Chapter 8: Dummies
04:04 AM (Japan Time), Monday June the 9th…
"… But is there really a point to smacking all these guys?"
"Orders are orders…"
"If I get to show my strength, so be it!"
"I don't think that attacking at once is showing it, but…"
"Such are the commands…"
The five Rama Navis walked down an avenue somewhere.
A trail of knocked out subjects were scattered on both flanks of it.
Destruction Man didn't seem to think that their acts had a point to them.
Axe Man didn't care, Balrog laughed, and Witch rolled her eyes.
Ronin Man kept a stern face, too.
"The game has begun…"
The five of them became tense and they readied for battle.
"Cloud Man has come!"
"Swallow Man has come!"
"Yamato Man has come!"
"Cosmo Man has come!"
"Zoan Gate Man of Neo Gospel has come!"
The five members of "Neo Gospel" stood in different buildings.
They had surrounded the group.
"Show us the extent of your abilities… Without little tricks…"
Freeze Man hovered higher in the air and looked down at them.
"We shall not use the "Dark Generator", either…"
Regal's laughter echoed across the area.
A colossal hologram of Laser Man formed behind the Rama Navis.
"Why not… The game needs spice to make it exciting…"
He signaled them with the right hand's index finger.
"I am Manfroy's master. You obey me, too…"
"We obey…"
They all replied in a robotic tone of voice.
"Forget emotions. Use battle routine only!"
The glow on their eyes vanished altogether.
"Cosmo Man. Handle the robot…"
"Roger…"
"Cloud Man. Handle the demon…"
"Roger…"
"Swallow Man. Handle the executioner…"
"Roger…"
"Yamato Man. Handle the wandering swordsman…"
"Roger…"
"Zoan Gate Man. Handle the magician…"
"Roger…"
"Don't hold back. Use all that you have!"
"Roger!"
"Go… Crush these Peebles!"
"Roger…"
04:18 AM (Japan Time)…
"… Where are they?"
"The sensors caught them here a few minutes ago, but…"
"Welcome. Hauptmann. Cowboy…"
"If it isn't Mr. Freeze of Gotham City…"
"What's the deal?"
Davis and Lander made it to the area.
However, there was no sign of the combatants.
Freeze Man remained there, though, hovering in the air.
"Sent them to quarantine bays to fight without interference…"
"How considerate of you…"
"More like it's more convenient for us…"
"And? Trying to find "Manfroy" from their data?"
"Even if we did… It's not worth our time…"
Freeze Man shrugged.
"Our goal hasn't changed. Regal. That's it…"
"Fine. If you won't interfere with our battles, either…"
"We'll ignore you as well…" Lander concluded.
"Such are my orders, too…"
"But once we deal with Regal…"
"You're next…" Davis announced.
"Delighted…"
"Don't forget about us, either, Neo Gospel…"
"You're the famed Colonel… Am I right?"
"Colonel? The Ameroupe Army Net Navi?"
"That must be it, true…"
The Net Navi named "Colonel" was close to two meters tall.
His body had a black suit, which ended in a partial cape around the legs.
His helmet protected the top of his head.
Black hair emerged behind the partly open helmet.
The armor had a high neck.
His face was protected by a red structure.
The emblem was set on the waist.
It was a yellow octahedron with a gray circle set in the center.
His left wrist had a bracelet, which ended in a blade extension.
His right forearm had red armor from which a pale green saber emerged.
He sported black boots.
He carried a blue silk cape that emerged from beneath his shoulders.
"And? What do you want?" Freeze Man challenged.
Colonel jumped for him and Freeze Man gasped.
He drew his Diamond Blade and barely blocked the attack.
Colonel formed a hovering platform to use as support.
He pushed forward, forcing Freeze Man to recoil.
"To capture you!" Colonel announced.
"Interesting…"
Freeze Man jumped away and shot his Mountain Spears.
"Screen Divide!"
He flung his sword and shot green streaks of energy.
They travelled across the air, knocking out the spears.
Freeze Man formed a wall of ice, but it shattered it as well.
He used his blade to block, but the hit pushed him back.
He scowled.
"Been a while since I faced someone with strength…"
He became amused.
"You want to catch me so badly… Be my guest!"
He warped out of the area, and Colonel chased him.
The two Net Saviors whistled in surprise.
"As expected of a soldier… What speed and power!"
"I know… Let's leave him to handle Freeze Man, then…"
"And since we can't interfere with the others…"
"We'll have to wait for something to happen…"
"Let's return to the HQ…"
"I know…"
The duo also left the area.
"… What a fuss those two have started…"
A subject wearing a black raincoat emerged from an alley.
"I better not wake up Lady Viper over this… Let's wait…"
She crouched next to the ground and touched it.
Data flowed into the right hand and across the arm.
"Let's collect data and get out of here…"
After a couple of minutes, she stood up and stopped.
"Tactical withdrawal…"
07:07 AM (Australia Time), Monday June the 9th…
"… Are you really going to set up such a complicated game, Master?"
"Of course not, Philip. And Regal knows it…"
"Then why bother to announce it?"
"To create a distraction for the masses…"
"I see…"
Clark was talking about the happenings with someone else.
He wore a dark blue hoodie, jeans and sneakers.
The place was the living room of a house.
He was sitting on the sofa.
"And wait for Regal to show his cards?"
"More like lure him into a trap…"
The interlocutor, Philip, was a teenager.
He could be close to a meter and seventy tall.
He had brown irises.
His hair was black.
He wore a red hoodie, jeans and white sneakers.
"But will he fall for it so easily?"
"No. But he's not perfect, either…"
"It's the usual deal, then. Patience…"
"Correct…"
He looked at graphs of his men.
"I sent dummies to fight those Rama puppets, anyway…"
"Why?"
"Because the others are also remotely controlled dummies…"
"Regal is taking the whole "puppet" thing very literally!"
"Also… Because I suspect that those are a trap…"
"True. All of them showing up in the open is strange to begin with…"
"Maybe it wasn't intended for me, but the Net Saviors…"
"Means to take them out in one blow?"
"Likely…"
"I see! Meant to bring in that Annihilator Man rascal into the fray…"
"Very probable. And wipe them out 'long his dummies…"
"He sure has become more insidious…"
"I won't play saint, either, but…"
Clark sighed and shook his head.
"I prefer a real battle to trying to skip effort…"
"The issue is… How do we stop them?"
"They must have a program to act autonomous, too…"
"So even if we bust that walking nuke…"
"They can still operate on preset orders…"
"Unless they have some secret code to disable them…"
"It could be, but wouldn't count too much on it…"
"By the way. What became of Ms. Viper?"
"Left to somewhere. Not like I knew her personally, anyway…"
"Guess that. But what was the point of that stunt?"
"Ms. Anaya wanted to remind them of how fearsome she is…"
"I see…"
"Hasn't sent new orders in a while, but…"
"It must be because she's satisfied with the status quo…"
"She did give me free reign to deal with Regal, so…"
"That's all that you needed to know…"
"Exactly…"
"But where do that man's fixations with aliens come from, anyway?"
"Guess that he was half-skeptical about tales of UFOs from before…"
Clark rubbed his chin.
"And after barely surviving a plane accident, he hallucinated of them…"
"Thought that he'd stay as a geek, but didn't…"
"That's because he ended up at old man Wily's place…"
"That famed scientist, was it?"
"Correct. Wily messed with his brain and boosted his hallucinations…"
"What for?"
"Probably thought that it'd make him docile and easy to control…"
"But it backfired?"
"Yes. It only boosted his latent intelligence and his ego…"
"Wily sure was overconfident on his skills!"
"I know. He wanted to make something big, a new revolution…"
Clark laughed.
"After he tried to sell a project as a weapon and failed at it…"
"What. Trying to recreate the Death Star?"
"In a sense… But it failed because he didn't properly do it…"
"Tried to rush it and only brought shame to himself!"
A ringtone rang out from the laptop.
"It's Freeze Man…"
He opened the app and Freeze Man appeared onscreen.
He had bruises and cuts on his face.
"What happened!?"
"Colonel of the Ameroupe Army, sir…! Took forever to shake off…!"
"True! Colonel! Forgot about the man…!"
"He's set his eyes on us…"
"As expected of the "immortal" Barrel… He doesn't waste time!"
"Made a fake Laser Man to distract him and fled using that opening…"
"Good job. Repair the damage and run system checks…"
"I shall. What about the men, sir?"
"Keep them in "cold sleep" for a while longer…"
"Roger, sir…"
"And if you bump into the man again, unleash the RAY…"
"Yes, sir. But maybe we need something else, too…"
"Why?"
"If the man sends a dummy to fight me instead of the real one…"
"True… Barrel might use it, too…"
Clark crossed his arms.
"I'll ready something. You heal the damage…"
"By your orders, sir…"
The call ended and Clark mumbled something.
"Barrel isn't someone that's easily located, either…"
"Must be a veteran, right?"
"Sure. Over 20 years of career…"
"But doesn't sound like your usual soldier…"
"No. It's more like a specialist in investigations…"
"Something akin to the CIA or such?"
"Probably. I don't have many details, either…"
A notification appeared on the screen next.
"Email… From "the witch of the canvas"…"
"Witch of the canvas?"
"Maybe it's a reference to something, but it eludes me right now…"
He checked it out.
"It's clean and has the organization's encryption algorithm…"
He opened another app to decode it.
"New orders. "Find the identity of Manfroy"…"
"The field commander of Rama, right?"
"Sure. Maybe she thinks that it'll lead us to Regal himself…"
"It's worth a try, isn't it?"
"There is data from her spy about the hideout's location, too…"
"How do we act?"
"Let's set up Legion 64 Mettools as wiretaps to intercept data…"
"And confirm if the man is really there or not…"
"Exactly. Step by step…"
"Count on me for field jobs, Master…"
"But of course, Darth Bapgei… There'll be plenty of them!"
07:58 AM (Japan Time)…
"… And I insist that there's no need to make them comical…"
"But if they're too stiff, it feels dull and repetitive!"
"Then do it in custom maps that only you play…"
"But then I can't have others enjoy it, Brad!"
"Look, Sigma… This isn't my opinion. It's orders…"
Blood Shadow was arguing with Sigma.
Sigma tried to argue back, to Blood Shadow's exasperation.
"Whose orders?"
"The boss' orders. It should be in your email account, too…"
"Really?"
"Your name is in the list of receivers…"
Sigma formed a screen and looked at an email inbox.
"True…" He muttered.
"See?"
"Man!" He sighed.
"If you don't behave, he'll remove your editing permissions…"
Sigma gulped.
"Follow the orders, and behave…"
"Can't be helped…!"
He grumbled and scratched the back of his neck.
"… We're leaving!"
"See you later!"
"Have a good day!"
"Go with them. It's your turn today. And behave…"
"I know, I know!"
Sigma warped out of the system.
He reappeared inside of a PET.
"Beware, guys! It's the melody of the "Nine Ball"!"
"Where did you dig that out from this time?" Netto asked, not surprised.
"Nine Ball Seraph?"
"As expected of Saito! You know it all!"
"Not really. Saw it in a YouTube video…"
"And what's that?" Netto asked.
"A robot featured in the Armored Core series…"
"AC was custom robots fighting in a post-apocalyptic world, right?"
"Yes. You become a mercenary, "Raven", and take up jobs from clients…"
"And what's the Nine Ball Seraph?"
"An autonomous robot, part of a security line…"
"It must be strong, right?"
"It is. You fight like 2-3 variants before facing the Seraph, the strongest…"
"And since it's an "old" game, difficulty must be very high…"
"Sure. And if you lose, you restart from the beginning of the stage…"
"Must've made lots of players cry in despair!"
"The design is cool, and the music track "9", is also loved…"
"Listen!"
Sigma opened a files folder and selected it.
A melody began to play.
"That piano melody at the beginning sure sets the mood!"
"Stylish, isn't it?"
"Hi, guys!"
"Hi, Meiru!"
"Let's do our best today, too!"
"Sure!"
"I'll show them my best kick!" Dekao laughed.
"Focus on the notes, Bro!" Chisao reminded him.
"We mustn't be careless. Next month is end-of-term exams…"
"I know, I know!"
"Hello, everyone!"
Higure's voice echoed.
"Mr. Higure? Fancy meeting you here…" Netto commented, surprised.
"I need advice!"
"Please be brief. We're heading to school!" Meiru requested.
"Despite that it's Sunday?" He asked, surprised.
"It's Monday…" Hikawa argued.
"What!? Where did Sunday go to!?"
"We don't know. Ask Number Man…" Chisao sighed.
"There you are, Mr. Higure. What did you start up today?"
"Officer Masaki!"
"Misaki, sir…" Misaki sighed.
"The Sunday has been abducted by aliens!"
"… And?"
"And… That's… That can't be… Because… Well…"
"Go on, students. I'll handle the rest…"
"Thanks for your hard work, officer!"
"It's nothing. Work hard in your studies, too!"
"That can't have been a dream! The dinner at the Ginza sushi store!"
"You were in Akihara the whole weekend. It was a dream!"
"That flavor of fresh sushi! The romantic candles! The jazz music!"
"I don't think that they play jazz music in sushi stores, though…"
"… I guess that he doesn't want to wake up from his dreams…"
"He won't grow!" Netto sighed.
"Man! He doesn't learn, either!" Sigma sighed.
"This is Number Man. Do you copy?"
"If it's about good ol' Higure, Officer Misaki fished him…"
"Thought as much…"
"What happened?"
"He woke up suddenly, saying that he needed "passion"…"
"And he wanted to ask Netto and the others about it?"
"Guess that. Was mumbling about sushi and jazz before that…"
"What a crazy mix!"
"I know… Must've mixed several dramas and movies…"
"Wouldn't be the first time…"
"And won't be the last…"
"The endless loop!" Number Man sighed.
"Good morning…"
"Hi, Nelaus. Ready for another day?"
"I'm always ready…"
"That's the spirit of a soccer lover!" Dekao laughed.
"Anyway. See you around…"
"OK!"
Number Man ended the call and Sigma scratched his back.
"Higure is going to start a major mess one of these days…"
He sighed and stretched.
"Well. Not my issue…"
"Hello, everyone!"
"Hello, Tamashita. I take it that you're ready…"
"Naturally, Rainon – kun!"
"Good. We'll soon see the extent of your skills…"
"In a kendo match?" She joked.
"No. In the end-of-term exams…"
"Or maybe during summer break, too!"
"How?"
"It's a secret!" She giggled.
"Fine. Suit yourself…"
"I know! It's…!" Yaito began.
"Don't say that in public. Let's go…" Meiru scolded.
"Well! At least the morale is high…"
Sigma formed a stone chair and sat on it, chuckling.
"Those punks don't scare us!"