GJTProductions Presents...
DDLA EPISODE #3: BUG SPRAY!
Part 1: Reports and Suspicions
Location: Odaiba University, Backstage in the Theater Department...
Date and Time: Thursday February 26th, 2004 - 7:00 pm...
Inside a room filled with props and cloth, three college students were examining a half-finished costume and talking amongst themselves about what it represented: a chance for the public to begin to grasp what Digimon was truly about. Through an open door, voices could be heard approaching, and one of the students, Jim Kido, turned to listen...
"Are you sure this is the right way, Izzy?"
"Don't blame me, this whole place is a confusing mess!"
"T.K., I'm tired! Can we go home yet?"
"Afraid not, we still have to check in with Jim."
"Sheesh, you'd think they would have something that made more sense..."
"I certainly would never do things the way they've done it."
Shortly after this last line was spoken, a befuddled and tired group of DigiDestined stumbled into the room. This group consisted of Izzy, T.K., Kari and Ken, organized as the DDLA. As part of the campaign lead by Jim to promote Digimon in the college, they and the other DigiDestined members had made various presentations over the course of the week, to the not-unexpected mixed results.
"Long day?" Jim said with a smile at the weary faces of the DDLA members.
"More hecklers, just like every other day this week! Won't they ever stop?!" T.K. exclaimed in exasperation. "I hope you have some good news."
"Sure yeah, but it took you a while to get here. I was beginning to worry something had happened."
"This whole place is a crazy maze! It took us three tries to find the right route to this room!" Ken complained, looking over at Izzy, who at the moment was puzzling over a fold-out map of the college, at least once turning it around for a different orientation.
"I'm afraid it comes with the territory. The leadership turns over quickly, so building projects get plunked at the first site they find free without concerning much about organization. I've been getting turned around too, and considering the fact that were isolated by four walls with gates, I can understand your frustration..."
"All right, we get your point. So what's the news today?" T.K. asked of Jim.
"Well, the play development is coming along nicely. We've got the costume producers working on their first designs for the costumes." Jim answered. He pointed to a rough but impressive costume, mostly in white and purple, before continuing: "This is their rough design for the Gatomon lead costume. As you can see, the design is only half-finished, and the elements for thedramatic change at the end have yet to be implemented..."
"Wait, as in a kabuki play?" Izzy asked.
"Yeah, we're also using the flower path concept and the makeup styles, as well as some of the mechanical tricks, but everything else is like a Western play. Don't worry, it'll be great once all the details are ironed out!" Jim answered to a clearly skeptical audience.
"Well, at least Gatomon's curious!" Kari added with a laugh, pointing to a curious Gatomon staring up at the half-finished design. The smiles that resulted only lasted a moment, though, because of the somber mood that seemed to saturate the air despite the optimism.
"What other news, Jim?" T.K. asked.
Jim's face fell. "Unfortunately, I just gave you the only good piece of news I have. You already know the way the campus has been divided by your presentations." he said, holding up a copy of the college newspaper with the front-page headline blaring "Campus Divided Over 'Digital Monsters'".
"It's gotten worse, I'm afraid." he continued, pointing to a pair of posters he had laying on a table. One of them had been defaced, red and black spray paint all over the cute Digimon pictures the poster had displayed in advertising their efforts, the other scattered with question marks and accusations of conspiracy.
"Oh man, all that good photography and someone just spray painted all over it! Who would want to do that?" Kari asked.
"This isn't the only poster I found like this. It's the Anarchists for sure, they're always looking for attention!" Jim proclaimed, eyebrows knitted in frustration.
"Anarchists?" Ken asked.
"Yes, we have a group of those here. Ne'er-do-wells with too much time and money on their hands. If the President could get rid of them, he would, but there have been tries before and they've all been blocked." Jim explained.
"Sounds awful." T.K. commented.
"If only it were the end of it." Jim responded, passing by the observing fellow college students to a computer terminal nearby. He brought up a simple webpage detailing their presentation schedule and more about them, which showed the same kind of defacement as the poster had.
"Izzy, didn't you work on that webpage on an overnight effort?" Tentomon asked after seeing the defaced web page.
"Yes, I did. I can't believe the nerve of those no-gooders!" Izzy answered with an understandable righteous indignation.
"What concerns me more is how they managed to pull that hack off. Surely they don't have that kind of competence?" Ken asked.
"I checked out all the members of the college's computer club already. None of them have touched the page, and I don't think any of the anarchists would know how to do such a hack job..." Jim concluded.
"Don't underestimate men – or mon – who have wholeheartedly devoted themselves to a cause. What about the second poster?" Izzy commented.
"Well, it was put up earlier today, about some kind of seminar tomorrow. To be honest, I don't like it one little bit. It's hosted by someone named Prof. Gawaze Urey, and you can see all the kook theories it's bantering about."
"I agree. This smells of something, but what I can't say. And that professor's name strikes me as familiar for some reason..." Ken commented.
"Prof. Harold Urey supervised an experiment about 50 years ago, the first synthesis of amino acids from inorganic compounds. It was really big news back then; it's obvious our professor knows how to draw in the biology majors, who would otherwise be the most interested." Izzy explained.
"Well then we need to spy on him, figure out what exactly he's up to." Kari suggested.
"All right, and we'll also have to figure out how that website got hacked. Who is in charge of the computer equipment on the campus?" Izzy asked of Jim
"That would be Prof. Deitsu of the Computer Science Dept.; he's the one in control of the on-campus networks. You should ask him." Jim answered.
"All right, so we'll have to split up the group for the investigations here." T.K. affirmed.
"But you'll have to come back tomorrow. No one's available to interview this late at night." Jim cautioned the group.
"What about them, though? Is it all right for them to be listening to this?" Kari asked, pointing to the other two college students that Jim had been talking to when the group arrived. One was clearly American: close-cut red hair and bright green eyes on a freckled Caucasian face, T-shirt and jeans for clothing. A crucifix dangled from his neck, and he was observing the Digimon with intense curiosity. The other had brown skin and dark-brown hair with deep-set grey-blue eyes, a small white cap on his head and his clothing consisting of what looked like a long and colorful shirt and loose pants pulled up by drawstring; this student was also studying the Digimon, though he looked more in contemplation rather than analysis.
Jim took one look over at his fellow college students and slapped his forehead with his right hand. "Stupid me, where are my manners? Come on over guys, you can shake hands or something." Jim said to the group, who followed him to where the surprised pair were standing.
He looked at his fellow students sheepishly. "Sorry, I forgot you two were still around. This is part of the Digimon group I've been telling you about." he explained. The two students nodded as a way of showing they understood.
Jim then turned to the Digidestined group and said to them "These guys are actually helping out with the campaign here. The red-head is Christopher, he heads the Christian Club here at the university. The other one is Ali, head of the Muslim Club. Both of these clubs understand what it's like to be misunderstood and be treated suspiciously, so they pitched in with money donations and manpower."
With this said, handshakes between the Digidestined group humans (but not Digimon) and the two students occurred, Christopher answering questions willingly but haltingly and Ali using only gestures for answering. When Izzy asked about this, Jim explained that neither of them understood Japanese very well; it was a second language to Christopher, who was born to American military parents in Okinawa, and Ali, who was born and raised in Pakistan as far as Jim knew, could barely understand Japanese at all. "We all use English to communicate between ourselves, because we all understand it to at least some degree. Plus, we can learn from each other." Jim concluded.
"All right, well I'm glad we at least have friends here. What's next?" T.K. asked.
"I'll print up some more flyers and get to work on restoring the website. Tomorrow, the rest of you spread out around campus and see what's going on. I sense something of a conspiracy, but I can't be sure of anything." Jim answered.
"If there is a conspiracy, we need to find it and reveal it before it does something horrible to us and to this university. We already know you have enemies who would want to wreck this place if they could, we must not let that happen." Izzy affirmed.
"Good. Now, let us all go and prepare for the events of tomorrow!" Jim said with a hopeful tone. Within a few minutes, all had left except Ali, still apparently in contemplative thought alone in the room.
After about 20 minutes just sitting and thinking in semi-darkness, Ali finally broke the silence by talking to himself: "It's no use arguing with myself. I must make my report."
He moved the chair to in front of the computer and opened up a browser window. Then he typed in the website for a private chatroom and entered the password when prompted. Another smaller window appeared in the middle of the screen, with this displayed in the top of the window:
Welcome user Aladdin to Private Chatroom! You are conversing with users: Chessmaster, CompMan, ProfU
The subsequent chatroom conversation went like this, with Ali posting as Aladdin:
Chessmaster: I am glad you are finally here. We have been waiting for your report.
Aladdin: I'm sorry, they kept me waiting longer than I thought.
Chessmaster: Never mind that. We all want to know if our wishes have been granted.
Aladdin: As you requested, they are completely clueless. They still think the Anarchists are doing it.
Chessmaster: Excellent, all is according to plan then!
CompMan: The connection is still secure, should Aladdin and I do another crack?
Chessmaster: I do not feel that is necessary for the moment. ProfU, are you ready for tomorrow?
ProfU: Yes, sir! I have finished that speech you requested. All should be ready.
Chessmaster: Good man. You will receive what has been promised if you succeed in your objective.
CompMan: But what about those kids? They're more likely than not still want to snoop around!
Chessmaster: That is the most pressing concern at the moment. Obstruction and confusion must be maintained on all sides for the plan to succeed. Is this understood?
Aladdin: Yes sir.
CompMan: Understood.
ProfU: Acknowledged.
Chessmaster: I am glad we understand each other. Prep 1 is now complete, and Prep 2 is set to begin tomorrow evening after the lecture.
CompMan: Must it be so soon? They may already suspect something, and moving too fast will reinforce their suspicions.
Chessmaster: The kids are forcing my hand. If Operation Bugspray is not implemented before they do their big spectacle, all could be lost. That is why the time to act is now!
ProfU: Can't the security men keep them out?!? What if they crash my lecture?
Chessmaster: Playing that card now would likely lead to failure. The responsibility for stopping the investigations and driving those Digimon kids off the campus is with you. DO NOT FAIL ME!
Aladdin: Yes sir!
CompMan: I promise we will not fail.
ProfU: You can count on my oratory skills and logic.
Chessmaster: Then go forth and wipe out those enemies that have been denying me what is rightfully mine! LONG LIVE THE ANKOKUWAS!
Aladdin: Long live the Ankokuwas!
CompMan: Hail to the Ankokuwas!
ProfU: May all dreams be realized!
Ali logged out of the chatroom, closed the web browser and shut down the computer. He returned the chair to where he had got it from and began turning off all the room lights. Just before locking the door out and leaving, he looked back toward the turned off computer and gave it a weary, tired look. He closed the door, leaving the room in dark silence...
There is an obvious conspiracy against the Digidestined's efforts at the college, but who is behind it and why are they doing it? And, what is Ali's role in this conspiracy? Stay tuned for Part 2, "Investigations"!