Part Two: The Gizumon Conspiracy
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"As people moved eastward, they found a plain and settled there."
Nideo Corporate Headquarters
Kyoto, Japan
10:05 A.M.
Sunday, April 29, 2018
Koji sat in a foldout chair at the top of the Nideo building, overlooking the city of Kyoto. A map of the city was in front of him, pinned to the ledge of the building by four small stones, to prevent the wind from carrying it away. He had obtained a pair of binoculars from a camping store a short distance away, through which he was now gazing in order to survey the troop movements of the digital army and the Gizumon.
Over the past two weeks, he had gathered some valuable intel on the trends in the enemy movements. The base of operations for the digital army was Tofukuji Temple, a shrine located in the southeast part of Kyoto. Noteworthy was that, based on Koji's survey abilities (though limited), the temple was located at the center of the digital field. The digital army had mostly retained themselves to the small radius immediately surrounding the temple, which Koji assumed was to keep their forces less spread out in case of a Gizumon attack. There were two exceptions: a large group that had been pinned in the western side of the city by an army of Gizumon, and another unit that had been located on the south side of the city. Based on the lack of recent activity, and the smoldering pillars of smoke extending from that area over the last few days, Koji had come to the conclusion that the two sides in the south had wiped each other out.
The Gizumon only seemed to appear wherever the digital army was located. He had not been able to see any Gizumon movement in most of the city, except near the outskirts of the Tofukuji temple region, and the battles to the west and south. This had lead Koji to believe that the Gizumon's main priority was the defeat of the digital army, although the various humans scattered throughout the city seemed to be acceptable targets as well.
The Digidestined had been keeping busy over the past two weeks. Veemon had focused on recuperating, while Majester had been improving his ability to perform attacks without announcing them. He had offered to help Wendigomon practice as well, but the beast refused, on the grounds that it never needed to perform an announced attack anyway. Tommy had spent most of the time at the underground refugee camp, discussing Veemon's condition with Masao and Jian.
Koji had spent most of the last two weeks at the Nideo Corporation, in order to take advantage of the surveillance location. He had spent his free time with Dolphin, Tao, Shibumi, Johnny, and Mr. Yamaki. He had met a few of the other people hiding out in the Nideo building as well, but hadn't gotten to know anyone else. Their discussions on their work with the Factory Mark servers had given Koji a few other ideas on the war as well.
As the boy watched a unit of Gizumon disappear into behind a building, a bright light in the sky suddenly caught his attention. "What's that?" He lowered his binoculars, scanning the skyline. "Shit!" The boy had to jump away quickly as a ball of light shot towards him, smashing into the roof. As Koji dusted himself off, he slowly began approaching the light, which dissipated to reveal a small, golden pendant attached to a necklace.
"Where did this come from?" Koji pondered, picking the pendant up out of the small crater that had been formed by its landing. He ran his fingers across the surface, noting the strange symbol carved into its face. A few minutes passed as Koji further examined the strange trinket.
"Working hard?" A deep voice sounded behind him. Koji quickly plunged the treasure into his coat pocket.
"Just my daily surveillance," Koji answered, "I want to make sure the digital army or the Gizumon don't break their pattern."
"I see." Yamaki nodded. "Well I came up here to let you know that Alice just dropped by with news. Dr. Masao says that Veemon's condition has improved almost to top physical condition, and that you and Tommy should be able to move out tomorrow."
"That's good to hear," Koji replied, "It would be good to get this information to the other Digidestined as fast as possible, so we can develop a new strategy. All this waiting is making me really tense."
"Well, I'll be sorry to see you go. But the sooner you're able to return to Otsu, the closer we get to driving the digital army and the Gizumon out of Kyoto."
"Yeah…" Koji agreed, his mind drifting off. "Yamaki," He called back as he heard the man's footsteps receding.
"What is it Koji?" Yamaki inquired.
"I've had a few thoughts, based on what you've all told me about the project you were working on."
"Oh really, and what's that?" Yamaki cocked his head.
"You told me that your algorithm somehow caused the deterioration of the barrier between our world and the digital world, right?" Koji asked, with Yamaki nodding to confirm. "Well it occurred to me, that it wouldn't make a lot of sense for your program to arbitrarily attack the digital world barrier as well as the Factory Mark server security. There would have to be some connection between the two, at least that's what I think."
"A fair assumption." Yamaki nodded.
"And I haven't told you this yet, mostly because I wanted to gather more data on the situation first, but there's a reason the digital army is attacking Kyoto." Koji explained.
"You know why they're attacking Kyoto?" Yamaki was surprised. "Why are you telling me this now?"
"Because if I have to head back to Otsu, I want to make sure this information is in the hands of somebody who might be able to do something with it." He answered.
"Alright then, let's hear it."
"The digital army is here," Koji continued, "Because a few months ago, a virus appeared in their world." Yamaki slowly removed his sunglasses as Koji spoke. "Usually Digimon are reconfigured after they die, since in their world matter and data are one and the same. But the virus changes things. I don't exactly understand how it works, but when a Digimon is infected with the virus, it dies, and doesn't get reconfigured. The virus permanently kills the Digimon. They've lost 90% of their population in the short time since its appeared."
"I see." Yamaki sighed, following the progression of Koji's logic.
"It's obviously something I couldn't say for certain," Koji stated, "But if breaking the Factory Mark security also brought down the barrier between our world and the digital one, I don't think it's a far stretch to say that the server and the digital world are somehow bound together. It might even be possible that the digital world exists on the server: you did say that they were on the cutting edge of technology during their time. But if that's true, then the algorithm you used to bypass the server's security is actually the virus that's decimated their population. The digital army is here in order to find the source of the virus and put a stop to it."
"If that were the case," Yamaki replied, "Then the virus should no longer be active in the digital world. Once the invasion began, we ceased all activities with the program. Why are they still here then?"
"They could have seen that as a sign that they were on the right track, and used it as a justification for hunting down the source of the virus," Koji speculated, "Or they could be so engaged with the Gizumon that they can't afford to retreat."
"Koji, would you do me a favor and follow me downstairs?" Yamaki inquired. "There's somebody I'd like you to meet." Koji followed Yamaki back towards the elevator.
"I thought I'd already met everyone in the building." Koji stated as the elevator descended.
"For the most part, but there's a few people you probably haven't come in contact with. One in particular: a member of the project who was there when the digital field first appeared. In fact, the connection was made from his computer."
"Why haven't I met him?" Koji inquired.
"He mostly keeps to himself since the incident started. He stays holed up in the main office where the Monster Makers were working, messing with the program."
"Could he be keeping the algorithm running?" Koji inquired.
"The computers don't work," Yamaki shook his head, "I've mostly just seen him go over hard copies of the research data, like he's trying to piece together some sort of puzzle." The elevator doors opened, allowing Yamaki and Koji to step out onto the floor. Yamaki lead him down a hallway towards a room he hadn't seen so far: a small square space with a number of cubicles. At the end of the room sat a man with short but frazzled red hair, looking over a pile of paperwork.
"Shorty, I've got somebody you might want to talk to." Yamaki called to the man.
"I'm busy Yamaki." Shorty answered without looking up from his papers.
"You might be interested in this." Yamaki argued. "He's one of the kids who have partnered with the Digimon. He's got some interesting ideas on what we've been doing here and how it relates to the invasion." Yamaki's statement caused Shorty to look up from his papers.
"You're one of the Digidestined?" The man inquired. "Where's your Digimon?"
"He's underground, training." Koji answered. "I have some information about the digital world that might interest you."
"And what might that be?" Shorty inquired.
"The digital army," Koji began, "They came here because a virus infected their world. It's wiped out 90 percent of their population in only a few months."
"A few months, eh?" Shorty massaged his temple. "And I take it that you're suggesting our algorithm had something to do with that too?"
"I think it might be one and the same." Koji replied. "I think the digital world is either strongly connected to those servers, or exists within them. The algorithm you've been using to break the security manifested itself in the digital world as the virus that's been destroying Digimon." Shorty remained silent for a few moments.
"I suspected something like that might be the case." Shorty finally spoke. "I just didn't know what sort of event might have happened in the digital world that correlated with our algorithm. Now I see." He grabbed a fistful of paper work and angrily shot it across the room. "I'm so stupid!"
"Shorty," Yamaki began.
"Stop calling me that." The man sighed as he dropped his head into his palms.
"Koushiro," Yamaki corrected himself, "I know this is hard, but you can't blame yourself. There's no way we could have known this would happen."
"I should have known." Koushiro shook his head.
"What do you mean?" Koji voiced both his and Yamaki's confusion.
"I should have realized the second I heard about Factory Mark." Koushiro answered. "The name sounded so familiar, but I just couldn't pinpoint it. I can't believe I forgot."
"What did you forget, Koushiro?" Yamaki stepped into the room, a sense of anger in his voice. "Did you know something about the algorithm before we ran it?"
"No, not about that." Koushiro shook his head. "I knew about the digital world."
"What?" Yamaki barked. "How could you have known about these creatures?"
"Because," Koushiro reached down his shirt, pulling a necklace out for them both to see. A golden pendant was on the chain, with a peculiar symbol engraved on its face. "I'm just like him." He nodded to Koji. "I used to be a Digidestined."
"No way…" Koji gasped. He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out the small trinket he had found earlier. The designs were the same, although the symbol engraved on the front of his was slightly different from Koushiro's.
"Wait, what?" Yamaki exclaimed. "Explain yourself, Koushiro."
"It was twelve years ago," The man answered, "I was only twelve years old. Me and a group of other kids were pulled into the digital world. We received digivices, and crests like this." He shook the pendant around his neck. "We used them to help our Digimon partners evolve, and we helped save the digital world, but then we had to leave. The structural integrity of the digital world had been broken down, and we had to return home or we would have been trapped forever."
"And you didn't tell anyone about this?" Yamaki growled.
"Who would you expect me to tell?" Izzy inquired. "If a twelve-year-old kid came up to you and told you about a fantastical adventure in a world full of digital monsters, would you believe him?"
"I suppose not." Yamaki tried to remain calm. "So, you met the Digimon twelve years ago, and haven't been back since?"
"Not exactly." Koushiro answered. "Four years after I went to the digital world, there was another group of Digidestined called to help save their world. I never went back myself, but I helped them out back in the real world, when I lived in Tokyo."
"Eight years ago…" Yamaki pondered. "That's when that big terrorist attack happened." He realized. "I remember the news: a huge fog overcame the city that week, and nobody could get in."
"It wasn't just any fog," Koushiro explained, "It was a digital field, just like the one that's around Kyoto right now. There was a smaller invasion that time, too, but we drove them out pretty quickly. Circumstances around that event caused the barriers between our world and the digital one to close as well, and I haven't seen or heard from the Digimon since, until now."
"You said you had forgotten something." Koji said. "Something about Factory Mark."
"Yeah, when I was in the digital world I was fortunate enough to have had my laptop with me. Being a digital landscape, it was easy enough to interface with the technology there. It got us through some difficult situations. However, one of the first nights we were there, I got a strange e-mail that just said 'help me'. I didn't know who it was from, and I never found out, but the e-mail address was from Factory Mark."
"I don't understand." Koji shrugged.
"The digital world is a hybridization of physical matter and data. Things don't exist as one or the other there, they're one and the same. I postulated that the message I got on my computer was from somebody in the digital world, whose physical message had been intercepted by my laptop. I received it as an e-mail because that was the only way my computer could interpret the data it had just received. If that's the case, then the domain name on the e-mail was indicative of the name of the server I had received the message from."
"Factory Mark." Yamaki nodded. "So does that mean that the digital world exists in the servers we have downstairs?"
"No, not at all." Koushiro shook his head. "It would be possible if the digital world existed as an entirely digital entity, but even then I don't think the Factory Mark servers would have enough memory to hold digitized versions of real life humans. Even still it doesn't matter, because Digimon have come to the real world from the digital one. If they didn't have real bodies in the first place, then they would have to synthesize entirely new ones upon arriving in the human world. Since none of that took place eight years ago, I can only assume that the digital world exists in another universe, one which is connected to ours through data streams, and was created by Factory Mark itself."
"How could they do that?" Koji inquired. "How could they create an entire universe?"
"I don't think they did." Koushiro answered. "At least, not the universe itself."
"What are you getting at Koushiro?" Yamaki inquired.
"Did they tell you about the explosion at Factory Mark headquarters 24 years ago?" Koushiro asked Koji. The boy nodded. "Based on what I know about that event; the explosion was caused by an internal problem with the building's power supply. It became overloaded, leading to a release of energy by the building's generators and causing the blast. I can't say any of this for certain, but my hypothesis is that the special projects division was working on something to do with multi-verse theory."
"What's that?" Koji inquired.
"It's a theoretical concept in physics that proposes the idea of an infinite number of universes that exist for each possibility. For simplicity's sake, say one day you decide to skip school and go to an arcade, or a movie. A universe would also exist for if you hadn't made that decision, and instead gone to school." Koushiro explained.
"Would the digital world be one of these alternate universes then?" Yamaki asked.
"Sort of," Koushiro answered, "I think that they could have been working on accessing alternate universes using some sort of digital interface. A problem must have occurred, leading to the generators overloading and the building exploding. In that instant, the power to breach the boundaries between universes could have been reached, allowing the data from Factory Mark's servers to spill out into an open and empty universe, creating the digital world."
"That would mean that the digital world is only 24 years old though," Koji spoke, "According to the Digimon I've met, it's positively ancient."
"It would only be 24 years old from our perspective." Koushiro explained. "Time can move differently for different universes. In fact, while we were there we experienced that very phenomenon. Time was accelerated in the digital world, to the point where 100 years passed for some of us, and only half a day had passed in the human world."
"So the digital world's timeline is moving at an accelerated rate compared to ours?" Yamaki asked.
"Not anymore." Koushiro answered. "After we left the first time, the interaction between our world and theirs caused our timelines to become aligned. When the new Digidestined were called four years later, only four years had passed in the digital world."
"Koushiro," Yamaki spoke with a stern voice," Why didn't you tell us all of this when the digital army first appeared?"
"I…" Koushiro bowed his head. "I thought that I might be able to fix the problem by myself." He answered. "At least that's what I told myself anyway. I think… no, I know… I was ashamed." He stepped out of his chair. "The title of Digidestined is revered in the digital world. Digimon look at them with respect and praise. When the digital army appeared, and I realized that our work must have caused some sort of damage to the digital world, I knew that I was at fault. I didn't want to admit that I might have been at fault for what was happening, especially when I was supposed to be a protector of the digital world."
"Well, it's unfortunate that you didn't remember the correlation with Factory Mark until recently," Yamaki noted. "Had you remembered, it's possible you might have been able to stop us from using the algorithm, although I don't know what you could have said to convince me. You were in a difficult position, no matter what."
"I know," Koushiro sighed, "It's not going to make this feeling go away though. I was one of the original digidestined, and my actions have now caused one of its greatest crises."
"Maybe there's some way we can use this information to our advantage." Koji proposed. "Maybe you can alter the algorithm, use it to recover the data that it destroyed. That might be able to reverse the damage caused by the virus."
"It all depends on how the virus works in the digital world." Koushiro answered. "When Digimon die, something called a data core, containing their thoughts and memories, is absorbed by the data streams and taken to the digital core, a region in the center of the digital world that processes data for the entire universe. It reconfigures the data core into a new Digimon and returns it to the digital world proper as a new Digimon."
"Sounds like reincarnation," Yamaki noted.
"It's similar. The process serves to purify the data core, should it have become corrupted while it was alive, and as I'm now assuming, it preserves the integrity of the digital world itself. The existence of Digimon must strengthen and protect the data core form harm, so when a Digimon dies, it recycles the data and creates a new Digimon to increase its security."
"According to my partner, when a Digimon dies by the x-virus, it doesn't regenerate." Koji explained.
"In that case, there are two possibilities I can immediately think of for how the algorithm manifests itself in the digital world." Koushiro continued. "Either the virus destroys the data core itself, making it impossible for the digital core to reconfigure it, or the virus alters the core in some way that makes it unrecognizable to the digital core, so it doesn't get absorbed."
"I'm guessing one of those is easier to fix than the other?" Koji asked rhetorically.
"If the data cores have been altered, then we should be able to modify the algorithm to reverse the changes it made to the data, allowing us to fix the data cores to a state where they're recognizable by the digital core. If they've been destroyed though, then it would require us to alter the algorithm to completely reconstruct the information it destroyed, and quite frankly I don't know if it can be done."
"Unless I'm mistaken, there's another problem as well." Yamaki warned. "None of the monster makers made the algorithm. It was produced by an outside contractor. He's the only one who knows the code well enough to be able to alter it, am I correct?"
"If I had time, I could learn how it works, but for the short term that is correct." Koushiro nodded. "There's no way to quickly alter the function of the algorithm without its original creator."
"Do you know who it is?" Koji inquired. Koushiro shook his head.
"I do." Yamaki answered to their relief. "Johnny was the one who procured it for us, and he stored the information in a confidential file within the financial division. After the invasion started, I looked into everything involving our project. I checked out some of the hard copies upstairs concerning recent business transactions, and was fortunate enough to find records from the transaction still intact."
"If we have the name of the programmer, then we might be able to find him. I'm sure we can access some sort of phone book or other public directory within the city. I'm sure a few physical ones still exist." Koji proposed.
"What's his name, Yamaki?" Koushiro inquired. "If we can track him down, we just might be able to fix the mistakes we've made."
"Actually it's similar to yours." Yamaki answered. "It's Koushiro, Koushiro Okawa."
