Unmei Force: Encoded Memory (Arc 2.5)
Chapter 1: The Hacker Group, Hudie!
In the Hudie Internet Cafe...
Richard and Keisuke walk towards the entrance of the internet shop, where they met Ryuji, who was waiting by leaning on the wall nearby, as he turned to see the new hacker duo, before he is then surprised by Richard's appearance.
"That's strange. I didn't see you in any of the booths in the internet cafe." Ryuji said. "Where did you come from, Richard?"
"I'm not sure that I can explain it now, Ryuji. Because not even I have a clue as to how I got here all the sudden, much like how I had no idea how I got here." Richard sighed. "Just pay it no mind. I'll try to figure things out in a while. But we still have that meeting of the members in 'you-know-where'."
"Ah, you are right. Both of you wait in Erika's room. I'll go fetch Chitose." Ryuji said, as he got up, and walked into the corridors of the small mall that the internet cafe was located in.
"Hm... I suppose we should do what Mishima-san said." Keisuke said. "Come on, I think I remember where her room is."
He then guides Richard towards the VIP door in the small room, as they enter it, and find themselves in a long and narrow room, with a clothing hook and a umbrella vertical of each other, as the room had a few cushions and pillows, as Gus was sitting on one of them with a worried expression, before he then noticed Richard and Keisuke. The other occupant, which was a female girl with long flowing black hair and the trademark blue Hudie jacket they seen on Ryuji's waist, however, did not seem to notice them, as she was surrounded by plushs and soft toys in her nearby cabinet, and was operating a large computer with multiple screens. She was typing on a small seal-like plush, with its belly up, as it had a keyboard integrated inside of it, and there was a white gecko-like toy on her left shoulder.
"Richard?" Gus asked, as he was surprised about something.
"Gus? So that's where you have been! What the hell did you do in here?" Richard asked with a annoyed huff.
"Richard! I.. Things were quite hectic for a while. When I met Erika here... I was being assaulted by her with that keyboard plush of hers!" Gus cried. "It took her quite a lot of talking to calm her down, before she decided that she couldn't be bothering hitting me anymore..."
Erika then turned around, as her yellow eyes seemed to be quite annoyed. "Shut up, will you? I've got important business to deal with, before I continue your punishment, you sneaky intruder-"
Erika then noticed Richard and Keisuke, as she stopped typing on her seal plush keyboard, as she was surprised.
"U-Um..." Keisuke said. "Are you Erika?"
Erika growls, before she then stands up suddenly, as she stomped towards the pair, revealing the yellow blouse she left exposed in her open jacket, as well as the small fuzzy white slippers on her feet.
"Who the...!?" Erika hissed, as she lifted her seal-plush keyboard with both of her hands like a bat, as Keisuke and Richard took a step back, worried about what Erika was about to do to them. "How dare you enter my room without my permission!"
She then immediately swung the plush down fiercely on the two of them, as Richard was forced to use his arms to block any attempts made for his head, only to be hit in the gut several times over, while Keisuke was unable to defend at all from the brutal onslaught of blows.
"Stop! Mishima-san told us to come here!" Keisuke cried out. "We didn't mean to come in without permission, but your brother let us go in!"
Erika then stopped, as she looked at Richard and Keisuke with suspicious yellow eyes, before sighing. "Huh? My big brother told you to come?"
"Y-Yes. He did." Richard answered back, coughing a few times to get rid of the shock of being hit in the stomach so many times over.
"Well, that doesn't mean you can waltz into here without knocking, you dummies!" Erika roared, as she continued her attack, as Keisuke tried to cover his head.
However, in the midst of her wild and furious swinging, Erika hit her plush keyboard on one of the walls, resulting in a loud crack, as Erika became shocked, stopping her swinging, as she looked at the seal plush that was her keyboard, as she seemed to be filled with guilt.
"Aaaah! Memetan! My Memetan is hurt!" Erika cried, as she clutched her 'Memetan' plush keyboard in her arms.
"Meme...tan?" Keisuke asked, as he got out of his defensive posture.
"Memetan is this stuffed animal here. It's my input device for my user interface..." Erika explained, before she then cuddled the small lizard plush on her shoulder. "And, and this here on my shoulder is Toto, my output device. And those slippers are memory..."
She then began to hold 'Memetan' harder, as tears began to form on her eyes. "Memetan.. Oh my sweet Memetan..." She sobbed, as she sniffed gently.
"It was a surprise that she didn't break it when she slammed it on me for so long... Perhaps I might have contributed to the damage." Gus said, before he then got up. "Look, I'm sorry. I'll try and help to fix it, okay? You've got so many other 'friends' with you. They'll keep you in company while Memetan recovers, alright? So please, don't cry..."
Erika merely remained silent, as she looked down at Memetan in mourning.
"Sorry for the wait." Ryuji replied, as he came in through the door, with someone else with him. The new figure was a slender Japanese man with wavy golden hair that covered one of his eyes, as he wore his Hudie coat by the collar, as the rest was left flapping behind him like a cape, with a black and white long-sleeved coat on his body, as well as black jeans and white sneakers on his feet.
"Hey, good job out there! Sounds like you have a rough time of it." The newcomer spoke in a friendly and warm tone, before he notices the downcast Erika. "Huh? What's with the little lady's living statue routine?"
"He seems to be quite upset about hitting her Memetan against the wall, when she tried to punish my friend and his companion here." Gus informed the blonde.
"Aw, don't tell me that's what's taken the wind out of your sails, Erika. Here, let me have a look." The blonde spoke, before turning to Richard and Gus. "And I haven't learnt about you two yet. You, however, I know, because you were the one who took down Shiga's Golemon with a newly-bonded BlackAgumon and a lot of HP Capsule Cs. About you, however, I have no clue who you are."
"Ah, let me explain." Richard answered back. "My name is Richard Lin. It's a pleasure to meet you, sir. The friend you're referring to is Gus Willshire, who is my foreigner pal. He's a fluent Japanese speaker and understander, so don't be worried about the language barrier between the locals and him. Besides, since I'm going to be a hacker of Hudie with your new rookie Keisuke, I wanted to greet my new superiors."
"Uh, it's a pleasure to meet you as well..." Gus added, with a apologetic bow. "I ended up here by accident, and I don't think I can explain it in words, but if we wait until your friend Erika recovers from her melancholic state, she can testify my sudden appearance here."
"It's no problem. I'm in no rush to get your stories straight." The friendly guy answered back, before he took Memetan, unzipping the belly zipper, exposing its electronic components, before he then examined it closely with a few curious hums, before he closed the plush's zipper with a smile. "There's barely even a scratch on it! It'll get fixed up in no time flat! Cheer up, little lady!"
"...No way, Memetan's my best friend, and I let her get hurt..." Erika moaned. "The pain in her heart will never heal."
"It's your fault for swinging her around like that, Erika." Ryuji scolded his younger sister with a stern tone. "I'm the one who told Keisuke and Richard to come to your room. It's my fault for not telling you. So go on, apologise to them."
"...Will you get me that new PC that I wanted? The one you said 'no' to before?" Erika asked in a quiet voice.
Ryuji only facepalmed at his sister's attempt to try and divert the subject, as Richard was barely stifling a laugh.
"Fine, I'll buy it." Ryuji sighed. "But apologise to them first."
Erika then smiled, as she then turned to Richard and Keisuke. "Sorry for hitting you like that, Keisuke and Richard. But it's still your fault for being so rude in the first place." She spoke in a sweet tone. "And as for you..."
Erika then walked over to Gus, before she then backhanded Gus right in the balls, as the brown-haired magician was left with a expression of pure agony, as he fell to the ground in a fetus position, clutching where the critical blow hit him, as Richard let out a sympathetic hiss, as Keisuke was shocked at Erika's brutal action, while the blonde was left with a open jaw at the audacity of Erika, while Ryuji was even surprised as well at his sister's final action before she returned to work, sitting down and typing on her Memetan.
"Before you ask, he deserved it." Erika spoke, not taking her eyes off the monitor. "He acted like a total creep, and his words were merely making me feel more nervous. And I did say that I wasn't done with his punishment, but I don't want to hurt Memetan further, so... I went for the most drastic and short measure to save myself some time."
Richard then looked down at Gus with a appalled expression.
"Gus, how could you?" Richard asked in a betrayed tone. "Words means nothing if your body movements suggest another to someone who is as sensitive as her!"
"Duly... noted... Arrgh..." Gus groaned in pain, as he took the moment to recover from the crippling strike he was dealt.
"Well, look at that smile... That's big bro to you... Ehehehe..." The blonde Hudie member spoke with a awkward tone, before regaining his composure from what just happened. "Although, you act more like her dad than her brother. Pfft, kinda lame when you think about it."
"Shut it. Erika, have you finished analysing Shiga's account?" Ryuji asked.
"Yeah, just about." Erika responded back,as the chime of a success access attempt was heard from her monitor. "The account is pulling up errors. That thing must have been some sort of bug."
"Uhhhh, I've never heard of a bug that eats accounts, have you?" The other Hudie member asked.
"Me neither. We'd better report this to ZAXON." Ryuji nodded, answering the question.
"Read my mind." The blonde threw his hands up in the air in mock cheer. "Still, this means the case from ZAXON is finished! Oh, and I forgot to ask, how did the newbie's test go?"
"Oh yeah, he passed." Ryuji nodded. "And Richard gets automatic pass, since he's got a Digimon partner powerful enough to take down a Champion in its Rookie form. He'll be helpful in providing force for our investigations in the near future."
"Really!? Double initiations?" The blonde spoke with surprise. "Good job, you two! Welcome to Hudie! We gotta do something to commemorate the occasion, since it's the first time it has happened in our team's history! Allow me to re-introduce myself. I'm Chitose Imai, welcome to you all. I've known Ryuji and the little lady, Erika, his sister, for ages now. I'm in charge of collecting data on this team. Was that Hummingbird I gave you before useful? Hit me up if you dig that stuff, I've got more malware like it! Next, we have the leader of the bunch..."
"Ryuji Mishima. And that's enough about me." Ryuji simply introduced himself.
"Erika... Erika Mishima." Erika replied back, as she is absorbed in her various hacking attempts.
"I think that you, Keisuke, are familiar know this already. But just for you, Richard and Gus, since you'll need to know our goal and purpose." Ryuji said. "Us 'Hudie' guys are a team of hackers contracted for work in EDEN."
"No case too big, no case too small!" Chitose added a witty remark. "From hacking to finding lost articles, we do it all. We take on private jobs, but our biggest client is ZAXON. I'm sure you heard of them, right?"
"Sort of. And I see where this is going..." Richard answered back.
"Sweet, glad you're at least aware of them, Richard." Chitose smiled.
"ZAXON doesn't forgive maligant hackers looking to troll EDEN. They think that hacking ability should be used to protect EDEN." Ryuji explains what ZAXON's ideals are, as Gus solemnly nods in agreement, despite some of his crippling pain still remaining, as he slowly gets up, mostly fine after taking a moment of rest to recover.
"The reason we take cases from ZAXON is somewhere in the same ballpark." Chitose continued, as he pulled out a hand, counting off the rules of the hacker group. "Hudie Code #1: Don't support evil deeds! We're allies of justice working at ZAXON's behest. Truth is, it's our job to stop anyone from running amok in EDEN! Now that you're both part of our group, you better not cause any trouble either, y'hear? And no provoking ZAXON. Remember, the customer's always right!"
"Can't say that either of them seems like the type to do that, Chitose." Ryuji frowned.
"Heh, yeah. That's for sure. This guy, Keisuke, dived into Kowloon in search for the hacker who stole his account. And this guy, Richard, stood up to Youji Shiga with a fresh BlackAgumon, just because he was worried about his new partner." Chitose agreed.
"I think that just covers it, don't you? They can learn the rest as things go." Ryuji concluded their meeting with the new members. "Speaking of which, do you wish to join us as well, considering that you've got no choice but to listen on the matters. And you're Richard's friend, so you can help him in his work."
"I'd do so, Mishima-san." Gus answered back with respect.
"Good. Chitose, Erika. One of you explain how 'boards' work for them." Ryuji said, as he walked to the door. "We'll go report to ZAXON after we are done."
Keisuke then sees Ryuji leave, as he then turns to Chitose. "Imai-san... Where did Ryuji go?" He asked politely.
"Where did he go? They didn't tell you?" Chitose replied back. "This net-cafe is a brother-sister operation. Ryuji's just inside, taking care of things."
"Whoa... That's quite neat." Gus answered back with awe.
"It's a source of income and our secret hideout. Two birds with one stone, right?" Chitose smirked. "The girl who works here aren't bad on the eyes, either. But I got dibs, so hands off! Anyway, I doubt Erika is going to help you two, considering the trouble of having to clarify things to two, no, three new people. So let me help. Come on now, follow me."
Keisuke merely looks at Erika for a moment, as he was pondering about how diligently Erika was working, before Richard then dragged him by the collar.
"Admire Erika in your free time, Keisuke." Richard spoke. "We've got more pressing matters to deal with."
Keisuke nodded, as Richard let go of him, and they continued to another booth, where Chitose was waiting inside for them, as Keisuke takes his seat, as Richard and Gus stand side-by-side.
"Welcome to Newbie Education 101, brought to you by yours truly!" Chitose said, with a mock stern tone. "Listen carefully, Mr Bit Part, because you're going to be the example for the others."
"Mr Bit Part?" Keisuke asked back in a confused manner.
"Huh? You don't get it?" Chitose asked. "That's weird... I mean, you and I are cool now, so I thought I'd give you a nickname to match that background-extra-nobody-special look of yours..."
"How about Spectre?" Richard suggested. "It's quite clever, considering that Keisuke might end up being a powerful guy who strikes from the midst of crowds and shadows, waiting to bring justice at the moment of weakness from the criminals!"
"Why, you're getting a favour from me for doing such a monumental thing for me!" Chitose whooped. "Back on topic. I don't think I need to explain this one to you. This may look like your run-of-the-mill computer, but this is the login terminal of this shop. You just need to do a little trick here..."
Chitose then walked over, as he placed a black USB with blue butterfly symbols all around it, as he then typed a few keys in, as the innocent-looking shop site, with a cute butterfly mascot on top, immediately gave way in a flash of pixels, for the Hudie terminal, which the background was a urban wall with graffiti and a more naughty-faced version of the shop mascot seen peeking from the pile of graffiti, before a board of threads appeared on the screen.
"These are Bulletin Boards. The site you see on the screen now belongs to Hudie. Cases for the team are registered on it, up to our page." Chitose explained the board to Keisuke. "All kinds of people write on this board, but it's up to us to decide which cases to take. Any of us can take a case. Run it solo, or team up with someone, it's no problem. Still, for the real tough ones, being in a team is a recommended choice. And then it's up to the leader whether we take it or not."
He then pointed to a few threads with a certain common point. "Dunno where they come from, but sometimes Ryuji brings us jobs from somewhere outside the board. I know it's tooting my own horn, but we're good at what we do. Plenty of variety in the cases, too! Cracking prevention, firewall construction, tracking down back hackers, the list goes on and on. You're all lucky to be picked by Ryuji. There's no better place to be if you're trying to track down a hacker. Who knows, Keisuke, you might even get a lead on the criminal you're after just by taking one of our cases here at Hudie."
"Then what brings you here, Imai-san?" Keisuke asked back.
"Well, I got my reasons. Polishing my hacking skills, for one." Chitose answered back with a simple answer.
"No, really, what else? What makes you the unique woman-lover in this group?" Gus asked.
"Hmph. If I had to say... bringing happiness to all the women of the world. How's that for a reason?" Chitose answered again, a little annoyed at being prodded for the particular reason. To tell you the truth, I became a hacker like this because I couldn't refuse a certain girl! Heh!"
"I see..." Keisuke answered back. "Well, that's quite nice."
"Why, thank you, Keisuke. It's quite nice you're not making this more awkward for me." Chitose thanked the young hacker. "Go and have a look at the cases we set for you. While you do, I'll go with Ryuji to report to ZAXON. And don't worry, these are all easy ones."
Chitose then left, as Keisuke browsed the small handful of requests that he was tasked with trying.
"Nakano and Ikebukuro..." Keisuke answered back. "I don't think you guys will be fit to do all of this. Could you both wait here?"
"Sure, Keisuke. But mind if I borrow that visor of yours?" Richard asked. "I need to try something."
Keisuke hesistated for a moment, before he then handed the EDEN visor to Richard.
"Alright. I have my credentials on it, so you can access it. Just remember that you're going to be using my avatar, so be careful on what you do, okay?" Kensuke answered back. "And I won't be for too long, so don't wander too far in EDEN."
"Duly noted." Richard said, as Kensuke and Richard swapped their positions in the chair, as Keisuke immediately left through the cafe's door, while Richard sat down, sliding the EDEN visor on his head.
'Welcome back, Keisuke Amazama, to EDEN. How may I help you?' The visor's voice rang into Richard's ears.
"Log me in, please." Richard answered back, as the visor turned red and white, as Richard's mind was transferred to EDEN, with Keisuke's avatar, as Gus suddenly disappeared from the world, without Richard or anyone noticing the sudden disappearance.
In the EDEN Entrance...
Richard, in Keisuke's avatar, landed in the massive community area, which was filled with various kinds of people, as there were white building around, as well a large skyscraper in front of them.
"So I can access EDEN in place of Keisuke... Check." Richard answered back. "Now, for that theory..."
Richard then looked to his back, then to his side, before he saw that Gus was on his right side, bewildered how he appeared with Richard, despite not having a EDEN visor with Richard, which caused the avatar to smile.
"Yep, it's a fact now... We're player two to Keisuke when he dives in EDEN." Richard smirked. "This just made things a little interesting..."