Digimon.EXE 3

By Wolf O'Donnell

Author's Note: I'm abandoning the copyrights notice for now, because frankly, if you haven't read it by now, you must be blind.
Note to RB3. No, I don't live in Canada, but I visited Toronto in the Summer of '97. Nice place. Nice climate. How I prefer it to wet, miserable England...

* * * * *

File 10: Tenshi no Inori – (Angel's Prayer)

The nurse suddenly shrieked, as she lost her footing and skidded on the floor. She fell backwards and was caught by Dr. Merzuno.
The automated cleaning robots had just recently finished cleaning the corridor and hence the floor was still wet, when the temperature reached zero. The low temperature had created a thin film of ice on the floor, making it dangerously slippery to all those that tried to walk on it.
Takato didn't heed what had happened to the nurse however. He ran full tilt along the non-slippery part of the corridor's floor and then slid skilfully across the icy floor towards the door of the Temperature Control Room. He reached out and grabbed the frame of the open door, stopping himself and then slithered awkwardly in.
"Okay, where's the problem?" he asked the technicians inside it.
"What? Hey, kid, get out of here!" shouted one technician angrily. "You're not allowed in here!"
"But I'm a Reservist," protested Takato. "I can help!"
Another technician scoffed at the kid's claim.
"Yeah, right," he said sarcastically. "There's nothing that a kid like you can do. It takes professionals like us to fix a complicated system like this."
One very old technician then stepped out from behind a huge machine. He peered at Takato from over the top of his very thin, spectacles.
"Say, aren't you that Matsuda kid?" he asked, as he cleaned his hands. "The one that brought down the Blue Dragon Syndicate?"
"Well, I didn't do it all by myself," said Takato modestly and with a sheepish look on his face.
The old technician thought quietly for a while.
"This may be a software problem, in which case, kid, you're just the right person to help," he said sternly. "The Log In Port is right here." There was a sudden ringing and the technician brought out his D-Tector and looked at its screen. "It's a message from Hypnos!"
"What does it say, Joe?" asked one of the technicians.
Joe, the oldest of all the technicians in the room, turned to look at the machines and then back at the D-Tector.
"I knew there was something fishy about that vendor!" he exclaimed angrily. "I told you lummocks not to buy the air conditioning from that guy! This stupid machine was made by Hypnos!"
"No wonder it's going haywire," exclaimed Takato in sudden realisation. "It was programmed to do so!" If he had the sense to think it through, he would have realised that this was how Hypnos had funded its previous operation on the Orbital Space Ring. "Step back!" he cried. "I know how to deal with Hypnos. Guilmon.EXE Log In!"

* * * * *

The paths of the Hospital Computer Network looked as if it made was out of glass and had atoms on on either edge, with metallic girders going in between each atom. The terminals were the same. This all floated in a sky that looked a screensaver full of rotating pills that moved diagonally upwards with spinning stethoscopes behind them, moving in the opposite direction.
A data stream flew down from the sky and hit the terminal on which a Digimon was standing. The light of the data stream subsided and revealed WarGrowlmon.
"Hey, you!" cried the Digimon, as soon as he saw the snowy white snowman like Digimon not too far away from him. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, don't mind me," stated the white Digimon. "I'm just your friendly neighbourhood Digimon." He looked around him and then said in a hushed whisper. "There's this really evil looking Digimon going around messing around with the controls and everything. Are you here to stop him?"
"Hey, that ain't one of the installed Programs!" cried Joe.
"Did you hear that, WarGrowlmon?" asked Takato. "That must be a Hypnos Digimon."
The aqua-style Digimon leapt back, narrowly avoiding WarGrowlmon's metallic claws.
"Ha! Missed me!" taunted the Digimon. "You think that you can stop me, Frigimon?" The Digimon laughed, as he threw a few snowballs at WarGrowlmon, which the cyborg Digimon dodged skilfully.
"What have you done to the air conditioners?" asked WarGrowlmon threateningly.
"Ha! They're going beserk just like I intended them to," replied Frigimon, as he threw a few more snowballs at WarGrowlmon, none of which hit the fire-style Digimon. "I'm controlling them myself, so if you want to stop them you'll have to defeat me first."
Frigimon then turned tail and iced the floor in front of him.
"Bye, now!" he chuckled and ran on to the ice, skidding across it and practically surfing surface towards the edge of the terminal. There, he disappeared through a link that seemed to lead outside of the Hospital Network.
WarGrowlmon quickly ran after Frigimon and skidded to a complete halt. He hit the edge of the terminal and didn't go any further. That may have had something to do with the fact that in front of him, the path narrowed down to such a thin width that he couldn't even set one foot on it.
"Uh, Takato, I don't think I can follow Frigimon," he told his Digimon. "The path here's too narrow."
"Too narrow, huh?"
"Dr. Merzuno?" exclaimed Takato in surprise.
"I can help," offered Dr. Merzuno. "Allow me to install the DataPress Custom Program into WarGrowlmon. It'll allow him to shrink himself into a tiny, tight space and make his way along those narrow paths." He paused a while. "It's very necessary. There's a lot of narrow paths in NANet, which I assume is where that link leads to."
"I don't know... What do you think, WarGrowlmon?"
"I don't mind," confessed WarGrowlmon. "It's up to you, Takato."
For a while, Takato didn't reply. It was as if he in deep thought.
"Okay, Dr. Merzuno," agreed Takato. "Please, load the DataPress Program."

The paths of NANet were like roads and had a black tarmac texture to it with lines painted on it at intervals. These would sometimes lead to terminals, which looked like the rooftops of expensive skyscrapers that had helipads on their tops. This was surrounded by a blue sky with puffy white clouds floating past.
Frigimon stood on a path that had a blue triangle on its edge, which was attached to a very narrow path that went through a hole in the sky that led to the Hospital's Computer Network. These narrow paths were security measures to prevent unauthorised programs from getting to certain locations, yet Frigimon was able to use them perfectly as he had the DataPress Cust Program installed.
If the Digimon had a mouth, he would have been smiling.
"Looks as if that sucker couldn't follow me," he chuckled to himself, before he turned round and made his way down the path. It was time for him to check up on the Control Programs he had installed deep in the darkest depths of the criminal-infested DarkNet.
A tiny, microscopic version of WarGrowlmon ran along the narrow path and out of the Hospital Network. Upon reaching the blue tile he expanded to his full size and stepped on to the path.
"Stop right there!" he cried out.
"What?" exclaimed Frigimon, as he froze in his tracks figuratively speaking. "So, you can follow me after all, eh?" He chuckled. "Well, I'm not through with you yet! Run away!"
"Man, he's quick," sighed Takato exasperatedly. "You'd better hurry after him, WarGrowlmon. Here, hope this helps. DigiModify– Hyper Speed activate!"
To WarGrowlmon, everything seemed to slow down, when in fact it was him that had sped up. He ran down the path after Frigimon, following the icty path that the Digimon left behind him. It was going to be easy for WarGrowlmon to track Frigimon down. All he had to do was follow the ice.
Unfortunately for him, slippery ice, hyper speed and a turn in the path didn't favour him. WarGrowlmon tried his best to turn, but ended up skidding and would have fallen off the edge were it not impossible to do so. As it was, WarGrowlmon merely hit an invisible forcefield with such force that it jolted every single program in his body.
"You okay?" asked Takato concernedly.
"I'll be fine," replied WarGrowlmon, as he rubbed his scaly snout. "Ouch, that smarts." He turned and saw where the path led to. "I think I shouldn't run," he said to himself and fired the jet boosters on his backpack, floating up into the air. He then followed the ice path and turned left through a link. "What?" he exclaimed, as he emerged into a CyberMetro Station.
"Oh great!" cried Takato sarcastically. "He could have gone anywhere from here!"
WarGrowlmon sighed with a nod.
"Yeah," he agreed. "Maybe if I ask some of the Digimon or Programs around here, maybe they can help us find Frigimon."
A nearby Program suddenly turned round.
"You talking about that icy snowman?" exclaimed the Program. "I can tell you where he went. He took a CyberTrain to Sector 3A. Froze one of my buddies and just hopped on without buying a ticket! Shameful."
A smile spread across WarGrowlmon's face.
"Thanks," he thanked the Program and went over to buy a ticket for Sector C1. It didn't cost him much and before long, he was stepping out of a CyberMetro and sector C1. "Takato, look! There's ice here!"
"All right!" chattered Takato, as he shivered from the cold. "You keep going!"
WarGrowlmon nodded in agreement and flew over the ice, following the trail that Frigimon left behind. A chase across NANet was not going to throw him off. He would track Frigimon and defeat the Digimon in battle if he had to.

* * * * *

The old man was the Head of the Hypnos Organisation. He was also the founder of the Hypnos Organisation, the one and only Dr. Mitsuo Yamaki. Very little had changed about him since he escaped the Hypnos Base underneath Agu Town. He still had a full head of pure white hair and still stood with a very straight posture.
Yamaki wore a brand new labcoat, which was buttoned up on the side. Its collar did not fold and wrapped around the neck tightly. Draped over his shoulders was a very short, black cape that was done up with a golden thread that wrapped around the two clasps at the front. His black trousers were as neatly pressed as ever, and his brown shoes were neatly polished. His hands were held behind his back, as he stood there with his back to the laptop on his desk.
"So, you say that that infernal boy's Digimon is after you?" asked Yamaki curiously, as he pushed his sunglasses back up the bridge of his nose with a single finger. "I suggest then that you had better lose him. We cannot continue communicating if that boy's Digimon is after you. The Officials will be able to locate the origin of our signals and locate our base. That cannot happen."
"However," continued Yamaki, before the Digimon could say another thing, "I have asked our... special agent to go down to the DarkNet and find you. All you have to do is go into the Neutral Territory. You know where it is, don't you? It's the quiet area of the DarkNet in the centre, between the territories of the criminal syndicates and HypnosNet. Go to the abandoned DigiSquare. He will meet you there."
Dr. Yamaki then turned round to glare at the Digimon menacingly through his shades.
"Now do not call me again," he said sternly and pressed a button on the laptop, terminating the transmission. "Dr. Lee, soon you'll be turning in your grave when I gain all of the TetraKeys. Your world, the wretched Digital Society will soon disappear!" He laughed out insanely and his laughter echoed throughout the large room.

Takato was shivering so much now. He felt that if he ever survived this, he would end up with a cold or worse, a flu. His hands were so cold, he couldn't move them properly.
"Here, kid," said Joe, the old technician, as he passed a hot cup of cocoa to the youth. "Drink up."
"Thanks," said Takato gratefully through chattering teeth, as he accepted the cup. He placed his D-Tector down on to the nearest surface available and then cradled the cup in his hands, welcoming the warmth that seeped into his fingers. Gently, Takato raised the cup to his mouth and took a sip. "Mm... I needed that," he said. It was still freezing cold, but at least the hot cocoa was making things much better for him.
The youth then turned to face Dr. Merzuno, whom had returned from his little walk.
"How is she?" asked Takato concernedly.
"She's fine," replied Dr. Merzuno and then saw the look on Takato's face. "For now," he added darkly. "Say, isn't that...?" exclaimed Dr. Merzuno, only to trail off. He looked at the D-Tector screen in disbelief. "The DarkNet..." he muttered under his breath. "My ShibuNet."
Takato looked at the D-Tector and saw WarGrowlmon walking into the DarkNet.
"Hey! WarGrowlmon, how did you get there?" asked Takato curiously.
"Through one of the links used by the syndicates," replied Dr. Merzuno calmly. "I've always wanted to know how they managed to get in to my ShibuNet." He then saw Takato turn to face him with a puzzled look on his face. It was then that Dr. Merzuno laughed. "Forget you ever heard that, young Matsuda. It's classified information, I'm afraid, information that isn't meant for civilian ears."
"Does that mean you're an Official?"
"I used to be," replied Merzuno calmly, as he crouched down next to Takato and took the youth's D-Tector into his hand. "That was before the unpleasant incident, 11 years ago." He thought quietly to himself, as he stood there, before handing the D-Tector back to Takato and taking the empty cocoa mug from the youth. "I should have seen it coming. The DarkNet is the only place large enough and obscure enough for them to hide a control program for all the air conditioning units. If you follow him, I suspect you'll follow him straight to the source."

* * * * *

The DarkNet had not changed since WarGrowlmon last went in it. The paths were still black with eeriely glowing lights set in them at regular intervals. The terminals were still grey with graffiti scrawled all over them, and dead trees still lined the edges of some of the paths and some of the terminals. This all, still, floated within what looked like the snowy static screen on television sets.
WarGrowlmon stopped in his tracks. He saw Frigimon standing ahead of him on the other side of a narrow path.
"Frigimon, give up!" cried WarGrowlmon. "Switch off the air conditioning units!"
Frigimon shook his head in reply, as he stood there with his arms crossed.
"No way," protested Frigimon sternly. "You'll have to defeat me in order to save your Digimon Operator and I'm not going to let you even fight me." He hefted something and then lobbed it across towards WarGrowlmon. "Here, have some viruses!"
There was a puff as the capsule smashed against the floor and several viruses were suddenly unleashed. They swarmed straight towards WarGrowlmon.
"Takato!" he cried out.
One was a Snow.299, which looked like a bloated creature with a tap on the top of its head. The virus opened its mouth, inhaled and then blew a small blizzard at WarGrowlmon. The aqua-style attack hit him, dealing double damage to the fire-style Digimon. The other virus was an Ice.734 Virus, which was a darker blue than the Snow.299. It opened its mouth and an enlarged snowflake flew out.
It travelled in a wavy pattern. WarGrowlmon narrowly managed to side-step. He rushed straight at the Snow.299, just before it inhaled and sliced it in half with the axe-heads on his arms. The Digimon whirled round quickly and sliced the Ice.734.
"Now for the others," he muttered under his breath, as he turned round to look at the other viruses that were standing not too far away from him.
There was a Freezer.980 Virus, which looked like a 50s-style fridge more than a freezer. There was also a Whale Virus, which looked like a miniature Killer Whale but was blue and white instead of black and white. To make things worse, there were two copies of each.
One of the Whale Viruses wailed out before it leapt up into the air and crashed into the floor, punching a hole straight through it. Seconds later, it punched a second hole through the floor, flying up into the air and punching another one in front of the second. It travelled towards WarGrowlmon in this looping manner unrelentlessly, just as one of the Freezer.980 Viruses attacked.
It teleported right in front of WarGrowlmon and opened up to expose its cold inside to the Digimon. It bit into WarGrowlmon doing 320HP damage, which was twice the damage it would have normally done to a Digimon that was not fire-style.
"WarGrowlmon, pull back!" cried Takato, as he saw WarGrowlmon's HP take a nosedive. He knew that if the Whale Virus hit then WarGrowlmon would be a goner and he had forgotten to get his backup copy back from the Championship Officials. "Pull back!"

To be continued...