Author's Notes: Ack! I apologize for the delay in getting this chapter out! I know it's been writen, but it takes some time to re-format it for Fanfiction.net. I ended up having to re-work the ending because of corrupted file data, also, which I have been too busy with schoolwork to actually sit down and do. So, with no further ado, here is Chapter 3.
I currently have no plans to add Lan and co. to the fic, because I've messed with the 'history of the universe'. I can't say what entirely, of course. =) That would spoil the suprise.
However, I'm thinking of possibly re-writing it, switching some details around and working the other characters into this. It'll retain much of the unique-ness and storyline, but it'llopen up some interesting posibilities. It all depends on how far I get...and how often I recieve motivation. No feedback = few updates.
--- The Nightmare Bridge ---
-- Chapter 4 --
-- Identity Crisis --
"I don't think this was such a good idea anymore." Momoko muttered to herself as she crouched down next to the security door that Forte was silently hacking away. "Why can't we just use the public server? Is security that important here?" She griped. "I'm really getting hungry, and this arm is getting heavy!"
'Yeah, it probably is important, I guess.' Momoko grumbled. 'Though I still wish he'd hurry!'
She looked over at the unmoving Forte. 'He seems so calm now. Focused.'
Yet, not even a half hour ago, his eyes had practically lit up with excitement when he had deleted Yuzori and Double. Forte had said he had wanted no part in the crimson road he had previously followed, yet his eyes still held the kind of manical excitement she thought only could exist in fanatics and the obsessed.
Unless, of course, Forte was somehow faking his mania...
"Great. He's either insane or the best actor the world has ever seen. What a choice." Momoko stood up. "I need some time to think." Quietly, as if to not wake up the psuedo-sleeping Forte, Momoko walked away. 'I'll be back before he wakes up, anyway.'
'I just hope he doesn't get caught...'
It took Momoko several minutes to find her way out of the quiet maze of hallways Forte had secluded them in. She stood in the doorway for a few moments, stunned by what she saw. Before, her vision had been somewhat blurred from the Server jump, but now, she could see as good as ever. Everywhere, she could see Navis and users walk around, reading books, writing reports, or telling an old tale amung friends. It was just like a normal library...except for the Navis that walked around.
One black and yellow Navi marched along the book shelves, four enourmous electrical transformers strapped to it's back almost like a backpack. A few feet away, a smaller, insect-like Navi flitted amung the books, it's goggled eyes taking in every detail. At a nearby table, a not yet teenage boy with bleached hair sat reading a book, a tall red Navi with flowing silver hair and a raven's eye stood guard nearby, looking bored yet silently serious.
Quietly, Momoko slipped into the room, easily blending into the rest of the library's diverse population. 'So much is happening so fast...' Momoko thought with a sigh, 'I can't help but have new questions almost every time something happens. What did Forte do to Double to cause him to shatter like that? Why does his personality seem to keep switching? What did he mean by evolution? Where am I? Heck, WHO am I? I can barely remember a thing!'
A sudden tremor brought Momoko's contemplation came to a sudden screeching halt. "What in the world?!" She exclaimed as the building began to shake. The other library patrons looked around in confusion, no less confused.
"Blues! With me!" The bleach haired boy took off running towards the enterance. "Battle Mode, Set!"
"As ordered, Lord Enzan!" The navi said, it's own arm-blade already extended for combat. Several other Navis followed suit, searching for the source of the attack.
"Hey, wait!" Momoko cried. "What the heck is going on?"
"I believe somebody's released a virus nearby." The insect-like Navi commented. His buzzing wings had let him hover up to the windows, where the shaking ground couldn't touch him. "I think it may be a new model. I can't see it from here..."
"I can't scan it, either! What the heck is going on out there?" A User complained.
The sounds of cracking earth outside filled the air as...something...gave an earth-shattering roar.
Momoko didn't stick around to see what it was. Down the corridor she ran, desperate to find Forte. Air burned her lungs like fire as she rushed down the corridor. Yuzori must have sent word of Forte's appearance to someone else! If Forte hadn't unlocked the door yet...
"Wha?!" Momoko cried as she turned the last corner. Forte wasn't there! Where is he? Why did he leave?
The thoughts were stopped short when she saw the sign on the door. A public search room. Forte had been in front of a private room. Which meant...
"This...this is the wrong area!" Momoko groaned. "Why can't anything go my way!"
In her despair, she couldn't see the cracks begin to form on the ground around her. A new series of tremors rocked the building.
"Miss, please, stay back!" A woman's voice called over the din. "Now!"
Too late to turn and run, the ground in front of Momoko exploded into a gout of rocky shrapnel. Amidst the flying rocks, an enourmous purple worm burst out of the ground, leveling it's four-pronged mouth at Momoko and letting loose a ear-shattering screech. The slippery smell of chlorine filled the corridor, causing Momomo to swoon, her thoughts fuzzy and indistinct. She toppled to the ground, and stared blankly up at the great purple beast for a second before the sounds, smells, and pain from her newly-reaggravated arm overwhelmed her and she fell into blackness.
* * *
It took Forte roughly 0.73 seconds to notice the anomaly in the Library server as soon as it appeared. He mentally frowned, for the bodyless limbo he floated in gave him no concievable form. All around him data flowed, the programmed data of the server, the Navis and Users that moved there, what they searched for, everything seemed an open book. Thus, it was when he momentarily took a break from hacking into the Server's security computer, it became easy to examine the two unexpected forces that now besieged it.
'What are these?' He wondered. Viruses, obviously. That much was apparent. But thier design and function, they seemed unique. Forte shook his non-existant head. 'Just our luck', he thought, 'that this server comes under attack while I'm here.'
The attack didn't worry Forte too much. So long as Momoko stayed near him, he knew, it would be simple to return to his body and defeat the beasts. That wasn't what worried him. Despite never seeing the violet ground-dwellers before, they seemed uncannily familiar to Forte, a fact he didn't like much at all.
He looked over the two creatures, watched as one burst out of the ground in front of the library and the other burrowed underneath the Library to attack within. All of the combat worthy Navis were already in motion to destroy the one near the enterance. He took the opportunity to run a thorough scan of the second, and would have screamed if he had a body capable of doing so.
"The mark of Marduk?!" He growled. A feeling of disgust welled up within him.
Forte alone knew what that Marduk symbol really meant.
The mark of Marduk meant Forte's creator was in the business of terror once again.
How he wished he could spit in his creator's face right then, but he knew he had greater priorities. 'If Kerian chose to attack here, that means he might know that I'm here! If that's true, than these viruses are much more than they appear to be! I've got to get back to Momoko!'
Through the formless world he rushed. In less than a second he was back at his body, and about ready to jump in, when he noticed the one thing that could possibly make the situation worse. Momoko wasn't there.
"THAT IDIOT!" Forte panicked, rushing back out into the void. "Where? Where is she?!" He finally found her, quaking in fear as the second worm broke through the floor in front of her. "NO!" Forte screamed in denail, rushing back to his body. No even taking a second to stretch and regain his lost manuverability, he rushed headlong down the corridor, resisting. He ignored those in his way, simply whacking them aside as he rushed with all of the speed his body could give him. He had to get there in time. He HAD to!
Finally, he rushed into the broken corridor where he had seen Momoko and the worm. Chunks of granite and smooth stone lay everywhere. But nothing else. No Momoko. No virus. The corridor was well and truly abandoned.
* * *
*ring ring ring*
*ring ring ring*
"Station for Osaka, Tokai district 1 approaching."
*ring ring ring*
"All passengers heading for Osaka, Tokai District 1 please prepare your luggage."
*ring ring ring*
Why...Why won't someone shut off that phone...
*ring ring ring*
Can't anyone else hear it?
*ring ring ring*
"Now arriving at Tokai District 1."
*ring ring ri-*
About time it finally - huh?
"I see...the servers are active?"
Wha...voices in my head...?
"It's working? Wonderful!"
Get out of my head...leave me alone...
"Finally, I can be free..."
Why am I hearing things? Go away! Goaway-goaway-goaway-goaway...
*click*
* * *
For the second time in whay too short of a time, Momoko woke up with a startled gasp. 'What in the world was that dream?' She wondered. In bits and pieces, it seemed, her memories were finally returning to her. Despite the sudden upsurge of memory, Momoko frowned. "I wish I knew what it meant..."
"Hey, she's waking up!" Momoko heard from behind her. She froze. It was a woman's voice, not Forte's. 'Could I be back home?'
"Are you alright?" Another voice asked Momoko. A young indian woman in casual clothes sat down next to Momoko, concern on her face.
"I don't know," Momoko replied. "Who're you?"
"My name is Yssane." Yssane gave a kind smile. "Don't worry. My Navi and I deleted the Virus that attacked you and carried you here. Relax, you're in our home."
"Thank you," Momoko replied weakly. "I guess I'm not home yet after all." She pushed herself off of the bed with both hands and stood up. "I'm sorry, I need to go find my friend. He was in the library when it was attacked."
"I see..." Yssane replied, though she obviously didn't. "May I ask a question before you leave?"
"Erm..." Momoko faltered. "Alright, but I can't make any promises that I will answer."
"Fair enough. Did you know that your arm is healed now?"
"Huh?" Momoko stared down at her arm. Her normal, totally healthy arm. Even the sleeve of her shirt was as good as new. "It's healed! How...Did you do this?"
"I did." Another woman's voice called from behind Yssane. Momoko looked over at the new speaker.
"What in the world?" The second woman looked almost like a clone of Yssane. Only thier clothing seemed to mark the two apart. Whereas Yssane's clothing was plain and simple, the second wore a set of beautiful east-indian robes. She bowed to Momoko.
"Hello. I am Serenade, Yssane's Navi."
"W-wow! You two look like twins!"
Yssane smiled. "You could say that."
"Thank you for healing me."
"Of course! It was my pleasure," Serenade smiled. "I'd be honored if you could tell me who you are and how you got injured like that in the first place, though."
Momoko froze. 'I should have known she'd ask that question.'
"My name is Momoko. I-I don't know why I can get hurt here, though. I'm sorry, it's just so hard to explain...I don't even know how I ended up here on the Internet in the first place!"
Yssane and Serenade exchanged a glance. "You don't know?"
"No. I honestly have no idea."
"How frustrating..." Serenade commented. "Are you sure you're not some sort of superNavi?"
"Yes, I'm sure! W-why would I be?"
"Momoko, you've been here with us for over a week! It took Serenade that long to decode you, and even then all we managed to do was somehow reset your appearance and health! A week! It normally takes her 5 minutes to do that to a standard User or Navi!"
"Decode me!? B-but I'm a human! Not a program, not a Navi, not a User! A human!"
"Human? Not likely! Serenade is a legend amung Navis. She's one of the most advanced Navis ever built. And here you are, with a level of programming so complex, it'd take weeks of research to change something as simple as your eye color! If I had any say in this, I'd say that you're the most complex computer program in mankind's history!"
Momoko's world crashed.
"No. You can't be right! You can't be! You can't be!" Momoko's breath became labored and panicked. Tears streamed down from her face as the world spun around her. "I can't be a computer! I CAN'T BE!"
-- End Chapter 4 --
I currently have no plans to add Lan and co. to the fic, because I've messed with the 'history of the universe'. I can't say what entirely, of course. =) That would spoil the suprise.
However, I'm thinking of possibly re-writing it, switching some details around and working the other characters into this. It'll retain much of the unique-ness and storyline, but it'llopen up some interesting posibilities. It all depends on how far I get...and how often I recieve motivation. No feedback = few updates.
--- The Nightmare Bridge ---
-- Chapter 4 --
-- Identity Crisis --
"I don't think this was such a good idea anymore." Momoko muttered to herself as she crouched down next to the security door that Forte was silently hacking away. "Why can't we just use the public server? Is security that important here?" She griped. "I'm really getting hungry, and this arm is getting heavy!"
'Yeah, it probably is important, I guess.' Momoko grumbled. 'Though I still wish he'd hurry!'
She looked over at the unmoving Forte. 'He seems so calm now. Focused.'
Yet, not even a half hour ago, his eyes had practically lit up with excitement when he had deleted Yuzori and Double. Forte had said he had wanted no part in the crimson road he had previously followed, yet his eyes still held the kind of manical excitement she thought only could exist in fanatics and the obsessed.
Unless, of course, Forte was somehow faking his mania...
"Great. He's either insane or the best actor the world has ever seen. What a choice." Momoko stood up. "I need some time to think." Quietly, as if to not wake up the psuedo-sleeping Forte, Momoko walked away. 'I'll be back before he wakes up, anyway.'
'I just hope he doesn't get caught...'
It took Momoko several minutes to find her way out of the quiet maze of hallways Forte had secluded them in. She stood in the doorway for a few moments, stunned by what she saw. Before, her vision had been somewhat blurred from the Server jump, but now, she could see as good as ever. Everywhere, she could see Navis and users walk around, reading books, writing reports, or telling an old tale amung friends. It was just like a normal library...except for the Navis that walked around.
One black and yellow Navi marched along the book shelves, four enourmous electrical transformers strapped to it's back almost like a backpack. A few feet away, a smaller, insect-like Navi flitted amung the books, it's goggled eyes taking in every detail. At a nearby table, a not yet teenage boy with bleached hair sat reading a book, a tall red Navi with flowing silver hair and a raven's eye stood guard nearby, looking bored yet silently serious.
Quietly, Momoko slipped into the room, easily blending into the rest of the library's diverse population. 'So much is happening so fast...' Momoko thought with a sigh, 'I can't help but have new questions almost every time something happens. What did Forte do to Double to cause him to shatter like that? Why does his personality seem to keep switching? What did he mean by evolution? Where am I? Heck, WHO am I? I can barely remember a thing!'
A sudden tremor brought Momoko's contemplation came to a sudden screeching halt. "What in the world?!" She exclaimed as the building began to shake. The other library patrons looked around in confusion, no less confused.
"Blues! With me!" The bleach haired boy took off running towards the enterance. "Battle Mode, Set!"
"As ordered, Lord Enzan!" The navi said, it's own arm-blade already extended for combat. Several other Navis followed suit, searching for the source of the attack.
"Hey, wait!" Momoko cried. "What the heck is going on?"
"I believe somebody's released a virus nearby." The insect-like Navi commented. His buzzing wings had let him hover up to the windows, where the shaking ground couldn't touch him. "I think it may be a new model. I can't see it from here..."
"I can't scan it, either! What the heck is going on out there?" A User complained.
The sounds of cracking earth outside filled the air as...something...gave an earth-shattering roar.
Momoko didn't stick around to see what it was. Down the corridor she ran, desperate to find Forte. Air burned her lungs like fire as she rushed down the corridor. Yuzori must have sent word of Forte's appearance to someone else! If Forte hadn't unlocked the door yet...
"Wha?!" Momoko cried as she turned the last corner. Forte wasn't there! Where is he? Why did he leave?
The thoughts were stopped short when she saw the sign on the door. A public search room. Forte had been in front of a private room. Which meant...
"This...this is the wrong area!" Momoko groaned. "Why can't anything go my way!"
In her despair, she couldn't see the cracks begin to form on the ground around her. A new series of tremors rocked the building.
"Miss, please, stay back!" A woman's voice called over the din. "Now!"
Too late to turn and run, the ground in front of Momoko exploded into a gout of rocky shrapnel. Amidst the flying rocks, an enourmous purple worm burst out of the ground, leveling it's four-pronged mouth at Momoko and letting loose a ear-shattering screech. The slippery smell of chlorine filled the corridor, causing Momomo to swoon, her thoughts fuzzy and indistinct. She toppled to the ground, and stared blankly up at the great purple beast for a second before the sounds, smells, and pain from her newly-reaggravated arm overwhelmed her and she fell into blackness.
* * *
It took Forte roughly 0.73 seconds to notice the anomaly in the Library server as soon as it appeared. He mentally frowned, for the bodyless limbo he floated in gave him no concievable form. All around him data flowed, the programmed data of the server, the Navis and Users that moved there, what they searched for, everything seemed an open book. Thus, it was when he momentarily took a break from hacking into the Server's security computer, it became easy to examine the two unexpected forces that now besieged it.
'What are these?' He wondered. Viruses, obviously. That much was apparent. But thier design and function, they seemed unique. Forte shook his non-existant head. 'Just our luck', he thought, 'that this server comes under attack while I'm here.'
The attack didn't worry Forte too much. So long as Momoko stayed near him, he knew, it would be simple to return to his body and defeat the beasts. That wasn't what worried him. Despite never seeing the violet ground-dwellers before, they seemed uncannily familiar to Forte, a fact he didn't like much at all.
He looked over the two creatures, watched as one burst out of the ground in front of the library and the other burrowed underneath the Library to attack within. All of the combat worthy Navis were already in motion to destroy the one near the enterance. He took the opportunity to run a thorough scan of the second, and would have screamed if he had a body capable of doing so.
"The mark of Marduk?!" He growled. A feeling of disgust welled up within him.
Forte alone knew what that Marduk symbol really meant.
The mark of Marduk meant Forte's creator was in the business of terror once again.
How he wished he could spit in his creator's face right then, but he knew he had greater priorities. 'If Kerian chose to attack here, that means he might know that I'm here! If that's true, than these viruses are much more than they appear to be! I've got to get back to Momoko!'
Through the formless world he rushed. In less than a second he was back at his body, and about ready to jump in, when he noticed the one thing that could possibly make the situation worse. Momoko wasn't there.
"THAT IDIOT!" Forte panicked, rushing back out into the void. "Where? Where is she?!" He finally found her, quaking in fear as the second worm broke through the floor in front of her. "NO!" Forte screamed in denail, rushing back to his body. No even taking a second to stretch and regain his lost manuverability, he rushed headlong down the corridor, resisting. He ignored those in his way, simply whacking them aside as he rushed with all of the speed his body could give him. He had to get there in time. He HAD to!
Finally, he rushed into the broken corridor where he had seen Momoko and the worm. Chunks of granite and smooth stone lay everywhere. But nothing else. No Momoko. No virus. The corridor was well and truly abandoned.
* * *
*ring ring ring*
*ring ring ring*
"Station for Osaka, Tokai district 1 approaching."
*ring ring ring*
"All passengers heading for Osaka, Tokai District 1 please prepare your luggage."
*ring ring ring*
Why...Why won't someone shut off that phone...
*ring ring ring*
Can't anyone else hear it?
*ring ring ring*
"Now arriving at Tokai District 1."
*ring ring ri-*
About time it finally - huh?
"I see...the servers are active?"
Wha...voices in my head...?
"It's working? Wonderful!"
Get out of my head...leave me alone...
"Finally, I can be free..."
Why am I hearing things? Go away! Goaway-goaway-goaway-goaway...
*click*
* * *
For the second time in whay too short of a time, Momoko woke up with a startled gasp. 'What in the world was that dream?' She wondered. In bits and pieces, it seemed, her memories were finally returning to her. Despite the sudden upsurge of memory, Momoko frowned. "I wish I knew what it meant..."
"Hey, she's waking up!" Momoko heard from behind her. She froze. It was a woman's voice, not Forte's. 'Could I be back home?'
"Are you alright?" Another voice asked Momoko. A young indian woman in casual clothes sat down next to Momoko, concern on her face.
"I don't know," Momoko replied. "Who're you?"
"My name is Yssane." Yssane gave a kind smile. "Don't worry. My Navi and I deleted the Virus that attacked you and carried you here. Relax, you're in our home."
"Thank you," Momoko replied weakly. "I guess I'm not home yet after all." She pushed herself off of the bed with both hands and stood up. "I'm sorry, I need to go find my friend. He was in the library when it was attacked."
"I see..." Yssane replied, though she obviously didn't. "May I ask a question before you leave?"
"Erm..." Momoko faltered. "Alright, but I can't make any promises that I will answer."
"Fair enough. Did you know that your arm is healed now?"
"Huh?" Momoko stared down at her arm. Her normal, totally healthy arm. Even the sleeve of her shirt was as good as new. "It's healed! How...Did you do this?"
"I did." Another woman's voice called from behind Yssane. Momoko looked over at the new speaker.
"What in the world?" The second woman looked almost like a clone of Yssane. Only thier clothing seemed to mark the two apart. Whereas Yssane's clothing was plain and simple, the second wore a set of beautiful east-indian robes. She bowed to Momoko.
"Hello. I am Serenade, Yssane's Navi."
"W-wow! You two look like twins!"
Yssane smiled. "You could say that."
"Thank you for healing me."
"Of course! It was my pleasure," Serenade smiled. "I'd be honored if you could tell me who you are and how you got injured like that in the first place, though."
Momoko froze. 'I should have known she'd ask that question.'
"My name is Momoko. I-I don't know why I can get hurt here, though. I'm sorry, it's just so hard to explain...I don't even know how I ended up here on the Internet in the first place!"
Yssane and Serenade exchanged a glance. "You don't know?"
"No. I honestly have no idea."
"How frustrating..." Serenade commented. "Are you sure you're not some sort of superNavi?"
"Yes, I'm sure! W-why would I be?"
"Momoko, you've been here with us for over a week! It took Serenade that long to decode you, and even then all we managed to do was somehow reset your appearance and health! A week! It normally takes her 5 minutes to do that to a standard User or Navi!"
"Decode me!? B-but I'm a human! Not a program, not a Navi, not a User! A human!"
"Human? Not likely! Serenade is a legend amung Navis. She's one of the most advanced Navis ever built. And here you are, with a level of programming so complex, it'd take weeks of research to change something as simple as your eye color! If I had any say in this, I'd say that you're the most complex computer program in mankind's history!"
Momoko's world crashed.
"No. You can't be right! You can't be! You can't be!" Momoko's breath became labored and panicked. Tears streamed down from her face as the world spun around her. "I can't be a computer! I CAN'T BE!"
-- End Chapter 4 --
