Part 1: Attack on Kyoto
Gamaliel
"And above the firmament over their heads was the likeness of a throne, in appearance like a sapphire stone; on the likeness of the throne was a likeness with the appearance of a man high above it."
West Kyoto
Friday, April 13, 2018
7:00 P.M
"Come on, move faster!" Koji studied the girl who was pulling them away from the building. She was covered in black: dress, stockings, and shoes. She wore a cross on her neck, and the girl's blonde hair was tied up in pig tails.
"Koji!" Tommy spurred his brother's attention, "We need to stay close to our partners!"
"Don't worry, you'll be alright!" The girl insisted. "I'm taking you someplace safe!"
"Who are you?" Koji inquired. "Are you with that giant Digimon?" He looked to Tommy as he spoke. The boy wanted to protest, but he relented. They needed answers.
"Don't worry, I know it's weird but that thing is a friend!" She answered. "Just focus on running. We'll be someplace safe soon." She took the boys down the street and into a subway station entrance. Here she slowed down. "We should be okay now, but let's still keep quiet until we get there." She explained.
"Get where?" Tommy asked, but Koji shushed him. Tommy glared at the boy but kept silent, following the girl as she made her way down the stairs and into the darkness of the subway station. Upon plunging into the depths of the tunnels, Koji and Tommy once again felt the unnerving stillness of the city return, the quiet, stale air giving them a false sense of serenity. The girl pulled out a small flashlight from her pocket to illuminate the way, leading them into the subway tunnels, where they walked for a time before finally encountering signs of life. After rounding a bend, they found themselves in a large cavern: a switching station for the tracks. Here the lights were running, powered by generators along the walls, no doubt salvaged by the mass of people living in the cavern. An entire community had sprung up within the safety of the subway tunnels, with makeshift tents stretching across the platforms, and a constant movement of people through the subway cars that sat unpowered.
"This is amazing." Koji gasped as they made their way into the encampment.
"All these people escaped down here when the digital army attacked." The girl explained, then stopping and turning to face them. "Hi, thanks for being patient with me. My name's Alice."
"It's nice to meet you." Koji shook her hand. "I'm surprised the digital army hasn't noticed you people down here though. Shouldn't they be looking for where all the people living in Kyoto have gone?"
"The digital army doesn't have time for much of anything," Alice answered, "Aside from fighting those robots. The day they came into the city they were capturing people, but as soon as the Gizumon showed up and started attacking anything that moved, they haven't had time for anything else."
"Do you think there are more places like this?" Tommy inquired.
"I've heard rumors of other people taking to the underground to escape the fighting," Alice answered, "But I don't know of any of them for sure."
"That could be where my parents are." Tommy said excitedly.
"That's a definite possibility," Koji nodded, "I can't believe we didn't think of it before. We'll have to check when we get back to Otsu."
"You two are from Otsu?" Alice inquired. "Why are you all the way out here? Is it that bad out there?"
"No, actually," Koji shook his head, "The digital army has been driven out of Otsu." Koji stopped the girl before she could ask why. "First though, that Digimon that saved us, who is he?"
"Wendigomon," Alice answered, "Saved me from the digital army when they first attacked. I might add, it's a bit odd to see people who know that the invaders are Digimon, or that they're called the digital army." She said suspiciously.
"We learned a lot about them in Otsu," Koji answered. "So that Wendigomon is your partner?"
"Partner?" Alice inquired. Before they could elaborate, a thumping could be heard from the tunnel from which they came. Wendigomon quickly came bounding out of it, arriving next to Alice moments later. "I guess you could say that." She looked up to the Digimon, noting something in his hands. "What'cha got there?"
"Prisoners…" The beast said in a deep, guttural voice, and dropped two limp bodies from his hands.
"You captured those digital army thugs?" Alice asked excitedly as she looked down on two rookie Digimon.
"Veemon!" Tommy immediately sprang towards his unconscious partner.
"Hey, be careful!" Alice tried to stop him, reaching for the boy's shoulder, but Koji grabbed her wrist.
"Alice, do you have one of these?" Koji pulled his digivice out of his pocket.
"Yeah… where did you get that?" She backed away in surprise. Koji took a moment to walk over to Majester, who lay next to Veemon.
"These two Digimon aren't members of the digital army," Koji shook his head, "At least not anymore. They're our partners. We're just like you Alice, we're Digidestined."
"Digi…destined?" The girl gasped. Wendigomon watched the Digimon suspiciously as the two boys tried to arouse them, but kept his distance.
"Majester, are you okay?" Koji stirred his partner awake.
"Koji, how'd you find me?" The rookie groaned. "Last I remember I got hit by a freight train…"
"You'll be fine buddy; don't worry about it. I'll explain everything later." Koji smiled.
"Veemon!" Tommy cried. "He's hurt; he won't wake up!" Tommy cried. He turned to Wendigomon. "What did you do to him?" Tommy barked at the creature.
"Not me…" The beast growled, "Gizumon…"
"The Gizumon must have really roughed those two up," Alice observed the two wounded Digimon. "Wendigomon, will you go and grab Jian for me?" The creature nodded, and then leaped away into the crowd, who were unfazed by the Digimon's presence. "Listen, if you want to know any more about what's happening, I can take you to some people who claim to know all about it. They're called the monster makers."
"What about Veemon?" Tommy whimpered.
"Wendigomon is grabbing Jian," Alice answered, "He's the medic down here, and the person who brought this colony together so quickly. He'll help your partner."
"What about these monster makers?" Koji inquired.
"It's too late to go see them now, but I can take you tomorrow, and it'll give those two time to rest," She nodded to the two Digimon.
"Alice!" A man called to her from behind. The group turned to see Wendigomon returning with a tall, lanky man running alongside, with messy dark-blue hair and wearing tattered jeans and a brown t-shirt.
"Jian!" Alice cried as he arrived. "These people are from Otsu. They have Digimon partners too." Jian approached them. "One of them is hurt." She pointed down to Veemon. Jian immediately kneeled down and began examining the creature.
"What happened?" He inquired.
"They were fighting the Gizumon." Alice answered.
"We got beat up pretty badly too." Majester groaned. "Veemon took the brunt of it though."
"Wendigomon," the man looked up to the monster, "Please take him over to the med station, and let Miss Masao know that we have a new patient." Wendigomon nodded and began to scoop up the rookie. Tommy was about to protest but Koji held his hand back. Wendigomon then jumped quickly through the camp towards the medical station.
"Masao is a doctor too," Alice assured them, "Your partner will be in good hands."
"So, you two have been fighting the Gizumon and the digital army up on the surface, eh?" Jian studied the two.
"Yeah, we're digidestined, just like Alice." Koji answered. "Our partner Digimon came here to help us fight off the invaders."
"Just like Alice?" Jian inquired. "Your partners can also transform?" Nods were his reply. "Well I'm glad to know there are more of you like Alice out there, fighting off these creatures. Is it just you or are there more 'Digidestined'?"
"We have a few friends back in Otsu." Koji answered. "They're keeping the area safe while we scout the enemy territory."
"A scouting mission, sounds about right," Jian nodded, "Well I'm afraid you're going to have to put your mission on hold. Veemon has sustained serious damage, from what I could tell, and while these 'Digimon' might recover faster than us humans, it's still going to take time before he's in fighting shape again."
"Oh…" Tommy sighed.
"But you're welcome to stay here while your friend recovers," Alice nodded, "At least, I assume so, right Jian?" She looked to the man.
"Of course," Jian smiled, "But I have to warn you against drawing attention to yourselves. The people around here are still wary of Digimon and while they're used to Wendigomon's presence, they're still naturally distrusting of them. I'd also ask that you not go outside too often, if you can help it. We'd like to not draw too much attention to ourselves. Alice and Wendigomon travel a few pre-selected routes while looking for survivors, but we're mostly in the business of avoiding the digital army and the Gizumon."
"Except when Wendigomon gets too rowdy, "Alice smiled, eyeing her partner from across the cavern. "Sometimes Wendigomon just has to go out and fight something."
"That is true," Jian sighed, "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll get back to our patient. Alice, if you could find somewhere for them to stay, perhaps close to the med station." Jian then jogged away, in the direction Wendigomon had gone.
"Koji," Majester looked up to his partner, "We can't stay here for too long. We've got to complete our mission."
"It looks like we don't have a choice Majester," Koji shook his head. "We don't have the speed without Veemon. We need to wait until he gets better."
Switching Station
Saturday, April 14, 2018
8:00 A.M
"Hey, wake up." Alice used her foot to shake Koji awake.
"What's going on Alice?" Koji asked through a yawn. "Is Veemon okay?"
"He's fine. I figured you'd want to go see the monster makers today, am I right?" She inquired.
"Yeah, that sounds great." The boy groggily pushed himself up and off of the mat they had provided him to sleep on. "Just let me go and grab Tommy from the med tent and we can go." The night before, Alice had found them a spare space close to the medical station for them to sleep. Tommy had then gone off to check on Veemon, opting to stay in the tent with him. Koji wanted to protest, but hadn't found it a good time.
"You should let him stay," Majester suggested as it stumbled off his bedding. "Veemon will do better with Tommy close by anyway, and Tommy probably won't even want to leave his side."
"You might be right." Koji stretched as he made his way to the medical tent, where he found Tommy asleep on a chair next to Veemon, who was lying on a cot in the corner.
"Hello Koji, nice to see you again," Masao, the doctor Koji had met the night before, smiled as he entered. She wore her long, dark hair in a ponytail and was dressed in a white laboratory coat.
"You too Miss Masao," Koji nodded, "Any word on Veemon?"
"He seems to have taken a pretty bad beating from the Digital army," She answered, "But a lot of rest will help him recover. Jian and I are going to keep him here for observation, but in a few weeks he should be fine, depending on how long it takes Digimon to heal."
"Koji…" Tommy rubbed his eyes as the conversation stirred him awake. Masao politely bowed away from the two and went back to her work.
"Tommy, Alice wants to take us to see the monster makers today." Koji explained.
"I'm not leaving Veemon," Tommy shook his head.
"Tommy, it's dangerous here." Koji insisted. "Who knows how these people will react to a Digimon. You've seen what the digital army has done to these people."
"It's not happening Koji," Tommy stared intently. "I'm staying by his side."
"Tommy please-!"
"You need to trust me." The boy ordered. Koji couldn't respond.
"You needn't worry," Jian appeared from outside the tent, "These people trust me, and they trust Wendigomon." He smiled.
"Ok," Koji sighed, "I'll let you know what we learn." Koji patted the boy on the shoulder, and then rejoined Alice and Majester outside of the tent. Alice led them through the camp, wary to avoid groups of people so as not to expose the Dracomon accompanying them to the other refugees. They arrived at the subway tunnel entrance minutes later, where Wendigomon was waiting.
"So what can you tell me about these people that we're meeting?" Koji inquired as they walked.
"I don't know much about them," Alice answered, "But I met them while Wendigomon and I were patrolling the city for survivors. They gave me a lot of scientific jargon that I didn't really understand, but they seem to have an intimate knowledge of how the Digimon got here."
"So there's nothing you can tell me yourself?" Koji asked suspiciously.
"I could, but it would probably be better to let them explain it. Besides, I think the place we're going will be helpful to your reconnaissance mission." She smiled. Koji nodded warily. He had put his trust in these people, especially after leaving Tommy and Veemon behind, and he didn't like that Alice was now withholding information from him. However, he decided to let the issue slide, and learn for himself about the 'Monster Makers'.
Alice and Wendigomon led Majester and Koji through a series of tunnels. Koji had trouble keeping track of the path they had taken, but Majester assured him that he remembered the route.
"So how did you find these guys?" Koji asked as they walked.
"We were exploring the city last week and we ran into one of the buildings downtown to escape a hoard of Gizumon that was chasing us. The Monster Makers were held up inside. The building had enough food and water to sustain them, so they decided to stay there instead of coming back to the camp with us."
"Wendigomon seems pretty self-sufficient," Koji noted, "Why were you running away."
"No danger…" Wendigomon hissed, "For Alice…"
"Wendigomon didn't want to put me in danger," Alice explained, "And there were a LOT of them too. We barely made our way away from them before ducking into the Nideo building."
"They're hiding out in the Nideo building?" Koji inquired.
"Yeah, that's where we're heading now. Wendigomon memorized the path on our way back."
"What's the Nideo building, Koji?" Majester inquired.
"One of the tallest buildings in the city, where the Nideo Corporation's headquarters are located."
"Here…" Wendigomon suddenly announced, bringing them to a doorway along the side of the tunnel. Alice opened it, revealing a small room loaded with electrical equipment. At the back of the room was a ladder, leading up into the ceiling.
"This'll take us up inside," Alice waved them forward.
"It looks a little small for Wendigomon," Majester noticed, "You'll have to de-digivolve."
"No weak!" The beast barked.
"Wendigomon doesn't like being in rookie form," Alice explained, "Doesn't want to be weaker than any of the opponents we might face, so Wendigomon stays as a champion."
"That has to be taxing." Majester replied.
"Yeah, on him and our food supplies." She waved them forward. "Let's go."
"Aren't you leading the way?" Koji inquired. Alice glared at him, her face turning a bright red. "What's…" His voice trailed off as he saw her hands pawing at her skirt. "Oh no I didn't mean-!"
"Just go!" Alice threw him forward into the room. Koji embarrassingly trotted through the room and began climbing the ladder, while Majester flew above him.
"Yeah unfortunately Wendigomon refuses to degenerate," Alice continued, "which is a shame since Lopmon is pretty adorable," She smiled, "And also it'd be a lot easier to maneuver around small tunnels if someone was a rookie too!" She yelled down into the room below.
"No weak!" Came her partner's insistent reply.
"We were surrounded by Gizumon when we first came here, so we had to escape through these tunnels. You've no idea how ridiculous it was watching Wendigomon slip through here, like a cat squeezing through a water pipe." Alice shook her head.
"I've found a door." Dracomon pushed against a panel at the top of the ladder, throwing it open and flying inside. Koji climbed out of the tunnel a moment later, finding himself in a dark room filled with numerous glowing computer panels. Alice appeared moments later, and hopped into the room.
"Okay, follow me." Alice led them out of the room and into a hallway, which led to a commons area with a couch, some chairs, and a television set. "Mr. Yamaki?" She called into the room. Moments later, a figure stirred on the couch, which was facing away from the entryway. A large man wearing a white lab coat peered over the side.
"Alice?" The man inquired.
"Hello Mr. Janryu," Alice smiled.
"Dolphin, you have a visitor." The man groaned as he stood up. Moments later another man stepped out from a kitchen-like apse in the corner.
"Alice!" He roared.
"Grandpa!" She cheered, embracing the man in a deep hug.
"Your grandfather's here?" Koji asked suspiciously.
"When I was scouting the city, I was looking for him. I didn't just stumble in here by accident, you know." She smiled.
"Who is your friend Alice?" The man called Dolphin looked over at the boy, then noticing the Digimon standing next to him.
"He's just like me Grandpa, he's got a Digimon partner and he's been fighting the Digimon over in Otsu with some friends."
"Is that so?" Another man appeared in the hallway, this one tall and lanky, with blonde hair, wearing a formal buttoned shirt and slacks.
"Hello Mr. Yamaki," Alice bowed. "Koji came into the city to scout out the digital army encampments. I also thought he might like to hear about what you guys have been doing here."
"I'd very much appreciate it." Koji added, bowing slightly. Majester followed his cue and bowed as well.
"It shouldn't be a problem. Any enemy of the digital army is a friend to us, right Yamaki?" Janryu smiled. "Come on, let's take them up the roof so they can check out the city." Janryu led them over to the elevator. "We've got a backup generator powering parts of the building, so you don't have to worry about the electrical interferences here. Yamaki?" He looked over to the man. Yamaki nodded and led the two children over to the elevator. As the doors closed and the elevator began to move, the men spoke. "Why don't you begin, Yamaki?"
"Very well," He looked at Koji and the Dragon creature. "Have you ever heard of Factory Mark?" Koji shook his head. "I thought not. Factory Mark was an investment company that was prominent during the 70s and 80s."
"I was born in 2005." Koji said bluntly.
"As I said, I assumed you wouldn't have heard of it. Anyway, in 1992 there was an explosion at the Factory Mark central headquarters building. It destroyed servers, wiped out tons of data from their special projects division, and cost a lot of lives. It destroyed their reputation and the company was on the verge of bankruptcy when Nideo bought them out in 2001."
"What does this have to do with the Digimon?" Koji inquired.
"I'm getting to it." Yamaki shook his head. "Some years later, Nideo was sifting through the assets they had gained from the merger when somebody discovered that some of the servers from the Factory Mark explosion were still functional. We brought them here to get the data off of them, hoping to gain information on their special projects division, but we ran into a problem. That's where Janryu comes in." He nodded to the slick and dark-purple haired man.
"The programmers couldn't access the information on the servers, and couldn't understand why. The information was wrapped in layers upon layers of encryption. Yamaki called us in to try and extrapolate the data."
"Sounds like a lot of effort just to get some old data off a computer." Koji shrugged.
"The Factory Mark special projects division was pretty well known for being on the cutting edge of research back in the 80s. The guys at Nideo felt that it was a low risk-high reward gamble to invest money into accessing their old data. Finding out what they were working on could have ended up making Nideo a lot of money."
"We couldn't break the encryption though," Janryu shook his head shamefully, "And eventually we had to reach out to an outside contractor. A friend of ours acquired an algorithm for us that allowed us to break the encryption and access the data, which we accomplished just a few months ago. Over the last few months we've been using the algorithm to break through the various levels of security and sort through the data." A pinging sound noted that the elevator had stopped. The door opened out onto the roof of the building, and the four passengers stepped out into the cool spring air.
"Woah…" Koji marveled at the view in front of him. "You can see the whole city from here." He remarked.
"The Nideo Corporation Headquarters is one of the largest buildings in Kyoto," Yamaki explained, "You should be able to survey enemy encampments from here with ease."
"Wait," Koji turned to them, "I still don't understand the point of your story."
"The algorithm that we used, it was designed to break down layers of encryption and firewalls protecting the server from outside access, yes?" Yamaki asked rhetorically. "And just a few months later, this happens." He looked down the side of the building, where a small group of Gizumon could be seen crossing the road.
"Somehow, wherever these monsters came from," Janryu explained, "Our algorithm deteriorated the boundaries between our world and theirs."
"You said you came from the digital world…" Koji looked at his partner in awe. "Data and matter are one and the same where you come from, right?" Majester nodded. "But… how do you know that you guys caused it?"
"The invaders used our servers to open their portals. We noticed shortly before the invasion began."
"So when we tore down the firewall," Janryu sighed, "we also inadvertently caused the deterioration of whatever barriers existed between our world, and the digital one."
