Chapter Text
The year is 20XX. Earth and all of civilization have made steady progress. The planet is networked through electromagnetic waves, or EM Waves for short. Up in outer space are three satellites: Pegasus, Leo, and Dragon orbiting Earth receiving and transmitting defective radio waves that exist around the planet's atmosphere. Despite EM Waves not being visible to the naked eye, they do form multiple networks that supports daily function of everyday life. Most humans now typically carry Transers, portable devices that interfaces with the EM Wave World. Much like cell phones they are often used for communication, public data, identification, etc.
Alas, the planet is not without problems. Malfunctions within the global web of electromagnetic waves have been occurring, reported by locals. Which the public has dubbed EM Wave Viruses. An organization known as the Satella Police special in combating the viruses, maintaining order in the Wave Web.
Somewhere within a high-tech Command Room, alarms blared followed by red holographic screens displaying the 'Warning' sign. The staff rapidly types on their keyboards trying to figure out the cause of this phenomena and how to resolve it.
"The Shiva Lens has detected an abnormality!"
"Coordinations confirmed!"
"Abnormal value rising!"
"Laplace is getting a read on the situation."
"Hurry!"
"Are there any EM Viruses?"
"None. Our security system has detected no virus activity."
In the midst of the Command Room stood a white haired woman, somewhere in her early twenties, overlooking a blue projection of Earth with large interlocking rings rotating around it. On the projected globe of the planet are golden dots that vanish one by one. What's more, the cooling blue light of the projected Earth starts to dim.
"The light—!" Her amber eyes widen at the sight.
From behind her, a man wearing a green victorian suit with a matching top hat, who looks to be in his late forties or so with long hair spoke up. "CHALDEAS is the created reproduction of Earth's soul. If the light of civilization is extinguished—"
"Gather people with Master potential right now!" she commands, turning to face her employees. "We'll have to move forward with the Rayshift experiments ahead of schedule and put it to practical use!" She then faces the projected globe, CHALDEAS. "Unless we regain the light of CHALDEAS, humanity has no future!"
Six Months Later
A heatwave permeates throughout Shibuya as a majority of people are wearing light clothing, such as shorts, hats, sunglasses, etc. Beads of sweat can be seen on people's faces, some carrying fans on their person, paper or portable, as they continued to go on about their business.
Inside the classroom of a local high school, students are seated in their desks. Some looked bored, clearly wanting the day to be over and done with. Others either quietly talked to friends in hushed whispers, texted, or played games (on silent, of course) on their Transers. A few students did genuinely listen to the homeroom teacher's announcement, though it wasn't anything important as it was mostly about their summer homework and what they would be doing.
Speaking of, today is the last day of school. Summer break for students was only a couple of minutes away as this is the last class of the day.
Ding Dong
The last bell of the school year had finally rang, prompting students to stand up from their seats and pack their bags. Conversation filled the classroom and hallways, followed by numerous footsteps walking about.
Seated at the very back of the classroom, at the second desk closest to the door is a young man. He has unkempt, messy black hair and blue eyes. His name is Ritsuka Fujimaru.
Ritsuka's eyes were glued onto his Transer's screen, starring at images of mech figurines. Upon scrolling down at each of the displayed imagines, his eyes seemingly shone at each one with child-like delight, admiring the overall designs and weaponry.
"Yo, Ritsuka." a male voice called out to him.
"Yoohoo~! Earth to Ritsuka, you listening?" questioned a feminine voice, followed by a hand waving in front of his face thus blocking his view.
Now pulling his eyes away from the screen, Ritsuka looks besides him only to see his two friends, Andou and Osakabe. They gave him playful amused looks as if to say, 'You're at it again.'
"Oh. Hey, guys. Is class over?" Ritsuka looks around to see that mostly everyone from the classroom had left, some students still lingering around. Even the homeroom teacher had left.
"Dude, you really were in that deep in your own little world, huh." Andou mused.
"Can't help it. I like what I like." Ritsuka freely admits, no hint of embarrassment. "Besides, it's the last day of school. Not as if I'll get in trouble or get detention if I get 'caught' looking at some pictures."
"Wow, way to make it sound so prurient." Osakabe snickers suggestively with a hint of red on her cheeks.
Andou scratches the back of his head while letting out a sigh, "You can say that again. Seriously, Ritsuka, despite knowing what you actually mean—you reeaally make it sound like you're looking at nudes."
"As if I'd do that." Ritsuka drawled with a flat look.
Osakabe looks over Ritsuka's shoulder, getting a clear look at the mech figurines he had been looking at. Particularly at the prices. "So? You looking to buy one of these…?"
"Hopefully." replies Ritsuka. "But with the money I have now from my allowance, I'd be lucky to get one."
"Wow, you must have been saving up." she noted.
"Are you planning to get a job for the summer?" Andou asked, making the two look at him. "I've already applied for a part-time position, so I'll be working to make some extra money."
Ritsuka nodded, "I thought about it, yeah. Guess I'll have to start looking. Unless…"
"Sorry, man. The place I applied isn't hiring anymore. Turns out the spot I took was the last one."
"Bummer." Ritsuka frowned, before letting out a sigh and stood up from his desk. "Oh well, guess the first thing I'll do after getting my summer homework done is start job hunting."
"Best of luck."
"Thanks."
The two boys look over at their female friend.
Osakabe blinked, "What?"
"Do you have anything planned for the summer, Osakabe?" Andou curiously wondered.
"I might be going on a trip with my family. Not really sure. I'd have to talk to them later when I get back home. But if not, then yeah…Guess I'll end up looking for work too." she said.
"Well, let us know what you end up doing. Maybe we can find some time to hang out." Ritsuka said.
"Definitely."
"In the meantime, do you guys wanna get some ice cream? Andou asked.
"Yeah." Osakabe smiled.
"Sure thing." nodded Ritsuka.
Beyond the reaches of Earth and the entire Solar System, a high-speed asteroid freely travels throughout the cosmos. However, occupying this asteroid's surface are twelve figures. One of them stands alone within the asteroid's crater, surrounded by the other eleven as they glared at him. The lone figure carefully observes his current situation, seeing no way out of this predicament.
"It's no use, Omega-Xis! Surrender right now…!" The bird-like figure commanded. "You can't escape all of us."
"Now hurry up and hand over the Andromeda Key! Damned traitor!" The ox-like figure demanded with bile in his tone.
"Oh? How about this: You can have the key back if you can kill me, which I doubt will happen." The lone figure, Omega-Xis, taunted.
"Why have you betrayed us, Omega-Xis? You were one of Planet FM's greatest warriors!" the bird figure stated, coldly glaring at him.
Omega-Xis snickered, "Hmph. Wouldn't you like to know."
"You—!"
"And besides…"
Abruptly, a bright flash of light seemingly comes out of nowhere causing all of them to shield their eyes. What's more, the asteroid they were on violently quakes. Chunks of debris begin to float, gradually breaking apart the flying rock. Each of the figures gape at their surroundings, nonplussed with wide eyes.
"No way! This is—!?" Stammered a wolf looking figure.
"The Andromeda Key's power!" the bird cried in conformation. "Darn you, Omega-Xis! You really activated the key!?"
"…I think you have more important things to worry about. They're already coming." Omega-Xis informed.
True to his words, something, or rather…several somethings emerged from the bright light. The presence of these unknown enemies caused the bird and his allies to be on their guard.
"Damn!" the bird cursed.
"Have fun now." Omega-Xis grinned, giving a playful salute before into a green steak of light and flies away. After ditching his adversaries, the asteroid explodes in a blinding flash. Pieces of shattered debris fly in multiple directions, now aimlessly floating amidst the stars.
Freely flying through space without having to worry about his pursuers for a while, Omega-Xis keeps looking straight ahead; as one goal was on his mind.
"The Earth...it's calling out to me!"
After parting ways with his friends, Ritsuka returns back home and opens the door with his key. Once he steps inside and closes the door, he hears a shriek.
"Ack! Oh no…" a familiar voice exasperates.
"Huh?" blinks Ritsuka. "Was that mom…?" Normally after hearing a shriek like that, he would have immediately ran to see what was wrong. But given how his mother sounded annoyed rather than worried, he figured she was okay and possibly ran into some technical issue or something. That, and there was no smoke so no one had to worry about a house fire.
"I'm home." Ritsuka announces, taking off his shoes.
"You're back!" a young feminine voice happily cried. Footsteps can be heard rushing towards the young man, he spots a diminutive figure running into him. A pair of arms wrap around his waist. "Welcome home, big brother."
Looking up at him with a bright smile is a young girl around seven or eight years old. She has black hair very much like his, except longer and tied in a ponytail. Also like himself, she shares his blue eyes. Her attire was a pair of pajamas. This is his younger sister, Haruka Fujimaru.
"Hey there, Haruka." Ritsuka greeted his sister, lightly ruffling her hair. "You excited for the summer?"
"Yep!" Haruka replied, releasing her brother as she steps back. Realization then spreads across her features, "Oh right! Come quick. Mom is having trouble with something in the kitchen…!" With that she runs off to the living room.
Ritsuka follows after his younger sibling in a moderate traipse. Once he steps foot in the living room, he surveys everything around him with curiosity. Both the kitchen and living room windows were open, allowing smoke to escape outside. In the kitchen was his mother frantically waving a little towel at the oven, where the source of the smoke was coming from.
"Uh oh. Maybe I do need to worry about a potential house fire, after all." Ritsuka thought before speaking to his mother, "Mom? Is something wrong with the oven…?"
Ritsuka's mother, Mrs. Fujimaru, lightly gyrates her neck as she looks at her son. "Oh, Ritsuka. Welcome home, son." She continues to fan out the smoke with the little kitchen towel. "And…yes, something is wrong with the oven. Could you come give me a hand, please?"
"I'm coming." Ritsuka drops his bag down on the floor and steps into the kitchen to help his mother. Instead of grabbing a towel to fan out the smoke, he opens his Transer. Once the screen lights up, Ritsuka pushes a few buttons on the screen before red spots popped up. "I knew it." he gave a small frown.
The screen displays images of short, tiny black creatures. Their bodies are round, like a ball, with yellow feet and wore yellow construction-like hats that has a green '+' and pointed tip. Above their heads are two red halo-like rings that keep shooting out of their heads, as if signaling more of their kind. Despite not having arms and hands, they carried pickaxes. These are EM Viruses, one of the common ones dubbed, Mettenna.
"A bunch of EM Viruses are infecting the oven."
"Oh jeez." His mother sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Hold on. I'll get rid of them." Ritsuka says, pulling out a memory card-like object from his pocket. "Battle Card! Sword!" With that, he inserts the card into the slot of his Transer.
His Transer screen displays the Mettennas being cut by an invisible blade as they vanish in a black-purplish ripple, almost if as they were 'swallowed' by a black hole.
"There. All gone." Ritsuka confirms with a smile.
"That's so cool~!" Haruka admired, a wide smile across her face.
A proud grin plastered itself onto Ritsuka's face, "Battle Cards are cool, aren't they?" To emphasize this, he holds up another Battle Card as if it were a trophy. Haruka stares up at the said card with a sparkle in her eyes.
"Yes, yes, you sure love using Battle Cards." His mother playfully rolled her eyes, smirking. She proceeds to fan the smoke out the windows before checking on the oven.
"Mom! Why don't I have a Transer or Battle Cards yet?" Haruka complained.
"You're still too young, Haruka. I don't want my daughter wearing a gaudy looking device on her arm every day." The older woman informs her daughter, as the younger girl pouts.
"Gaudy?" Ritsuka looks at his mother as if she grew a second head and possibly said something in a foreign language that he fails to comprehend.
"Hey now, don't act like I said something blasphemous or anything. I never liked how those things looked. You know this..."
True. Ritsuka indeed knew that about his mother. But come on! Transers are one of the coolest gadgets he could ever possibly have in his lifetime! Especially since they're real life Pipboys from the Fallout video game series! Except without all of the character stats and things like that.
Speaking of which…
"Mom, you really outta consider getting a Transer and some Battle Cards one of these days. This possibly could have been worse if left alone for too long." Ritsuka told her.
"I know, I know. Your dad has been pestering me about that too, believe me." She said with some minor annoyance, though it wasn't mean spirited in any fashion. "But I'm not big on the idea of having to wear a rather large bracelet, computer-like gizmo on my wrist. Better off sticking to my cell phone instead."
Ritsuka gave a small sigh before giving an understanding nod.
Despite Transers being one of the main devices that people use now these days, there are those, like his mother, who prefer to use a cell phone given how it's not some big device you have to wear around your arm. Heck, about half of the student body at his school don't have Transers and use phones. Although unlike Transers, cell phones don't have the capacity to use or even have a function to instal Battle Cards.
"Anyway, thank you for helping me with that little problem, son." Ritsuka gives his mother a nod. "You should probably head upstairs to your room and get ready for dinner later."
"Alright," Ritsuka replied, heading upstairs to his room.
After going to his room, Ritsuka washes up and changes his clothes. He wore a simple pair of black sweatpants and a dark blue shirt. Naturally, he removed his Transer as he had no need to wear it anymore for the day.
Despite wanting to play video games and laze around in his room for the evening, he got started on his summer homework. Once this was out of the way, he is free to play to his heart's content and won't have to worry about finishing said homework at the last minute, like some teens his age might do. Thankfully, he kept some of his class notes so he was able to complete most of his worksheets and workbooks.
"Okay, that should be good." Ritsuka thought, overlooking his work and how he finished up most of everything that was assigned to him.
"Ritsuka! Dinner's ready…!" His mother calls out to him.
"On my way!" the young man responds.
Soon he was downstairs with his mother and sister as they were seated at the table. Ritsuka and Haruka sat next to each other with plates, as their mother sat across from them on Haruka's side. Beside her is an empty seat with an empty plate that has yet to be served.
Ritsuka blinked, "Oh right, I nearly forgot to ask: Where's dad? I noticed earlier when I came back home his car wasn't in the driveway."
Also, much like himself, Ritsuka's father also owns and uses a Transer with Battle Cards. So if he had been home during that little incident with the oven, he would have taken care of those EM Viruses long before Ritsuka came back.
"Your father drove off to meet with your aunt at AMAKEN Labs." she informed.
"He went to see her at AMAKEN?" Ritsuka curiously inquired.
Ritsuka's father works for a computer tech company, so he does mot of his work at home from inside his study room. Meanwhile, his and Haruka's aunt—their mother's sister, to be specific—works as a researcher at AMAKEN Labs.
"Was she, or one of her co-workers, having computer issues?"
"No. It's some work related business. Said she had something to show him and that he'll be bringing it back with him later." she shrugged.
"That's interesting. Wonder what he'll bring back?" the young man wondered.
As if on cue, the door opened and a voice rang out.
"I'm home." announced a male voice.
"Dad!" Haruka pushes her seat back and hops off as she runs to the front door.
Ritsuka's father, Mr. Fujimaru, laughs as his figure stepped into the living room as Haruka greets him and him returning the gesture. "Sorry for coming back so late. Traffic got a little hectic on the way back."
"That's alright. Just make sure you take off your Transer before you sit down." Mrs. Fujimaru informed her husband.
"Right away." After taking off his Transer, the older man sits at the dinner table with his wife filling his plate with some food.
Ritsuka noticed that his dad carried a small looking box with him and placed it beside him as he sat down. Haruka animatedly asked what was inside but their mother injected, saying that they should just let the man relax and eat his dinner. So the Fujimaru family enjoyed their dinner, made idle chit-chat, like any other ordinary family would.
Some time after they finished their meal, Haruka brought up the incident with the oven and brought up how her mother was having trouble trying to figure out the problem until Ritsuka came back home. The siblings' mother tried to dissuade Haruka's exaggerated retelling of the events, saying that she wasn't panicking in the slightest and had everything under control. Ritsuka then explained how he had to get rid of some EM Viruses the very moment he detected them with his Transer.
Mr. Fujimaru sighed upon hearing that story, "See, Hon? This is exactly why I said you should get and have a Transer on standby."
"I would consider it if those things were more fashionable, and less gaudy looking." She told him, firmly sticking to her beliefs and reasoning about not getting one. In response, the father and son duo gave the woman a look, likely trying to wrap their heads around how she could call the Transers 'gaudy', as she would put it. Meanwhile, Haruka laughed at the funny faces her brother and father are making. "Seriously, like father, like son…"
"Anyways…" Mr. Fujimaru says, trying to brush off the minor embarrassment welling up, and gently taps the box besides him. "I think it's about time to show you all what's inside this box."
"It's something you got from aunty, right?" Ritsuka inquired.
"Yes." he nodded. The head of the Fujimaru household opens the box, as his family leans in to see what it was.
Inside the box is a pair of white sunglasses that has a blue visor lens with yellow ripple-like patterns, and yellow star emblems on the sides.
Ritsuka, along with his sister and mother, blinked in confusion upon looking at the glasses.
"A pair of sunglasses?" the young man raised a brow.
"That was my reaction, too." The older man chuckles at his family's nonplussed reaction. "From what your aunt told me, it's called a Visualizer. When worn, it allows the wearer to see the electromagnetic wave spectrum."
That piece of information amazed Ritsuka, along with his sister and mother.
"Oh! Oh! Oh! I wanna try them on! Oh please, dad! Can I try them on first?" Haruka animatedly pleads, jumping up and down in front of her father.
"Haruka! You're being rude. You need to be patient!" Mrs. Fujimaru reproves her daughter. "Your father was entrusted those glasses, so it's his decision who gets to try them on first."
Haruka grumbles yet looked apologetic, "I'm sorry…" she twiddles her thumbs.
This prompts a light hearted laughter from , lightly patting his daughter on the head. "Ah, it's okay. Haruka can try them on first. The only problem we'll have to worry about is getting her to give them back to us." he jokes.
Mrs. Fujimaru sighs, "You really spoil her sometimes."
This causes Ritsuka to chuckle.
"Alright, Haruka, the glasses are a bit too big for you to properly wear. So you'll ned to carefully hold them. Be careful not to break the hinges, okay?" Mr. Fujimaru carefully instructs.
"Okay." Haruka nodded. Following her father's instructions, she carefully holds the Visualizer by the temples and looks through the lens. "Hmm? I don't see anything."
"That's because we're inside the house. Come on, let's go outside."
The Fujimaru family steps out the front door of their house. Once they were outside, Haruka's eyes sparkles in delight and lets out an excited ovation.
"Ah~!"
Before the girl's very own eyes is a myriad of luminescent colors, in various shapes and sizes—freely flying through the night sky.
"There are so many!" Haruka laughs, raising up her arms trying to reach for the lights.
"It must really be something, huh." Ritsuka looks at his dad.
"Sure is. I was astonished when I first tried on those glasses." grinned. "Speaking of which, Haruka! Let your brother have a turn."
"Aww. Okay." Haruka conceded before offering the Visualizer to her brother. "Here, big brother. Take a look at the pretty lights."
"Don't mind if I do." Ritsuka grabs the Visualizer and puts them on. He now is able to see the myriad of luminescent colors of light. Much like his sister, his eyes sparkled in delight followed by a wide smile. "Whoa! This is amazing!"
Mr. Fujimaru looks to his wife. "Do you want to try them on next?"
"Maybe another time. It's best to let the kids have fun with those glasses." she replies. Then, after a moment, she releases a small gasp from her lips.
"What's wrong?"
"I just remembered I was supposed to get detergent earlier today. But because I was busy with other errands, such as buying groceries and picking up Haruka from school; along with that fiasco with the oven…I completely forgot." Mrs. Fujimaru sighs.
"I can go out and buy it, mom." Ritsuka volunteers. "The store isn't closed yet around this time."
"Are you sure, son? I could always wait to buy it tomorrow and do our laundry when I get back." she told him.
"I don't mind. And besides, it'd be nice to go on a little nightly stroll." he said.
"Well alright, then. Thank you, son." Mrs. Fujimaru gave a small smile before reaching for her pocket, takes out some money and hands it Ritsuka.
Once he pockets the money, Ritsuka takes the Visualizer off and tries handing it back to his dad. To his surprise, his father simply raises a hand and declines. This causes the young man to blink in confusion.
"Your aunt actually wanted you to hold on to the Visualizer for her." His father explains. "So from today onwards, until otherwise…Those belong to you."
"Really?" Ritsuka blinks, starring at the Visualizer. "So I'll be holding on to this?"
"Think of it as a little side job of sorts." Mr. Fujimaru says, causing his to give him a questioning look "Anyway, we can talk more about that tomorrow. You should put your shoes on and get going."
"Right." Ritsuka nodded.
Some time later, Ritsuka walks back home carrying a bag with the detergent bottle inside. He was quite a ways from his house as he intentionally took the long way back. He merely wanted to enjoy the warm night air. Feeling the cool, gentle breeze flowing through his face.
The weather was so nice that he wished he bought a popsicle or a small cup of ice cream, or maybe some juice. But alas, this was his mother's money and he didn't want to spend the change he received after buying the detergent. Sure, he has his allowance—which he has smartly saved up from doing various chores and errands for his parents—but he didn't want to touch that unless he really needed something. After all, he was taught to be responsible with his money.
He thinks back to his conversation with Andou earlier today about getting a part-time job for the summer. Heck, maybe after he lands some part-time work, he can keep it for when he goes back to school after the summer break. That way he can keep earning money, save up, and buy mecha figures! Oh, but he should probably get a display shelf and then start collecting.
"Alright! Tomorrow I'll finish the rest of my summer homework and start job hunting." He firmly nods at his idea. The movement of his head causes the Visualizer to accidentally slide back on over his eyes. "Oh?" He adjusts the glasses. "Heh. Guess I got a little too excited."
Once again, he looks up at the night sky to see EM Waves freely flying and dancing throughout the stars. "I'm really going to enjoy seeing this everyday." He admires. Right as he was starring at the EM Waves, he notices two in particular—a green one and a cyan one—that circled around each other before clashing, almost as if they were fighting.
"Strange. Are they supposed to act that way…?" Ritsuka questions, squinting his eyes to hopefully get a better look.
Within the electromagnetic wave spectrum, unseen by ordinary humans, the green and cyan lights continued flying through the night sky and collides against each other before coming to a halt. Once they did, they reformed themselves into their respective forms.
One of them turns out to be the shadowy sawn figure from before. His red eyes burned with intensity and animosity, as he glares at his foe. "I finally caught up to you, Omega-Xis!"
Floating across from the swan is a rather unusual creature. It appeared to look like either a dog or crocodile-like creature, maybe a bear(?), given the snout and 'teeth'; with red eyes. The entire body was that of glowing green energy, appearing almost ghostly due to the tail, and has dark blue armor over its head, torso, shoulders, and wrists that has some silver platting.
"Tch. Didn't think you'd make it this far, Cygnus. Always the persistent one." Omega-Xis clicked in annoyance.
"Bastard!" Cygnus growled. "You must think you're so clever! Waiting for those abominations to catch up with us, deploy the Andromeda Key's power to break apart that asteroid, and leave us all in the dust to deal with them after you escaped during that explosion!"
"Gee, thanks for the recount." Omega-Xis derisively said, vapid. "Still, I have to admit: I'm surprised you managed to keep up despite the obstacles that you all clearly had to deal with it. But then again, I shouldn't be too surprised nor give you that much credit."
"Silence! Hand over the Andromeda Key!" Cygnus demanded.
"I refuse." Omega-Xis splutters. "Like I said before, you'll have to kill me in order to get it. And that won't be easy! So long as I'm alive, you'll never get the key!"
"Don't tempt me, you damned traitor!" Cygnus hissed.
"Then bring it!" Omega-Xis challenged.
Both alien lifeforms collide once more. Each clash produce a flash of lights followed by minor shockwaves. They went at it for a couple of more seconds, before Omega-Xis decided that he needed to end this fight as soon as possible. There was no point continuing this fracas any longer than needed. So with a powerful battle cry, Omega-Xis' body vibrantly glows as he then curls into a ball before releasing an explosive blast. Cygnus, despite knowing what Omega-Xis had done, proceeds to fly towards the traitor caring little about the consequence of his actions and the aftermath.
A blinding flash of light erupts from the collision.
"Uraaugh! O-Omega-Xisss!" Cygnus screamed, his form swallowed by the light.
"Grr! D-Damn. I can't—!" Omega-Xis struggles to keep afloat, until gravity finally takes its hold.
Down below on solid ground, Ritsuka continues to watch the lights clash before one of them starts to shine with an intensity. Eventually, it broadly expands and illuminates over his body.
Realizing what was going on, Ritsuka widened his eyes.
"Hah. Maybe I shouldn't have taken the long way home." Given no time to run, Ritsuka is struck by the green light.
As the young man was struck, he screams until it was drowned away. The beam had struck the ground yet left no form of damage on the concrete. When the light starts to diminish, a silhouette of an armored figure with a glowing red visor briefly appeared.
What remained afterwards is an unconscious Ritsuka, alone and vulnerable to the world.