Chapter 7: Sorties & beasts
12:29 PM (Japan Time), Tuesday July the 23rd…
"… "Falzer! Come to the tower!"… I came, as you desired!"
The two "Zoanoroids" had met.
"Zoan" Plant Man stood in a ledge of a radio tower.
"Zoan" Spark Man had come and looked up at the ledge.
"Greiga Army! What are you doing here, in "Beyondard"?"
"What about YOU? WHY are you here, Falzer Army? An invasion?"
"You're one to speak! You aim to occupy this world, don't you!?"
"Rose Needles!"
"Spark Waves!"
"Zoan" Plant Man shot several needles.
"Zoan" Spark Man crossed his lances and shot lightning bolts.
Neither noticed how Blues and Search Man came into the area as well.
"We followed the origin of that weird broadcast here…"
"And it was them, as we suspected…"
"We, the Greiga Army, shall be victorious!"
"We, the Falzer Army, shall achieve hegemony! Spark Ball!"
"Zoan" Spark Man's attack hit the tower.
It was overloaded with electricity.
"The real-world Akihara Radio Tower has an issue!" Raika grumbled.
"These fools…!" Blues grumbled.
"Freeze! You're under arrest!"
"Same over here!"
"The "Net Police"…!" "Zoan" Spark Man grumbled.
"Do not interfere with our battle!" "Zoan" Plant Man fumed.
"You're the ones wrecking things!" Blues fumed.
"Zoan" Plant Man summoned a huge vine.
It formed arches as it dug and emerged from the ground.
"Spark Waves!"
"Zoan" Spark Man shot his electrical attacks again.
Both dodged.
"This is Davis. I'm going to stop the tower's overload!"
"How?"
"I'll use "Cross Fusion" to fly to the rooftop!"
"Roger! Sonic Boom!"
"Scope Gun!"
Blues hit "Zoan" Plant Man.
"How dare you…!"
Search Man's attack damaged "Zoan" Spark Man.
"Damn it all…!"
Both were injured and lost their early confidence.
The enemies roared.
"They're changing!?"
"That must be "Bestialize"!"
"Zoan" Plant Man transformed into a "beastly" form.
"Zoan" Spark Man followed suit.
Both "Net Saviors" gasped.
"Zoan" Spark Man plunged his lances into the ground.
A powerful bolt of lightning flew for them and hit them.
"Zoan" Plant Man made his vines dig into the ground,
They reemerged at a quick speed, scratching their bodies.
They then closed around their bodies, immobilizing them.
They were bathed in lightning, too.
"Hang in there!" Davis radioed.
"Shoot!"
The electricity stopped, and the vines became loose.
Both foes gasped, surprised as well.
"Heat Shot!"
Search Man's attack hit "Zoan" Plant Man, stunning him for a moment.
"Flame Sword!"
Blues jumped and struck the foe on the chest next.
The foe recoiled, clutching his chest emblem.
"I can't have lost to mere "Beyondard" Net Navis…!" He howled.
His data broke down into countless pieces, which scattered.
"You're next!"
Blues aimed his blade at "Zoan" Spark Man.
He grumbled and broke down into data.
They headed for a single point of space and vanished.
"Talk about a fancy way to vanish!"
"If that's a small sample of their output…"
"I know. It's going to be annoying…"
"Search Man. Run a virus scan…"
"Roger, sir…"
"Same for you, Blues!"
"Right away, sir!"
"Sorry for the hold up. I've come to cover you, too!"
Davis made it there, carrying a golden sword.
"Thanks!"
A familiar giggle rang out.
It was followed by a burst of laughter.
"The eviler bear in the world!" Davis growled.
"I feel praised!"
"Monokuma" appeared on the ledge of the tower, upside down.
"I learnt this! I'm up to date with yoga!"
"Very funny…"
"Incidentally… Most of it was a complete recreation!"
"Really. What's different, then?" Davis fumed.
"First it was Scope and Rocky, then Reds replaced Scope…"
"Whatever the ever…"
"Beware, Dave… 0D-10 is about to go mad and sing "Daisy, Daisy"…"
"What a crazy mix!"
"I'm crazier than a DJ!"
"I see that you've had plenty of weed!"
"Weed? That's outdated. Meth is the rage nowadays!"
"Sure, sure…"
"Scan is over. There was nothing odd…"
"I guess that normal attacks don't have the "factors" on them!"
"Guess that Cloudy was slacking. Will send him to broom the Sahara!"
A Stone Cube suddenly formed above "Monokuma".
He was crushed beneath it, and he yelped as he exploded.
"Beware of landslides…" A familiar voice mocked.
"REEEGAAALLL!"
Another "Monokuma" appeared in a higher ledge and looked around.
"Do you want vegetation? Have it, by all accounts…"
A "normal" Plant Man appeared there and formed the vines.
They coiled around the bear and tore off his limbs.
"This is how I'll send you to Hell, Clark…" Regal taunted.
"Damn you…!"
"Monokuma" self-destructed, and a missile flew for Plant Man.
It pierced through his chest and opened a hole there.
He lost balance and fell from the tower.
Countless bamboo lances sprung from nowhere.
They stabbed the foe from different angles.
The foe roared and was deleted.
Another teddy bear appeared next to the tower's antenna.
"And this how I'll send YOU to Hell! Regal!"
"Interesting… Cheap imitations bought in a bazaar, am I right?"
"Lovely panorama, truly!"
12:43 PM (Japan Time)…
"… The next issue is in this furnace system…"
"… There's probably a trap, Charles…"
"I'm aware…"
"Fine. Then let's trigger it…"
Someone walked towards an incinerator plant.
He was about a meter and eighty tall.
He could be in his mid-20s.
His silver, messy hair formed bangles before his forehead.
His irises were blue.
He wore a navy-blue overcoat with a silver belt keeping it closed.
He had black leather trousers.
He wore white sneakers.
He also had a black and orange piece of armor over his right arm.
It also had protection over the right hand.
He yielded a sky-blue pyramidal energy sword.
He carried a silver and brown PET.
Its emblem was a golden cross.
Davis projected from the PET.
"Excuse me! I am a "Net Savior"!"
He showed his badge to a security guard.
"I was told that they expected one. Come in…"
"Thanks!"
"Mr. Net Savior! Thanks for your help!"
"It's duty. What's the issue?"
"The central furnace is about to overheat! Cooler system is offline!"
"Classical!"
"This way!"
"Please lead the way!"
A staff member led him to a computer room.
Technicians were struggling to fix the issue.
"You can access it from here!"
"OK! Plug In! Davis, Transmission!"
Davis entered the system and looked around.
"I know that you're there! "Zoanoroid"! Come out!"
"Fool! This is a trap by "Zoan" Flame Man of the Greiga Army!"
"Flame Man?"
Flame Man had a spherical body encompassed by a fireball.
His face had two simple red eyes on it along with a mouth.
His emblem was set on the forehead and depicted a yellow flame.
Four legs formed from it to support him.
They ended in orange feet.
His mere appearance radiated an aura of heat.
"You must be a rookie of those lousy Falzer fools!"
"And what if you're wrong?"
"Matters little. One eyesore less!"
"Fine, fine. Bring it one, bully…"
"Go ahead…"
"Fire Breath!"
The foe inhaled and shot a stream of flames.
"Feels like a dragon, even!"
"No surprise!"
"I shall take out you along with this puny facility!"
"Objection. We already quarantined you…"
"Quarantine…?"
"You're locked here and can't harm the system anymore!"
"How crafty!"
He formed two tall candles behind him.
They burned with green flames, and so did his body.
Davis looked at it with suspicion on his face.
"Fishy. There's some trick involved…"
"If Wily made them, it wouldn't be a surprise…"
"What are you whispering about? Chaos Flames!"
He summoned golden flames that dived for Davis.
"Fire Breath!"
He exhaled flames, which drew a circle around Davis.
"Too bad. I have the "Anywhere Door" from Doraemon!"
"How impudent!"
A black, featureless slab formed behind Davis.
The cover vanished, revealing an endless "shaft" behind it.
"Zoan" Flame Man shook his head, as if he couldn't process it.
"Ridiculous!"
Davis backstepped inside of it, and the cover closed.
The ground around the slab rumbled as it sank inside of it.
"You shall not run! Mice!"
He jumped across the area and landed there.
"Fire Breath!"
He exhaled flames again, but to no avail.
"It's raining, man!"
The slab hovered over the foe.
A torrential downpour of water fell atop him,
It boiled when it contacted his flames,
They were put out and revealed the body below.
The base of the neck had openings to form flames.
It was a spheroid with openings spread across its three levels of height.
The front legs acted as his arms.
They had round, brown shoulders with an opening in each of them.
"I-impossible! Where's all this water coming from!?"
"We borrowed it from a spare aquarium tank!"
"Why, you…!"
"Program Advance! Justice Blade, Triple Slot In!"
"Golden… BLADE~!"
"Don't underestimate me~!"
He warped and appeared in another spot.
His flames formed again and switched to green.
The Program Advance bounced off and hit a wall instead.
"Shit!"
"I'll burn you like the insect that you are! Chaos Flame!"
"I can see the trick already! Boomerang!"
He formed the boomerang and sliced both candles.
The flames vanished, and the foe hissed.
He roared as he "bestialized".
"Fine! Then I'll place it inside of me!"
He formed the green flames again and he laughed.
"I'm invincible!"
"Once again! Downpour!"
The downpour fell and crushed the foe under its pressure.
"Black Hole!"
The "black hole" suctioned the flames.
"Impossible!"
"Drill Arm!"
He formed the weapon and hit the forehead emblem.
He shattered it and the foe groaned.
"We shall be victorious!"
He was deleted without a trace.
"We regained control of the cooling system!"
"Max output!"
"We must be careful. These fools aren't a joke…"
"Agreed…"
"Let's report to the others…"
12:57 PM (Japan Time)…
"… Ice Man! Are you sure that the "evil" Number Man is here?"
"Maybe they already changed locations…"
Rock Man stepped into a warehouse and aimed his Rock Buster.
"Ice Man? Where are you?"
He looked behind him, at the open entrance door.
But Ice Man wasn't there.
"Shield and Chain!"
"What!?"
A large flexible tube shot out and coiled around his upper body,
Rock Man was immobilized and lost balance, falling into the ground,
The end of it had a cylinder with an upper red half and a black body.
It had four white pieces set around its edge.
"I am "Zoan Punk" of the Falzer Army!"
"Not Punk Man?" Rock Man sarcastically wondered.
The tube was pulled back at the source.
Rock Man was turned to face his opponent.
"Zoan" Punk could be over two meters tall overall.
His red head was shaped like a dome.
He had yellow eyes with red irises.
A "punk" style orange crest with four extensions emerged atop his head.
He had no visible neck.
His main body was a sphere.
His shoulders were red spheroids.
They had covers over them, shaped like domes.
The edges had small, thick needles emerging from them.
Bigger and thicker needles emerged from the top of the domes.
The arms were made of flexible tubes.
The forearms had bracelets with needles on the wrists.
The hands were grey.
The right arm was coiled around Rock Man and held him into the air.
A short tube connected to his crotch.
Disks were set at the beginning of the legs.
His legs were thin.
They ended in huge, red boots.
The feet were metallic pieces of varying heights.
"You sure look like a punk. Shouldn't be going to a disco have some fun?"
"What's a "disco"?"
"Not like you'd understand, invader!"
"I thought that you'd be the crybaby type..."
"I'm a veteran!"
"Really. We'll see how long you last before Lord Falzer…!"
"Needle Cannon!"
"How!"
"Needle Man!"
"Same one!"
Needle Man shot at "Zoan" Punk from behind, startling him.
He let go of Rock Man, and he jumped away.
"An accomplice!? Why, you…!"
"Get out before I turn you into a honeycomb!" Needle Man warned.
"As if! A real soldier never runs!"
"Argue with your buddy, Spark Man…"
"That chicken! Needs a lesson of what "discipline" is about!"
"Needle Cannon!"
"Shield and Chain!"
He expanded one of his domes to act as shield and bounced off the attack,
He shot his left arm towards Rock Man,
He dodged it, but it coiled behind him and closed around him again.
"Needle Attack!"
Needle Man extended his needles and rammed the foe.
He howled and let go of Rock Man again.
"Mad Roller!"
The foe jumped into the air as his disks detached and grew.
They combined to form a sphere encompassing him.
It began to spin upon its axis and generated dust.
Both dodged as it ran past them and up the walls and ceiling.
"Stealth Mine!"
"Fool!"
He jumped over the mine and dived for Needle Man.
He kept his needles extended and didn't move.
However, the foe's speed shattered the needles.
He was kicked away and hit the far wall.
"One down!"
"You punk!"
"Double Go-Round!"
He resumed his normal form and flung the disks towards Rock Man.
"Soul Unison, Search Soul!"
Rock Man transformed into the "Search Soul".
"Scope Gun! Satellite Ray!"
His dual attacks knocked down the disks.
They returned to their original position.
"Such versability! You're the key to crushing Greiga!"
"On the contrary. To crushing both of you!"
"Learn your place, rookie! Shield and Chain!"
He made one of the disks expand in size to act as shield.
He flung the right forearm for Rock Man.
"Optical Camouflage!"
"What!?"
He became invisible and the arm hit the far wall, stabbing it.
"Soul Unison! Blues Soul!"
"More of those!?"
"Samurai Sword!"
"Blues Soul" Rock Man dropped from above and sliced the arm in two.
"Dream Sword!"
"Ridiculous!"
"EAT THIS!"
He flung the Dream Sword at the foe, who tried to stop it with the shield.
However, it easily cut through it and split the foe into two pieces.
"IMPOSSIBLE!"
He was deleted without a trace.
"… Man! I need to learn to dodge!"
Needle Man groaned as he recovered.
"Sorry that I was late, Needle Man…"
"Don't worry, Yuriko! Used to this…"
Yuriko opened her screen.
"Yuriko. Been a while…"
"I know. What happened here?"
"A trap. I guess that that Ice Man was a fake…!" Rock Man sighed.
"Heck. Why didn't we think of that?" Netto sighed.
"There hadn't been those for a while, so…"
"By the way, Yuriko! Watch out, because…"
"I know. Regal is in the loose. But I guess that he'll ignore me…"
"Well. If he meant to eventually…"
"You can be blunt. I know that he meant to erase me…"
"Fine. But better don't take him lightly…"
"Good point. Might try to do that to laugh at Clark, too…"
"A battle of madmen vs madmen. Nothing good can result from it!"
"We all agree with that. Let's scram before more of those come!"
"Sure, man! I need to train and redo my tactics, too!"
"We can't lower the guard!"
