Well, here I am with another Digimon series. I hope you enjoy, though I admit I'm making a lot of this up as I go along. Also, if you've just found me through this series, be sure to check out Digimon Academy. It's already finished, along with its second season, so it may be a good thing to read bits and pieces of while you wait for the next episode. Well, without further ado, here comes Digimon Hacked!
The Japanese government had put together a special force to defend against cyber-terrorists, a rising threat to the Asian country. Daichi Kagurazaka, the head of this force, stared down at the monitors, unable to believe the sight before him.
"Sir, the virus is spreading faster than we can counter it," Yue Tachikawa, his second in command, informed him. "It's almost as though it can think for itself."
"So, the time's finally come when Artificial Intelligence has been programmed by hackers," Daichi said, rubbing his temples.
Yue hesitated. "Sir, I think it might be... more than that. Yes, an AI, if programmed correctly, could think for itself to a certain extent, the technology just doesn't exist yet to make it this advanced."
"Are you trying to tell me this virus is actually alive?" he asked skeptically, raising an eyebrow.
"As difficult as it is to believe, yes, I am," Yue replied grimly. "If this keeps up, Japan won't stand a chance."
"You sound like you have an idea," Daichi commented.
"I do," the woman informed him. "Is it ready yet?" she asked, knowing that her boss would know exactly what she was talking about.
"Almost, why?" he asked.
She took a deep breath, knowing that her idea may sound crazy. "We can't wait to test it. We have to use it as soon as it's ready. We have to send someone into the internet."
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x
Hana Harusawa leaned back in her chair, glad to be home. She and her parents had spent a long time overseas, so it was good to be back in her apartment. She'd been entered in an international math competition and had, naturally, won. She was considered a genius for her age, but her specialty was math. She had to potential to go to college now, even though she was only fourteen, but she wanted to be able to live a relatively normal teenage life. She had no idea what she wanted to do later in life, so why should she go to college now?
For the moment, she was content with her 4.0 GPA in eighth grade.
Twisting a strand of dirty blonde hair with her finger, Hana stared at her ceiling. She had been out of school for three months, but her teachers had given her the material she needed so that she wouldn't get behind.
As if.
The pile had been finished within the second week over her trip. She'd been fascinated with numbers since she was little, so she didn't even have to look at the notes or open her textbook to do the math work, which made up the bulk of her homework.
"Hana!" he mother called from downstairs. She stood and went to see what she wanted. When she got to the living room, there were two men in suits standing with her mom and dad.
"What's up?" she asked.
Before her mother had the chance to speak, one of the men said, "Hana Harusawa, we need your help."
"My help?" she asked, crossing her arms. "The government needs my help? A math geek? What for?"
"We need your help in protecting our country," the second man said.
Hana looked at her mother. She didn't seem surprised. Had the men already explained whatever it was they needed from her? "Alright," she began. "I'm listening."
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x
Yumi Orihara dropped her hands from her keyboard, studying her handiwork. All it would take was the press of a key and all her grades would be changed. Most weren't too bad, but they could always be better. Her gym grade, however, was horrible. That needed to change, but she wasn't really built for athletics. She was of medium height, but had a very slim frame. Not exactly much help when they were playing basketball. She was too easy to be tossed around.
She was just about to press the key when she heard a knock on her door. She hastily minimized the window, knowing she'd get in trouble if she was caught. Her parents had found out about her hacking habit a long time ago, but they knew there wasn't much they could do. They did, however, forbid her from doing things like this.
She was surprised to find a woman in a suit opening her door. "Yumi Orihara, I'd like to speak to you about something."
"Like what?" she asked, masking her nervousness. She had hacked the government more than once. She never left any viruses, and thought she'd covered her tracks well enough. How had they found her?
"Your hacking skills," the woman said. "There's a problem, and we need your help."
"Why me?" Yumi asked.
"You know computers better than anyone else in the country. We need what you know," the woman replied. "Now, will you hear me out?"
Yumi paused. "Since you know about my hacking, I guess you know that I've been in government systems?" she asked.
"Multiple times." The woman smiled. "We're willing to overlook that, though, if you help us."
"So you're blackmailing me?" Yumi crossed her arms.
"We really need your help, one way or another," the woman told her. "If that's what it takes to get you in, then that's what we'll do."
"Fine," the hacker replied. "What do you need me for?"
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x
Kiira Wakui double checked her work, making sure that all her sentences were in the right tense. She never got it wrong, but it didn't hurt to check. After all, her mom's job often depended on her work.
Ever since she was little, Kiira was able to pick up on languages very easily. She learned and retained all grammar rules within a week, and spent the next month pouring over translation dictionaries to learn the language. Her mother was a nurse, but she was charged with sending medical records when a patient of hers visited or moved to a different country, and received the records of new citizens. She wasn't always fluent in some of the languages, however.
That was where Kiira came in. After being sworn to secrecy, she translated the documents for her mother. At the moment, she spoke Japanese, English, Spanish, Russian, German, French, Italian, Greek, Chinese, and Arabic. People often didn't believe her when she said she knew that many languages, so when she was challenged, she told them to name one of the languages. She would then rant about pure nonsense in whatever language they said.
"Sovaró ásthma, elafrá allergía sta karóta," she whispered back to herself, checking her Greek. The allergy to carrots would be important information, even if it was only a slight allergy.
"Kiira!" her father called, turning her attention to the doorway from the kitchen to the living room. "Can you come in here for a minute?"
"Coming, Dad!" she called back, turning the documents over for privacy purposes before going. When she got there, a man was standing next to her father. "Who's this?"
"This is Daichi Kagurazaka-san," her dad informed her. "He's from the internet special forces."
"Right," the girl commented. "You guys keep the cyber-terrorists from damaging everyday society, right?"
"That's right," he informed her. "And we have a severe problem that needs your help."
"My help?" she asked. "What can I do? All I'm really good for is translating."
"That could be exactly what we need," Daichi said. "I understand you can read binary?"
"Yeah... What does that have to do with anything?" When she had been bored in sixth grade, she discovered binary code and decided to teach it to herself. It took a little longer than most, but by the end of the year, she had mastered it.
"You'll see," he said.
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x
Hours later saw all three girls in the headquarters of the special force.
"I'm sure you're all wondering why you're here," Daichi asked, Yue by his side.
"Yeah," Hana replied. "Your guys were kind of vague when they brought me here."
Daichi nodded to Yue, who turned on the large monitor behind her. "This is why," she said, showing the latest update they'd gotten on the virus, though by now, it must have changed many times.
"Looks like a program," Hana commented. Math, she could do. Programming, not so much.
Yumi, however, recognized it for what it was. "A virus..." she whispered. "A really complex one, too."
"We have reason to believe that it's intelligent," Daichi informed them. "It's evolved countless times, faster than we can keep up with. So we assembled the three smartest teenagers in the country."
"Yumi," Yue began, "You are a brilliant hacker. If anyone can crack this, it's you. Kiira, you can translate just about anything into ten different languages. If this thing is encrypted in another language, once Yumi unlocks it, you might need to translate. And Hana, your mathematical brain could help in calculating its next move."
"I do like probability..." the blonde commented.
"Why don't you girls get acquainted with one other while we finish the last of our preparations?" Daichi suggested.
"Preparations for what?" Hana asked.
"We want to hit this virus at the source," Yue explained. "For years, we've been developing a way to allow humans to actually enter the internet as data."
"Are you serious?" Yumi asked. "We'd actually be physically in the internet?"
"Yes," Daichi answered. "Like we said, we want to attack this at the source. Since this virus is alive, it seems to have spread smaller viruses to other systems, almost like scouts. We've received hundreds of reports from people having problems that may be related."
"Wait, what does this virus even do?" Kiira asked.
"It seems to delete files from the machines it infects, but in reality, we believe it is taking these files and absorbing them. The smaller problems involve loss of data followed by a total system crash," the man answered. "Because this virus seems to be able to create other intelligent viruses, we have our best programmers working on some bits of antivirus software to help you in there."
"Help us how?" Hana asked.
"They will be able to combat viruses that head your way," Yue said. "I can't imagine it would be too happy to have some people trying to stop it on its home turf."
"I'm totally in," Yumi said without thinking. "A chance to see the inside of the internet? That's like, the chance of a lifetime!"
"Why not?" Kiira asked with a shrug. "If I can be of any help, I'm glad to try."
"Same here," Hana finished with a nod. "If I'm being asked to help my country, I can't exactly say no."
"Good," Daichi said with a small nod. "We'll get on with those preparations, then."
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x
"So, you're a hacker, huh?" Hana asked Yumi. "This has to be exciting for you."
"You know it," the girl said with a grin.
"What do you think they meant when they said we'd be getting antiviruses?" Kiira wondered aloud.
"I don't know, but I guess we'll find out soon," the blonde replied as the three were approached once again by Daichi and Yue.
"We're ready for you," Yue said, stepping aside to let them see behind her. A large machine with a platform and clear walls stood in front of them. There were dim lights around the edges, showing it was up and running.
"What do we need to do?" Yumi asked.
"Just step on the platform," Daichi informed them. "We'll take care of the rest."
"Alright," Hana said, taking the lead. She walked toward the machine and stepped onto the platform, quickly followed by Kiira and Yumi.
Yue began typing at a computer connected to the machine as Daichi spoke. "When you arrive, we've also programmed a scanning program for each of you. It will help you detect nearby viruses, even if you can't see them."
"Got it," Kiira said as Yue finished typing. The inside of the machine lit up and the girls slowly began to disintegrate.
"Good luck..." Yue whispered as they disappeared.
~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x~x
"So, this is the internet?" Hana asked as she and the others appeared in what looked to be a long black tunnel with green zeros and ones flying by on the walls, floor, and ceiling.
"Must be," Yumi commented. "That's definitely binary."
"So, what did they mean when they said scanning programs?" Kiira asked. As soon as she spoke, small balls of light appeared in front of each of them. Without thinking, they each reached out and grabbed one. When the light dimmed, each device appeared to be a small box, about the size of a compact. There was a button on the side, and each girl pressed their own. As soon as they did, the boxes popped open, revealing a blue orb centered in each. The orbs glowed and little specks, presumably of data, flowed from the orbs and appeared in front of the girls, each taking different shapes.
In front of Hana stood what appeared to be a bipedal yellow fox with white legs, a white stomach, white tipped ears, and purple gloves. Once the creature was done forming, her box turned yellow with purple swirling symbols on the sides and a yin and yang symbol that matched the ones on the creatures gloves on the top.
A cream colored canine-like creature appeared in front of Yumi. The creature had long red ears, a swirling red tail, red markings on its face, and a white stomach. Her box turned the same cream color as the creature with red triangles on the sides and a red swirl on the top.
Finally, a green bipedal creature appeared in front of Kiira. The creature had a large pink flower on its head and purple claws. Her box turned green with intricate vine designs on the sides and a pink flower image on the top.
"Whoa," Kiira said, stunned.
"You must be our antiviruses," Yumi guessed, studying them.
"I supposed we could be called that," the fox creature said. "I am Renamon. These are Labramon and Palmon." She motioned to the dog creature and then the green one. "We are also known as Digimon."
"What does that mean?" Hana asked.
"Digimon stands for Digital Monster," Labramon informed them. "We've existed for a long time in our own world, the Digital World, but just recently, many Digimon have been finding ways into your internet."
"So, when they started to program our antiviruses, the codes must have matched yours closely enough that you were brought here," Yumi guessed, earning a nod from all three Digimon.
To the surprised of the three girls, their boxes popped open again. Hana's projected a small 3D model of Renamon. "Name: Renamon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: None."
"Name: Labramon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: None," Yumi's said.
"Name: Palmon. Classification: Vaccine. Threat: None," Kiira's finished in the same mechanical voice.
"Okay, this is definitely weird," Kiira said plainly.
"We're in the internet, and you're only now deciding it's weird?" Hana asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Well, weirder," the translator amended. "But kinda cool."
"You're telling me," Yumi breathed, approaching Labramon. "So we're... partners, then?" she asked.
"Yes," the Digimon said.
"Are all of them as cute as you guys?" Kiira asked, earning an eye roll from Hana.
"No," Palmon told her new partner. "Some of them are really scary. Especially the viruses."
"And it's our job to get rid of those?" Hana asked. Renamon nodded in response. "Oh, boy..." the girl muttered. "This is going to be fun..."
"No offense," Kiira began, "but you guys don't really look like you could do all that much damage."
"Not now, maybe," Palmon informed her. "But with your help, we can Digivolve."
"Digivolve?" Yumi asked.
"Think of it like adding more data to a program to make it more advanced," Labramon said. "Its structure becomes more complicated as more information is added to it, but the more code, the more the program is able to do."
"I see," Yumi said with a small smile, though Hana and Kiira remained slightly confused. They may be geniuses in their own right, but they were not nearly as tech savvy as Yumi. Looking over, she saw their confusion. "Okay, so you know how a wooden board starts out as just that?" She received a pair of nods. "Alright, well, when you put more boards together, you might get a table, or a dresser. Now, it isn't just a board, it can hold clothes or be eaten at. Kinda like that."
"Okay," Hana said, understanding now. She glanced up at the binary. "So, where in the internet are we? Are we in a website?"
"From the looks of it, we're in some sort of connection," Yumi observed. "Who knows? If the computer and machine used to transport us here were connected to the internet, we might be between them."
"I wonder what the inside of a website even looks like," Kiira said.
"We'll find out eventually," Hana commented. Her box beeped. "Okay, what's going on?"
"It must be sensing a virus," Renamon informed her. Hana stared ahead but pressed the button, once again opening the box. This time, a holographic map appeared, showing two red dots approaching them.
"Is that it?" she asked. Kiira and Yumi had opened their boxes to discover the same sight.
"Yeah," Palmon said, poising herself for battle.
After a few seconds, two shapes dropped from the code above them. They took the form of two small dinosaurs, slightly smaller than the humans. They each had yellow eyes and a hazard symbol on their white chests.
"Name: BlackGuilmon. Classification: Virus. Threat: Minimal."
All three girls stared for a moment as their boxes produced models of the viruses before them. "Okay, that's pretty neat," Kiira commented.
"So, what do we do?" Hana asked.
"You let us take care of this," Renamon told her, jumping into the air. "Diamond Storm!" As soon as the words left her mouth, small shards of light appeared in front of her, shooting down at the BlackGuilmon. Both dodged a direct hit, but on was nicked on the side.
"Poison Ivy!" Palmon yelled, extending her claws into vine-like extensions and wrapping around the one that had been hit. It would be a good idea to direct most attacks at the already slightly weakened one, getting it out of the way. They did still have to keep an eye on the other one. They had to make sure it didn't escape, or worse, attack the humans.
"Pyro Grenade!" the one that wasn't bound yelled, breathing out a fireball and aiming it straight at Yumi.
"RetrieverG!" Labramon yelled, jumping in the way and emitting a high frequency bark. The wave of sound made the fireball fade, disappearing before it reached them.
"Thanks, Labramon," Yumi said with a small smile. The smile fell, however, when it seemed to back off, getting ready to bolt.
"Okay, I'm not schooled in the ways of the internet," Kiira began. "But I'm going to guess that we can't let that thing escape."
"Right," Labramon confirmed. Before he could move, however, Renamon had jumped into the air and landed in front of the opponent, cutting off its escape.
"I don't think so," she said. "Diamond Storm!" The attack pushed it back, bringing it to one knee.
"Um, a little help here!" Palmon requested. Her vines were beginning to loosen as her opponent struggled.
"On it!" Labramon yelled, moving from his own enemy to Palmon's. Renamon seemed to have this one under control.
"Will we be able to pull this off with only three of us?" Yumi asked nervously.
"That's not really a good attitude going into all this," Hana said, watching the battle. "Alright, it seems kinda rough, but we just got here. Who knows? Maybe they're just settling into our internet right now."
"I hope you're right," Yumi muttered.
When Labramon was close enough, Palmon released her hold on the BlackGuilmon. Renamon had dispatched hers, so she went to join them, as well.
"RetrieverG!" Labramon yelled.
"Diamon Storm!" Renamon attacked. Her diamonds of light joined with the waves of sound, increasing in speed and striking their opponent. It, too, was destroyed, fading into tiny bits of data. The bits, as when as the ones from the other defeated BlackGuilmon, streamed to the girls. Their boxes opened up, and the bits were absorbed into Hana and Kiira's orbs. A small bit veered off into Yumi's as well.
"I wonder why we got more..." Kiira mused.
"It might be because you defeated them," the hacker guessed. "Palmon detained one, so she took part in the battle, but because she didn't deal a finishing blow, we didn't receive as much data."
"But why are we getting these in the first place?" Hana asked.
"The data from the viruses can't be spread back into the internet," Renamon said. "If they were, these battles would mean nothing. They would just reform as new viruses. But their data is now stored in your Digivices."
"Digivices?" Kiira asked. "Is that what these things are called?"
"Yes," Palmon told her. "Those store the virus data, and I think that they might purify the viruses."
"What do you mean?" Yumi asked.
"There are three types of Digimon," Renamon informed the girls. "Virus, Vaccine, and Data. We're Vaccines, and we're fighting the Viruses. Perhaps the data that becomes stored in there will change the Viruses into a Vaccine or Data."
"And maybe that's how you help us Digivolve," Labramon guessed. "The more data you have stored on there, the more likely we are to Digivolve."
"What do you mean, 'maybe'?" Hana asked. "Aren't you supposed to know this stuff?"
"We don't know much about interactions with humans," Renamon admitted. "It hasn't happened for a long time. We remember that humans can help us Digivolve, that we become stronger with a partner, and that your Digivces are key in all of this. But other than that, there isn't much information available anymore."
"Well, that's better than going into this blind," Kiira commented. "At least we've got some information."
"I guess we'd better keep an eye out for more Viruses," Yumi suggested. "At least in these connection tunnels, they can drop in anywhere." She looked up to the ceiling, where the two BlackGuilmon had dropped in on them from.
"As long as we keep a careful eye out, I'm sure we'll be fine," Labramon assured her.
"I hope so..." Hana whispered. "I really hope so..."
Next time:
Miyuki: What the hell? Who are you?
?: I am someone who needs your help.
Miyuki: My help?
?: Yes, come with me.
Shurimon: You are welcome to stay as long as you like if you need to regain your strength.
Yumi: I think I heard something.
Labramon: Shurimon took Yumi!
Uh, yeah... considering it's been about a long time since I wrote my last Digimon story, my battle scene skills may be a little rusty. And I know the preview might be a little longer than most, but I didn't want it to be too obscure. After all, you're probably already wondering 'who the hell is Miyuki'? Well, obviously that will be answered next time. (And she only takes up about half the episode, so... I needed to put in some info about the rest of the episode)
Also, I tried to come up with different 'types' of geniuses. Hence, the mathematician, hacker and translator. If their knowledge sometimes seems unrealistic, I'm sorry. Also, for Kiira's translations, I fully admit to using google translate, so I know that a lot won't be grammatically correct. People whose native languages I translate to, don't hate me! Also, I believe Yumi's computer knowledge will be mostly accurate, since I took a few computer courses in high school and attempted to major in computer services, but my info may not always be completely accurate. Please forgive me on that, as well.
AND to those of you who have read Digimon Academy, I'm turning it into an audio story to post on YouTube. But I need voices. Either leave me a review or PM me if you're interested (I mainly need male roles. I've filled about six or seven already).
Alright, now that that's over, I'll see you next week~