The Network.
Doctor Tadashi Hikari's legacy has become this wonderful and mysterious place that exists parallel to the Human World.
And yet, despite how delicately intertwined the two worlds have become in over twenty years, humanity knows frightening little about.
There's a depth to the internet that people can't yet comprehend; and while sometimes things crawl out of those depths to come to the surface, it's more common for Net Operators to send Netnavi's into those depths for their own personal reasons.
Known as 'Diggers', these NetOps and Netnavi Teams, dive into the far-flung reaches of the Net sometimes in the name of discovery, and at other times in search of ancient programs that can be converted to rare Battle Chips or sold for money.
Occasionally these Diggers will come across 'Lost Grounds'; data servers that predate the Cyberworld itself; fragments left by the original network which was lost during the Alpha Revolt.
These ruins hold lost secrets, and the data recorded in these ruins is something that SciLabs itself takes great interest in.
They seek to discover the true depth of the Network, understanding the secrets that lie within it.
But some depths are best left uncharted, and secrets best left buried.
Cyberworld
Server: [Lost Grounds]
There's a few rules set for Net Operators upon sending out their NetNavis on Exploratory Operations. One of the more common ones - not to mention one shared even by those that don't take part in these operations, is this: always backup your NetNavi. They're the ones that are travelling to the dark corners of the internet, and in their journey they're the ones at risk for deletion, and when they run into undocumented viruses they're going to run that risk of not making it home.
Backing up their data allows them to return before everything ends for them, and depending on how old the backup is, they will likely retain a memory of what may have happened before their deletion.
"Shell…"
Stopping the Netnavi in question looked around before raising a hand to his ear, oor rather part of his helmet as he messed with his antenna.
"Shell?"
"Come on, come on."
"Shell, can you hear me?"
"Just barely, Mikhail." Shell muttered as he brought up a digital console and started trying to do some adjustments. "Reception down here sucks." He muttered.
"Sorry about that, you're getting to far for the PET's receiver to work properly so the transmission is cutting in and out."
His partner told him as he crossed his arms. "We set up the Network Reception Node right?"
"It's above and it's still working properly."
The Net Operator stated.
"It's just that… this place has been hidden and disconnected from the rest of the Net for so long that SciLab is gonna have their work cut out trying to reintegrate it."
"Well, nothing we can really do about that." Shell muttered as he heard a small chime go off in his ear. Partner just finished backing up his data. "Anyway I think this is the last room to check before we head back." The netnavi muttered as he pressed his hand against the door as the back of his palm started to glow.
Room was locked with an old Encryption Code, it'll take a bit to decipher it.
"And… done." The door slowly disappeared, sliding upward as Shell pulled his hand off the wall and walked forward. "Now lets see what's down here." The Navi muttered as he started looking around, stopped and then activated the small searchlight on the side of his head. Shell couldn't help whistling as he looked around, His attention focused entirely on the walls as he did.
Glyphs were on the walls. Not just any glyphs, they were part of a very old Digital Code. One that was… basically forgotten after the Alpha Revolt almost twenty years ago. Well twenty-ish years ago in human time, time moved a lot faster on the Internet, so while only twenty or so years have passed in the human world, literal centuries have passed on the Network.
"Mikhail, are you seeing this?" Shell asked in wonder as he ran his hand on a couple glyphs.
"Yeah~ this stuff definitely predates the current Network; it's part of the Alpha Network that malfunctioned so long ago."
His partner sounded lost in wonder over the comms as Shell started walking down the halls refusing to take his eyes off the walls as he scanned them. Trying to back up the text that was being laid out before him into a recording for later. "Either case SciLab is gonna be really happy getting their hands on this. We should get some serious zenny for this."
"We can only hope."
His partner muttered with a light chuckle.
"I wonder what this stuff says anyway."
"I don't know." Shell admitted as he depicted a mural of sorts and started scanning it. "Actually I think I do know what this is." Mikhail chuckled in his ear.
"Really? Do you now?"
"Yeah, Shell muttered. "I think…" He paused. "I think it's a creation myth." He stated as his partner fell silent.
"A creation myth?"
"Yeah." He pointed at something. "Look at that right there, that shadowy figure surrounded by light. I think… I think that's supposed to be 'God'; the one who created the Net in the beginning.
"You mean Tadashi Hikari?"
"Yeah…" Dr. Tadashi Hikari, basically the Father of the Network as it stands, was the one who advanced computer technology to the point he was able to build the internet from scratch not just once, but twice in a row due to the Alpha Revolt.
He was also the one who continued Dr. Cossack's work on the Creation of Network Navigators, or NetNavis following the scientist's sudden retirement all those years ago.
"Look right here." He pointed at a part of the mural that depicted 'God' being attended by winged figures. "That's got to be 'God' creating 'Angels' and this here." He pointed to another part of the mural depicting ten creatures basking in 'Gods' light. "If I had to guess these were the first ten Programs he created to be associated with an Element for building the Net… This part of the mural shows them using their powers to build the Net… so this one's associated with wind, this one is associated with earth. Fire, water… wood, lightning… ice and steel… dark and light…" He muttered as he headed over to the next part of the mural. "This right here…" he paused as he stared at something. He paused. "Is this the fall of Lucifer?"
"How you know about Lucifer?"
"TV." Shell admitted. "Movies, games…" Shell admitted as he continued looking at the mural. "But seriously…" He stared up at the depiction of a war between angels and the Ten Creatures that created the world of the Net. "This part here, it looks like Lucifer's rebellion and fall from grace." He dragged his finger down the mural to point at something. Depictions of figures being cast down into some kind of darkness, their wings once angelic being depicted as demonic now."That's Hell, or the Undernet and that right there…" He paused as he saw that in the pit, 'Lucifer' was overtaken by this… creature of sorts.
When Lucifer fully fell and became the Dragon in revelation…"
His partner stated.
"What else is there?"
"Well, I'm just guessing here but…" Shell admitted as he continued walking as he continued recording everything. "Corruption, evil stuff, blah blah blah…" He paused as the picture changed to reveal "Lucifer" standing behind a human or prototype netnavi who was overshadowed by what looked like a vampire. "Oh hey I think this is him making Dracula."
"Lucifer made Dracula?"
"In this depiction he did." Shell muttered as he crossed his arms and continued looking around. "Where's Alucard in all this?"
Mikhail chuckled over comms.
"I don't think Alucard is actually part of the original lore."
The Net Operator fell silent.
"Still."
He paused.
I wasn't expecting a creation myth down here. Especially one I'm loosely familiar with… I didn't know Dr. Hikari was so into this biblical stuff."
"Me neither…" Shell admitted as he crossed his arms. "Plus, isn't this part of a Christian thing or something? Isn't he Japanese?"
"Yeah, maybe he got into it in his old age."
Shell shrugged for a monet, than seemed to think. "Or… he didn't make this…" Shell muttered. "I mean, Dr. Tadashi created the Net sure, but he couldn't have done it alone right? He had to have help."
"You think someone might have snuck it into the Alpha Network when no one was looking?
Shell crossed his arms again. "Maybe. I mean it's just a guess but still…" Shell muttered as he continued walking around the chamber for a minute before he nodded his head. "Anyway it looks like we're done here, I'll head back uptop and…?" The NetNavi paused as he turned his head, letting his searchlight focus on something on a pedestal at far end of the Chamber. "Is that a…" He fell silent as he ran up to it.
"Shell?"
"Knew it." Shell muttered as he stared at what seemed to be a computer terminal of all things just floating in the air. "Mikhail, Data Terminal." he stated as he ran his hands over the floating console as he started to scan it. "I thought only Exploratory Operatives could set this stuff up."
"Yeah, SciLab has us set them up in order to leave messages for any Explorers that chose to visit the ruins."
"Ah~" That means we weren't the first ones to get here~" Shell whined as he puffed his cheeks out. "Still Why would SciLabs send us to explore a place they already got documented?"
"The Navi responsible for documenting this place must have never made it back for some reason. Maybe it got deleted before it could come home."
"But we backup ourselves in order to ensure that doesn't happen."
"Different Net Ops back up their partners at different intervals. When we're doing these Exploratory Ops for SciLabs I backup your data every ten minutes or so."
"Yeah cause you're paranoid." Shell muttered as he continued accessing the terminal. "But I get what you mean. Some NetNavis only get backed up every hour or so, some get backed up only before they enter these places." He muttered before finding a video file. "Well, they left us a video to watch at least." He clicked play and the terminal projected a large screen for him.
On screen he caught sight of a NetNavi he'd never seen before, well, actually he came across aten, but one was in front of the camera. The navi looked very much like one of those mass-produced NetNavis with green armor and yellow highlights.
"This is , we've finished our excavation of the Ruins located in Site X of the NET. I must say what we found down here is most unexpected. It appears that ancient programs carved what appears to be their idea of a creation myth into the walls of the last chamber. As it stands the murals seem to hold many Christian elements such as the Fall of Lucifer and the Exile from Eden." The NetNavi began as he turned the screen towards a wall where it depicted a mural of Netnavis seemingly behind a seal of sorts where other creatures seem to be living in peace. Perhaps viruses? Maybe other programs. "Which I find incredibly strange as, being Netnavi's we EXIST in the Net, and we were never exiled from it. That is of course, one counts the Alpha revolt which brought all Network Activity to a halt for six months in human time. Perhaps… and while I do dread this though. Perhaps whatever netnavis and Mr. Progs were unable to be loged out before the crash and somehow still survived misinterpreted the incident as some 'Biblical Event" that caused those to be cast out. Or perhaps it is something else we've yet to understand. The Net has many mysteries, many of which even we Netnavi's fail to comprehend and -"
"Doctor Norman." Another Netnavi called, a great big netnavi called out as they got the camera to shift in their direction, showing that one of the walls was opening up to reveal a path hidden from the rest of the Ruins. "We've found something."
"I'll be right there."
The video cut off not a second later as Shell made a face. "A hidden door huh?" He muttered as he started walking around. "If I'm right… it should be around…"
"Shell~"
"What? I'm just gonna see what this hidden door leads to." The Netnavi stated. "And aren't you the one always telling me not to half-ass my work?" He muttered as he touched a wall depicting the image of some weird console, like a primitive PET of sorts. "Besides, don't you want to see what these guys might have found, could be treasure~." Mikhail sighed over comms.
"I'm pretty sure there's no treasure down here. And if there was, I'm pretty sure the group that was here would have found it by now."
"Hey you never know." Shell stated as the back of his palm started to light up as a data screen started to appear over the back of his hand. "Ok… lets see ass old code, but I can still read it thankfully." Shell stated as he started rearranging pieces of data before something clicked and the wall started to rise up. "Got it." He muttered as he heard a familiar chime go off in his ear.
His Operator had chosen to back his data up.
"Alright lets take a look." Shell muttered as he increased the strength of his searchlight and stepped forward to find the chamber basically empty. "What the hell?" He asked as he looked around for a moment, finding that the ruins had ended and in its place was something else. "Is that a…"
"Train?"
Shell fell silent as he walked up to the train and tapped it with his hand. "Yeah, this is definitely a train." He muttered as he ran up to the front of the train and seemed to check for something. The front of the train had a face, though from the looks of it the thing was sleeping.
He knocked on its hull just to try waking it up. "Dead asleep." He muttered as he
inside and looked around, before stepping away and heading into the train to look around. "Wow." he muttered, failing to notice that the train-like program seemed to slowly wake from its stubber. "The detail in this thing is nuts." He muttered as he continued looking around for a moment and settled down in a seat. "Man this feels pretty comfy." He stated as he started to bounce for a moment. "Are all train seats this comfy?"
"Not really."
Mikhai stated as a sudden and loud screech was heard over on Shell's end.
"Huh? Wow!" Shell heard the doors lock as he turned to the nearest one and ran up to it. The train started to move. "Uh, partner? Little help here?"
"Jacking Out now… what? Error?"
"What do you mean, error!?" Shell shouted as he started pulling at the door like a mad man. "This isn't funny partner, get me out of here!"
"Jack Out! Come on Jack Out!"
Shell continued to try forcing the door open as he watched the train start pulling away from the station and picking up speed. "Partner!"
"I'm [STATIC]! Shell? Shell can [STATIC] hear me?"
"Mikhail!? Mikhail!" seemed that as they were pulling away from the station, the signal was getting weaker. Finally Shell felt a message write itself across his brain as he paled.
"[SIGNAL LOST]
"No, no, no." Shell muttered as he ran towards the next train cart and tried to get back to the station. No good, he was too far by now and all he could see at the moment was a train track surrounded by nothing but raw data.
"If I jump I'm gonna be lost in that data." He muttered as he stared outward and watched the net seemingly fly by. "Oh this is bad." He muttered before turning back towards the train's interior and ran towards the front of the train. "Hey! Hey buddy, you gotta back it up, I'm not supposed to leave the station!" He didn't get a response. "I gotta go back!" Again no response, and after a few more tries Shell just took a breath before backing away and settling into a seat as he rubbed his head. "Damn it Shell, why'd you board this train?" He asked himself. "Ok, don't panic." Shell muttered as he rested a hand on the bridge of his nose. "It's a train right? It goes from Point A to Point B that means there has to be a train that goes backwards from Point B to Point A right?" He told himself. "You just need to hop on that train and you're on your way back home." He nodded to himself. "So, just kick back, relax and wait." He told himself as he looked outside the window and saw the Network he was familiar with just passing by. "It looks like…" He muttered as he started to calm down. "We're diving further into the Network…" He muttered as he looked outward. "Just how deep are you taking me though?"