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. Constructive criticism is very welcome.

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File 08: Sora wo Crawl – (Crawl the Sky)

Takato sighed, as he walked home from school. It had been three weeks since the Water Works incident and everything was already back to normal, just in time for the half-term break. School was out for one week and thanks to the standardised school system, all school children were let out of school on the same week. That meant only one thing, Takato would not miss the World DigiBattler Championships.
They were to be held in North America in Toronto. Digimon Operators from all over the Earth and the Orbital Space Ring would meet there to challenge each other and win the coveted first place prize– a very large tropy and 100,000 Wulongs.
A sigh escaped Takato's mouth again, as he thought of all that money and what he'd be able to do with it. In reality, however, 100,000 Wulongs wasn't that much and wouldn't buy him very many DMDs. They wouldn't be able to get him any good Custom Programs either.
"Takato, do you think you should change my settings?" asked WarGrowlmon curiously.
"What do you mean?" asked Takato, as he turned into the park. He stopped, looked about him for any signs of anyone, then side-stepped off the path and into a few bushes and began taking off his tie.
His school had a strict rule about keeping one's uniform on, whether the student was in or out of school. Takato remembered being caught by some old busy-body with his uniform askew, even though he had just left school and was walking home. He had gotten in trouble for having his shirt not tucked in and for taking his tie off. The school saw the uniform of the students as some kind of advertisement and as such, it was made sure that students kept their uniforms on when going to or leaving from school.
It was silly, strange and bizarre. No pupil ever abided by the rules. As soon as they were out of school, they would remove their ties and loosen their collar for comfort. However, most students took off their blazers as well as a security measure. They couldn't get in trouble if said person didn't know from which school they came from, and so they did their best to hide the school emblem sewn on to the breastpockets of their blazers.
Takato emerged out from the bushes moments later with no tie, a loosened collar and his blazer slung over one shoulder. He had learnt from his mistakes. Takato Matsuda never makes the same mistake thrice. No, that's not a misprint. It is not supposed to say twice.
"Well, I was wondering," continued WarGrowlmon, "you know the Digimon Customiser Program you installed? You could change my attributes. You know, add more HP, increase the power of my attacks, my defensive power, lower DMD loading time... that sort of thing."
"Oh, I see what you mean!" exclaimed Takato all of a sudden. "Yeah, I guess we should do that. I'll start up the Digimon Customiser when we get back home." He stopped in his tracks and saw someone sitting on the swings and looking for all the world like the baddest girl on the block.
Ruki probably was the baddest girl on the block.
"Hey, Takato!" she called out to the brown-haired youth.
Takato waved meekly back at her and then saw her gesture for him to come closer. What was this? Did she want something? The youth made his way awkwardly towards Ruki, as she leapt off the swing's seat.
"Uh... hi," greeted Takato. "Didn't see much of you today," he commented.
One of Ruki's patented disinterested smiles spread across her face. It had a sardonic flavour to it. It was the sort of smile that made you wary of her. It was people like Ruki that made one wonder which was the dominant gender. Was it the male or was it the females– the ones that grab the males by the unmentionables and swing them about by the unmentionables while shouting, 'I am woman, hear me roar?'
"Yeah, whatever," said Ruki dismissively in the way that made Takato feel more nervous of her than attracted to her. "So, you leaving for the World Championships tomorrow?"
That sounded more like a statement than a question, but Takato took it to be a query anyway. So he nodded in reply.
"Uh... yeah," he said and nodded rapidly.
"Well, good luck," wished Ruki, as she delved into her blazer pockets. She brought out a small cartridge and handed it to Takato. "Here, this has got Taomon's attack data stored into it. You can use it as a DMD to summon a copy of her to help fight alongside of you."
Takato took it carefully into his hands, being careul not to drop it.
"Gee, thanks," said Takato gratefully. Deep down, he felt as if a part of Ruki had been given to him and was stored inside the DMD cartridge. "I'll be sure to use it in my first match," he promised to her. Still, he would have to test it out first and he had an idea as to where he could do it.

Juri looked out the window at the construction site, as she packed her clothes into the suitcase. She was to represent Phyle in the World Championships and so had to be ready when the plane departed for Toronto. Still, she had a nagging feeling that leaving the Orbital Space Ring was going to be a big mistake.
"Juri, is something the matter?" asked Leomon curiously.
For a while, Juri didn't even reply. She just looked out of the window of her room, which used to have a beautiful view of Agu Town Square and the large statue of Taichi Yagami, Phyle's first President. Underneath that statue was where the Hypnos Headquarters used to be and was where Ryo was being held, apparently without any guards. Their attempt at keeping him locked up seemed half-arsed, completely unlike the terrorist organisation.
"Juri? Juri, are you all right?" queried Leomon concernedly when she did not reply.
"I'm fine, Leomon," replied Juri quietly. "It's just... I can't help but feel that Hypnos is up to something... something dangerous." She couldn't help but look out of her window in wonder and stare at the construction site. "I can't help but feel that their last plan to cut off our water supply was just a diversion, something to hide their true plan. What do you think, Leomon?"
"The way Ryo was held, it does seem that they weren't putting much effort into it," commented Leomon calmly. "It makes me wonder, though. Why did they spend so much money in buying up all the drinks on the Space Ring if it was just a diversion? Do they have money to burn or what?" He sighed. "Well, for now, all we can do is wait and find out what their next plan is."
Juri nodded quietly.
"Yeah, I guess that's all we can do," she agreed with him.

"What now?" growled a voice angrily in the darkness. "Why did you contact me?"
"I just decided to check up on you, that's all," came the reply from another voice. The second person didn't sound very frightened or threatened by the first voice. "After all, we are all in the same boat, so to speak." If the second person smiled, the first person certainly couldn't see it. They were, after all, in two different worlds. "I just decided to check up on you and see if you were ready. We might be needing your services very soon."
"What'd you say?" snarled the first voice.
The second person suddenly realised his mistake. He shouldn't have said it like that. Quickly, the second person tried to think up of a better way to put his statement. He wasn't given a chance.
"I had doubts about working with you in the first place," stated the first voice in a tone of voice that suggested he was doing his best to suppress his rage. "Now you have the gumption to contact me and dare to talk to me as if I'm some sort of brainless mercenary for hire? Pah! Let's make this one thing clear. You do not contact me. You got that? You do not contact me!"
"Yes, I apologise fully," stated the second person quickly. "It was rash of me to act so. However, may I point out to you that we are close to fulfilling both our dreams. It would be foolish of you to break our deal so soon."
The first person scoffed at the second person's comment, as if it wasn't even worth his time considering.
"Very well," sighed the first person. "I'll stay, if it will make you happy," he added scornfully. "Just do not anger me again, or else."
There was a sound as of a phone connection suddenly being terminated.
"Sir?" exclaimed a third voice, which sounded feminine. "Is everything all right?"
"Yes," sighed the second voice. "We almost lost him, Reiley, but..." The second person, Reiley's superior, left it that. "We must prepare to move our equipment from the base. I have a feeling that we'll be getting our third TetraKey very soon and when we do, it won't be long before the fourth is in our possession." A smile spread across the second person's face. "It won't be long before we can awaken the 'Beast' from its slumber. Then it will destroy the Digital World and all of Society will fall!"

~ * ~ * ~ * ~

The next day...

Takato waited and tapped his foot impatiently. This was like the incident two years ago when they had to fly to Beijing for the special conference for the Officials, which he and his friends attended. Once again, it was Jenrya and Ryo that were holding things up.
"Oh, Takato," cried the youth's mother, as she sobbed miserably. "One more hug won't hurt!" She then hugged him tightly, nearly completely soaking his shirt with her tears.
Secretly, Takato was wishing that Jenrya and Ryo would finish saying their goodbyes so he could get going. He didn't know how much wetter his shirt could get, but if they continued the way they were currently going, he was sure he would soon find out.
"Jen!" he called out to the blue-haired youth, using Jenrya's nickname. "Hurry up!"
"Sheesh, would you look at the two lovebirds?" exclaimed Leomon from Juri's D-Tector. "They're acting as if they're married or something!"
Juri sighed, as she too waited for the two to finish it up. She could remember when Jenrya and Ryo had got together. At first, the pairing had completely disturbed her. Though she was thankful that Takato wasn't involved, the thought of two guys in love with each other made her gag. Now she thought it was kind of cute the way they acted.
"Come on, guys!" she called out to them. Of course, now the two of them were just getting annoying. "If you carry on like this, we'll miss the flight!"
"Let's just hope it won't be like last time," commented Takato.
"Oh yeah," agreed Juri with a nod of her head. "That was a nightmare of a flight."
"I don't think Hypnos will try the same trick twice," commented Alice quietly. "Besides, my dad says that all flights require passengers to leave their D-Tectors with the flight staff. They'll be put in special vaults which'll only open when the plane is firmly grounded and at a full stop."
"Huh?" exclaimed WarGrowlmon. "You mean, I won't be able to see Takato until after the flight?"
Takato sighed frustratedly.
"Aw man! I was going to work on WarGrowlmon's programming," he whined. "Now what am I going to do for the entire flight?"
"There won't be a flight, if someone doesn't get a move on!" shouted Juri angrily. Jenrya and Ryo were working on her nerves like nothing before. She wanted to show the world just how well she and Leomon could DigiBattle and she wasn't going to let anything or anyone get her in way. "Don't make me come over there and drag you on to the plane!"
A thought suddenly occurred to Alice.
"Say, how come Ruki isn't here?" she asked Takato. "I thought you two were back together again."
"She's grounded," came Takato's reply, "but she at least managed to send me a goodbye e-mail." He thought about it and smiled at the things she put in there. It was good to know that she had overcome her fear of saying nice things and being effeminate. Sure, she was still quite tomboyish, but now she was less so.
"Okay! Okay! You can let go now!" cried Jenrya, as Juri dragged him by his ear along with her. She let go and Jenrya rubbed his sore ear. "Sheesh, you're grumpy today," he commented. "You're like Ruki in a bad mood and don't any one of you tell Ruki I said that! That means you too, Terriermon."
"Who me?" exclaimed the Digimon as innocently as possible.
Jenrya smiled.
"Yeah, I know what a blabber mouth you are," he told his Digimon, as they all walked with the others to the inspection area. Once there, it was all matter of handing their D-Tectors over to the attendant waiting at the metal detector.
"Oh, sir, you should keep this," said the staff member at the metal detector. "Reservists are allowed to keep their D-Tectors about them on the flight, in case of a severe emergency."
Takato suddenly brightened up. He was a Reservist himself and that meant only one thing.
"You hear that?" he whispered to his Digimon. "Guess that means we can get you ready for the World Championships after all. Sounds great, huh?"
All four of them passed through without a hitch, sending any bags or rucksacks they had through the X-Ray machine. It was all very standard procedure and incredibly boring. Not a single thing interesting happened, which also meant that nothing dangerous happened.
"This is the last call to all passengers for Flight Number BN2251051 to Toronto. Please make your way to Gate Number 7," announced a feminine voice over the P.A. System, which sounded strangely enough like the voice Guilmon heard at the CyberMetro.
"Oh, great!" cried Juri sarcastically, before she ran after the others.

Ryo sat quietly in the bus, looking at the screen of his D-Tector. On it was an e-mail that Jenrya had sent not too long ago. He looked at the content and suddenly blushed a deep red that made him look a tomato with a face and brown-hair.
"He always was a pervert," he sighed to himself and laughed.

* * * * *

Taomon stepped into InphyNet DigiSquare and froze in her steps. It had been a long time since she had set foot within the Main DigiSquare of InphyNet, so such a huge development was a big surprise to her.
There was a huge flat screen monitor where the entrance to the DEVA Organisation's Web HQ used to be. It was quite large and quite flat. Several Digimon were working on it, as were several white Programs. Many of the small, chubby Programs had hard hats covering their frilly, purple-edged ears and just made them look even cuter than they originally were. Some had miniature-sized construction tools that, although miniature-sized, were the perfect size for them.
"Seems as if they're preparing for the World Championships," stated Ruki.
"They must be broadcasting it all over the Digital World," commented Taomon.
"Ha!" laughed a voice from nearby. It belonged to a Gazimon with shades on. "That is an understatement, miss. The World Championships will be broadcast everywhere! People'll be able to watch it on their D-Tectors. Digimon will be able to watch it wherever they find one of these screens. Everyone will have access to the broadcast, no matter where they are!"
Taomon frowned at the Gazimon's statement.
"So, you work for a TV Company?" she asked him.
"I work for the TV Company, Digital News Network!" announced the Gazimon. He then scrutinised Taomon carefully. "Say, aren't you...? No! It can't be! You're the Digimon of the daughter of Mrs. Makino, DNN's President!"
The Digimon shook her head.
"I wouldn't go telling everyone, if I were you," Taomon warned the Gazimon in a protective and threatening manner. "We don't want any old person knowing this piece of information, now do we? Someone could lose their job if such information got into the hands of criminal low lives, if you get my drift."
The Gazimon mumbled an apology and then slinked away hurriedly.
After a while, Ruki spoke up.
"Thanks for that, Taomon," she told the Digimon.
"It was nothing," said Taomon dismissively. "Now, why don't we go and have a look at the messageboards?"
"Good idea," agreed Ruki.
Taomon then left and made her way towards a door made out of iron pole bent into the shape of a house. It would, no doubt, lead to the messageboards, either that or the DMD Shops. As she made her way across the DigiSquare, she did not notice that she was being watched relentlessly by a Digimon that looked uncannily like one of the Programs that maintained the DigiSquare...

To be continued...