A.I., or Artificial Intelligence. Programs that are created using a computer to run certain commands automatically. However, we know for a fact that some programs can gain sentience and think on their own. But...does it truly mean they have a free will or...more importantly...is it proof enough that data has a soul?
The screen started flashing as a curtain fell as it parted with something written.
Act 1
Alicization Beginning
The curtain then parts, showing a number of groups sitting right outside of the hospital where a lone Kirito was said to be being treated.
"The Royal Knights and I just finished cross-referencing the poison that Kirito was infected with." Shuichi said. "The drug in question that was used is known as succinylcholine, or Suxamethonium chloride. Supposedly, it's a medication used to cause short-term paralysis, although cardiac arrest has been known to be a side effect."
"When you said cross-reference, do you mean you can trace it to who he's been in contact with?" Eri asked.
"Yes. Does anyone here recall the incident where 10,000 players were trapped inside Sword Art Online when it first launched?" Alphamon asked.
"Of course we know about it. Kirito was one of them after all. Sword Art Online, a VRMMORPG where players were to use sword skills and other means other than magic. But the game's creator, Akihiko Kayaba, trapped all the players inside using the NerveGear. They ended up fighting for 2 years to clear Aincrad until Kayaba was defeated by Kirito, ending the game for good." Sunset said.
"Well, as it turned out, the administrator of the poison was also a survivor of that game." Leopardmon said.
"Yeah...his handle is Johnny Black...he was part of a player killing guild there called Laughing Coffin." Shuichi said.
"Sounds like this guy's pretty insane to be admitted to a guild like that." Bow piped in.
"It wasn't just him either. Pretty much everyone in the Laughing Coffin was devoted to torturing and killing their victims in the most gruesome ways imaginable." Omnimon said.
"And with the end of SAO, they lost their chance of killing as they pleased." Ace said.
"That's right, because anyone who got a game over in SAO during the whole thing died in the real world." Hope said. "But how did Kirito end up like this? I thought he was still in his avatar body?"
"He's only like that cause he is wearing his VR gear. Only his mind makes the trip. Once he or any of the others log out, they return to their real bodies here." Tails said.
"Not only that but apparently the guy that attacked Kirito was pretty busy too." Shuichi said.
"Yeah...he was one of the three involved with the Death Gun incident in Gun Gale Online." Sunset said. "He and this other guy, Sterban, were SAO survivors as well as Laughing Coffin members."
"Just what do they have to gain from this? All because SAO ended?" Ace asked.
"You've never played an MMORPG before, have you? Those games can be crazy addictive. Once you get a rush for it, you would do anything to get more of it." Subaru said.
"Not only that, but… there was a raid on a Laughing Coffin base back when SAO was still running...and Kirito led that raid." Omnimon said.
"No wonder this Johnny Black guy wanted revenge." Adora said.
"Yeah. Luckily he's been arrested but...not before injecting that stuff right into Kirito's heart." Aelita said.
"Is there anything we can do for him?" Ginseng asked.
"His heart was stopped for five minutes before it started beating again so that did some brain damage. There's no way of telling when or even if he'll wake up again." Law said.
"This may sound weird but what if somehow, his mind was sent into cyberspace?" Litty asked.
"Even if that were the case, we might not have enough VR helmets for everyone here." Tsubaki said.
"Besides, even if us Royal Knights were to send all of us into cyberspace directly, unless we can pinpoint an actual location, there's no telling where we could end up." Leopardmon said.
"Okay, you all are getting ahead of yourselves. I realize we're concerned about him but there's no way he could get his mind trapped with VR gear." Mirror Match said. "Let us go see him first. Then we can make a plan or at the very least see if we can do anything." Mirror Match said as they stepped in. "Hi...we're here to see...what's his real name?"
"Uh...it's Kazuto Kirigaya." Sunset said.
"Okay...just a moment…" the nurse said looking at the computer. "Oh...uh...I have to check with my supervisor." she said leaving.
"Well, that's... strange." Mirror Match admitted.
"Hmm...something's going on here." Sunset said. "Maybe the mind theory isn't as far fetched after all. I mean, it's happened before."
"Yeah but...they would still let us check on his body." Theo said.
"Hmm...I think I'll get a look for myself." Brook said as he let his soul flow out and pass through the floors before coming back.
"So...how is he?" Tanjiro said.
"He's...gone." Brook said.
"He's dead?!" CP said.
"No, he's being transferred to another facility." Zamazenta said.
"He might be right. There's nothing there. That room was completely empty." Brook said.
"Well isn't there any way we can track him?" Glimmer asked.
"Yeah...I have something." Asuna said, showing a device showing a beating heart.
"A biomonitor." Jet said.
"Perfect. We can use this to track everywhere he's been." Miu said taking it. "Okay...looks like he pinged a few cell towers. Last known ping was...the port?"
"The port? Why would he be carted off there?" Elize asked.
"Well, if we know our ports, it could only mean one… Well, one of a few, actually." Maiko said.
"So he was either shipped off by a ship or carried off by a helicopter. Safe to say he's no longer in Japan." Cobalt said.
"If that's the case, I doubt Juno would be of any help." Lilianna said.
"There has to be an angle we...wait...that company...the one Kirito was doing some work for." Dan said.
"That's right. Wait...let me…" Tails said cross referencing. "Yeah. The last couple of locations are places that belong to Rath."
"Rath?" Lei asked.
"It's the name of the company that he's been doing work for." Aelita said.
"That name sounds like it's part of something from Alice." Miriam said.
"I don't really get the reference. It's sorta...wait...I do remember something. The Soul Translator, the thing he told us about before we met with David and the gang. He said it was the same tech used for the Medicuboid. And the one who made that was Kayaba." Izuku said.
"Kayaba was trapped too. So he had to have had someone watching over his body." Yaoyorozu said.
"Yeah...it was Rinko Koujiro. She was his head researcher and the two of them had a sort of romantic relationship." Kita said.
"Love works in so many strange ways." Tsuki said.
"Hmm...she might be able to help us. I have an idea on how to find Kirito." Entrapta said.
A couple days later, the ship was in stealth mode as they followed a helicopter carrying Rinko and a disguised Asuna.
"This is perfect. By tracking the comm we gave her and staying in stealth mode, they'll lead us right to their base." Jet said.
"Yeah but there's nothing out here. We're just seeing miles of...what in the?" Luz said as they looked down to a large base. "Is that...a turtle?"
"Oh yeah...kinda looks like a pig from my POV." Ochako said.
"It's a lot bigger than the Turtle Fortress."
"You know, I think there was a creature from Alice in Wonderland that looked like a pig turtle hybrid...um...Oh yeah. The mock turtle." Titanica said.
"Let's get up close." Jet said as they landed the ship as close as they could as they quickly disembarked while following after the girls as they were doing their best to avoid the personnel.
"Geez, this is a lot of security. What the heck are they up to here?" Ivy said.
"That's what we're here to find out and why they brought Kirito here." Simon said.
They entered a large room where they saw a massive screen showing what seemed like an entirely different world.
"Ah...so the Hero Alliance have made themselves known." a voice said as a man in a robe sat there. "Along with Dr. Koujiro."
"Kikuoka...sorry. Lieutenant Colonel." Rinko said.
"This guy's military? But...why no uniform?" Hope asked.
"I've been stuck in the middle of the ocean for a month. Can't always be in uniform...or a suit for that matter." he said. "But I am honored to have her here. She is one of 5 people necessary for the project. Now they're all here."
"Project?" Mari asked.
"That is none of your concern. Seeing as how you all are just trespassing." said a man who stepped out.
"Who are you?" Adora asked.
"My name is Hyperion. I'm in charge of the AI department of All Science Go." he said.
"Hold it...I thought it was some guy named Pixel." Omnimon asked.
"Yes, he was someone I left in charge while me and my co worker worked on this." Hyperion said.
"Co-Worker?" Hope asked.
"Okay...looks like things are going as smoothly as you predicted sir." a voice said as a person in a schoolgirl uniform came to him before looking at the group. "Gah!" they said.
"Chihiro? Chihiro Fujisaki?" Twilight said.
"Uh...hi." Chihiro said.
"What are you doing here?" Sunset said.
"Uh...I actually...work for ASG." Chihiro said.
"Whoa, that's a surprise." Hope said.
"Fujisaki's skills are invaluable since they're the Ultimate Programmer as well as their work on Alter-Ego." Hyperion said. "Of course we would want to hire them."
"Wow...so this girl is some great programmer? Wow...never would have…" Kazuma S said.
"Uh...actually…" Hope said whispering something.
"That's a guy?!" Kazuma S said in shock.
"Could've fooled us." Crusadermon said.
"Yeeeeaaaah… it turns out Chihiro's a crossdresser. Long story short, that big secret led him to be killed by Mondo, and well…" Hope said.
"I think we get the picture." Eri said.
"Anyways…" Chihiro looked to Sachiko and the Royal Knights. "I… I want to take this moment to apologize to you all. If I knew what Theodore was doing, I would've tried to stop him. Maybe Lepoint would still be around. I know he'd like to see you all again after what's happened."
"Yes, he truly enjoyed that project and reviving all of you. He was always a huge fan of the Royal Knights." Hyperion said.
"But then Theodore snuffed us away from him when… When he and Snake Charmer captured us." Dynasmon said.
"But Theodore is dealt with now. He won't be murking things up for anyone ever again." Alphamon said.
"Yes and even if he somehow did survive, he's no longer welcomed at the company." Hyperion said.
"By the way, just to bring it up since no one else will… What's up with that screen behind you?" Cheetah asked.
"Oh...that's...uh...that would be the Underworld. Not the one you're thinking of. It's the world we've developed." Chihiro said.
"A virtual world. Is that why you brought Kirito here?" X asked.
"Wait...that's why you...ugh. I told you he was going to be a liability." Hyperion said.
"I know, I know." Kikuoka said.
'Well….we're going to find him and…" Ajna said.
"Just so you know, that poison damaged his brain so much, conventional treatment and magic will not restore it." Hyperion said.
"Damn… That bad, huh?" David asked.
"But...unconventional treatment can. Rath can heal him with the STL. Soul Translator. We'll stimulate his fluctlight and create a new neural network, but that takes time." Chihiro said. "Right now, he's in a full spec STL, which only we can offer. No hospital can treat him and he even has his own full time nurse."
"Okay...we'll take your word for it. But...you gotta tell us about all of this stuff." Kasumi said.
"Fair enough. First...do you know the function of the STL?" Kikuoka asked.
"It reads souls or fluctlights as you call them, and lets the user dive into a virtual world that's incredibly lifelike." Asuna said.
"Very good. And for the objective of this project...we're creating a bottom up multipurpose artificial intelligence." Hyperion said. "There's two ways to make one. Top down means it already has the experience to tackle certain tasks. All AI's currently use it. But it can't react to things it has learned about. Bottom up means recreating the brain electronically, in short, making an AI that is able to learn."
"But...that's impossible." Aelita said.
"You're right...or at least it was. With the STL, we can scan a human's soul, store it into a small cube called a light cube and save a copy. We've already had successes copying human souls." Hyperion said.
"Then...why bother with all of this?" Akira asked.
"Cause we're idiots. We might copy a human soul but even we don't know how it functions. It and a true AI are completely different. Let me show you." Hyperion said typing something in as a sphere appeared on the screen.
"Is the sampling done yet?" a voice asked, an exact copy of Hyperions.
"Yes, it's done." Hyperion said.
"Nice...so why is it dark? Ah...I see. Let me out. The STL is glitching." the voice said.
"You can't log out." Hyperion said.
"Don't be a jerk. Who are you? I demand to know!" it said.
"Hyperion Hylin." Hyperion said.
"That's...not right. I'm Hyperion Hylin." it said. "Let me out and you'll see! I'm me. I'm no copy! Let me out!"
"We've been over this. If you can't think rationally, your fluctlight won't be able to take it." Kikuoka said.
"I'll show you. I'll recite every digit of Pi." the copy said as it started listing off numbers before it went wild before suddenly going dark.
"Sigh...full collapse. 1 minute, 8 seconds." Hyperion said.
"What...just happened?" Corona asked.
"Yes...that's the problem we've been having. We've copied over dozens of souls, including mine, Higa's, Kikuoka's, even Chihiro's. But for a majority, their logic systems couldn't take it and they collapsed. Sorry to have shown you that, but it was the best way to demonstrate what we've been able to do up till now." Hyperion said.
"Since mature fluctlights won't work...the best method was to raise a soul from scratch. So, we put newborns into the STL." Chihiro said. "And since we can't make a copy of the real world...yet. We went with the next best thing."
"VRMMO worlds." Sunset said.
"Right. We put four of our staff inside to raise 16 newborns. They were raised to 18 and then monitored them. They soon started to live like normal people, pairing up, making families. We even sped up time in there and saw there were multiple generations. 3 weeks in our world is 300 years in there. Now they have a fully functioning community of over 80,000." Chihiro said.
"That's some timeskip." Al said.
"Yes, we can alter the passage of time there. We've made an entire civilization. In fact, its capital, Centoria, is a population of over 20,000. They are all bottom up. We were excited to move to the next phase. But...we hit a bit of a snag." Hyperion said.
"Let me guess… The AIs started developing sentience, correct?" Jessica asked.
"Not quite but almost as bad." Hyperion said. "The governing body there is called the Axiom Church. They created a set of laws called the Taboo Index. They created laws including one forbidding murder. That one is difficult for humans to follow, but these are not humans. They're obsessive about it. It's perfect...too perfect."
"But they have their own thoughts and feelings." Mari said.
"I don't think you quite understand what we're aiming for here." Hyperion said.
"They want AI's that can kill." Asuna said.
"You mean… For military purposes?" Leopardmon asked.
"Yep…" Hyperion said. "The main goal is to create AI's and put them into wars to fight the enemy so we could possibly eliminate the need for human soldiers. We are approved by the JSDF after all."
"AIs that can fight wars in the human world? Am I the only one that sees warning signs blaring here?" David asked.
"It's not just you." Ace said. "Even I think that would end badly."
"Look, if we have AI's to fight wars for us without killing people, we could reduce casualties tremendously." Hyperion said.
"Yet they could become self aware and beyond your control given the chance." Mari said.
"And yet, beings like us are proof that such a thing really might be possible." Leopardmon said.
"And what does Kirito have to do with any of this?" Keebo asked.
"It's because of his experience with multiple VRMMO's over the years. We needed to figure out why they couldn't disobey the rules. So...we created an experiment. We sent in a human, reverted them to childhood and grow up there, could they disobey the Taboo Index?" Chihiro said.
"Then we saw something. One of the fluctlights following him, a girl, she was trying to save another person, a dying fluctlight. She disobeyed the index. She chose to do it. And that's what we're looking for." Hyperion said. "Her name is Alice...which is a coincidence since it's the same name for our concept. Therefore, we dubbed this little thing...Project Alicization."
"Project...Alicization?" Magnamon asked.
"Yes. If we had saved her fluctlight, we'd be further along. But then the church got involved. She's still alive but was taken to the Axiom Church and her fluctlight was altered." Chihiro said.
"Altered? Can the AI there do that?" Theo asked.
"No...which is worrisome. We think it's a system error but there's no way of knowing for sure." Hyperion said. "Which is why Kirito is there. We hope while he recovers, he finds Alice and is able to help her."
"I see...that...that's a lot to take in." Izuku said.
The group soon headed out of the base.
"Well that was informative...but...if Kirito is in danger, there has to be something we can do." Ace said.
"Like Tsubaki said, there's not enough VR wear or any for that matter that can get us in." Tails said. "True, I can hack into their server but we have no way to virtualize us there."
"Uh...actually...there may be a way." Franky said.
"Wait… Franky, are you suggesting…?" Double D asked.
"Yeah. That special thing we did to the Digimon Storage." Jeremie said.
"Wait, are you referring to…" Gallantmon started.
"Yeah. It's the 8th floor, where we stored all the Digimon and data Sachiko collected during the Tokyo trip." Jeremie said as they got on the ship and headed there. "However, me, Double D and Franky decided to give it a second function."
"It can send you right into virtual worlds." Franky said.
"That sounds pretty neat." Aruma said.
"I was wondering what you three were doing in there while we were off during David's band sessions." Leopardmon said.
"That makes it easier for us then." Simon said.
"Indeed, but...here's the thing…" Double D said.
"We never actually did a human trial test for it." Franky said.
"So, we're all basically your guinea pigs, then." Kazuma F said.
"Well...not all. We can't just send everyone inside. Of course me, Double D and Jeremie gotta stay behind to monitor the thing and how you guys are doing, but...if we send the entire group inside, we might tip off these church guys." Franky said.
"Not to mention the risk of overloading the data flowing with all of us stuffed in there." Miu said.
"I see… then we'll have to choose our representatives carefully." Tanya said.
"It would probably work best if they were mostly, if not all, swordsmen. They would have a better fighting chance in there." Jeremie said.
"Then I'll go." Goblin Slayer declared first.
"I as well." Miriam said.
"Okay...how about this? Each team can send up to five picks." Franky said. "Sounds fair to me."
"I have no objections." Ace said.
"Alright. Then let's make our selections." Hope said.
Dimensional Heroes: Asta, Roronoa Zoro, Erza Scarlet, Terra, Trafalgar Law
Shining Hope Squadron: Gemini Sunrise, Ichiro Ogami, Sakura Shinguji, Peko Pekoyama, Flamberge
Brave Adventurers: David Ishihara, Sachiko Yukimura, Revali, Leopardmon, Crusadermon
Spirit Force: Roy, Miriam, Selena, Duran, Ace Neptune
Team Chronicle: Mark Anarchy, Sir Saiyan, Connie Maheswaran, Yuuto Kiba, Shirou Emiya
Reformed Society: Cheetah, Agito, Riesz, Belladonna, Luke fon Fabre
Mythos Hearts: Theo Starcrest, Cobalt, Naofumi, Subaru, Ivy
Fatebreakers: Ethox, Ultraman, Goblin Slayer, DJ, Seiya
Class 2-5: Kasumi Kisaragi, Tatsuya Nobukiri, Eri Hiiragi, Tsubaki Hagakure, Ayase Kuroda
"Alright, we're all set." Ichiro said.
"Why are you coming along, Subaru? You don't have a lot to offer, won't you just be in the way?" Flamberge asked.
"Hey, I'm going cause I'm Emilia's knight. And the knights don't let their princess's go off into battle." Subaru said.
"What about you two?" David asked Leopardmon and Crusadermon. "I mean, I know we're your partners and all, but considering we're going to virtual space, wouldn't it better if you all maintained things here?"
"They are digital beings, so having them enter would be a good thing. If something goes wrong, they can always come to your rescue and bring you back." Jeremie said.
"Good point." David said as he and Cheetah went to Zacian and Zamazenta. "We're counting on you two to keep things in check while we're gone, okay?"
"You can depend on us." both of them said.
"Ready for your first trip into Virtual Space, Revali?" Sachiko asked.
"Yes...we're about to make or break cyberspace." Revali said.
"Okay...here we go." Jeremie said as the door to the Digimon Storage widened as it became a large swirling vortex.
"All right! We're coming, Kirito!" Asta said, already jumping into it.
Everyone else soon followed as they flew through the virtual gateway.
"Did...did we…" Theo said before finding himself in a grassy plain and looking out at the massive landscape.
"So...this is the virtual world...incredible." Ethox said.
"Yeah...and it's where we'll find Kirito and maybe even...Alice." Kasumi said.