Chapter 17 Upgrade Module

The grey veil that surrounds the park slowly dissipates, once again the shining sun sky is allowed to cast over park. The sun was bright, and without the Alternium dome to protect the park anymore, it was as hot as any afternoon day.

“Damn… That Phantom almost gave us some trouble didn’t it…”

Still laying on the ground, the transformation suit of Haru dissipated away as well revealing her casual fits now caked in the burnt ashes she laid on. She took a deep breath in relief, the air clean and clearer than the intense minutes she felt during that last battle.

“Heya~ great team work there~” Shiro body suddenly casts over Haru as she casually tosses the module back to the owner where she grasps it perfectly with her right hand.

“I totally didn’t know you could use another's module to do an execute phase, I just kinda tossed it to you without thinking and it worked out!” Haru springs up with the help of Shiro. “I really thought you were out of this when that magma pool burst below you”

“Eh~ it was a close call~ still too slow for Shiro tho~”

“Now we are done, let's go meet up with Lin and Rik-... OUCH!”

An object flew down from the skies, colliding with Haru’s head with considerable force as it dropped to the ground.

Shiro almost chuckled all the while Haru groaned from the surprisingly painful encounter despite what the girls had faced earlier.

“W-what was that!?” Haru moved closer to examine what exactly had just fallen down from seemingly nowhere. “Hmm..? a module..?”

“It’s still warm… is this the module that was stuck to the Phantom earlier?”

Examining the module, it’s about the same objects both Linkers have, although different in slight ways. Instead of the clean white body with an animal logo being presented at the end, it’s covered in orange flame decals with the same icon of fire situated at the end.

“Hm~? let Shiro see…” Shiro peeps up from below to see what’s on Haru’s hands. “Shiro has never seen a Module like this before…”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?” Haru inquires.

“Well~ Module are for transforming… and it is supposed to store a Phantasm inside it…” Shiro grabs the object into her hand to take a closer look. “But this one… doesn’t seem to have that fiery dino inside it… or any Phantasm at all…”

“Whatever it is, let us take it to Aiko-san and Nodoka-san…” Haru turns on the comms again. “Haru here, we’ve successful exterminated the Phantasm and retrieve a-”

“OH THANK GOD!!!! YOU GIRLS ARE STILL ALIVE!!!”

“Haru?! Shiro?! Finally the comms are back online!”

Both of the adult facecam pops up in the Linker’s interface, and both are a mess with Aiko’s glass being off balance and Nodoka sweating like she had been standing exactly where the fight took place.

Haru was shocked the moment their voices exploded directly inside her mind. “A-Aiko-san… y-yes we are still here… a-and we won too”

“Too easy for Shiro~ and Haru too~”

“A-as I was gonna say, we also retrieve the Module from the Phantom…”

Aiko and Nodoka both release a big sigh of relief in tandem.

“Alright girls, regroup with Lin and Riku first, then meet back at the cafe base… I got a lot to look into this particular Module and the Phantom you two have just face”

“Got it, Aiko-San!”

“Gotcha~”

The two made their ways through the park, hurrying up a bit to pretend as if they were normal people scurrying away from the scene. The trees that once wall across the entire park were reduced to stumps and nothing, the ground lined fully in black and grey dust and ashes. A horde of rescue personnel, medics and firefighter alike storm into the places in search of any survivor while assessing the damage of the so-called “Alternium Malfunction”.

It wasn’t until the two managed to slip past the exit that they caught a glimpse of their fellow Linkers teammates with Shiro’s bike also being present there.

“Hey! Lin-senpai, Riku we are here” Haru said, rushing up to them without hesitation.

“Haru! Shiro! A-are you two hurt? Any burn damage from the Phantom?” Riku wasted no time slipping left and right all around the two.

“Maybe a couple of Shiro’s hair got burn~ Oh no~”

“Well maybe a couple wounds here and there but we're good!” Haru beams with a smile despite both of them smelling and battered like freshly grilled skewers.

“Great work out there you two, it seems that those practices really come in handy” Lin spoke up. “Especially you, Haru”

“O-oh… Thank you senpai!” Haru gave a quick bow, with Shrio noticing a slight blush of her teammates which made her smug ever so slightly.

“Let’s go back already~ Shiro wants to have Nodoka-san’s snacks~”

Within minutes of departing away from the chaotic scenes, the quartet of Linkers arrived back at their base of operations through the secret entrances of the Lab Cafe as per usual.

“Aiko-san, Nodoka-san we are here” Lin knocks on the door to the “Control Room”

“Ah come in! We got quite a bit to speak about!”

The girls settle down on the couches and seats of the living area, with the adults standing in front of the television to improvise a meeting.

“First of all, I want to say that you all did spectacular today! Thanks to everyone's effort we were able to manage one of the most dangerous Phantom outbreak we’ve ever seen so far yet” Aiko begins, followed by Nodoka putting up a holographic projection that captures pictures of the past fight with several analytical data around it.

“We had never seen a Phantom that was able to power up themselves before in history since they started appearing…” Nodoka said, zooming in on the holographic construction of the flaming beast. “A monster capable of using an Upgrade Module…”

“Upgrade Module?” Haru muttered, quickly fumbling her pockets to bring out the flame colored Module she had just obtained. “You mean this? Nodoka-san?”

With a few more tapping of her tablet, holographics several files appear with pictures of several Modules that have a unique design just like what Haru was holding.

“Upgrade Module are…” Aiko walked forward, gesturing for Haru to hand it over which the girl complied. “Exactly what it sounds, it's was a way for Phantasm alike to connect their Alternium framework to a completely separate source of power which-”

“So it’s a power up~” Shiro chimes in, speaking while nibbling on the cookies on the table.

Aiko sighed. “Yes Shiro it’s basically a power-up, it allows Phantasm, their Linkers and now apparently Phantom to achieve a new form entirely”

“See I told ya~ We are basically magical gir-”

“NO!!” Aiko shouted, shooking everyone in the room. “Linkers and Phantasm AREN’T MAGICAL GIRLS, it’s SCIENCE not MAGIC. How many times do I need to say that SHIRO!?”

The glare from Aiko directed to Shiro but even everyone else can feel their core is threatened. Except Shiro continues to nibble on her snacks with nothing but again a smug on her face.

“Aight~ aight~ hehe~” Shiro had her hands up like she'd been busted.

“As I was saying… Nodoka continue please”

“Ahem, Upgrade Modules was created as an experiment alongside Phantasm as a way to add versatility to its combat and situational capability. Although just as you girls could have guess, most of it became lost and was never seen again”

“Hm… if that’s the case then it wouldn't be wise for us to implement these so-called Upgrade Modules, our fights moving forward as Phantom keeps becoming stronger” Lin inquires.

“Well… it’s true that Upgrade Module allows one to receive a significant boost in their power but..”

“No.” Aiko cuts in, everyone in the room becomes silent again, although this time her expression was nothing but absolute.

“No, we…I will not permit any use of any Upgrade Module as of now… it’s something we barely know anything about its side effect to Linkers, it has never been used or deployed in Atomos databases”

“Aiko-san, I understand your concern… but you’ve seen the rising threat of Phantom as of recently.” Lin stood up.

“S-senpai… W-we should listen to A-aiko-san…” Riku attempts to speak by Lin’s side, although her voice still was very quiet.

“Riku please…”

“Had Shiro and Haru not perfected their teamwork in that fight… they could’ve…” Lin stopped, her face twitching before taking a quick deep breath. “Phantom isn’t something us Linker could treat as light work anymore, so why don’t we also see if we can even the playing field”

“Senpai…” Haru muttered as she turned to look at Shiro who also turned rather quiet as well.

“...”

“I know exactly what you mean Lin but…” Aiko said, hands ever so slightly trembling holding the Module. “It still carries too much risk that I can’t take until I can confirm from testing…”

“Aiko-sa-”

“That’s it for the meeting today, rest well girls.” Aiko quickly turns and leaves the room in an instant, with the bang of the door, leaving Nodoka and the rest somewhat bewildered.

Nodoka sighs once more. “Don’t take Aiko’s actions too personally girls… She can be pretty… emotional about these things… the theory and what-if as a scientist you know”

“Well~ it certainly seems she’s more concerned than just theory~” Shiro was the first to break the quartet silences.”Why don’t we just pop it into Haru’s gun and see what happens~”

“Yea… H-huh?! W-what? Why me?!”

“Uh… I dunno fire seems to fit you well enough”

“What if I get set on fire like that Dinosaur huh?! What will you do!?”

“Grill some nice marshmallows yea~” Shiro gives a thumbs up, straight face all the way.

“YOU!”

With that Shrio rolls herself off the couch before Haru manages to pouches her before sticking her tongue out and proceeds to run circles around the whole room as Haru proceeds to chase after her.

“H-Haru calm down, a-and Shiro you shouldn’t say mean stuff like that” With Riku being noticeably startled while attempting to calm both of them down, all the while Nodoka and Lin just watch from afar.

“It sure seems more lively nowadays here” Lin said, smiling at the chaotic scene unfolding of Riku desperately trying to push back at Haru as she tried to reach for Shiro all around the room. “Put your trust the same as they have for you… that's what it means to be a leader right…? Onee-san”

Lin’s hand led to her traditional katana hanging on her waist, resting on it.