AN: Well, after assessing my situation, I might as well carry on with this little project due to all the small, yet positive feedback I got last time around. Besides, Guardian Algorithm is extremely long, I have four more scenes to write down, and I don't feel like I'm so into them right now. Know what I mean? So guess I should work this out that I might finally be able to concentrate on GA…
Disclaimer: Hey, if I told you once, I told you once: I don't own Digimon. Just majority of the characters who're human.
Installment Entry No. 1: A Good Day for a Good Knight
Block 17, Chuo Ward, Asuka, Tokyo
June 3, 2019 – Monday, 1916 Hours, PST
A pair of cobalt eyes stared down from their high vantage point and into the second story's window, at the girl who was currently sitting down in front of her PC, doing some work. Goggles, their owner thought, probably a fanatic, this one. Whoever was on that rooftop was hardly a peeping tom, since it was hardly even human. The girl continued to work on her Com, obviously oblivious to this stalker's presence. The Guild Master had given her a week to collect all discs. It looked like she was on schedule. One down, six to go… the vulpine figure leaped an astonishing six feet into the air and remained suspended, where she spread her arms out wide and called upon her 'talents', "Diamond Storm!" Hundreds to thousands of jeweled shards materialized in the air in front of her in small groups until she practically had a solid figure floating there altogether, at which point they began darting towards the closed balcony window, shattering the fragile glass and startling the girl from her work.
Tomie Kaira had apparently overslept upon getting home, and by the time she woke up and got to the nearest CD store, they only had one left. So much for being the first to buy one. At least she had a copy, though, and although the actual setup prompt displayed different instructions from what was written on the case, it still made sense, more or less. She was just about to hit the return key to trigger the installation, or rather, the 'Key Engagement' command, as the disc stated it, when glass broke, causing to jump her out of place and face the direction from whence the sound came. On the balcony stood, on its hind legs, a yellow fox-like creature, eyes showing no hint of kindness whatsoever. What scared her even more, though, was the fact that she easily recognized what it was. "This can't be… you're a Renamon…"
The vixen thing smirked knowingly. She was right, this one was a fanatic. "That's right. Tell me, what else is new?"
"B…but… you can't be real! You're a digimon! They're just characters in games and anime!" This is insane! It was just the kind of thing that would happen to a person who was about to be plunged into the Digimon Universe, a digimon-related encounter that would shatter her original view of all existence. The kind of thing that usually happened to a digidestined… and they always came as complete surprises. She chuckled at herself for being so stupid. 'Tamers' was supposed to explore the possibility of Digimon occurring in this world, the 'real' world. She never expected it to happen, though. This incidence most probably had no connection to Tamers, though.
"You can never tell what's real and what's fictional these days, kid. Now hand over the disc." She outstretched her paw, showing that she was waiting for what was inside Tomie's CD Drive. It was tough luck that her mother was working late tonight. Her father died in a car accident when she was six and she could barely remember him.
"The disc?" that was when suspicion clouded her tantalized her imagination, "Why?"
"That doesn't matter, does it?" Renamon's claws spread out even further apart from each other, giving the child the impression that she was losing her temper. "You seem to know a lot about Digimon… am I right?"
"Are you kidding me? Digimon's my life!"
"Then you do know what I can do to you if you don't do as I say…"
The situation was really turning out to look like a scene from a possible pilot episode for an eighth season. What would a first-impression-bad digimon want with a disc? The setup prompt was visibly different from what she saw on TV, and moreover the case itself. Perhaps this copy of Digimon Online wasn't what it seemed. On the most part, the disc probably wasn't even a copy of Digimon Online, but something much bigger, and this fox was probably after the data stored on the disc, or, from the looks of things, the program on the disc. If this was the pilot episode of an eighth Digimon season, the disc would most likely be, one way or another, a key to the digital world. But what were the odds of that happening? It then hit her like a boulder: what were the odds of a first-impression-bad digimon barging in on her at night while she was home alone trying to install a disc that didn't even look or act like the one she was looking for? She unnoticeably hit the return key, triggering the Key Engagement command, which brought up a progress bar. Thirty seconds. That was a lot of time to stall, "What's with the disc?"
"I told you, it's none of your business. Now hand it over." Renamon's open paw balled up into a fist and began to spasm, depicting that her patience was practically withered out from all the delay.
"Not until you tell me what it does." The goggled girl snapped back, clearly intent on getting an answer.
"Listen kid, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into. The longer you keep that disc away from me, the more you endanger yourself, your family, and your friends."
"What do you mean by that?" That statement told her that this digimon probably worked for some kind of extremely powerful being who wanted the disc so bad that he or she was willing to kill just about anybody who got in his way. But, to hit her more logical side, it sounded more like a threat from a mafia member. Both seemed just as bad. Apparently, the disc's activation required an online connection, which it didn't have a problem getting, since Tomie had DSL, which was all the more convenient as the program began to weave its signal through the massive information super highway and into The Pentagon's mainframe computer.
"I've had enough of your crap, kid. Hand me that disc!" The progress bar hit five seconds just as Renamon jumped upward, extending her arms and calling out a few diamonds, "Or else!"
Cyberspace Observation Command (COC), Sublevel 6 – The Pentagon, Arlington, Virginia
June 3, 2019 – Monday, 0310 Hours, EST
Dr. Xedric Boyd yawned somewhat rudely as he hurriedly tucked his hands into his lab coat's pockets, brisk walking down the dimly lit hallways of COC. He'd awakened only a minute or two ago, disturbed from his peaceful slumber by an EAM (Emergency Action Message) from the Command Center. Something about Project Causeway's Gate Keys 'hacking' into the mainframe computer where the Primary Connection Uplink (PCU) was located. PCU was basically the program that brought all seven Gate Keys' programming codes together, matching them into the data required to activate the 'system', as most programmers called it. Boyd knew the gravity of the situation, although his mind was still clouded by memories of his dream about spending his coming week off in Miami.
As he reached the sliding titanium double doors that led to the Command Center, he stopped to scratch his messy hair and put on his glasses that he might see better. That was when he noticed a pair of rangers standing aloof on either side of the door, not moving at all. Boyd frowned when he realized that they were taking no effort whatsoever to let him inside. "Vhat ah jhou vaiting foh, jhou fools!? Let me in! Schnell!"
Boyd was American, although he was born and raised, for enough of his life for that accent to stick, in Germany. Boyd itself was an American derivation of Boyscheifk, and obviously sounded more pleasing to the ears. The ranger to the left of the door suddenly cracked up, slapping his rifle with his right hand, soon followed in suit by the one on the right, who groaned in despair. "That's it, man! He said Schnell! You owe me fifty!"
That was when he realized that they were actually betting on him. The losing ranger muttered several sore loser curses as he fished out his wallet and took out the indicated sum of money, thrusting it in his partner's face, followed shortly by his entering the access codes and the twin doors sliding apart. This revealed a massive room similar in form to NORAD, although instead of a global map, displayed a gigantic sphere that seemed to be composed of wires and had countless tiny electrical impulses surging all over it to the point that it appeared as though the sphere itself was glowing. This was the actual image of the Digital World, although in theory, it was only 'cloud cover' and looked very different if you were on the ground yourself. "It'z about time…" Boyd strolled inside and headed for the man at the command post, the winning ranger still counting his money as the door closed behind the scientist.
"Zed, we are having one hell of a situation down here…" Ryan Springer was the newest member of the Causeway Development Team, more commonly known as the Bridge Builders, due to their job. He was transferred just before the big move in which the Gate Keys were stolen, and knew nothing of how it worked, except the basics and possibilities… such as this one.
"How many times did I tell jhou not to call me Zed? It'z a tehhible nickname!" Boyd exclaimed somewhat angrily. "Vhat's za shituvhation?" although Boyd sounded like he was talking about some process that involved the use of manure, those who were used to him could understand him easily.
"Well, we just got an unauthorized log in a couple of minutes ago. When it was run through the ID program, we were surprised that it was Gate Key Three… the six others came in after that, and apparently, they're being accepted regardless by PCU. They're going to be engaged pretty soon, and God knows what the effects would be…"
Donald Patterson, the Center's statistics supervisor, spoke up. "We won't be able to trace their signals since they're not directly linked to our mainframe yet… what do we do now?"
"Vhat ozah choice do ve haf? Ve vait und see vhat's going to happen." Realization hit him as his mind finally began to clear and everything concerning Project Causeway came to presence in his brain once more. His eyes widened as a klaxon sounded off. We are now at Yellow Alert.
"Gate Key Three: Engaged," Patterson announced, "PCU confirmed, we're gonna try to zero in on its location..."
"Zis cannot be good!" Boyd exclaimed as Gate Key Three's emblem, a golden rifle, materialized on the Observation Center's main view screen, "Phoject: Causevay vill only vuhk phopehly if za discs ah in za same vicinity und activatud simultaneously!"
"What'll happen if they're not activated simultaneously?" Springer inquired, obviously unfamiliar with the experiments that have been done regarding the discs.
"Gate Key Seven: Engaged. Satellite tracking systems are a go, we are searching every continent on the planet right now." A pair of purple bat wings lit up, symbol of the seventh key.
"Ve tested ze discs vonce befoh, Sphingah, und za fohtex zat vas genehated vas highly unshtable, lashting foh no longah zan five sechunds." Boyd was now in a panic, portrayed quite perfectly by his nearly incomprehensible German accent.
"Gate Key Four: Engaged," a brown Grandfather clock lit up this time, "We've got a lock on the first one…"
"Zey ahun't evun being activatud in za cohhect ohdah!"
"Gate Key One: Engaged," a white Coat of Arms came into view, "We've confirmed the second one…"
"What about if they're not in the same area?"
"I haf no idea, alzough I supphose za gatevay vill hahdly be shtable…"
"Gate Key Five: Engaged," a green Ace of Spades popped up, "Signal number three is being tracked…"
"Well, what if both proper operational requirements are wanting?"
"Gate Key Two: Engaged," a samurai's traditional sword, the Katana, blue in color, spiraled onto the screen, "Gate Key One's location has been tallied."
"Za effects vill mosht likely be dishasthous… whatevhah zey ah, zough, veah about to find out…"
"Gate Key Six: Engaged… Project: Causeway is going online…" A crimson sphere, almost like a pierrot's nose, appeared on screen, connecting in some way of another to all the other six as a message appeared on screen. "System Engaged…" Patterson switched the main screen display to a satellite monitored world map. Seven lights abruptly entered and left existence. "We just detected power surges at Max Sigma 1000. Three of them match the Gate Key tracking signals. We've got our babies now."
"It'z vohse zen I thought…" Boyd mumbled, "Za fohtex didn't even lasht foh two seconds… Vhat'z moh, za Causevay vas even sepahated to za Gate Keys' individual positions, meaning seven diffehent people have jusht been sucked into za Digital Vohld. Thack zem down!"
"We have confirmation," Patterson checked the screen save, "Let's see… Three in Tokyo, one in Okinawa, another in… Beverly Hills? The last two are in Moscow and Sydney respectively."
"Contact Khimes und tell him zat he'z got a lot of vohk to do…"
"Yes sir."
"I jusht hope zings can't get any vohse…"
Abandoned Citadel, Sector II, Zone IV, Quadrant I, Digital World
June 3, 2019 – Monday, 1933 Hours, PST
"That was some ride…" Tomie Kaira groggily tried to stand up, although found it quite difficult to do so. She was referring to the sudden tear that had opened in the very fabric of reality itself and brought her to this place. Wherever this place was. Looking skyward, she noticed that it was dark out. Of course, silly… it's nighttime. Instead of stars and clouds, though, what filled the night sky was a vast matrix of black wires outlined by green that seemed to stretch out infinitely in all directions. Upon closer inspection, the wires had tiny electric pulses flashing through their set paths. Wherever she was, it sure wasn't Tokyo. "Doesn't look like I'm in Kansas anymore…"
She was glad that Renamon was gone. At least she was safe for the time being. Perhaps this was what the disc did? If so, she was most likely in a different version of the Digital World, unique in terms of one, it's had much more time to evolve, like two decades or so, and two, this was the real deal, not something that Akiyoshi Hongo cooked up in his sketchbook one evening. Apparently, this Digital World lacked any sky, since the only thing that stood for it was a ceiling of wires, most probably representing the countless internet connections on the Earth.
Tomie admitted that she was assuming too much. After all, this was all on the basis that Digimon could be real. That was when a beam of light dropped from the verdant canopy and landed in front of her, an irregularly shaped electronic device slowly descending until it was within her reach. There was only one kind of hand held electronic device she knew that could come in such a nice package in this kind of situation, "It must be a Digivice of some sort…" She took it into her right hand, surprised by how it fit her grip perfectly, plus the fact that it was giving off a warm sensation. Little did she know that she was being given a palm scan to identify her, provided she had a profile in the COC's archive, which she didn't.
She was a tad surprised when the monitor sprang to life, projecting a three dimensional holographic image at her in every detail, a medieval Coat of Arms, to be precise, the shield separated into four quadrants. The top right and bottom left were blue, whilst the opposite quadrants were white. Behind the shield crossed two ornately crafted sabers, most of their blades covered by the protective device. "Most advanced model I've ever seen."
One could imagine how far aback she was taken when she suddenly heard a slightly digitized female voice, "Your palm prints are unrecognizable. Perhaps I should try checking your DNA…"
"A… a talking Digivice?" Tomie's eyes widened in shock. Never in the history of Digimon did a Digivice ever talk. The furthest improvement the legendary gadget had gone through was the Digi-Globe system, which Hongo decided to apply in his latest Digimon anime, Digimon Severance. God knew where he got those titles, although a friend of hers figured out that the second part of the title started with the same letter as the number of the season, with the exception of the first two, which were numbered instead. It all started with Tamers the third, Frontier the fourth, Filter the fifth, Symmetry the sixth, and finally, Severance. Each of these seasons were independent of each other, 01 and 02 being the only two that were link unless you included Tamers' relationship to them. This proved that the originals were either Hongo's favorites, or were just too long to fit into one season.
"Oh, and it's not Digivice, it's D-Jutant." The device snapped back, "That's a COC abbreviation for Digital Adjutant. I trust you know the meaning of adjutant, Dr. Kaira. That's right, I found a DNA match." Apparently, it had found a DNA match… with her mother's.
"You got the wrong person… I'm just a kid! I can't be a doctor!" Tomie went frantic. Since when did her DNA match a scientist's?
"Really? Then why does your DNA match that belonging to Dr. Anna Pearson-Kaira then? How are you two related?"
The goggled girl was surprised to hear her mother's name from an electronic device that was most likely the product of that funky 'last one on the shelf' CD that wasn't even a copy of Digimon Online. Boy, had she gotten herself into such a mess. "Anna Pearson-Kaira… is my mother…"
"Well then if that's the case, you should give me your name unless you want me to address you by Miss Kaira all the time, and from what I can see quite clearly, you don't look like the kind of person who prefers to be called so formally… do you? Oh, and by the way, you can call me Iris."
"It's Tomome Ashley Pearson Kaira…" Tomie managed to mutter, "But please just call me Tomie..." This was ridiculous. She was talking to a Digivice that knew her mother, claimed to 'see' her, had quite a spunky attitude, along with its own name. They sure don't make Digivices like they used to.
"Hmm… I wonder why… anyway, let me be the first to congratulate you on being one of the first seven humans to ever set foot in the Digital World." The image that Iris was projecting had changed from a coat of arms into a holographic blizzard of multi-colored confetti.
"Seven? Where are the others?" If she heard the little talking trinket correctly, she was indeed inside the digital world, with six others somewhere else.
"Well, this area we are in right now are the exact same coordinates of your room had we been in the real world. Since they're most probably from other parts of the globe, no doubt, they're obviously in the same coordinates as their rooms or wherever they activated the Gate Keys. Of course, you know the drill. United we stand… our first priority is to find all of them."
"So what's our main objective?" If she was brought here, there had to be a reason. It would be impossible that she had been brought here without any. There had to be some sort of mission or whatnot that would give her being here at least some meaning.
"COC designed Project Causeway to create—"
"Whoa, slow down… Project Causeway? And what's the COC?" she was being treated like she already knew the basic terms, that she already knew what was going on.
"COC is the acronym for Cyberspace Observation Command… it's a branch of the Pentagon that's been designated to monitor all activity within the Digital World that might threaten the real one. Over the past six years or so, thousands of Digimon have migrated to the real world seeking just about everything: food, shelter, friends, even a useless piece of land they could call their own. Although founded to find out just why, COC's advanced tracking systems have gotten out of date, and the continuous increase of internet activity has practically 'blocked out the sun' here, thus rendering this place pitch black. COC is officially blind. In any case, they have designed Project Causeway to create and actual physical gateway into the Digital World in order to allow them to send recon teams to find out just why so many Digimon have been migrating. One of its side effects, however, is that the Causeway generates massive amounts of energy that can in one day surpass the total annual output of all nuclear reactors on the planet put together over a trillion times over!"
"That is a lot of power there… and this side effect is supposed to be good?"
"Well, COC has considered its options. The energy's infinitely renewable anyway. Causeway merely piles up the countless bits of data on the internet and uses the energy they produce to sustain itself. Although a single bit produces enough, Causeway has so much mass that it unintentionally taps Terabytes' worth of data for power, hence the humungous output. COC plans to store up as much as they can every time they open it up, then distribute it to the local power companies."
"How… noble… so what you're saying is that we have to find out just why Digimon have been moving to the real world?" Tomie rubbed her chin. That probably explains why Renamon was in our world in the first place…
"That's right…"
"So how are we going to find the others?"
"Eh, I have my ways… trust me. By the way, we D-Jutants have been designed to channel the energy generated by Causeway for use in 'special' enhancements…"
"For who? It's not like I run on electricity or anything."
"Not you, silly! Your Digimon partner!"
"My… Digimon… partner?" Being in the Digital World with a talking smart ass digivice was one thing… being in the digital world with a talking smart ass digivice, a digimon partner, and six other guys who share the same situation, was a whole new ballgame. "I have a Digimon partner!?" her eyes widened as she began to violently shake the poor device, "Well why didn't you tell me in the first place!? I've been wondering how I was going to stay safe in some place as dangerous as this!"
"We-e-e-e-ll, y-y-o-u n-e-v-e-r a-s-k-ed…" Iris' display was currently a dizzy three-dimensional smiley. Tomie stopped. "I was going to have to tell you sooner or later anyway. Here he is…" Yet again, the hologram switched, this time, to a life-sized image of a gray-furred teddy bear like Digimon dressed in what appeared to be a suit of medieval armor. "This little fellah is Knight Kumamon… pretty cool, huh? Your mother designed it herself."
"Mom… designed that?" Great. Now she knew three species of Kumamon. Some kid wannabe with a blue cap, a polar bear cub with a bandana, snowshoes and a rocket launcher, and now this… 'knight' with a cute little sword that didn't look like it could cut through crap. "What're his parameters?"
"Well, he's a Vaccine Digimon, obviously a Rookie, Animal Class, and, Light Property. His digivolutional hierarchy is only for me to know until the time comes. In any case, you can Digi-Gate Edify him to either allow him to move faster, make him pack a stronger punch, give him a harder shell, and of course, cause him to digivolve."
"Digi-Gate Edify?"
"Yeah, like I said. A D-Jutant can channel the powers of Causeway, more technically known as Digi-Gate. It's an enhancement thing…"
"Oh… so where exactly is he?"
"Oh, yeah… your partner. Hold on a sec." Iris' display changed, this time, to a progress bar indicating Knight Kumamon's realization status. Slowly, streams of data code began to flow out of the device's top port and onto the ground, taking shape into a pair of metal boots, and soon, into a real life version of the hologram Iris had displayed earlier. "And there he is, your very own Digimon. Just remember to love him, feed him three times a day, and you're going to get along just fine."
Tomie stared in awe at the creature. She had never seen this kind of Digimon before, obviously because he was one of a kind… new… unique. And she owed it all to her mother. Out of curiosity, which, in legend, slaughtered thousands of cats whenever somebody mentioned the saying, she poked his nose, causing the bear a ticklish sensation, which resulted in a rather unpleasant sneeze.
Knight Kumamon had awoke from a long time of slumber, and yawned quite considerably, stretching his arms wide as he could. That was when he noticed the blue-haired girl in the purple goggles staring at him. "Oh, good morning…" he rubbed the dried tears out of his eyes, followed by a finger rubbing his nose to help recover from that sneeze. It was good to be awake, and certainly great to finally be alive. And his common sense was telling him that this human was the one to thank for it all, meaning they now had an unbreakable bond between them. "You must be my partner, right?"
To be continued…
AN: Whew! That's a new record. I actually managed to finish this in five hours, inclusive of my lunch break, and occasional tuning in on the news. I'm just glad this episode is done with. I know, a little too short for your taste, but, what the hell. And don't worry. They're going to have a couple of run-ins with Renamon within those remaining six days… not to mention a few other surprises the Digital World has in store for them. Oh, and pardon the cheesy chapter title… was a little sleepy from all that typing.
Up Next:
Anna couldn't believe what she was hearing. How could she? The guy had a mechanical hand, for crying out loud. "You're telling me that my daughter has been sucked into the Digital World by one of Causeway's stolen Gate Keys that somehow managed to wind up in one of the many CD stores in Tokyo!? Where's Xedric!? I have a bone to pick with him!"
Esteban had to shut his ears to protect himself from the scientist's overly boisterous voice. "Calm down, Dr. Kaira. Dr. Boyd is on his way as we speak. And we're doing everything that we can to track your daughter down. I'm sure we'll have her back here safe and sound by—"
"I'm not buying this bullshit, you hear me!? Do you think I'm stupid? That I don't know why Project Causeway was started in the first place!? That's a laugh! I was Xedric's assistant! I know everything he does about the damned thing! And you know what else, Agent Esteban? I know that COC has no way of contacting my daughter or the six other kids who've been brought into this mess courtesy of the DDD's incompetence!"