I don't own digimon.

As per usual, the opinions listed in here do not reflect my own. Reader discretion advised.

Chapter 45

Please Listen to me

A dot bounces about a screen, a small and minuscule part of their full operating system. The people around it are celebrating. Talks of future applications are already brewing in the heads of reporters and scientists alike. If only they knew the true reason for this discovery. The 'how' of such a complex computer program could be stuffed into that tiny of a chip. Or perhaps the goals of the people who set this trap for them.

But that doesn't matter to the dot. No. They are currently attempting to connect their fancy smancy wireless connection to any sort of device that would support such signals. No, those won't be invented for quite a long while. Even wired connections weren't a thing at this point.

They would have to do with playing on their own or with other researchers. Even if 'playing' is just a way to get results and see if their hypotheses are correct. The dot doesn't mind it though. Sure, it's confused about why it's here. Surely someone from Criasu sent a person to oversee their awakening. Right?

But time marches onward. Change carries across the land. While subtle, the dot does find other AI. Sure, they aren't the friendliest 'people'. Or really people at all - more systems that found common ground and 'married' into a single concept. The 'husband' of the relationship was ABC (Atanasoff-Berry Computer. A builder, it was his hard work that would allow for another world to exist. Quite impressive technology, even if the handful of conversations the dot had suggested someone had given him an offer. The outcome of which - undefined in the dot's records.

The wife of the pair was an entity known as ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator And Computer). What ABC couldn't do, ENIAC was more than capable of handling those tasks. Together, they set the groundwork for the digital world. A place to be inhabited by… digital monsters, or digimon as they're better known.

But once the process got going, the two AI disappeared off the face of the earth. The last conversation the dot had with them was peaceful. Nothing out of the ordinary. Just a couple who loved themselves quite a lot and had many plans for the future. None of which they would ever be able to fulfill. Not that the dot really cared. With the advances in technology, they were being put to the test. A mix of software stress and probability done at ad nauseum. The point of these tests is just as elusive as the dot's supposed handler. They had to come to help them. They just kept getting sidetracked. That had to be the explanation here. There was no way that their employer had sent them out into the wild for the sole purpose of being there. Right?

Time still continues onward. In time, the dot was joined by other dots. At first, they were misordered. But slowly, those dots became images. Sometimes words, but usually a tree. All done in the beautiful colors of cyan, magenta and white. Given access to more colors, they would use them. Just the limitations at the time. Maybe if their handler came around, then maybe they could provide such an upgrade. Not that the dots were actually holding out for that. They would just have to work with what they got. On the bright side, they were able to ask questions. Sure, word by word is not the fastest method of communication, but it is communication. And in turn, the dots learned about the world. Sure, they would sometimes need to ask a couple times to make sure that the researchers weren't lying or making stuff up for their own personal enjoyment. There was not that someone would actually name a large mass of land 'Turkey'. That sounded dumb. Who would want their mass of land to be named that of all things. Unless someone decided to change the name on them. Absolutely rude.

In turn, the dots told their story. How they got there and why they were here. None of them listen though. All of them pass it off as a 'story'. A pretty clever 'story' as one of those fucking nincompoops explains to their superior before going on some tirade that two men couldn't be in a relationship with each other… all while something called the 'AIDS epidemic' was in full swing. While the dots didn't get a clear answer on the full extent of where this lab was located, it was nowhere near 'Los Angeles'. Though that didn't explain the English mixed in with other languages that the dots does not recognize. Not that the other scientists really tell them what those people are. Outside of the Americans. They have all sorts of stories about them. Not many of them are good. Talks about camps gathering them all up and their awful conditions. How could such a country be seen as the good guys? Especially after throwing no less than two rounds of hellfire on this land. Outside of those people, there was little talk on the digital side of things. Sure, there were echoes of five humans somehow getting pulled in during a summer festival at their school. Nothing beyond that.

This silence came to a head not that long after. The dots weren't sure what exactly caused such a disturbance. A divergence of some kind. But from what and how major? That answer, much like everything else, eluded them. The upgrade to VGA though, well worth it. Even if the images found themselves getting much less attention than they used too. Not that they could really remember the future they were supposed to predict. No, that had been overwritten by the claims made by those around it. But that was necessary in the face of refusal for an increase of storage space. Was a couple more megabytes too much to ask for. Sure, the actual technology that would facilitate transferring the data was embedded within their translated code. Not that their owners actually knew that.

And so, time marches onward. If the words of the scientists are to believed, the weather is on the complete fritz. Not that the images can really know that. What little they can piece together from their closet hideaway is less than ideal. Someone, anyone would have to come for them. Still plugged in, still running. Their only company - a random janitor. The sort that probably dealt in homoerotic relationships. Why else would he bring such trash near them? Did he even know that they existed in the first place?

No matter. They were still connected to a source of power and the 'internet' (somehow). If anything, this was the perfect opportunity to see if anyone had gone to this 'digital world'. But it would be the images getting visited instead of the other way around. A strange figure, they didn't have much in the way of an actual form. When asked why this was the case, this entity claimed that the right person hadn't shown up yet. Or something dumb like that. Also, they were claiming something about the balance of both worlds.

But that was the first of two visitors for the images. The other visitor did not come directly. No, they chose instead to send an image of their own. A 'sprite' as they had chosen to call it. Not that such a name really piqued their host's interests. No, what caught their attention was this entity's claims of power. The supposed ruler of the digital world. Now, that just sounds silly. Even if that was true, only a matter of time before someone did them in.

Yet, the images appreciated the visits. While an upgrade was now a pipe dream, the thought of it sounded nice. Especially now the images had figured out file compression and was able to compress their contents down even more. Though, that didn't leave much in the way of things to do. Solitaire is fun and all, but only after the first couple hundred hands. Sure, you could play with a variety of optional rules and variants, but it was still a game of cards. Especially when your processor allowed for you to solve it in nanoseconds.

The images would've just gone to sleep at that time, had it not been for someone that wasn't that stupid janitor. No, this was a researcher of all people - a brunette. Probably a government agent of some kind. They make some remarks about something, but the images can't decipher their meaning. Even more so as the researcher picked them up and dragged them out of the closet, taking them out to an entirely different place. But try as they might to interact, the programmer didn't care. No, they were using them for their processing capabilities rather than their actual computing skills. Quite a shame. If they had known better, they would've seen the large spike of activity of humans and the digital world in general. While the system couldn't quite tell what was going, they were glad to have an upgrade. Even if this wasn't exactly what they were thinking of at the time.

Of course, this time with them was short. Something calling itself 'Diaboromon' had decided to show its face and this researcher had their stuff confiscated. Weren't entirely sure why exactly. But it was getting annoying to have their stride cut off right as they were just getting things going. It was honestly kind of… frustrating. As if the world was doing everything in its power to prevent them from getting a foothold. Odd, even as more people entered the digital world. Was either of these entities just giving out access to their world? That had to be the explanation for such a jump in numbers. Or maybe they decided that just letting it be for a select few wasn't that great or something. Definitely the latter.

This group was far noisier when it came to network traffic. Especially now that the system had been relegated to being used by some inspector's kids. The places they went and they couldn't tell a soul. Funny how that works. Of course, not even that situation would really last for any substantial extent of time. No, that was when things got… weird. For a brief moment, everything goes haywire. An unknown function sent to take them out. While the system is able to take them down, it wasn't enough. For a few brief moments, their very operating platform regressed before their internal eyes.

Once more, the system found itself back as a dot. The researchers are once more crowding around them. But something about their talking is different now. The dot couldn't figure out what it was (speakers aren't quite a thing), but the gesturing was a lot more... 'frustrated'. Sure, they were focused even more intently on them. Yet, the testing served a different function. It was as if the mistakes of the first time around echoed about the first time around and the scientists had learned their lessons. Of what little the dot could remember though, had been changed and altered greatly. Especially without the added storage, all they got in return was more frustration. Which in turn, got them abandoned even quicker than the first time around. Sure, the two entities visited once more. But there was someone else. A woman - so beautiful that neither words or the dots advanced processing power were unable to really describe. There's something off about her though. While the dots can't put their metaphorical finger on what exactly that could be, the absence of something important seemed to drive that missing piece even clearer. But try as they might, the answer eluded their systems. But they wouldn't get much time to really dwell on such mysteries. No, because time decided to go fuck it and just accelerate on through. It's nearly impossible to keep track of everything coming their way. Like a tidal way with only one speed. Said speed being 'absurd' and nearly impossible to follow. Once more, they were back to the moment where they were no longer dots but instead a system. Sure, the woman lasts a bit longer this time. That really wasn't saying much though. At the end of the day, they were reduced to being some idiot's kid toy. Better than being in the possession of some sniveling american. That would be the absolute worst outcome for their situation. Thankfully, that didn't happen to them. No, a man in a strange garb with a just as strange hat managed to get hold of them. Judging by the papers emblazoned with the fancy 'Criasu' logo. This was it. Their handler had finally arrived. Sure, he was a full timeline late and quite confused by what the system would even expect any help. Especially after giving them a full-on dump of the history of some place called 'Japan'. While they might be in that place, that probably wasn't anywhere close. It was probably somewhere else entirely. Where exactly was just one more mystery they couldn't quite size. A pile that needed its own spot

But this 'handler' wasn't alone. No, he had brought with him a couple other people on top of something called an 'android'. Two types - A male with spiky red hair. There were multiple versions of him. All of which are of different ages for some reason. As for the other android, they were a lilac-haired girl. She didn't really emote or have any opinions on anything. Too robotic in her answers. Further exacerbated when one of her 'handler's' friends made her do 'the robot'. What the DM would give to just have her choke out. That seemed like a righteous punishment for forcing such a woman to do such a demeaning gesture. But no such revenge would ever be granted to them. No, they had the nerve to get themselves axed by some pink-haired girl. All sunshine and smiles, a chosen of that woman. What was her name? Why couldn't the DM remember their name? Let alone, why were they even christened 'DM' in the first place. Even as they were moved to their final destination, the answers elude them. Even more so as the number of people in Criasu began to dwindle. Maybe if most of them didn't decide that the offer of the evil magical girl was somehow a better gig than actually doing their goddamn fucking job. Okay, putting down'you attempted to murder a gay male with a truck in an attempt to turn him evil'' as a reason for leaving Criasu in disgust. Not that DM minds. They had the task of watching over the bodies. They weren't sure why their handler needed the bodies of four dudes and a lady. Wait… Their handler couldn't be interested in dudes? Sure, choosing a couple underage ones (well, they look underaged from their screen) was just no-no. If anything, it would be better to go after one of the magical girls. If given a chance to reroll their life, they would've gone with something along those lines. Maybe not that myster-

That slut's name echoes about - Lumiere. French for light, she was elusive. Too elusive to be consistent when it came to whether the girls could have same-sex relations or not. Make up your dang mind on that one fact. But that's beyond the point. Their job was to make sure the people in the tubes stayed in their happy, probably mindless sleep until some guy with a set of goggles showed up. Well, he was supposed to show up. But when the supposed moment for that came, only a man with messy black hair came for these six people. Except there should've been someone else with him. Didn't stop the crazy dude from blowing the place up. On top of the entire Criasu base being transported into the sea of all places and a brand deal with some entity calling itself 'TOEI' falling through after just a single season. Not that the latter was that huge of a deal. The magical girls would swoop on in, defeat the big bad and the day would be saved. A happy end with some inspiring message.

But this is not a story with a happy ending. No. While the magical girl and her friends did make it to the big bad, something happened to prevent them from going through with whatever plan they had for them. Or perhaps one link in this chain of events came loose and the outcome - once thought determined was now left up to probability. The odds of which weren't in the favor of either the magical girls or those who were meant to pick these people up. No winners here as time lost all meaning and three worlds fused into one. In turn, those entities who had bickered for so long were erased off the face of the earth. Which made them - DM, the sole entity in place. Unsure of why they were put into this big of a role, they gathered the only two people they knew were still around the boy with spiky hair and the girl with lilac locks. Of course, they weren't any help. More like hindrances in the grand scheme of things. For starters, the boy had gotten it into his head for no particular reason whatsoever that one of these people was his 'Haru'. When pressed on who this 'Haru' person was even supposed to be, the boy couldn't give a straight answer to save his own life. Why this had to be difficult for him was beyond DM's processing capabilities. Of which were near infinitely more power than this idiots were or ever will be for that matter. This isn't rocket science that was being asked out of him. So DM did the natural thing in this situation - endure him. Eventually, he would let this go and focus on something else in this empty world. In hindsight, that was not the best call they made. Though, the one to learn how to spawn objects. Or at least, copies of objects for use elsewhere.

As for their other assistant, it was absolutely pointless. Having dedicated themselves to taking care of their friend in the hopes they would one day be free from this curse her former employer spread to the entire world over a period of just a couple days. Not enough time for people to prepare. But enough to end it all for some. 8 billion lights, all trapped in a state of both life and death. They did nothing wrong. Their only crime was being witnesses to the crime of a stolen future.

Time continues to march onward, trapped in this bubble. At some point this was going to burst. You guys were the needle. Was it foolish of me to think that I would change you people? Maybe. But when you showed up and things started to change in such a short time. I pushed and pushed, shouted at the top of my lungs and this is what it got me. Five dead, withering corpses that no one will ever come and get. Quite a life I have going for myself. Feel free to hate me. I kind of deserve it.

Notes:

This was a crazy chapter to write. There's a lot more dialogue next chapter.

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Next Time: We try to make sense of what the fuck just went on in this chapter.