Beta-Testing the Demon Summoning Program

by Ysavvryl

Being the first tester of a revolutionary program has its benefits: you get updates sooner than others and have a connection to the mysterious super genius behind it. But it also has its drawbacks: you're often the first to experience glitches, poor controls, and awful design choices. Novelization of SMT I.

3. Emergency Measures

Chapter 3: Emergency Measures

Yuka hadn't replied by the time he got back home. "Hey Mom, the trains aren't running today," he called. "Yuka's not going to be able to make it."

"Oh, that's terrible," she said, setting something down in the kitchen. "Is she all right?"

"I don't know, I haven't heard from her today," he said. There was an envelope on the table, something addressed to him but not stamped. "What's this?"

"Someone just delivered that, said to make sure it got to you," his mother said, coming out of the kitchen. "I think it's from the school, they had one of the academy blazers on."

"I wasn't expecting anything," he said, opening it up.

There were two things inside: a matchbox for a bar called Deja Blue and a small note. 'Kaz, things are changing far more rapidly than we anticipated. I'm sorry, but I have to go into hiding. I have a hunch, though, or maybe I just expect you to come looking for me when I'm in trouble. Keep this matchbox and if you get the chance, show it to the bartender in that bar in Shinjuku's underground mall. The staff working there will be able to direct you to me. Please be careful; what's happening is like nothing humanity has ever experienced before. I just wish it could have come later, once we were married and I had the chance to tell you everything. Love, Yuka.'

"It's from Yuka, actually," Kazuya said, stunned at the note. "What's going on with her? Something is wrong."

"What's happened?" his mother said, coming over and putting an arm around him.

"Sounds like she's somewhere in Shinjuku." At least the chief's orders would let him check in on her and still be on assignment. "And, I got special orders from the chief today. She wants me to start checking out how things are across the city; I can't tell you everything, but it has to do with the demons. While that does give good reason to go to Shinjuku, there's no telling when I'll be able to come back home. Sorry, Mom."

"It's okay, dear, I can take care of myself for a while," she said warmly, smiling at him although she was also upset on hearing Yuka was in trouble too. "Why don't you take Pascal with you? He should help, at least with keeping you safe." Pascal barked at this.

"Shouldn't he stay here with you?" he asked. "There's demons in the world now. Even if you stay inside, it might not be safe."

"I know how to keep bad spirits out of a home," she said. "I'm sure I can lock down this place to their entry. But you're going out there where the demons are wandering. I've seen pictures and videos already, people are running into strange creatures everywhere in Japan. You should take him with you."

"Okay, but you better make sure to seal up this place well." He hugged her. "Thanks, Mom. I'll come back home with her safe when I can."

"Good, I know you will." She patted his back, then tugged at him. "At least stay around for lunch, and take some water for you both."

"All right." They had some sandwiches and soup, then she said goodbye to him while starting up her protection crafting. Those little oddities was invaluable now; Kazuya hoped they would work.

The militia guards were standing at every street crossing at the edge of their district; Kazuya had seen them there this whole time. He took Pascal over to the underground mall. The dog had the right kind of harness for the building codes. As long as he kept the leash short, they shouldn't bother him about having his dog along. And if he got in trouble, there was potentially the gaki and pixie he could call on.

He hadn't looked into the survivalist's store before now, but it seemed like a good place to look for gear. Today, the mall was much quieter than before. It was almost eerie. At his side, Pascal sniffed around, watchful. The dog didn't seem concerned yet. In the survivalist store, there were a group of older men chatting at the counter.

"I kept telling folks that something like this was bound to happen," the clerk behind the counter said. "That the world would change irrevocably. But they only believe me now when it's happened."

"It was obvious trouble was brewing when Gotou started making his moves to take over," one of the others said. "But I don't think anybody expected demons. I ran into some squeaky little flying things on the way here and they cut my arm with nothing more than a bit of wind."

There were a number of things that could have been, Kazuya thought. He'd run into a pixie, two different brownies, and a few ghosts just getting here. Pascal was being helpful, since he could scare some of them off with barking. And the gun was already being useful, since he was able to use that to defeat them when they didn't want to talk at all. The demon summoning program indicated that an Abyss Moon was strong and that would make it difficult to speak with them. It was predicted to start waning in a couple minutes, though.

He found an armored vest and leggings that looked like they were police-issue, at least to that standard. He was already used to wearing them from the drill sessions, although he wondered where the owner had gotten these. However, the weapons were kept locked up in a cabinet against the wall. No guns, although there were a number of knives and a pair of tonfa.

Knives had always seemed dangerous to fight with, but he did have some experience from high school with the tonfa. "Excuse me, could I see one of these?"

"Sure thing, young man," he said, getting a ring of keys from the counter. "You're in good time too. Before long, everyone's going to want protection."

Pascal wagged his tail then. "I've got my dog, but I don't want to leave everything to him," Kazuya said.

The shopkeeper smiled at that. "So what are you thinking of?"

"The tonfa, I know how to fight with them," he said. "Might be a little harder with my comp now, but this thing is tough as brick."

"Oh yeah, you've got one of the good models," one of the guys still at the counter said. "I heard that you can run them over with a fully loaded dump truck and they'll still run in some capacity."

He nodded. "Waterproof and shockproof too, and the temperature mods work great. You have to really try to break one of these."

The shopkeeper got out the tonfas as requested. "These are usually tough to break too, an old classic. You remember how to equip them?"

"Of course," he said, getting one on his right arm easily. But getting one on his left, where the comp was, took a bit more fussing to get secure. He held the grip and found it comfortable. "I just need to step over there to see how they swing, so I don't go breaking anything of yours."

"Sure, but stay behind the red tape there," the shopkeeper said. Kazuya did as asked and tried out some of the moves he recalled. "Those seem to be fit for you. Interested?"

"Sure, and I've got a card from the police chief for this and some body armor," he said, handing over the card for the shop. This was a big investment at this time, but defeating demons granted him some yen. Was it some kind of incentive from Steven, or were the demons really carrying money with them?

"Ah, so you're the one," he said, looking over the card. "There's a good discount in this deal and I can make sure you're outfitted with official gear. As you have a dog, I can get you an armored vest for him too." Once the deal was made, he added, "Take care of your gear and your dog now."

Kazuya nodded and slipped the armor pieces on. Although it had been a while since he'd served, Pascal cooperated with putting the vest on him. The tonfas could be set in his bag until he left the mall. Thankfully, nobody gave him a second glance for having padded armor on himself and his dog. A few of them were also wearing protective gear, just in case. He also decided to pick up some pain relievers and other first aid supplies. In these times especially, being prepared was better than not.

With that done, he headed out of the mall. He could tell from the racket down the street that a fight had broken out at the train station, perhaps a protest over the broken promise. He didn't like it, but also didn't want to make trouble for the time being. Instead, he headed back down to the shrine. It was after noon, so he should be able to speak to the monk again and see what that new shrine was about.

Nan was sitting outside the shrine. "Good timing, we could use some help," she said. "There's a demon causing trouble at the main shrine. The monk's locked the door, but it's causing such a racket. Would you care to help me drive it off?"

"Sure, I'll help," he said. He summoned out the gaki and pixie. "Come on, we've got something to take care of."

"Mmhmm, got it!" Pixie said cheerily.

"Good, gaki help," the gaki said, scrambling after the rest of them down the hedge-lined path.

Something about coming down here made things seem different. Perhaps this was in some other kind of realm, hidden until whatever changed in the world yesterday? It was like he wasn't in Tokyo anymore by the time he exited the hedges. The shrine back here was in much better shape than the one by the street. More importantly, there was a strange bristly boar that stomped its foot in front of the shut door. It rushed over to pound on the door with its head.

The door shuddered, so this was a creature of some sustainable strength. The demon summoning program indicated that it was a demon, a minor beast simply called a boar. As it was low in stance, he reached for his gun. "Okay, let's stop this thing."

"Yes, yes, gaki can!" It leapt forward and swiped at it, getting the demon boar's attention. It snorted and wheeled around to face them. Pascal barked and tried to intimidate it, but the boar stamped its foot down. It lowered its head and rushed at Kazuya with tusks that seemed to be bladed. In a flash, Pascal got in front of him and took the blow instead.

"Pascal!" Kazuya called in alarm as the dog yelped in pain. Kazuya fired at the boar, ignoring the brief ringing in his ear as he didn't have headphones on, just the headset. Nan slashed at the boar's side in a blurry motion of paws, cutting through the demon's sides worse than it had just gored Pascal. However, the boar still kept on its feet, snorting and starting to aim for Nan. Kazuya fired again, three more times, angered at what it had done. When it finally squealed on realizing it was dead, he almost felt a sense of relief.

However, Pascal was in really bad shape, bleeding badly in spite of his vest. He whined and looked up to him, not sure what to do. Pixie was trying to heal him, but something about the wound didn't work with her Dia. "Oops, this is too deep already."

"Pascal," Kazuya said, his throat tensing up. Would this kill him?

"Oo, I'm not sure he could be healed up like us," Nan said, lowering her ears.

The door opened then and the old monk was there. "Bring him in here," he said hurriedly. "There's something we can do to save him, but it must be done quick."

"Yes," Kazuya said, carefully picking up Pascal and trying not to hurt him more. The dog trembled in his arm; he was heavy but at that moment, Kazuya didn't notice.

He was led to a strange room, filled with devices plucked right out of a cheesy science fiction movie. There was a man there who quickly saw how bad things were. "This isn't standard procedure, but please put your dog in that circle," he said. "And, do you mind using your gaki to fix him up? It will heal the dog completely, make him stronger too."

What were they doing. But at the risk of losing Pascal, Kazuya didn't much care for how he got saved. "Uh, sure, you fine with that gaki?" he asked as he set Pascal down.

"Yes, yes, gaki knows gaki not strong," it said, creeping as quickly as it could with its weird gait towards a nearby circle. "Good master, kind master, help master. Yes, good."

"Thanks," he said. But then large glass tubes dropped down over the two circles. "What are you doing?"

The man who'd been here was hurriedly working with a keyboard, activating the whole device. Crackles and hisses came from all around the room. Pixie had gone over to watch the workings with eager curiosity. "This is a Heretic Mansion where demons are fused together," the old monk said. "I can normally heal wounds of others, but in an untouched animal like this dog, I cannot save him from such a grave wound."

His head was whirling, so he put his hand there. "Wait, fusing… you're fusing my dog with the gaki?"

"It's going to work out just fine," the person doing the fusing said.

"It's the only way to save him," the monk said, trying to comfort him.

This was so much to take in at once. The large glass tubes were filled up with strange liquid that dissolved both Pascal and the gaki. Was this really going to work? The circle in the center shifted, making strange characters racing around the edges. The liquid drained and descended as mist over the center circle. Moments later, something materialized in the mist. It wasn't a husky, nor was it a gaki.

It was a large three-headed dog with a serpent-like tail and white fur. "I am Cerebus, I am at your command," he said. Then his scaled tail waved like it was wagging. "Master, thank you."

"Pascal?" Kazuya asked, staring at him.

He came right over and nuzzled his hand. "I will keep protecting you, as is my duty."

It was still his dog, even if he was also Cerebus now. Kazuya smiled in relief. "Yes, thank you. And, thanks to you both. Although, I'm surprised you can do something like that."

"It's one of the services of this shrine," the old monk said. "I also provide healing to any who need it. Feel free to stop by anytime."

"I'm actually surprised by this too," the man running the fusion service said. "I figured he would come out as some form of canine, but I expected it'd be more like a normal breed, as he had been. He must be greatly loyal to you to become such a powerful demon from that. Good thing too, as a novice summoner would not be capable of controlling something like Cerebus so soon. But since he has the personality of your dog, you'll be fine as long as you can keep up the magnetite cost."

"How do I do that?" Kazuya asked, flipping open his comp to check. He still seemed to have a good stock, actually higher than yesterday. But Cerebus did have a far higher summoning and maintenance cost than gaki. "The program I'm using didn't explain magnetite much, other than it was a resource you needed."

"Does this program keep an average level of magnetite tracked?" the monk asked, in the way of someone clueless with computer technology.

"I'm not sure, but it's been within a hundred of the number here," Kazuya said, pointing out the MAG store. "Although I've only had the gaki and pixie so far, they don't take much."

He frowned at it a moment, then raised an eyebrow. "Well now, if this is about your average, you should be fine. Magnetite is a type of energy that humans produce out of emotions and demons consume to remain within our world. It varies from person to person how much magnetite they can actually produce, and it tends to grow as one summons demons and performs magic. You really do have good promise, as I suspected."

"So they eat emotions?" Kazuya wasn't sure if he should be disturbed by this or not.

"Not directly, it's difficult to explain without a lot of study," the old monk said. "It's like, the emotions are fire and magnetite is the heat it produces. As long as you keep your mind, body, and soul in good shape, you'll continually have that fire and be able to support the demons who work with you."

"I'll take that as an explanation for now," he said. "It's good to know that you're here, but I was mainly dropping by to check up from yesterday. I'm actually trying to find a way to leave the district and get to Shinjuku."

"If that's the case, you might try the Echo Telecommunications Building," the heretic mansion owner said. "I know that may sound strange, but they were working on a technology that could help you do just that. I did some work with them; they had some great people."

"Right now, all we have is this place and my healing station," the monk said. "Also, you may find the entrance to this place in other locations. We can only return you to where you entered, though. This shrine does not exist in the same way that the city you live in does."

"I had a feeling it was that," Kazuya said. "Thanks, I'll see about Echo then. And how about you Nan?"

She curled her tail on being acknowledged. "I thought I had things handled, but it appears I should call upon some other spirits to prevent a repeat of what just happened. I always knew it was my duty to look after my home shrine, so it's no bother to me to take up the duty of guarding the entrance to this place too."

"We're thankful for your assistance," the old monk said with a smile. "I should know a few spirits who would get along with you for that purpose."

"Excellent, I would like some minions of my own," Nan said.

"I'll leave you to that then," Kazuya said, smiling at them. "Come on Pascal."

"Yes, let's find Yuka," he said, wagging his tail again.

Since he had Cerebus and Pixie, Kazuya didn't think he needed other demons for now. Those that were in the streets here were a lot weaker than Pascal now. He did try to speak with a few to get the hang of what the program called negotiations. As long as he could guess what the demon's personality was like, he found it fairly easy to bargain them out of a battle. Some of them would even give gifts if they were impressed enough. Other pixies seemed happy to see another pixie with him and tended to be extra generous as long as he agreed to take good care of her.

The Echo building turned out to be part of the lockdown too. "Insert ID card," a message from a security box droned. "Insert ID card'.

"Maybe there's a side door or something," he said to himself. Or if it came down to it, a window to break. But he really didn't want to do that if there was a less violent way.

"Hold it!" someone called in an authoritative voice. It was some of the militia officers. While the one speaking to him didn't have a shield, the others were decked out in full riot gear. "You're Kazuya from the police academy, aren't you?"

"Yes, what's the problem?" he asked. Pascal moved into a position to defend him better.

"You're under arrest for treason and conspiring with insurgent forces," he said, bringing out a gun and aiming it at his head. "Come with us immediately."

Weren't they the insurgents? Pascal growled, but Kazuya nudged him to stop. In this case, he didn't want to pick a fight with the militia. Raising his hands, he said, "Okay, I'm sure the charges are false, but I'll cooperate."

"Good, we don't want more trouble. Call off your..." he hesitated, looking down at Pascal's tail. "Uh, dog, and fairy."

"Sorry, Pascal, we don't want trouble now," he said, moving and making sure the officer could keep his eyes on his hands while he recalled Pascal and Pixie.

"Be safe, be good," Pascal said, worried about him as he was called back. Kazuya didn't like this, but he felt like the officer would shoot if he tried to run or fight.

Strangely, they took him to the locked down hospital instead of the police station. Was this where the militia was basing themselves here? He was sat down in an exam room for immediate questioning; the usual medical equipment had been pushed against a wall. "We have uncovered that you are in contact with the leader of the most pernicious rebel group, a woman we know only as Yuka," the interrogation officer said.

Then that was real. But his Yuka being a rebel? It almost made sense as she'd always had an adventurous streak. When he was in middle school, she'd convinced him a few times to go explore places they weren't supposed to go. But she was usually law-abiding even back then. "May I speak with a lawyer?" Kazuya asked. "As my civil right."

"No," the officer said. "How are you connected to Yuka?"

"My fiance is named Yuka," he said. "But it's a common name, so I don't think we mean the same Yuka."

"Liar!" The officer punched him in the face. "We've been keeping a watch on these streets. We saw someone from the rebel group drop something off at your house. What was it?"

Although his nose was probably bleeding, Kazuya shook his head. "I want to speak with a lawyer before I say anything more. This is not proper police procedure, it's not legal." Which got him punched again, a few more times while he refused to cooperate. Still, he kept firm with not saying anything. Eventually, the interrogation officer gave up and sent him off to be locked up.

Was it really his Yuka that they were looking for?

As this was the hospital, he got taken to a patient's room that had newly installed prison bars across the door. There was someone else in the room too, a high school student wearing an unfamiliar blue and white uniform. He was crouched down on the floor with his head on his knees. As soon as Kazuya was pushed across the threshold, music entered his mind. It was strong this time, a melody he'd heard before. That was Law, so this was… the barred gate slammed shut behind him, but Kazuya waited for the officer to walk away before going to the student. "Allen?" he asked.

"Hmm?" He sounded half asleep and briefly tightened his grip on himself. Then he lifted his head, his eyes bleary. He blinked, then came alert immediately. "Huh, wait… Kazuya?"

He nodded. "Yes, I met you in my dream last night."

Allen rubbed his eyes. "Yeah, I remember that too. But..." he looked again and was soon on his feet. "Oh, you're hurt."

"They didn't like me keeping quiet," he said. "It's okay, I have some aspirin with me."

"Wait a moment, I..." he seemed unsure, then nodded with some internal decision. "I think I can do something for you, if I..." he placed his hands over Kazuya's eyes and mumbled to himself.

And his hand got a warm glow to it, one that soaked into the wounds and numbed the pain he felt. When Allen was done, Kazuya found that there was no blood left on his face. Even a stain that he'd gotten from carrying Pascal was nearly removed. "Wow, that's incredible," he said, rubbing his nose. Everything seemed just fine; it was more effective than Pixie's Dia even though it seemed like the same spell.

"Oh my goodness, this is real," Allen said, in shock himself as he put his hands over his face. "It's not a dream, this is all really happening! How could I...?"

"What happened?" Kazuya asked gently, trying to not be intimidating.

Allen dropped his hands, his eyes looking both awed and bewildered. "I was speaking with an angel just now. He said that I had been chosen to help people in this time of turmoil, when all of humanity is on trial. Healing, I didn't think someone like me could really do it. But you look just fine now, not even a bruise. Amazing, the angel, he really granted me powers."

"That's great, although I don't want to stick around," he said. "Will you help me if I break us out of here?"

"Oh, yes, please do," he said, remembering something important. "My girlfriend, Yuka, she's in trouble. She got captured with me but we were separated."

"Yuka?" He was worried for a moment, but the patch on his jacket confirmed that he was a high school student. "Oh, you mean, the Yuka who lives here? I think you're talking about my neighbor."

"Really? It might be." He pulled his wallet out of his jacket and flipped it open to a picture of him and his girlfriend. "That's us, before this blockade went up and I got stuck here."

"That's her," Kazuya said, flipping open his comp to bring up a picture of him and his Yuka. "Actually, I'm engaged to a woman named Yuka, so you threw me for a moment."

"Really? That's quite a coincidence." He looked at the picture and smiled. "You two must be really happy together if this picture's any indication."

"Yes, but we got separated in this blockade nonsense. I think she's in trouble and I mean to find her." He called Pascal back out, startling Allen. "Can you get rid of those bars, Pascal?"

"As I am now, yes," he said, going over to sniff them.

"Isn't that a demon?" Allen asked. "Oh wait, did you download that Demon Summoning Program that came out yesterday?"

Kazuya nodded. "Yes, it takes some getting used to, but I can understand and command demons with this. Although, you have to get them to listen in the first place."

After checking out the bars, Pascal backed up, readied his body, then slammed full force into the bars. In a normal prison, that might not have worked. But in this hastily set up prison, the bars crashed right to the ground. It was sure to attract attention, but they were out now and he was willing to fight.

"Stay back here since you can heal me," Kazuya said, taking out his gun. "I don't want you getting hurt because of that."

"Sure," Allen said, staying in place while Kazuya came out of the room.

He was on his own, so this called for particular measures. "Keep very alert, Pascal," Kazuya said, looking at the layout of the area. Other patient rooms were barred and locked. "If possible, try to keep your attention opposite mine, to limit blind spots."

"Yes master," Pascal said, keeping his tail still but ready to attack. "I can see all directions at once with my heads."

"What's going on here?" a man called, coming out of the office. Kazuya quickly turned his gun to him, getting the man, apparently a nurse, to raise his hands. "Whoa, h-hang on there..."

"I won't shoot unless you make me," Kazuya said firmly. "Do you have the keys to these cells?"

"Yes, but the director says..." the nurse said.

"Forget it, unlock these cells and let the people out," he said. At his side, Pascal growled. And true to his word, Pascal was shifting his gazes to keep an eye on the other halls.

"Okay, okay," he said, fumbling for his keycard. He had to swipe it in a security box and enter a password, but it got all the cells opened.

"What are you doing here, bringing arrested people to this hospital?" Kazuya asked.

"It was Doctor Manu's idea, when the militia were asking around about places to put troublemakers," the nurse said, nervous and very cooperative now that the situation was turned on him. People started to come out of the cells, uncertain. "Manu has always wanted to do experiments in bioengineering and mind control, but of course, our hospital won't let him. Once he had the muscle of the militia behind him, Manu was quick to take over the hospital and force us to work on his plan. He's even threatened to put us staff members into his operations if we don't cooperate, so sorry, but I really didn't want to be doing this."

"It's okay, I believe you," Kazuya said, making the nurse drop his shoulders in relief. "Everyone, stick around here until we're sure the area's safe!"

His badge was in his wallet, but they might have recognized his vest and gun as being that which a policeman would carry. Or it could be that he was taking charge in a situation like this. They carried out his orders without question, either staying in their rooms or sticking to the lobby area of this emergency care area.

"Then what's the situation like here?" he asked, looking back to the nurse.

"If the militia officers haven't shown up, they're out of the building," the nurse said. "They've got the front door and all exits locked, and have set things up so that we need to unlock the door to Manu's operations area on the third floor in order to access the locks to the exits. Um, the second floor is where he's keeping people that are in the process of his engineering, so they're potentially dangerous and unhinged, if they're still alive. And Manu's changed as well; I think he's done some of his experiments on himself. There's another area of outpatient rooms on this first floor where us staff members are locked up when we're not on duty, over in the annex."

Kazuya knew the layout of this place from visiting it often. He nodded. "Are there any extra security measures aside from the door locks?"

"There are demons that are being allowed loose on the second floor and above," the nurse said. "Manu says that they're disallowed on the first floor and basement where our supplies are stocked, but I don't know how true that is."

"I think we'll stand a better chance at defense in the annex since it's not connected to the upper floors," Kazuya said. "If this is everyone on the first floor, we should move there and free the rest of the staff members as well. Does anyone here have access to the demon summoning program?"

Silence answered him, although people were coming out.

Of course, most people would have found it suspicious. "Does anyone have a comp or smart phone that can use the program?" he asked. "It's not going to infect your devices, I've been using it to good effect. It'll let you talk the demons into not attacking if they get down here."

"Sure, I could do that," a man nearby said. A few others agreed, not including Allen.

"Let's move to the annex, you can start doing that there," Kazuya said. As he had his weapons, he moved ahead of them to lead the way, and check for demons or other obstacles. Pascal got sent back to watch their rear. He had to call the nurse forward to open the door into the annex, but there was no incident to moving everyone there. Some others were injured, but the medical staff and Allen could take care of healing them.

He went ahead and questioned some of the staff while others got the demon summoning program to use. Their stories supported the nurse's story: Manu had taken over to offer his unethical experiments to the militia. The militia had not only accepted his offer, but also gave him research material and prisoners to get a jump start on things. The hospital staff wanted nothing to do with the human experiments, but the soldiers from the militia were just as aggressive against them as they were to Kazuya. Then he had to answer some questions, from those who had downloaded the program and were trying to figure it out.

Before he left the annex to scout the rest of the hospital, Allen came running over. "Kazuya? Could I help you? I mean, I'm not really armed, just with a broom I grabbed from the closet. But you're up against demons; my healing would help, and I think I could have other powers too."

He should say no; it wasn't safe to take a civilian along in times like this. But then he was something special. "All right, but listen to me and obey quickly if I give you instructions."

"Sure thing," Allen said, nodding immediately. With that, they headed back into the main part of the hospital.