Unmei Force: Encoded Memory (Arc 2.5)
Chapter 11: Grinding and Dreamin'
In the internet cafe, Hudie...
Richard and Keisuke logged out of EDEN, as their friends returned, as Sanae was alone by Chitose, as they were talking to each quite well.
"...And then I thought that I might get to see some more-" Sanae was about to say, before he saw the duo leave their booths with their friends. "Oh, hey! How did the trip in EDEN go?"
"We got to meet Yuugo and Fei. That's all there is." Richard said, before he turned to Chitose. "Chitose's not bothering you, right?"
"Nah, I'm not stupid enough to hit on your friend! And besides, she said that she's not interested in me. So we settled for just talking about Digimon programs." Chitose denied with a chuckle. "By the way, Ryuji left quite quickly, when he heard that Erika is being released from the hospital. He'll be back soon with her."
"How soon?" Gus asked, before the doors of the cafe flew open, as Ryuji and Erika came in, as Chitose gestured towards them with his thumb.
"This soon." Chitose replied back with a sly smile.
Richard then came over to Erika, and gave her a hug, as Erika was surprised, before she slowly returned it back.
"How was your hospital stay, Erika?" Richard asked. "Are you really all okay now?"
"I... I'm fine." Erika answered back, as she was a little touched from Richard's show of care. "Has there been anything major since I have been away?"
"Nothing much. We found about the Demons that are led by Jimmy KEN, trying to betray the ZAXON hacker team, and hired Keisuke as their spy, unaware of who he really is." Richard explained what she missed, as he let go of her, and moved back to a fair distance between them. "We met the ZAXON leaders, Yuugo and Fei, and we finally kicked some Eater ass, thanks to some help from Arata Sanada, the former leader of Jude, a old hacker team that has been gone for a while."
"You managed to beat a Eater?" Erika asked back in surprise. "Well, I guess that it would be inevitable, considering how monstrous the growth of your partners are. Anyway, I can see that you have managed to find one of your missing friends, Richard. Just one more is missing, right?"
"Yes. Sanae Kochi is the new girl. She's a bit of a handful to deal with, but I'm sure that you just need a few strict words to reel her in for now." Richard answered back. "She's weak to girls who look 'adorable' in her view, so yeah. She's going to have to stay out of here for a while, and in other news, I managed to get my own EDEN visor. That means that I can field myself with my friends as a separate squad from Keisuke. We used that little benefit, when we solved two kinds of cases in our own areas. Both cases went well, especially when I finally have a Ultimate Digimon partner to fend off the weaker wild ones without so much a single nudge of his head."
Erika turns to Sanae, as she sees the green-haired girl was wooed by her appearance, as her face was blushing slightly, and she was trying her best not to let out any sound that would betray her adoration of Erika's appearance. Erika then looked back at Richard with a nod. "I suppose I'll get to that. Keisuke and you should come in to my room. I found some things while I was in the hospital."
"Then we'll listen." Richard said, before he called to Keisuke. "Keisuke! Erika wants to talk to us privately in her room. She got something to tell us both!"
Keisuke immediately scurried across to them, before the three of them entered Erika's room, as they took their own seat on the cushions.
"While I was stuck inside the hospital, I was looking up that old guy Akemi Suedou." Erika said. "He got some theories that makes everything we have encountered sound like a bother. The Digital Wave abnormalities and recent weird phenomena around Tokyo, seem to actually correlate with the amount of Eaters that we encountered in EDEN, as well as that Digital Shift in Shinjuku, where we had that accident that landed me in there. They've all got to be a indicator of something unbelievable on the horizon. Putting together all the many eyewitness accounts of hackers that have seen the Eaters, especially from those who went in the Digital Shifts. It's likely that the Eaters are causing Digital Shifts, but how?"
"No clue." Keisuke answered back, shaking his head in denial. "But are you sure that you'll be fine, with that sickness of yours? It doesn't have any known cure to us..."
"Don't worry about it. It's not like staying holed up in here will make it better." Erika responded back. "It was worth it to receive crucial knowledge that would have led us on the right trail to solving the digital phenomena. Besides, Ryuji told me that you're a ZAXON double-agent now, Keisuke. So why don't you take on a case while you do that? By the way, check the Bulletin Board. I have something for you two to read upon."
Richard and Keisuke nodded, as they left the room, where the other members were waiting around, as Ryuji and Chitose were gone again to deal with their own matters.
"Alright, let's see what Erika has in mind for us..." Richard said, before he opened up a case called 'Learning about Digital Waves' that was posted by Erika, as it showed a cluster of links to articles regarding research on Digital Waves. "Oh. This is very annoying. Keisuke, could you take care of this? I'm not one for studying this kind of stuff."
"Sure, but why? Are you going somewhere?" Keisuke asked back.
'Because I already know the crap in the sites... Even if most of it was omitted by the time-skip.' Richard thought to himself, before he then answered back. "I've got to check up on all EDEN servers. There could possibly be Demon activity. You have any ideas where they went?"
"Not really. All I got in the meeting was Jimmy KEN giving me the spy role." Keisuke responded back to the question.
"Figures." Richard said, before he activated his EDEN visor. "Everyone, gather around me. Keisuke, you have enough data for a Yokomon to be created, right?"
"Yeah, I forgot to tell you last time. While you Digivolved your Digimon, I had the Yokomon created. Is she to be Sanae's Digimon partner?" Keisuke asked.
"Read me like a book." Richard said, as he logged in with everyone.
In Kowloon's third level...
Richard landed in the server transfer pad that was located in this floor, as the group looked out to the area, as Richard merely nodded his head.
"Suitable level of difficulty... Enough wild Digimon here to fight without risk of being injured severely from each encounter..." Richard muttered to himself, as he turned to his group, and clapped his hands together like a leader calling for the attention of his employees. "Alright, boys and girls, and Digimon, male and female. We have some grinding to do."
"Grinding? What do you mean by that term?" Ran asked. "It is a foreign term that I know nothing about."
"In short, we're going to do some things that is going to be for the good of EDEN: We're hunting the hostile wild Digimon around this sector." Richard said, before he then turned to Sanae. "Why haven't you summoned Aya?"
"Aya?" Sanae asked, as she seemed to be worried. "I'm not sure... Richard. Are you sure a Rookie form Digimon like her will be safe?"
"Come on, Sanae." Richard mused with a smile on his face. "You know full well that I would never expose any of you guys to unnecessary danger. Besides, we need to Digivolve as fast as possible, and some good battles with the hostile wildlife here should help us get stronger."
"But I must ask, should we really be doing this?" Sun asked. "Sure, we're getting rid of Digimon that would be danger to other harmless Digimon, but think about them, how would they feel in that situation?"
Richard remained silent, as he stared at Sun in the eyes silently, as he sighed.
"...I'm full aware of what you're implying, Sun." Richard replied, as he walked closer, and placed a hand on Sun's metal chestplate, speaking in a slightly morose tone. "But don't think that this is the worst of evils. They are without a sane or sentient mind, like you. You were all created by Mirei to live a happy and fulfilling life. It is a privilege that very few can manage to have. Think back to the Digimon who could think and speak like you. Airdramon, the Kyubimon and Gargomon that the other team had, Sangloupmon. Did you never note that I have never destroyed a single Digimon like them, even when it was easy to do so with the overwhelming power Kuro had? Putting those wild Digimon out of their misery is for their own good. You may call me a cruel person for this, but think about the fact that no matter how much of the Digimon we erase, they will keep on coming back again and again, without their minds. Killing them is a temporary death that fuels the cycle of evolution here. Take a good think, Sun. How do you think that most of the Digimon here obtained higher forms? Merely by letting age pass their by? By feeding themselves? No, Sun. It's time I tell you something: In the Digital World, the only absolute law is the law of the jungle: Kill to adapt, or die unevolved. It won't forgive even the most small and innocent of creatures. So almost all of the wild Digimon here are beings filled with the idea of murder and survival, there is no hope in enforcing a sense of compassion or sentience in them..."
Everyone was shocked by how Richard stated all of the horrifying truth that he knew with a calm expression and even tone, as Sun was left bowing his head, as he was doubting what to believe: Whether to believe that all Digimon deserve to live lives like him, or that Richard was right, that some Digimon can't be saved."
Richard then turned around, as he spoke under his breath. "Especially what I have to do to give Kuro his final, most fitting form..." He whispered under his breath. "A sacrifice that will change him forever, not in physical form, but in understanding what he truly would become... Oh Sun... You are just so much like Gus, even when you don't realise that."
"So... They are most akin to the demons that my holy maiden fight?" Ran questioned.
"...Yes. That is what Richard is saying." Reimu said. "Even if he can't bring himself to say it."
Richard then faced the group again, as he seemed to be a little more better than before.
"I'm sorry. I just had to say it. I knew that one of you would ask the question." Richard apologised with a short bow of his head. "But the question is: Do you understand me? I don't ask you to accept my ideals about all of this, but I ask that you have listened to all I have to say. That is all."
"...Damn... And I thought that you were all cool and calm." Kuro said. "I never thought you were hurting inside about every time you fought the wild Digimon. Did Keisuke feel the same thing as you did?"
"No... He was never aware of the truth. To him, the wild Digimon are obstacles in his way, that try to harm us. He acted in protection of everyone, not knowing this cruel truth." Richard answered back.
"Well, I guess that there is at least a benefit to all of this needless killing... We'll use their data to gain power, in order to fight four our very cause." Kuro said. "If they're forced to die again and again in the hands of so many others, what makes us the guilty party, if we ever killed them? I never did know how many any one of them died and been reborn in the world."
"...I see." Sun said. "I'm sorry. If that is the case, then we'll at least try to stop them from harming everyone. At least there might be a chance that they'll gain mind and sentience like us, the next time around?"
"Man, listening to all of this is just real depressing." Bolt sighed. "But still, if it's for the sake of making me faster and stronger, so that I won't be able to die so easily to the real threats, I guess we'll have to cope with what we have to do."
"I will pray for the peaceful journey of those who have been slain for a merciful cause." Ran spoke in a melancholic tone. "Their deaths will be painless and swift, so that they won't have to suffer."
Richard remained silent, as he nodded, as Sanae summoned Aya, which was a pink Biyomon, a pink bird Digimon with arm-like wings, a feather mane, a red beak, blue eyes, blue stripes on her crest, blue borders on her head and tail feathers, yellow legs, and red claws. She also wore a metallic grey ring on her left leg.
"Hey hey! It's me, Aya! I'm going to do my best to be stronger, so that I'll be able to keep everyone happy!" Aya spoke in a peppy tone, before she noticed the grim expressions on the faces of the other Digimon, as well as on Richard, as her cheery attitude dropped a little. "What's, what's wrong? Did something happen to any of you?"
"No... It's nothing, little Aya." Ran answered on behalf of the other Digimon. "We'll be fighting a lot of Digimon here. Are you sure you'll be fine to fight with us?"
"Of course! I'm very confident that my best friend Sanae will support me! We're going to be a unstoppable pair, right!?" Aya replied back with a prideful tone.
"Yeah. That's right." Sanae smiled gently.
They soon marched through Kowloon's third level, as Richard's expression of sorrow and regret did not budge a little.
After a few hours of grinding...
The entire group seemed to be exhausted, Digimon and avatars, as they rested themselves in a small circular area, as Richard wiped the sweat of his brow.
"It was a long and hard battle against the wild Digimon, huh?" Richard said to everyone. "I can't believe that we've been fighting back-to-back for so long. Every single Capsule, Spray and Discs I have stocked up has just been used up so quickly."
"Same here." "Me too." "I agree." "Yeah, what a waste." The other members piped up, respectively from Gus, Antonio, Sanae and Reimu.
"...But it was worth it." Richard said, as he looked at Kuro's status on the Digivice. "Kuro's just got enough to Digivolve, and Ran is ready to Digivolve as well. Aya is the same, but she's got so much data that she can just jump two levels up in one single Digivolution."
Everyone was silent, as Richard got up.
"Come on, we need to make a visit to the DigiLab." Richard said to everyone, as he walked to the server transfer pad. "And don't agonise over it. Every single one that we have destroyed will be back here in a hour or so. So you haven't killed them off in actual terms."
The group followed his head, as they were unaware that Richard was actually shedding a few tears down his eyes, which he wiped off with a swift wipe with his fingers.
'Yuugo may seem to be cruel, but the actual cruelest here... is me.' Richard thought to himself with closed eyes, recalling what he has done with a pang of regret in his mind.
Back at Hudie...
The entire group returned from their 'grinding' session, as they came back more tense than when they came in, as Richard took off the EDEN visor.
"Come on, we need to check Keisuke." Richard said, as they moved to his booth.
They found the young hacker asleep on the computer, as he seemed to be on a article page regarding Digital Waves, as Richard's mood lightened a little seeing Keisuke's dreamy look on his face, in his sleeping state.
"Oh, you poor boy. You've must have tucked yourself out. But it ain't the time to be sleeping. It's still the afternoon after all." Richard said, as he pinched Keisuke's cheeks gently to wake him up from the feeling of pain. "Up and at them, kid. Ryuji and Chitose might have a mission for you."
Keisuke woke up, as he blinked his eyes, as he noticed Richard. "Oh, you must have been the one who woke me up." Keisuke replied back, as he yawned a little. "Sorry, I crammed a lot of stuff into my mind. I'm up to date with the knowledge of Digital Waves, so if you need to know, I'll be there to tell you everything I learnt."
Suddenly, Keisuke's phone began to buzz, as Keisuke received the incoming call, as he listened to it, before then putting it down.
"We got a big case from Yuugo." Keisuke told everyone. "He said that he wants to meet everyone in the forum. Well, Richard and me, at least."
"Oh, come on? Still a no-go from him, after we managed to shake hands with him?" Antonio complained, before he sighed. "Bummer."
"Don't worry, just make sure you're listening on the Digivices." Richard said, as he scurried to his own booth, as he prepared to log back into EDEN without his friends. "See you then."
Richard then entered EDEN again, as he went to the ZAXON forum to meet Yuugo.
In the ZAXON forum...
Richard and Keisuke arrived within moments of each other, as they found Yuugo standing around the back of the area, as they walked up to him.
"I've been waiting for both of you." Yuugo said with a smile. "I've never seen your hacking skills at work. The job I'm offering is not a easy one, but I expect you and your friends to do it well. I'll explain the case, have you heard of a organisation called Dreamin'?"
"No. I have not." Keisuke honestly replied back with a shake of his head.
"Well, you best listen closely. Dreamin' is a group that abuses EDEN's systems to scam money from people. This is their MO: their modus operandi." Yuugo stated. "First, they host a event in EDEN and invite people to take part. Then they hypnotise anyone who attends. This makes them hand over their financial details, which the group uses to steal money. Lots of people have fallen victim to them, but they always get away without leaving a trace, ZAXON hackers included. Hypnosis isn't possible in cyberspace. It must be some sort of hack. My guess about it that they somehow disrupt the virtual feelings received by EDEN's avatar."
"Woah, that's what could make it possible?" Richard asked, as he was genuinely shocked to hear all that.
"Perhaps. They must be formidable hackers, which means that we are vulnerable as well." Yuugo confirmed the fact. "If we leave them to their own devices, no one in EDEN will be safe from them. I can't allow people like them to prey on the innocent. There's no place for them in EDEN. I swear on ZAXON's reputation that they will be brought to justice. My associates are still searching for their location, as they must have a base to coordinate such a crime wave in the EDEN servers. Rendezvous with Fei, and join the investigation. She's not easy to find, but someone in this forum could tell you where she might be."
They both nodded, as they walked around, asking every ZAXON hacker they could find, before they could piece together from their accounts that Fei was already a step ahead, charging into the Dreamin' hideout with some other ZAXON hackers, where their first stop was the first level of Under Kowloon.
"If she's ahead, Keisuke, then things might already got sticky! Let's move." Richard said, as they hopped onto the server transfer pad to head to their destination server.
In Under Kowloon's first level...
As the duo rushed to the area, they found a duo of ZAXON hackers, who were obviously hypnotised, as they were wriggling around on their feet, with glazed eyes and jerky movements.
"Oh... So many cats..." One of them spoke in a dreamy tone. "One... Two... Three... So many... So happy..."
Richard then sighed, as he went over to them, and smacked them on the cheek hard enough to floor them, as they got up, clutching their stinging cheek.
"Ow, what was that for!?" The hacker spoke in a aggravated tone.
"You were being hypnotised. Yuugo has been looking for you two, and he's not happy." Richard answered them.
"I was having a lovely dream... Wait, we were already attacked by Dreamin' and put under their control before!?" The other hacker of ZAXON spoke in a shocked tone. "Shit, and I thought that things were strange for the first few moments. We owe you thanks for that, you're both Hudie hackers, right? Are you helping us look for the leader of that hacker group?"
"Yes. We were." Keisuke answered back. "Have you seen Fei with you?"
"No. We remember that she already got the URL for their hideout and charged in alone." The first hacker spoke. "Then we met some suspicious people. We tried to apprehend them, and they forced us to battle, and then... we have no memories after that... We woke up here right now from you. We saw that Fei was pursuing someone who looked like their leader."
"Yeah. We'll get to that." Richard said. "You have the URL she dived into at least?"
"Mm. Here." The other hacker stated, as he sent the Dreamin' hideout's URL to them. "If you're serious about Yuugo being unhappy, we better make it back double-time. It's all up to you guys to help Fei."
The two hackers left, as Richard and Keisuke went for the server transfer pad, as they took the new URL to another server.
In the Dreamin' hideout's Digital Space...
The duo found themselves in the usual Digital Space platform maze that they have both seen enough times to be familiar with its purposes, as they examined the dark purple background and the cyan platforms forming the paths.
"I feel suspicious about the colouring of the platforms, then again, colour doesn't matter much except for cosmetic stuff." Richard said, as they advanced, taking out any Digimon in their way.
They soon found Fei being restrained by two men that seemed to be hackers of the Dreamin' hacker team, as Richard immediately rushed forward, and klcked one of them off, as he punched the other off with a punch to the gut, as Fei got up.
"What are you doing here!?" Fei demanded. "I can handle these scumbags by myself! Although I'm actually impressed that you managed to punch them off me..."
"We were sent by Yuugo. Your little bravado got you restrained, and your hacker group was hypnotised into being in a field of kittens." Richard bluntly stated. "Either way, where is the leader they were talking about?"
"Who are you calling scum-bags?" A surly female voice sounded out, as a woman in a yellow coat and long skirt appeared, as she had long black hair that flowed down the back of her head, as her face had a arrogant and malicious smirk on her face, which seemed to not budge at all.
"This is the leader of Dreamin', right in the flesh." Fei stated.
"So you were responsible for all of those cases?" Richard asked in a serious tone.
"Hush, I don't think you fully grasp the seriousness of this situation." The leader spoke in a condescending tone. "You're on our turf, and we've got you surrounded. Your little friend, Yuugo, can't help you here. Off you go, run away with your tails between your legs."
"And what's to prevent you from hunting us down when we run?" Richard asked again, this time with a more thinly-veiled hostile tone.
"Ha!" The leader laughed sharply. "I'm a reasonable grown-up! I'm willing to overlook you kids' rude behaviour this time."
"You don't scare me." Fei answered back with a sneer. "I came here all by myself. I wanted to make things up to the group. I don't even need to call Yuugo, to handle a few scumbags like you, especially with a snobby woman like you!"
"You talk big... But you'll change your tune soon enough." The leader mocked, as she snapped her fingers, as there was a sudden sweet smell in the air, as Fei whiffed it in unintentionally.
"What's that? It smells so sweet... No...!" Fei said, as her voice became more and more tired, before she fell to the ground, as she was asleep, as she was still talking, in a less serious tone and a more shy and timid tone, with a blush on her face. "Oh... Yuugo. That's not appropriate..."
"Shit! Don't breathe that stuff in, Keisuke!" Richard exclaimed, as he covered his mouth and nose with his hands, stifling his breath as much as possible to avoid breathing the sweet sleeping gas in.
"Don't bother, you'll be asleep soon enough, the both of you." The leader spoke in a soft and lulling tone, as Keisuke did the same, although he was starting to fall under the effects, as he was beginning to flicker his eyes rapidly to keep himself up and awake. "Kids get so cranky when they don't get enough sleep."
Keisuke then fell down to the group, as Richard stared at the leader with venom in his gaze. "You won't get away with this..." Richard hissed, as he was beginning to lose consciousness, as he fell onto his knees.
"Hehehe... I already have, and I will continue to do so." The leader spoke, as she stared at Richard with gleeful eyes. "That's what happens to snivelling brats who mess with grown-ups."
"Damn... Y...ou..." Richard growled weakly, before his head fell to the ground, and he fell asleep like the rest of his group.
In Richard's dreamscape...
Richard woke up, when he felt a jolt in his mind, as he found himself in a familiar environment. He was surrounded by a room, with a desk which has books, documents, stationary boxes, and a lamp on it, a closet that held most of his personal collection of attires, as well as a small TV that was connected to several gaming consoles, as the nearby shelves were stacked with his personal favourite video-game titles. The room was painted red on the walls, with several paintings of each and every person that he has met and knew, drawn in a more cutesy and chibi-like form.
When he got out of bed, he looked outside, as he managed to see the small traditional village where he spent most of his life as a traveller in, bustling with both human and youkai, as he could see a large lake surrounded by forest, where the watery surface was light-blue with the sparkling of the icy mist that permeates in it.
'That's strange...'Richard thought to himself. 'I don't remember being even around the Human Village before I fell unconscious. Was everything that happened, a dream that has yet to pass?'
Richard then sighed. 'That's fine. If it's a vision of the future, I can use it to do things better this time around. Maybe I'll kill Trillion in one fell swoop with the knowledge and training that I have attained... Wait, knowledge and training from the vision!?'
He then examined his own body, as he squeezed several essential parts of his body, from the legs to the arms to the chest, as he felt that his muscles were much stronger than what he left his homeworld, Gensokyo, with, and he felt that his mana is stronger than before as well.
'Weird... Is this some kind of dream that has effects on the real world? If so, I better make dreams like that more often. I don't care if it feels like a year or two has passed, it's not like real time has passed in the real world.'
He then heard knocking at the door, as a short and cute girl, with short silver hair, that was left to be styled like a more wild version of Richard's own, as she had a pair of furry fox ears on top of her head, and there were two silver brushed tails with a white-tip that were wriggling on her back. She had cute silver eyes that shone of innocence, and she was dressed in a small silver blouse, with silver faded tattoos in the shape of stars on the front, wears a moderately lengthy silver skirt that has the symbols of the Bagua spread around the hem in blue paint, and was completely bare of any footwear on her feet.
"Big brotherrr~" The fox-girl seemed to greet Richard, as she ran up to Richard with her arms out, as Richard immediately caught the girl in a hug, as he swivelled around and lifted her in the air with a euphoric and joyous expression, as he looked at the person that he held with the highest regard in his collection of acquaintances and friends.
'My adopted little sister... Heiwa...' Richard thought, as he watched as she laughed and smiled, as Richard cuddled her close. 'She's the one person who has saved me from the recesses of despair from whence I came from at that time. I could never leave her alone without anyone to care for her in my absence, as my heart aches at every moment I spend away from her, even though I never showed it. Even so...'
Richard then put the young kitsune down, as he ruffled her on the head as a petting attempt, as Heiwa's ears twitched a little, as she hummed in enjoyment of the action.
"What's my little cute dumpling doing in my room? You love your big brother so much that you want to come in for hugs and pets?" Richard asked in a friendly and warm tone. "How was your day with Keine-sensei? Did she teach you a lot today?"
"Of course! She taught me a lot, and I got praised when I managed to solve the question she put out for the class!" Heiwa said back, as she was excited. "Even Cirno-nee was cheering me on!"
"Ha ha ha, nothing less expected from one of the budding geniuses of Gensokyo." Richard said. "One day, I'll come to surpass the likes of Minerva, Yukari and Eirin in time..."
"You're not going to go, right?" Heiwa asked, as her ears drooped, revealing that she was either conflicted or sad. "I don't want you to go. I want you to stay with me."
"So do I, Heiwa, my little sister. So do I. I would never voluntarily leave you for so long without someone to care for you." Richard answered back, as he bowed his head, trying to hide his increasingly sorrowful expression. "But... But what I must do... What I must do, is for the sake of everyone. If I don't go, then everyone will be in danger of being gone forever. What if it takes away someone we loved, Heiwa? It would hurt so immensely. So I must fight on, so that everyone will be free of the burden that refuses to leave us no matter what we have done."
Richard then clutched his head.
'Wait... My mind feels so much lighter. Am I losing something? Or is it my eternal weight of my sins decreasing when I'm comforted by the only person who could break free of that envious darkness?' Richard thought. 'Either way, I just want to spend more time with you... Heiwa... Just a little more longer...'
"Big brother, could you tell me something?" Heiwa asked. "Could you... tell me your username and account password?"
The sudden break of character was all it was needed to remind Richard of what he was in.
'Ah... That's right. This is Phantomon's doing. He's trying to get the information of my 'avatar' out of me.' Richard thought, as his feelings deteriorated greatly. 'But at least he's making the dream Heiwa so realistic from my memories of her... I don't mind staying a little longer... Even though he might get frustrated by my reply.'
"Don't be silly, my little fluffy fox-girl!" Richard laughed. "Why would someone like you want my gaming account password? You're too young to be playing the games that I'm playing. Remember when we played that game, Five Night's at Freddy's? I remember when you jumped out of your chair and hit your head on the ceiling from the high height you jumped, when we were caught by Foxy."
"...Yeah..." Heiwa said, before he turned to Richard with sad eyes. "You know that this was a dream made by someone else all along?"
"...I guess you could say that." Richard answered back, as he frowned. "But even so... Even if you're just a projection of a dream..."
Richard then embraced Heiwa on his chest, as he let the tears flow from his eyes.
"I wanted to see you again... For so long..." Richard sobbed, as he sniffed a few times. "Sniff... I don't care if you'll be gone when I wake up, just please... Please let me feel your warmth once again, it felt real enough for me to feel comfort again for so long in my inner heart..."
The false Heiwa was surprised by Richard's actions, as she hugged him back.
"Then we'll stay here for as long it will take for you to wake up." The Heiwa impostor said. "You really miss me, do you, big brother?"
Heiwa only snuggled against Richard, as the two of them were locked in a long embrace in Richard's own dream.