Digimon.EXE 3

By Wolf O'Donnell

WARNING! May contain Alternative Universe situations and out-of-character experiences. Upon reading this, you hereby agree that you forfeit all your rights to sue me and that I cannot be held liable for any psychological or physical damage caused by the fact that I use British English spelling and that this fanfic contains NO graphic depictions of a heterosexual and homosexual nature. Digimon is copyrighted by Bandai and Toei Animation Ltd. Wolf O'Donnell is copyrighted by Nintendo Ltd, although that might have nothing to do with the fanfic. Digimon.EXE 3 is based on Rockman.EXE, which is copyrighted by Capcom Ltd. Please read and review.

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File 03: Kaze ni Mukatte – (Facing the Wind)

Takato walked with Ruki to school. It was a quiet day and he heard none of the noises he was so used to hearing when walking to East Inphynitio School. Somehow, it seemed as if the whole world was muted. Usually, Ruki remained quiet and they walked together in silence with only the sounds of children's laughter and people talking to accompany them. Now there was nothing.
"Something's wrong," commented Renamon from Ruki's D-Tector. "It's quiet; far too quiet."
"Might have something to do with there being no water," replied Ruki quickly. She didn't want to talk about it. There wasn't a single drop of anything to drink in her house, and the taps were all dry. Her throat was parched, but she could do nothing to quench her thirst. "Couldn't wash or anything," she added and then left it at that.
There was silence from Takato. He too had nothing to drink all morning.
"I hope it's temporary," he said and then left it at that. His throat was parched too. Takato hadn't found a single drop of water everywhere and now that he looked, he saw that quite a lot of people were taking it slowly. He began to wonder when the shops would be stocked with drinks and when the water would be back.
The rest of the trip was done in complete silence, but it wasn't long before they reached the gates of their school.
"The fountain's dried up!" exclaimed Ruki in disappointment. She had hoped to at least quench her thirst a little from the water there, but seeing it dried up brought despair.
"I guess there really is a big water shortage," commented Takato.
"What are you two doing here?" exclaimed a brown-haired teacher from not too far away.
"Ms. Asaji?"
The brown-haired teacher sighed as she walked up to them.
"Didn't you two receive the e-mail?" she asked them. "School's cancelled today because of the water crisis. I suggest you go back home and don't move around too much. We have no idea when the water will be back and you might get dehydrated."
"Okay, Ms. Asaji," said Takato with a nod of his head. He bowed respectfully as a Japanese school kid would to a teacher, before he and Ruki made their way back. "So, what are you going to do now that school's cancelled?" he asked her, as he loosened his school tie.
Ruki just shrugged her shoulders in reply and then continued to walk. She had an idea though. It probably had something to do with that watermelon her Grandmother had imported from the greenhouses at Phyle. Her mouth watered at the thought of a cool, refreshing slice of watermelon. Ruki had to forcefully stop herself from thinking about it, as the thought of the watermelon was too much to bear.
That was when Ruki's D-Tector began to beep. She had just received a message. Ruki unhooked her D-Tector from her waistband and flipped the lid open. She sighed. It was the e-mail from school, telling her that school had been cancelled. She wanted to ask Renamon what the big idea was, but she was far too thirsty for that.
"Ruki, would you like to come round to my place?" suggested Takato, only to see Ruki shake her head in reply. "Oh, maybe another time, then." He felt dejected, more so than usual. "Well, er... see you later, then?" Takato received one nod in reply and then a goodbye wave. He waved back at Ruki, watching her disappear round the corner of the street to leave him alone. Well... not quite alone.
"So, you want to go home and surf the 'Net?" asked Guilmon. "Or do you think you should finish that homework that was supposed to be due in today?"
Takato had almost forgotten about that homework. It was supposed to be due in that day, but thanks to the cancellation...
"Nah," replied Takato with a shake of his head. "I've got plenty of time. Let's go home and log on to the Digital World." He turned and then bumped into someone. "Oh, I'm sorry, sir," he apologised.
"That's okay," replied the thatch-blonde haired man with a smile on his bearded face. "Next time, you really should watch where you're going though." He then walked past Takato and made his way down the street towards Takato's school.
The brown-haired youth watched the man in the lurid yellow business suit walk down the road. Immaculately pressed black trousers and shined brown shoes, tie, clean shirt... the man looked as if he was going to an interview. 'Is he a new teacher?' wondered Takato. Then he shook his head and decided that the man couldn't have been. He turned back round and made his way back home.
It wasn't long before he reached the park. As he crossed through it, he couldn't help but notice that the pond was completely dried up. It made Takato wonder what was going on with the Orbital Space Ring's water supply. Was it deliberate sabotage or had something gone really, really wrong?
"I told you not to come out here and play!" shouted a rather cross woman from round about near the swings. "You'll get hot and sweaty and worse still, thirsty. Now get off those swings and come back home this instant!"
Takato began to feel for the children the woman was shouting at, but what she said did make sense in a slightly bizarre way. They had no idea when there the water would return and as far as he knew, the people down on Earth were doing their best to send emergency water supplies up to the Orbital Space Ring. Still, Takato couldn't help but feel that their best seemed rather like a half-arsed attempt than their best.
"Man, this water shortage sure is making people angry," commented Guilmon, as Takato continued on his way through the park. "Even Ruki was more angry than usual."
"Yeah," replied Takato abruptly and then he stopped it there. After all, there was no point in him getting thirsty.
It took Takato twice as long to get through the park, as he was taking it more slowly than he usually would. Upon emerging into the high street he soon saw the Electronics Shop that belonged to his parents and made his way there. He crossed the street, noticing that there were very few people out and about and walked round to the back entrance of the shop.
"Tadaima!" he called out, as he kicked off his shoes at the entrance way.
"Oh, Takato, back so soon?" exclaimed his mother, Yoshi, as she poked her head round the door that led out to the front of the shop.
"Yeah, school was cancelled due to the water shortage," replied Takato with a nod of his head, as he slid off his black blazer.
"Well, it was smart of you to come back home," commented Takato's mother, as she turned back out of the door and made her way towards the counter. "What with the water shortage, I was afraid you'd go outside and play." She sighed and shook her head. "Now that you're here, though, I don't suppose you would mind doing a little errand for me?"
Takato was about to comment on how she wanted him not to go outside, but thought better of it. Ever since his father had started installing DMD Chip Traders around the Orbital Space Ring, minding the shop had been up to his mother and she had become very irritable recently whenever he failed to do things for her.
"Sure thing," replied Takato with a nod.
"I want you to go to the Water Company HQ and file a complaint," continued Yoshi, as she searched the drawers underneath the counter. "Ah, here it is. Just go to Tento Town in Dyjitopia. It's in the High Street, so you shouldn't miss it."
"Okay, mom," said Takato with a nod of his head. He knew where Tento Town was. It was where Jenrya and Ryo lived. Perhaps he could stop by for a visit. "Say, mom, is it okay if I go visit Jenrya and Ryo while I'm there?"
"Uhm, on second thoughts, Takato, I think you should submit the complain online," stated Yoshi thoughtfully. "It is a long trip and you might work up a thirst."
Takato sighed.
"Okay, mom," he agreed, before he turned and walked up the staircase to their apartment above the shop. He walked up the stairs, turned left and walked down the corridor into his room, where he proceeded to shed his school clothes for something more comfortable.
"Say, Guilmon, do you remember how to get to the DyjiNet Main Street?" asked Takato, as he put on a comfortable blue sweatshirt.
"I'm not really sure," came the reply.
"Well, I guess we can find how to get there together," stated Takato, as he picked up his D-Tector and plugged it into his computer. "Guilmon.EXE Log In!"

* * * * *

A data stream fell down from the sky and struck the multi-coloured floor, before it disappeared to reveal Guilmon.
Guilmon looked around him and saw himself standing on a square floor that floated in the middle of a Digimon screensaver. He was in Takato's computer and not too far away from him, he saw the link that would take him out on to InphyNet, the part of the Digital World, otherwise known as a Domain, that was controlled by the Administrative Region of Inphynitio. The fire-style, virus-type Digimon ran straight for the link and was spirited away by another data stream.
This one took him to another link that was on a platform connected to several other platforms by several paths. The platform, correctly known as a terminal, was silver, as were the paths and this all floated in the midst of a black screensaver with ghostly 0s and 1s floating in it.
"Okay, shall I go straight to DyjiNet from here?" asked Guilmon.
"Nah, let's try out that new CyberMetro I heard so much about," came Takato's reply. "I heard it opened up near Ruki's homepage."
"Okay, then," agreed Guilmon with a nod of his head, before he ran down the silver path and took a left turn. He passed several other Digimon and a few Programs on his way down the path, giving them a wave as he ran past. They waved back.
The Digital World was always a friendly little place and nothing, not even the occasional viruses, could stop it from being that.
As the Digimon ran, he noticed that a few new firewalls had recently been installed at the entrances to some people's homepages. Guilmon reasoned that it had something to do with the recent increase in virus activity. He had no idea why so many viruses had begun popping up recently, but...
Without warning, bits of digital data began to congregate in front of Guilmon. They took the form of a gigantic hand wielding a sword. It floated eeriely towards Guilmon, before the hand swung the sword back, before swinging its sharp blade straight at the fire-style Digimon.
Guilmon ducked underneath it. He hated Sword Viruses, but he knew they were relatively weak compared to some of the other viruses he had fought before.
"Pyro Sphere!" roared Guilmon, before he spat out a sphere of flames straight at the Sword Virus. He saw the virus shudder when the Pyro Sphere hit it. That meant only one thing. Direct hit! He rushed straight at the Sword, only for it to swing at him again.
The virus-type Digimon (virus-type meant that his offensive power was double that of a data-type or vaccine-type) leapt over the Sword's attack and swung his claws at it. Seconds later, he saw the virus shudder and break apart into bits of digital data to reveal a glowing data packet, which looked like a glowing sphere with 0s and 1s orbiting it like electrons.
"Let me guess, Guilmon," sighed Takato, "it's a Sword DMD."
"Nope," replied Guilmon with a shake of his head. "It's a BugFrag."
That was cyberslang for Bug Fragment, which was piece of a virus. Takato knew that and he knew what that meant.
"Cool, now we've got enough BugFrags to buy that FishBait CustProgram from that BugFrag Trader," commented Takato. The CustProgram would allow him to modify Guilmon to give the Digimon extra attributes.
"You mean the CustProgram that attracts aqua-style viruses?" exclaimed Guilmon with a shudder. As he was a fire-style Digimon, all aqua-style attacks did double damage to him. That's why he hated aqua-style viruses with a passion.
"That's right," replied Takato. "We need some more aqua-style DMDs to complement your wood-style."
Guilmon shuddered again at the thought of changing back to the wood-style.
"I think I'd better get going to the CyberMetro now," he said, before he turned left at the next junction and ran down a ramp. He soon came across a house-shaped door and ran through it, emerging out into a place that looked suspiciously like a Metro Station.
"Welcome to InphyNet CyberMetro," said a feminine voice that seemed to echo all around Guilmon. "Please keep all personal belongings with you at all times. Any unattended data packets will be removed by CyberMetro staff and destroyed."
Floating in an alcove was a set of what looked like white, chubby Digimon. Each one had big eyes, frilly ears with purple edges, and stubby little arms and legs. On the forehead of each one was the symbol of the Officials– a red triangle with three black triangles surrounding it to form some kind of six-pointed star. These white things weren't Digimon at all, but were in fact Programs.
Guilmon noticed that they were all wearing black peaked caps like the staff at Metro Stations usually did. He made his way past a couple of Digimon that were staring up at a huge screen that floated above them and made his way to the Programs floating in the alcove.
"Hi, I'd like to buy a ticket," he said, as he approached them.
"Where to?" chirped the first Program.
"Single or return?" asked the second Program.
"Young Persons, Adult or Senior Citizen?"
"This is a customer announcement," exclaimed the same feminine voice that had greeted Guilmon upon entering the CyberMetro. "I am sorry to report to you that the 10:23 train to... DyjiNet has been... delayed by... 4 minutes due to... an obstruction on the CyberMetro Line. We apologise for the delay."
"DyjiNet," sighed Guilmon, upon hearing the announcement, "return, young persons."
The first Program then pointed down the line.
"Then you'll need to speak to that Program over there," it said.
"Great," said Guilmon sarcastically.
"Why is it that wherever there's a train station, there's always some kind of delay?" asked Takato, as Guilmon bought a return ticket. "It's like some kind of unwritten rule that all trains must be late."
Guilmon shrugged at Takato's comment.
"I dunno," he replied, before he made his way to the huge screen that the Digimon had been staring at. He looked up and saw that on it was displayed the times for all the trains. They were all delayed. "That's funny," he said, as he looked up. "What's going on here?"
"This is a customer announcement," droned the feminine voice. "I am sorry to report to you that the 09:14 train to... EuroNet has been... cancelled. We apologise for the inconvenience this will make to your journey." Seconds later, the voice said, "This is a customer announcement. I am sorry to report to you that the 09:34 train to... AsiaNet has been... cancelled." And the voice continued to drone on about cancellations and delays, and eventually the voice announced that the delayed train had eventually been cancelled.
"More convenient my digital arse," grumbled one Digimon, before he stormed off angrily.
Takato sighed.
"At this rate, we'll never get anywhere," he commented. "What's up with the public services lately? The buses have always been late. The trains have been always late. Now all this!"
Guilmon was beginning to get very angry with the voice that was announcing all these cancellations and was thinking the owner of said voice was pretty lucky that he couldn't find said owner because if he found said owner of said voice, he would stuff them up so far up their own...
"Yeah, it's a disgrace," he agreed with a nod of his head, immediately stopping his train of thought before he started thinking about something rather illegal.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a Program floating past and he called out to the Program.
"Hey!" he called out, just as the feminine voice welcomed all the passengers again to InphyNet CyberMetro and reminded them not to leave personal belongings unattended. "What's going on here? I need to get to DyjiNet in a hurry to file this complaint and all these trains are being cancelled or delayed."
"Complaint?" exlcaimed the Program. "Of course, go down towards the path over there, follow it, turn left at the junction and the Complaints Desk..."
"No, no!" protested Guilmon. "It's not about the trains, it's a Complaint against the Water Company, Orbital Waters."
The Program sighed in relief and wiped his brow.
"Phew, that was a close one," he sighed.
"Yeah," said Guilmon in an uninterested tone of voice. "So, do you know what's going on here?"
"Well, there's been a huge influx of Digimon to DyjiNet," replied the Program. "They're putting a huge strain on the CyberMetro system and causing delays all over the place. Some services are so delayed, we've just cancelled them."

* * * * *

Takato leaned back in his chair, as he looked at the computer screen, which showed him an isometrical view of the CyberMetro Station. He was deep in thought. The water situation was far more serious than he thought, serious enough to effect other public services.
"Guilmon," he said, after much thought, "I'm logging you out. I'm going straight to Orbital Waters HQ to file the complaint in person."

To be continued...