purple Alphabet "D" letter hand-drawn on the middle of his chest as if identifying him.
"Heh, heh, heh! That wouldn't surprise me, Daratsu!"
"Mwah, hah, hah. Kuro Kaze spoke!"
"Oh. Leave me along, Sigma."
Kuro Kaze had blond hair and brown eyes instead and could be four to five centimeters taller than this pal.
His clothes had a lighter color to them but kept on being black: his katana sheath was brown and blue instead and the leather band was brown instead of green.
The characters drawn on his chest read "K2" instead.
"Take a seat!" Vadous invited.
"Heh." Omega grinned.
"Surprised?" Blood Shadow smiled as he walked in too.
"Of course!"
They sat down just as the kitchen doors opened and a man came in.
They looked about a meter and eighty tall and in their late 30s.
They wore a goldenrod tunic and a brownish bamboo hat plus traditional wood sandals.
His hair was black and ended in a thin string behind his head, which had a Chinese-like decoration.
His eyes' irises were brown.
He currently carried a chocolate cake shaped like a Chinese dragon and having the Chinese kanji for the number 15 set in a small mound in front of the mouth.
"The Humble Cook of…" He began.
"Ahem, ahem!" Vadous cleared his throat.
"Yikes! Ahem… Congratulations, gentlemen."
"Thank you, Dragon – san!"
He left the cake on the table and bowed before heading back to the kitchen as he joined his sleeves and his hands inside of them: Netto and Saito grinned and inhaled.
"Go!"
They blew off the lit candles and a round of applause ensued: they blushed and looked elsewhere.
"Alright! Present time!" Vadous called out.
"Whoa!"
"I'll go first." Omega announced.
He grabbed a small cardboard platter with a Battle Chip resting on top of it and handed it to Netto.
"Wow! Is this…?" Netto gasped in surprise.
"Yeah! I worked hard on this!
"Lemme see!" Saito begged as he leaned over his right shoulder while looking eager.
"Look!" Netto told Saito.
"Whoa, whoa! It's Omega's O – Saber!" Saito whistled in surprise and looked very surprised.
This Battle Chip depicted a sword weapon, which had a straight smooth hilt followed by a trapeze body colored white.
A blade of energy colored blue but with a white edge having a pyramidal form emerged from its body and aimed up.
The handle had the Greek symbol "Omega" colored brown and green plus the Hikari family crest inside of the "arch" it drew.
"Yeah! And it's got "hi-frequency" mode where you can cut through anything just like Gray Fox's sword and Olga's. I guess that "new" Raiden's blade can do that too. MGS4 is finally coming out 3 days from now and I'm eager to check it out!" Omega looked slightly amused.
"Mwah, hah, hah! My turn! Yo and behold!"
He handed Saito another Battle Chip and he whistled.
"Look, Netto – kun! The Sigma Sword!"
"Wow!"
This Battle Chip depicted Sigma's gigantic sword but the edge had been altered to have green, brown and blue dots on both flanks and the main body had a central white stripe travelling it through it instead: the handle had the purple Greek symbol for "Sigma" along with the Hikari crest inside of its opening.
"So! My turn came. Here ya have!"
Blood Shadow handed them a Chip as well with his left hand: Netto held it up and Saito looked at it too.
"Elemental Cyclone?" Saito read the label aloud.
"You used it a lot in the VR missions!"
This Chip depicted Rock Man being surrounded by countless leaves forming curved patterns and leading to the shape of a tornado with some other leaves blowing away too.
"I'm not good at Battle Chips, so I'm gonna give you this instead." Daratsu announced.
"Oho! What is it?"
He gave both of them wooden swords along with their sheaths: they looked hand-made and the sheaths had bronze patterns carved into their bodies.
"Cool! I look like a samurai!" Netto laughed.
"And if you want to look scary…" Kuro Kaze grinned.
He handed them a pair of ninja – like balaclavas, which had the purple "V" as logo on the forehead plus a creepy smile drawn over the mouth.
"I could scare the hell outta Dekao with this!" Saito laughed.
"This is for you." Kir Osh announced.
He gave them a pair of sea blue caps with the Hikari symbol drawn on the front of it: they also had a white band circling the main body.
"I could try combining it with the bandana somehow…" Netto looked like he'd had an idea.
Netto tried it on and looked towards a portable mirror atop the table: he brought a hand to his chin and frowned.
"Hmmm…. Aha!"
He turned it around 180º and inclined it a bit.
"Do I look like a cool guy?" He asked.
"You really do!" Saito laughed.
"This is my present." Lartes announced.
He handed them some tickets, which had the logo "Japan Thousand Amusements Building" on their bodies.
"Special passes for the Japan Thousand Amusements Building!" Netto whistled in surprise.
"And there are enough to invite some of our friends over, too!" Saito added.
"It's time for the final present."
"What is it, Vadous – san?" Netto eagerly asked.
"It's a surprise! Come with me." Vadous blinked them an eye.
They both walked out of the mess hall and walked down the corridor until they reached an elevator.
"We need to go elsewhere?" Saito was surprised.
"Don't worry. It's a quick trip."
PING!
"Ah! Here it is. Let's go!"
They stepped into the elevator and Vadous hit the button labeled "1st Deck" (the others were "Docking Bays", below "1st Deck", "2nd Deck" and "3rd Deck") so the elevator climbed down from the 2nd Deck it was at for a few seconds before it stopped.
"Good. Follow me: left!"
They followed him left and stopped in front of a bulky armored door which had the banner "STORAGE #0" set on it: Vadous punched an access code on a panel to the right and a small camera studied his retinal pattern before the letters "OK" were displayed in the panel: the door opened outwards and some cold air flew out.
"Whoa!"
The whole room was an industrial-scale refrigerator chamber, which was packed with some boxes: there was a metallic cube with a central slit set on the center as well: Vadous walked over to it and a pressed a button to have a metallic square container pop out from the slit.
"OK!"
He walked out and pressed a button to close the door from the outside: the twins were frowning by now.
"Vadous – san… What's this?" Netto asked.
"Why did you need to store it there?"
"Heh, heh, heh. Follow me back to the mess hall and I'll talk about it: this is something special!"
They undid the previous path and got to the mess hall where everyone was engrossed in some chat or another.
"Alright! Pay attention, you guys!"
Vadous opened the case and revealed something wrapped in shock-absorbing wrap bubble plastic: he took it out and then held it up on his right hand.
"This is my special present for them! The "Synchro Chip" I designed!"
"WHAT?" Both gasped in surprise.
Vadous placed it on Netto's right hand so both he and Saito had a look at the thing.
This "Synchro Chip" included a central brownish dome with an emerald edge and eight straight spokes radiating from it in all eight directions: the purple "V" logo was set on place of the Hikari family crest, which had been displaced to the body just before the contacts.
"Whoa."
"So?"
"Thanks a lot!"
"Heh, heh, heh! Alright! Enjoy the cake! No talk about gloomy things is allowed today: it's a day to be in a good mood!"
"Yum! Chocolate with milk! I love it!"
"Netto – kun… Don't devour it all! The others have the right to a slice of it as well!" Saito rolled his eyes.
"Did ya say something', Mr. Eye-have-you~?"
"Jeez. Charles told you that, I know."
"Heh, heh, heh! Enjoy!"
18:48 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Alright! So here you have: Justice Blade, 3 of 'em!"
"You can now use the "Golden Blade" Program Advance!"
"WOW and WOW!"
"De masu! I insist! They should be collector's items, de masu!"
"Come on! They're just a lil edit: anyone could do it!"
"Hah! Well. Have the Mega Guts Punch!"
"This Chip has Roll's "Heart Slash" technique and can siphon HP from the opponent too!"
"Tee, heh, heh! My Chip is this: Ojiouzan! The enemy hits it and a thunderbolt to punish them falls down!"
"Here! Ice Seed. It might be helpful!"
"Chu! At least I could have niichan give that instead of a mere Vulcan Battle Chip, chu…"
"Well! De masu! Ta-ta-ta-dan, by masu and de masu!"
"Yamitarou. Quit the fooling around."
"Huh… Number Man… You don't have humor, de masu? Ah… Well… De masu… Here, de masu… Triple Bomb, de masu…"
"Huh… Bubble Side…"
"Tee, heh, heh, heh! This is being a nice birthday party, right, Yuuichirou – san?
"Of course, Haruka…"
The party continued on the Hikari household with Netto's and Saito's friends coming with their Battle Chips to offer.
"Heh, heh, heh! Alright! Go! This is my present, Netto! A Battle Chip with the "Thunderbolt" attack Thunder Man has!" Raoul told him.
"Wow! I'm going to have to prepare a dedicated Folder: 15th Birthday Folder, I'd name it!" Netto grinned.
"It's not a bad idea!" Saito calmly replied.
"Guts, guts! The Guts has Guts!" Guts Man made some silly rhyme.
"Huh…? Desu…?" Ice Man wondered.
"Pyrurururu?" Aqua Man frowned.
"Oh come on." Number Man sighed.
"Guts Man – san…" Glyde looked exasperated.
"Don't mind him, Glyde…" Roll shrugged.
"That sounded forced." Thunder Man muttered.
"I'm sorry for the delay… Here you have: kawarimi!" Dark Miyabi joined the party and handed him that.
"Wow! Thanks, Miyabi!"
"Heh, heh, heh. So, you're Guts Man. Can you offer me a rhyme?" Shadow Man asked him.
"Huh… Shadow the Shadow, de guts?"
"Why not…"
"Yo! Netto. Sorry. The eternal meeting with some salesman kept me busy and I just managed to shake them off." Enzan came in too.
"Guts, guts! Blues a Blues!"
"What?" Blues seemingly frowned under the shades.
"Here you have: Neo Variable Sword."
"Thank you, Enzan!"
"Heh. Enzan beat me to it…" Laika came in next.
"It was obvious, sir." Search Man wasn't surprised.
"Here you have, Netto. Make wise use of this."
"Prism, eh? That reminds me… Commissioner Kifune, Manabe – san and Misaki – san plus Prism Man sent their greetings but they were busy enough so…" Netto smiled.
"Don't mind it: this party's already quite complete." Saito grinned.
"Search a Search, de guts, Guts de Guts and Guts."
"That was… weird." Number Man sighed.
"Totally." Roll sighed in defeat too.
"Oh! Pride and Knight Man send greetings from Cream Land." Netto picked his PET after it beeped.
"We last met them a month ago during an incognito visit, yeah."
"Ah! Mails from Masa – san, Miyuki – san and Saloma – san…"
"Plus Shark Man, Skull Man and Wood Man…"
"And Hayami Daisuke – san too!"
"Wow! I remember: they'd re-emerged a year ago but then kept rather quiet yet he tried to get friendly with Saloma – san again… Quick Man must be feeling happy too." Saito whistled in surprise.
"Mwah, hah, hah! Oi! Guts Man! Man the Guts!"
"That's… silly." Blood Shadow groaned.
"Guts? Guts Man doesn't get it, de guts."
"Heh, heh, heh! This is gonna be a birthday to be remembered!"
"Sure! And wind we're going to end this year in another two weeks as well…" Saito looked eager.
"Tee, heh, heh. Yuuichirou – san will gain some of the weight he lost!"
"Man. I really should take some more breaks from time to time!"
General cheery laughter ensued…
