Keys tapped, monitors flashed, beeps and voices sounded in every which direction. Watching from the sidelines of greatest, and most confusing, show on earth; Yamaki smiled.
"It's been six months since the digimon left this world, since the destruction of the D-Reaper..."
Flashes of destruction and mayhem passed through the mature blonds cerebrum, resurrecting the emotions of the time. The panic, fear, desire to help, the guilt...the thrill!
"...it's strange to think the work here is going to take us back there; to the digital world."
Yamaki became consumed in his own thoughts, an idea so deep and complex, he didn't notice the technician beside him attempting to gain his attention.
"Sir? Sir? Sir...is there a problem?"
"Hm? No, no problem. Progress report?!" He commanded, trying to regain his authoritarian appearance.
"We should be ready for stage one testing soon, Sir. And you have a visitor."
Yamaki followed his eyes to meet those of the short boy behind the technician , who he'd missed on first inspection.
"Takoto! Glade you could make it, I'd thought you want to see what we'd achieved." Yamaki smiled happily, leading him away around the dome shaped room.
"Thanks, though I really don't get much of it, Henry would have enjoyed it more." The kid giggled, but the adult remained unphased.
"He's already here. He and Mr. Wong are down stairs making the final preparations for the system tests. I believe Rika was with them."
Takoto sighed "Always the last one to the party." His voice was mumbled and low, but didn't his Yamaki's ear.
"Don't worry, it's only just beginning" He retorted with a sly smile.
Almost on queue , Rika, Henry and his Dad appeared from a dark grey elevator. Henry and Mr. Wong appeared unphased by the room before them, where as Rika struggled to hold back the shock of the place before her.
"Rika! Henry!" Takoto greeted cheerily, almost of if he hadn't seen them for months.
"Well look at that, goggle-less head finally showed up." Rika joked, though Takoto took it a little to heart, remembering how his tamer days had passed.
"Sir! We're ready on your order." A voice sounded, breaking the reunion.
"Lets get this show on the road..." Yamaki smiled to the group, before reversing his personality, "...Initiate Eirene - stage 1!" Yamki cried, and with that order came a flurry of computer activity.
Mr. Wong stood impressed at the creation before him. "Stage one is designed to scan the network, isolate the digital world, and create a map, locating all digital life forms. In doing this, we can find a save place for entrance into the digital world." Henry's Dad stood proud at the idea, though it was only partly his own.
"Eirene stage one at 60 percent." Riley's voice sounded from the towering structure above them, everyone but Yamaki looked up to meet the voice. He simply smiled, clicking open and shut the lid of his lighter.
Above the tamers heads, red dots and symbols began to appear, the results of the digital scan. Takoto stood astounded , before asking Yamaki in small voice; "Is one of those dots...Gulimon?" A small smile escaped his lips at the mention of the digimon's name.
"Yes, one of..." The genius was interrupted.
"Sir, I think we've detected an anomaly in the programme." Tally, the second Hypnos operator stated with concern.
"How do you mean?" Yamaki quizzed, immediately clicking his lighter firmly shut.
"We're detecting an abnormal digital signal which Eirene can't process..."
Riley started, before Tally cut in. "The signature is not consistent with a digital life form. In fact..." Tally hesitated, continuing to type away at keys.
"In fact what?!" The ever impatient Yamaki snapped.
"I believe the life form to be a person Sir." Her voice was blunt and flat. Riley spoke up in a more up beat tone.
"I've compared the data signature to that of the tamers we recorded while they were in the digital world. There's no doubt about it; that life form is human."
They all looked up at the dome screens above, in ore of the green flashing circle pinpointing the human in the digital world.
The greatest show on earth was quickly becoming a race against the clock, an extension of some ones living nightmare - or at least that's how they saw it.
"How can a human have accessed the digital world? Juganort was disabled six months ago, removed from the Hypnos system entirely . How did someone access it?" Yamaki muttered bitterly.
"Could Hypnos of been hacked?" Henry asked, meeting stern eyes from y people, as if to be stupid enough to even suggest such an idea.
"Maybe they access the digital world another way..." Rika thought out loud.
"The digi-portal!" Takoto exlamated, in a voice a little too loud.
Rika slapped the back of his head, "Did you lose your brain with those goggles?! That portal was sealed off."
"Yes, it was..." Yamaki slipped off his shades and rubbed the spot where they once rested. "...But only when Takoto discovered it again; that was around three months after the digimon returned. It's possible it could have been open the whole time."
"That gives us a good time frame to work with..."
"Riley! Tally! I want a list of all missing persons recorded in that time frame." The two were now down from the control tower and hunched over computers, fingers clicking, eyes darting.
"Remember only children can enter through a digital portal..." Wong started before Yamaki gave the command, "Narrow the search. Under 16's who went missing between the digimon's return and when the portal was discovered, who lived in the west Shinjuku district."
"Rodger!" The pair voiced in sync.
"One match. Yasmin Cox. 15. Disappearance around three months ago, just before the area in west Shinjuku park was sealed off." Riley dictated from the screen.
"There have been no sighting since her disappearance. Is it really possible she stumbled into the digital world?" Tally asked sceptically.
"I'm positive. It's the only a child could have entered the digital."
They all looked at each other, each having the same thought, each wondering whether or not to even suggest the idea.
"Shall we?" Takoto asked finally.
"Can we?" Henry looked round to his Dad, who looked over to Yamaki.
"Eirene hasn't been fully tested yet. We're sure of the principles, but we can't guarantee it's safe; not just in the journey, but while you're there."
"You were able to access the entire digital world and locate every digital life form, no? Then surly we can locate our digimon with out digivices?"
The adults shared a silent look, one which no child could understand, before turning back to look past the children.
"Initiate Eirene!" Yamaki cried, before slipping his sunglasses back over his eye and muttering smugly, "We're going digital!"
