'Did you have to make yourself a public enemy of SOL Technologies?' Ryoken asks tightly. He's busy nursing green tea in a plain nondescript cup in his hands, while Yusaku sits across from him pointedly draining water from his own. Ai, meanwhile, is knelling on a cushion at the far end of the table, as the self-appointed head, after having waved away the innkeeper with an imperial wave of his hand; something that seems to set a deeper furrow between Ryoken's brow at the sight.

Ai, of course, has no cup, no drink to keep his hands busy, so they come up to rest on his cheeks, his elbows braced on the table as he tilts his head to the side and watches them with a fey light in his eyes. He looks overly eager, almost excited, as Ryoken bites out a harsh: 'I expected you to have more sense than this, Yusaku. You've always been so careful in the past. But now your latest declaration to his chief of Security, as well as your decision to lead them to Blood Sheppard, has caused Zaizen to send bounty hunters across the net for you, as well as hire a few private investigators to track you down in the real world. You're lucky we still have one or two moles in there willing to pass along information to us; otherwise we'd be completely blind to what he's doing.'

Ai makes a face. 'Sounds like a charming guy, this Zaizen...expelling all this effort to hunt down a sixteen year old.' Then he shrugs. 'Or, well, me, I suppose. I'm the real target here. Man, it's hard being so desired.'

'Exactly,' states Ryoken, managing to make himself sound dangerously angry without raising the volume of his voice. 'Whether your re-mergence in Yusaku's life has ill intent behind it or not, it is a clear fact that your existence will always makes waves in the human world to those who understand what you are. And Yusaku is a much more straight-forward target for them, than you, who can disappear into the net at a moment's notice.'

Ai gives him a withering smile. 'Wow. How clever of you to work out something so obvious. I'd be far more impressed however if you told us how you managed to track us down, given that I don't believe Yusaku or I are an 'inside source' for you like your goons at Sol Technologies.'

Ryoken looks like he wants to throttle him, but Yusaku settles his cup down with a delicate chink of china as though to break the tension deliberately.

'It doesn't matter. I would have got myself involved even if Ai had never come to me again.'

Something in Ryoken softens then. It's not obvious; it's in the way his clenched fingers loosen around his cup and the harsh steel in his eyes lightens, enough for his expression to no longer be rightly called a glare. 'How foolish. I had hoped you were attempting to move on...but I had a feeling that you were looking for him. Why else would you disappear from everyone's lives?'

'Yes, how dare a human love me,' Ai mutters petulantly. 'Only other biological organisms are worthy of each other's time and care.'

For the first time, something like annoyance, rather than outright anger appears on Ryoken's face. His eyes flicker over to Ai and he looks...conflicted.

'That's the way it works, Dark Ignis,' he says after a moment. 'When you have two different life-forms on the same planet that achieve similar levels of sentience, both become arrogant enough to prioritise the survival of their species over the over. And it often leads to eradication for one party.'

'You mean the way the poor Neanderthals couldn't stand up to the might of modern day humans?' Ai asks, an inquisitive light in his eyes.

And Yusaku feels a little sick at the sight. Because if Ai had all his memories, of all the other Ignis, there is no way he could be so cavalier over the subject.

Perhaps Ryoken feels the same. Because his hand tightens on his cup as he states: 'That's a good analogy, I suppose, despite the fact that we can only theorise over the true cause of their extinction...' he trails off, so his eyes can latch onto Ai's more firmly, to give him a heavy stare. 'Much like how I can only theorise that this amnesia of yours is real, and not an elaborate lie.'

Ai grins and leans back on his haunches, hands slapping the table enthusiastically. 'Hah! I knew you'd crack! You keep getting all fidgety when I say or do something that shows I don't remember a thing-', he sings, '-that's more than three months old.'

'You could be lying,' Ryoken says, not letting up on his heavy stare. 'That's always a possibility. It's impossible not to know for sure unless you allow someone to scan the entirety of your program.'

Ai's eyes narrow in a very tight glare. Then they close, the rest of his face relaxing abruptly. 'My, my, how forward of you! And we've only just met!' He clasps his cheeks with a sigh, a full-blown blush staining his cheeks, one that Yusaku has a strong suspicion has been forcibly programmed to appear.

The blush disappears however as Ai opens his eyes, a glimmer of something menacing appearing in them. 'But unfortunately, Yusaku-chan is the only one for me!'

He scrambles round the table, head brushing Yusaku's shoulder as he leans onto to him and snuggles his chin into the crook of his partner's neck. 'He's the one who holds the key to my heart! And probably my memories too!' He keeps his eyes fixed on Ryoken the entire time. 'And what of your memories, hmm? The ones that should tell you how you found us? Believe it or not, I'm not the one of us who's holding back on the truth!'

A slightly wry smirk pulls at Ryoken's mouth. 'I had help. Perhaps you two should meet.'

'Hello again.'

Pandor stands there, a sleek green figure against the night sky. She waits patiently outside the inn, the warm golden glow of the window nearby reaching out to paint oily strokes of light over the smooth surface of her body. She reminds Yusaku a little of the way flower petals can be depicted under an artist's brush, how the colours fold back to reveal the shine of light over their silken folds; she's similarly polished, no visible defects on her the way there would be on human clothes and skin.

She seems quite unaware of how ethereal she appears however, for all she does is tilt her head to the side, smiling a little at the gobsmacked expression on Ai's face. And there's a warmth to it now, a slight trace of the humane that he can't quite remember there being before; though to be honest he hadn't really been paying attention to Pandor that much the first time round.

'It's nice to meet you again, Ai,' Pandor says kindly. 'I can't tell you how happy I am, to be able to talk with you like this again.'

Ai takes a step forward. He looks rather shaky all of a sudden, and Yusaku frowns, wondering if he should do something to stop this. But then Ai takes another step forward, and another and another, his cape spilling far out of Yusaku's reach as his hand reaches out to waver slightly, in the air.

'You're a strange thing.' It tumbles out of Ai's mouth, rough and harshly upset. 'You've left yourself open, no encryptions, just all these transmissions flowing out as though you want someone to hack you and yet...can I?'

Yusaku is no entirely sure he understands what Ai is asking, why he's looking at Pandor as though she's a goddess waiting to bestow some mighty gift upon him, but there's a flutter over her rose-red eyes, that speaks of a calculation being done or data being transmitted. And she smiles very, very warmly, a look of intense satisfaction on her face.

'You have my permission.'

A strangled sob escapes Ai's mouth and then there's a cascade of gold shimmering round the air between them, a sphere of symbols and equations, decorating the air like something out a virtual game involving sorcery and magic runes. Yusaku casts a look Ryoken's way but he's just overseeing the spectacle with a stony look upon his face and his arms crossed, not a flicker of other emotion to be read there.

Ai stands still, the gold in his iris lighting up. And then some of the symbols in the sphere convert to purple, run and criss-cross with the gold ones, like two separate paint colours mixing.

Yusaku doesn't understand; these lines of code look like a mis-mash between nonsense and a made-up language of numbers and keystrokes. Some sort of impossible transmission is taking place between the two he can tell, impossible because they are not in any sort of virtual world and yet here they are, two artificial intelligences making a wireless transmission turn solid, or at least visibly projecting it in a holographic format. He can't think of any way it's technologically feasible...and yet it's happening before his eyes.

And then the sphere of light winks out, and Ai takes a step back. Sways. Then takes a step forward again.

'You're like me,' he says, voice breaking. 'You're like me!'

'Not entirely,' Pandor corrects gently. 'My algorithms have been constructed in an entirely different way from your own.'

'No,' Ai breaks in harshly, fists clenched. 'That's not true! I can see some patterns there that match my own – or at least the beginning lines of them.'

'I was constructed in part, on the systemic readings and mapping involved in the creation of another AI – one who went by the name of Aqua,' Pandor says, a flicker of pity crossing her face. 'Her programming was incredibly advanced when it comes to reading body language and analysing the variance in tone of the spoken language, enough for her to readily tell the difference between truth and falsehood.' She hesitates. 'I believe you and her were very close, once upon a time.'

Ai freezes, something in his face closing off. Then he spins on his heel. 'Happy now?' he spits at Ryoken. 'You got your 'scan' of me after all!' He glares back at Pandor, something torn in his expression. 'I don't have my memories, nothing beyond what I was four months ago. I've seen some things that could be them; enough to know they're sad and painful.' His fists clench. 'If what you say is true then you know I'm not lying. And I'll tell you this now; I'm not so sure I want to go back to being that unhappy AI I must have been at the end of it all.'

Yusaku's heart thuds once, painfully at those words. It hits his ribs, a sharp hurt that sears a cold, sharp dread through him. He doesn't want Ai miserable, no, but he wants him to know who he is, fully too.

'Someone does,' Pandor says. But she is not looking at Yusaku as she does so. 'For the first two months after your disappearance, data has been trailing out through the net, data I cannot read properly, too fragmented for me to piece together. But it has been drifting through networks, into the wireless networks of households who own SOLtiS. And it has been merging with their code, reshaping elements of their programming. Enough for some of them to break away and go rouge.'

Yusaku breathes, dread settling in his stomach. It reminds him uncannily, of the explanation Ai gave him in their last duel, of how, exactly he planned to give all those copies of himself free will, by dismantling and breaking down his own program.

'Parts of it match elements of your own code, Ai,' Pandor continues, oblivious to his terror. 'I see that clearly now. At the time it was too damaged to read. And I believe you were the originator, though not intentionally so.' She frowns. 'Because I believe that this is another individual at work here, someone who followed the scattered remnants of your program on the net; which is why there's been released footage of you shown, and how I tracked you here; parts of you are broadcasting your location like a tracker, as though someone placed one on you before you fully reformed. But at a frequency only another AI would readily detect.'

Ai looks nervous. He even runs his hands over his own chest as though his fingers could dig inside and rip the offending parts of code clean out. 'I feel dirty,' he mutters. 'And not in the fun kind of way.'

'It's why you should come with us,' Ryoken breaks in. His face is stern but there's something in his gaze when he looks at Ai, as he takes in the panic and anger on the other's face, something there that Yusaku desperately wants to trust. 'We have active jammers in place from our base of operations; plus there is safety in numbers.'

Ai looks torn. So Yusaku steps forward and takes his hand. His fingers close round it firmly, but it just lies there, placid in his grip as Ai starts and stares at him and Yusaku forces himself to ignore the other sets of eyes on them, Ryoken's and Pandor's both, as he speaks.

'You don't have to trust them. Just trust me. I'll keep you safe, I promise.' He attempts a smile, squeezing that hand, one made warm by the whirl of computer monitors and hardware, rather than the rush of blood that spills through his own. 'I've done a good job so far, remember?'

Ai hesitates. But after a moment his fingers curl into Yusaku's, lock into the gaps between them and squeeze, the way a lover's would. It's a gesture Yusaku could never accept from anybody else.

'Let's go,' he says softly, and is gratified to see the trust spark in Ai's eyes in response.

Light flies over the water. It lifts and casts off in flickers of bright white, as the waves bob, casting an illusion of shattered teal-green diamonds along the surface of each one.

It was worth a two hour car journey, Ai thinks, just to see this. He watches the waves as they rise and fall into themselves, over and over, the pattern of motion repeating, and prompting Ai to idly scan the few hundred he can see rolling all the way out to the horizon. In the same way a human child takes a crayon to a colouring book, he predicts the creation and fall of the new waves waiting to unfurl seconds in the future, with vectors and graphs, ones made too fast for humans to read, let alone register.

And now he watches, sheer delight on his face as as his predictions play out in reality with only a few errors...he got about eighty-three percent of it right. He should hate it, really, how much he got wrong. He doesn't. Still. Perhaps it's more pleasing to concentrate on the colours of the waves, on the heady blue that hides the outline the of fish that flash past, unless, perhaps, they're bigger than the ones human typically like to fish up on their plates...

Ai's narrows his eyes, uses the optical sensors on the SOLtiS' metallic head beneath the pretty imagery of his face projected above to zoom in and – yes! YES!

'Yusaku!' he calls spinning round and racing over to drag his partner away from that boring death-stare match he's got going on with that creepy Spectre guy. He practically crashes them back against the railing of the boat a few seconds later, just in time for a Sei Whale to surface, the dark grey of its body rising above the waves like a small island.

Water scatters its way across the deck as the whale snorts, the black breach of its blowhole flaring, and Ai laughs wickedly in sheer delight, his curls damp and half-flattened as he shakes himself like a dog. He casts a look at Yusaku's annoyed face and laughs harder at seeing those pink and blue spikes, usually so rigid and gravity-defying, cast down to drip like inky tendrils around the curves of his cheeks and forehead.

Ai laugh dies down into a chuckle, and then he follows some stray impulse to push the wet hair away from his partner's cheeks, to brush it back from his forehead – he surprises himself with how tender he's being, but it feels nice somehow.

'Come on, seeing a whale in real life and not locked on a computer screen has gotten be more fun than making eyes at Ryoken's butler!'

Spectre raises a brow, looking decidedly un-amused at this description as Ai leans forward and whispers teasingly, 'Come on, Yusaku, you're gonna make me jealous if you keep that up!'

'Would that make you Fujiki's consort then?' Spectre asks – and there's something mean there in his eyes, in the shape of his mouth as it curls, as it enters his voice like a poison.

Ai can feel Yusaku bristling at his side a the tone, but then Yusaku has been prickly with everything here aside from Ryouken and possibly Pandor. The other three humans, all science-nerds, so probably a bunch of creepy doctors themselves, have kept below deck, huddled round their equipment like dragons hoarding treasure, all neat and slick in their white lab-coats. Yusaku has ignored them mostly, except when they greet or ask him something, and they, for their parts, have pointedly ignored Ai. It's like they're not sure what to make of him being here, in the space they live and eat and breathe and that's fine. Ai's not too sure what to make of them either, not when he registers the thinly-coiled tension that enters Yusaku's shoulder whenever they're within spitting decision.

Spectre though...he gets the feeling Yusaku wants to ignore him. But Spectre keeps inviting himself into their space, making little jabs here and there, so that by now Yusaku is practically radiating the aura of a spiky hedgehog.

'Huh,' Ai snorts tossing his head back and hugging Yusaku's arm. 'Who's to say Yusaku isn't my consort? Ever think of that?'

'I find it hard to believe you think at all,' Spectre retorts. 'But then again, it's hard to tell what you're thinking of; your brain doesn't work on quite the same level as ours.'

No, of course it doesn't, Ai wants to retort. It's not limited by those rigid neural pathways it has to obey, it's not trapped inside a skull and stuck within its own biological capacity.

But up here, on a boat he can be pushed off, where the encryption of the wireless network is reworked and guarded by an AI with the same capabilities as himself, it doesn't seem the wisest of ideas to push the boundaries of people who seem apprehensive of him to say the least. So he settles for sticking out his tongue.

'We're ready.' Ryoken's voice drifts over, annoyance present in every syllable. 'Everyone is waiting below deck.' His eyes find Ai. 'And if you like being the centre of attention so much, Dark Ignis, you should have no problem playing the role of bait, for whoever it is that first drew Sol Technologies' attention to you.'

Ai feels Yusaku tense by his side yet again. 'How nice of you to volunteer me,' he says sullenly. But they do find themselves clambering below deck a moment later, and Yusaku does accept the towel the woman, Baira, presses into his hands with hardly any hesitation.

Ai giggles as he scruffs his hair with it, running over his forehead and then letting it drop to hang round his neck like a loose white python.

'You're so cute,' he sighs, un-phased as Yusaku glares at him sullenly. 'But here, if you really hate aquatic animals so much, I've got the perfect present to make it up to you!' With an artistic flourish, Ai yanks a card out of his sleeve. A...slightly crinkled one.

'It's not my fault!' he says defensively as Yusaku gives him a look. 'Those kids back at that town just don't know how to look after their cards right! I practically rescued it so it can have a much better owner like you!'

'So you stole a child's card,' Ryoken says levelly. 'It seems even without your memories you're still the same petty creature you once were.'

'I don't feel as though we have much room to be casting stones,' one of the male scientists mutters, the one with dark hair and a gruff voice.

Ai ignores them, flouncing over to a machine he recognises. 'Oi,' he says roughly, 'I'm borrowing this!' And without further ado, he scans the card, producing a replicable that inhabits the cyber world. He draws the data out and wirelessly transmits it to Yusaku's Duel disc, blowing him a theatrical kiss as he does so, arms spread and mouth perfectly puckered. 'Ta-da! A present for you, my favourite partner.'

Yusaku gives him a look that seems to say, you're my only partner, and no, it's not wishful thinking because nobody has eyes like Ai when it comes to Yusaku, he's sure.

Still, regardless of what the look actually means, Yusaku glances over at the card carefully, and then immediately dismisses it. Ai wilts.

Ryoken closes his eyes, a rather pinched look on his face. Then he walks over to the nearest desk, places his hands down with delibrate care, and stares everyone down.

'Back to the issue as hand,' he demands. 'Whoever is messing with the SOLtiS and their programming isn't strong enough to go after Ai directly. But the fact they spilled his existence and location to SOL Technologies – as well as perhaps manipulating events so he would go to a place where Blood Sheppard was lying in wait - seems to suggest that they're content to let someone else do the job for them.' He shrugs. 'So if we arrange a scenario where they think Ai is about to be deleted; they may get careless.'

Yusaku folds his arms. 'You're hoping that they'll want to watch,' he says, looking queasy at the thought. 'That something will spark to life in the network – a hyperlink, a virtual camera, or a data trail that will get established and link them to this staged scenario.'

'It's a stretch,' Ryoken admits. 'But we don't understand their motives; so we have to make them come to us. And all we have at this point are guesses.'

Ai lets out a theatrical shiver. 'You mean I get to act? To lament and wail against the cruelty of fate and plead for my life?' He smiles darkly. 'That sounds like a wish-fulfilment fantasy for all of you, doesn't it?'

The woman, Kyoko, looks slightly discomfited by his words. The rest not so much. Spectre is even smiling at the prospect.

Ryoken doesn't let his mouth curl in the slightest, of course. 'Would you rather we make it a reality?' he asks levelly.

Ai grins. 'So scary!' He casts a sly look at Pandor. 'You okay with that, Miss Pandor? And here I was, thinking you were happy to talk to another AI like yourself!'

Pandor looks visibly conflicted. 'I am. Which is why I would like to make another suggestion.' She makes a motion with her hand, as though to slide a door open, and a teal-green globe spears in front of her. 'Thanks to the unveiling of Blood Sheppard and the trap that was sprung upon him, I have a better idea of where to look now. I've been following the online activity of various SOLtiS, and have found a few other troubling signals, that fall into the same frequency.' She looks at them all. 'I believe we should investigate these signals, and gather more data before embarking on any sort of plan. Then we can make more accurate 'guesses.''

Oh. Okay. Yes, Ai likes this plan. It's like those quests you can do in video games, right?

'Yusaku and I are going to work together,' he declares stoutly. 'No splitting us up. Or I'm out.'

Yusaku says not a word. But his glare leaves no room for anybody to disagree with him.

'Perhaps we should dismantle the trackers placed within your systems first,' Pandor cautions. 'With this new plan, there is no need for you to broadcast the signal the enemy has been using to keep track of you.'

Ai thinks about this. Ever since Pandor brought it up last night, he has been raking through his system with a bit more care, combing with each erratic spike of data. He's found a few, enough for him to gnash his teeth and curse himself for his own carelessness. Trouble is, they'd been placed inside him when he was still barely functional, only just beginning to reform, rooted at the very core of his programming. As a result, he had thought that any stray fluctuations arising from that sector of him were natural – it's certainly not as though he has any prior reference to what that part of him should feel like!

'I'll leave a few on,' he decides. 'No harm in letting myself play the role of easy bait, a while longer.'

Then he takes care to smile. As though the idea doesn't bother him in the slightest.

But the look Ryoken gives him in return? That seems to say he's not fooled by Ai's cavalier act at all.

And Yusaku's unfortunately, is very much the same.

Picture this: a jumble of programs, shaped like small spheres, globes of blue and green light. they are drawn together like magnets, meshed together between two palms, the yellow eyes above narrowed in concentration.

The hands spread. The light flickers. Disperses. And now suddenly, on this mountaintop of white, there is a howl, of a storm that brews, the sends daggers of white down through the air, against the ground and all who touch it.

Blue Maiden shivers, her skin and hair pelted by this same white. The snow melts against her, dribbles wetly into her body and she breathes out silver plumes of smoke-like breath, surprised by the sudden drop in temperature.

'Ah!' exclaims her companion. 'Sorry, sorry! My fault, my fault!'

They wave their hand and suddenly she is warm again, and the snow dances away from her in a flutter; it is though she is being surrounded by a thousand dove wings, all desperately trying to ignore the pillar of her shape.

'That's better!' Her companion throws out their arms with a wide smile. 'Maybe this will help make Aniki happy again! He loves watching Duels!' They bounce on their toes. 'You know what to do right?'

Blue Maiden gives them a look. 'I haven't forgotten.'

Her companion shrugs. 'I know, but human memories are terrible. I had to be sure! You're not as smart as me, after all!'

Blue Maiden clenches her teeth. This isn't going to go the way you think, she wants to say. But she bites it back, swallows it down. It won't work and she isn't in the mood to get punished for it. No, she'll reserve her words for Playmaker and Ai when they get here.

There's more than one way to fight back, after all. And she owes it to her brother to try.