Net Savers

Chapter 2

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When Yugi woke up the next morning, he gave a yawn as he went to go to his desk and take a look at Tsunomon but instead of the small in-training sprite being there, there was another. The sprite didn't give much in terms of details so he decided to make his way over to his desktop to see what Tsunomon had digivolved to. Plugging the device into the computer tower, Yugi awaited for the game's start screen to boot up before moving to sign in with his information.

Back to the plains where he last left off, his digimon materialized into the plains and to his amazement, there stood what was one Tsunomon. The pale-yellow skin was covered with the pelt of another, reptilian in appearance despite the pelt he wore. An elaborate crest of pink and blue covered his stomach while red eyes looked to his tamer outside the screen. The last defining feature to him was the large horn upon his head. "Wow, you digivolved, didn't you?" Yugi typed into the box after the awe of seeing the new digimon on screen still completely under his command passed.

"Yes, I have! I've become Gabumon now and will be your companion. I can grow to become stronger with your help and I put my life into your hands." Gabumon replied with a warm smile under the pelt. Yugi returned the smile and nodded. For something digital, the responses were so interactive, as if the digital monster itself was real and alive. After chatting and checking Gabumon's stats, Yugi sent the digimon to forage for food to keep himself content as Yugi observed. His friends said they'll be available later and Yugi couldn't wait for them to see Gabumon.

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"Diamond! Wake up. Diamond!" The girl in bed groaned softly as he went to cover her head with the blanket. The white-haired teen pouted at the sight before looking down to the digivice in hand. The energetic vixen digimon sprite was rather active and was likely clear she wanted her tamer for something. But the other was rather stubborn in terms of waking when school wasn't involved. "Well if you don't want to wake up, I suppose you wouldn't care about what Viximon wants~" Ryou teased and that got her moving. "Gimme." Reaching out, she took the device from the laughing teen and sat up to check. "I'll get breakfast going before I check on what the others are up to. They said they wanted to meet up again on the server later." Diamond gave a nod, looking to the hopping sprite and hummed. This was nothing new considering Viximon was still at the in-training level but Diamond always held an inkling of thought. That there was more to this digital world.

More than the company that created it could comprehend. Their interactions never felt staged and to the surely in-depth code written into their data, this wasn't anything scripted. She felt there was more to this world under the visage of a game. Diamond never expressed her busy thoughts on it but she felt there could be a bigger entity in play than anyone could think of.

"Perhaps...you know something Viximon...something that no one else knows."

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Ruby sat within his private quarters, holding a call with another as he progressed through the desert terrain he led his digimon to. "Veemon is showing exceptional progress in gathering and fighting. I haven't reached the grand boss area to see if the trigger works as intended for players but I expect nothing less as this is Seto's work." Ruby murmured. "I expect the same as well. I do however want to share something with you." The voice spoke as this made Ruby sit up in his seat as Veemon paused in his trek. "What is it?"

"Would you believe your code to become...sentient?"

Sentient...

Ruby hummed silently as he sat back in the chair once more. The idea was impossible, daft even. If the game code could become sentient then the two would've noticed by now. Yes, the game was huge and hosted by a single point stationed here in Domino. The very same server is monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. There had been nothing strange on the radar since so to hear this was a surprise. And to hear this from Yami of all people...

"It would be physically impossible for digital code to evolve enough to become sentient. A plethora of ones and zeroes can't do much without a hand to manipulate it. Seto wouldn't do such a thing to his own pet project." Ruby stated, watching Veemon as he headbutted another rookie with ease. "Obviously. It was just an honest inquiry. Nothing of absolute concern but if something seems off, best to catalog it." Yami replied. Ruby tapped his fingers on the keyboard as Yami went silent. The other always had a good intuition and wouldn't ask something so blindly when he knew the two programmers as well as he did. He always had a basis to his questions and this left Ruby to ponder. What steps to take if this so-called "sentience" is spreading through the server. Seto was understanding but he wouldn't accept such a thing happening unless Ryuudamon himself were to speak out of turn in his coding.

Guess this was on his shoulders like many other things.

"Thanks for the heads up, I'll keep this in mind."

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Yami gave a nod before ending the call and looked to Monodramon. "I told Ruby. He is a bit more level-headed compared to Kaiba so if Veemon begins to speak with him outside the given coded dialogue, he will know of the evil as well." Monodramon gave a nod and a small smile. "Thank you for believing in me. The destined ones are all we could ask for in these dire straits to keep your world and our own safe." Yami nodded as he sat back in his chair. "Now these destined you speak of, this isn't something that everyone is going to know of, correct?"

"Correct. I don't know personally how the destined will be chosen but know this, our two realms will blur once all requirements are met. All are close but their exact locations are unknown. If you encounter their digimon, I will give you notice." Yami nodded again before sending Monodramon off to train. It was a long shot over a vast universe made real to the digimon but he was sure, if the destined ones are close, they would be friends. It's just a matter of time and their upcoming meeting.

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Jounouchi grumbled as he adjusted the helmet he wore. Due to certain matters of the home, he and Kaiser both were out handling some menial labors around town. He was working at a small-time construction site patching a few holes in the pavement. It was an easy job that paid modestly just for guiding traffic. The only reason Jounouchi was unenthused being here this time around was for the mere fact of the meetup in the digimon world he and his friends planned. "Man, this sucks royally. Dey all gonna be way ahead an' prolly in a new area while I'm sufferin' here." he whined.

But despite his whining, his digivice was in his pocket and Gazimon was active as always but he actually wanted to interact with him and can't with his tamer's hands full hard at work. "Hope the guys understand like dey always do." he mumbled, Gazimon within the digivice frowning thoughtfully in the small space. He knew something was going down and wished to express that not only to his tamer but the other digimon that are with his friends. He was sure they would learn in due time that they were the destined ones that would save the real they thought to be fiction. Oh how things came to grow from the code given to them that provided life. The sprite bounced a little and waited.

He may be a rather devious creature on his own time but when it came to his tamer, Gazimon ensured that his protection was his top priority. His tamer was having too much fun after scrapping the money for this digivice, he wasn't going to let anyone or anything ruin that for him.

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Yugi gave a wide smile as an invite flickered onto the screen before two digimon appeared into the field alongside Gabumon, a text box appearing from Malik as Gigimon bounced around the newly evolved rookie. "Yo, Yugi! When did Tsunomon evolve!? He looks awesome!" Was the clearly excited text from the fair blonde. "Overnight by my guess. I logged out when he was still Tsunomon and when I woke up, he was Gabumon." Yugi replied. "So cool...Gigimon! We need to catch up!" The little red digimon bounced around Gabumon in response, making the rookie chuckle. "We'll help him out as we forage. No need to worry from here." Gabumon stated before the three began to roam. While the digimon went on their way, the three talked animatedly.

"So once these guys make it to rookie, think we can tackle the first dungeon area?" Topaz questioned. "Maybe, we need to see how the others are faring with their digimon first. Perhaps one day after school." Yugi answered. As the tamers chatted, the digimon were doing the same with their own conversation. "Have you told your tamer yet?" Agumon questioned as he looked at the freshly evolved digimon. "Not yet. I don't want to bring too much pressure on him when we haven't quite found all those that are destined. I feel they are close but still very far. Amongst our circle, we are able to communicate but for the others, we will have to find their digimon in the digital space."

"But how long will it take!? Even now I can feel the evil rising into the world!" Gigimon whined. "Don't worry. Knowing our luck, we'll find who'll we need to in no time! You'll see, Gigimon!" As Agumon said such, the three digimon heard a sound, which alerted the three tamers in the real world as an "Enemy Approaching" icon appeared on their screen. "An enemy battle!? Gigimon hasn't even digivolved yet!" Malik exclaimed as Gabumon and Agumon took stand before the in-training digimon. "Don't worry! We got Gigimon, tamer!" Agumon called as the champion digimon appeared. It was a tanker of a digimon, a massive bug type with a ruby red shell and black markings over its head. The enemy info appeared on screen as the digimon known as Kuwagamon slid into the space, already showing that some of its health was already chipped away, meaning that it wasn't alone. A smaller digimon compared to the champion but still larger than the rookies leapt out from the same area Kuwagamon appeared, growling slightly with bared teeth.

The large champion hissed before shooting forward for the doberman-like digimon. "Who is that? A wild digimon?" Yugi questioned softly. "I dunno but sticking around to find out if both are wild sounds like a bad idea!" Malik replied.

"Scissor Claw!"

"Grey Noise!"

The howl that emitted from the dog was loud, almost deafening as the three digimon outside the fight covered their ears with a whimper while Kuwagamon wailed, veering off course as its powers were sealed. The other digimon landed and turned to the others, making Yugi swallow thickly. Those red eyes spelled danger but there was nothing they could do, nothing anyone could do in their state right now...

But to his surprise, the digimon turned back to the enemy at hand, blind gaze now focused onto Gabumon, Gigimon and Agumon. "O-Oh no! Guys! Get out of there!" Topaz screamed to his screen as Kuwagamon shot forward. It needed no power to take on rookies. They would perish into data just with a swipe of its arm. The other's eyes shone with a malicious fury to the change in target and leapt in front of the three digimon.

"Dobermon...end this..."

"Schwartz Strahl!"

Opening his jaws, a beam of light gathered within before unleashing the blast towards the Kuwagamon. The champion hissed in pain, the beam striking the head of the bug type digimon and the three digimon behind Dobermon could only watch as Kuwagamon was slowly digitized into nothing, the beam completely destroying its code. "Whoa..." Malik whispered as the digimon faded away in specks of ones and zeroes. When the remains of Kuwagamon faded from the area, Gigimon cowered before the other digimon as he turned to them. "From where do you hail?" Dobermon spoke.

"W-what?" Agumon stuttered, raising a claw to guard Gigimon in case the other tried to attack them. Hardly a challenge but for their friends and tamers, they were ready to fight. "From where...do you hail from?" he asked again. "We hail from the city of Domino. But why do you wish to know?" Gabumon demanded as he stepped forward. "At ease...you know of the coming dangers, do you not?" The three looked at each other while their tamers chatted about the battle witnessed in their chat room, oblivious to the current chat among their digimon. "Yes...we know of the evil trying to rise among us...then you must be..." Dobermon nodded as he began to revert. "I am with one of the destined. He knows of the disaster to come and I would keep my eye out for others. And here, I found three." he continued as his form altered and changed, standing upon two legs as sharp eyes gazed down to them. "I see...then your tamer will likely want to keep contact." The new rookie nodded before Yugi's voice through the text box spoke to them. "Are you guys alright?"

"We're fine! But this one would like to meet you all!"

Yugi blinked and he wasn't alone in his confusion as Malik and Topaz looked at each other. "This isn't normal, is it?" Topaz murmured. "Not that I recall...not like when we first started...maybe this is something coded when meeting new players..." Malik replied. "What do you say, Yugi?" Yugi hummed as Gabumon turned to face where his screen was in the digital realm. "Please consider, Yugi. We will need all the help we can find." Yugi blinked at the proclamation, knowing full well that it couldn't be a coded script. "Gabumon...are you alive?" Gabumon was silent for a while before a text box appeared on his screen. "They are as real as you and me. If he speaks to you outside of the scripted text, you are one of the destined." The text read. "The...destined?"

"Strabimon...explain."

The rookie nodded as the three boys listened in with avid attention and curiosity, knowing this new game was about to take a whole new spin to their once ordinary lives.