Episode 9: Standings; Spider; Saviors

Erika was engrossed in her work, rapidly tying on her keyboard with a look of absolute focus on her face. The trouble with that focus was that it caused her to forget that there was a rather annoyed teenager in the room.

Seriously, what the hell? If she had work to do, couldn't she have just left him up in R&D until she finished?

It was dark outside. Kurohi could hear shuffling from outside her office door. He guessed that it was around time for the office to close.

Erika hit a final few keys before letting out a long sigh and saving the reports she had been working on. She stretched in her chair, feeling the strain of being hunched over in her chair for several hours. She stood up, put some of her things in her bag, and walked out the door.

Leaving Kurohi alone in her office.

After about a minute, there was a lot of screeching and shuffling outside, before the do0r flew open to reveal a disheveled and out of breathe Erika.

Kurohi stood up, trying to keep his face from revealing any emotions. He was angry, and he was tired, but throwing all that out there at this point wasn't going to get him anywhere. This woman owed him an explanation and he was going to get it, and if he played his cards right he might even be able to use this situation to his advantage.

"Is there anywhere to eat around here?"

"Can you pass the ketchup?"

The two of them were at a fast-food joint a few blocks away from the offices. Burgers weren't really Kurohi's thing, but he tended not to complain when someone else was paying for it. After all, he lived off ramen. Erika seemed genuinely apologetic for ignoring him until closing, so, if he had questions, now would be the best time to ask.

Kurohi took a big bite of burger before starting. "Sho, *gulp*, do you have any more questions for me, or would it be alright if I asked a few of my own?"

Erika inhaled a few fries. "Just two." She took a big sip out of her extra-large soda. "One: What did you want that program for?"

Kurohi wasn't sure if he should tell her what he actually planned to do with it, or whether he could properly explain it either. It was still just a theory, and he had only just come up with it this afternoon when she picked him up, so he hadn't had any time to test it. "I have a theory that I want to test, and I need that program for that. I might be able to make something similar, but having that specific program would be preferred."

"So I'm guessing all that talk about 'changing the world' was just to suck up to Shibumi-tachi so they'd give it to you, then?"

Kurohi placed his burger down. "It's a matter of perspective. From my point of view, I believe I will have changed the world." He paused. "For good or worse is yet to be seen."

Erika laughed a bit at this. "Wooooow, serious, aren't we? Are you sure you're really 18?"

"Is that your second question?"

"Call it a follow up question to number one." She proceeded to swallow half her burger in a single gulp. "Real question two: why do you think I brought you in today?"

Kurohi had been thinking about this the entire time he was sitting in that uncomfortable chair, and he had only come up with one reasonable answer. "To meet me?"

Erika flashed a mischievous smile. "Oh? And what makes you so special that I'd drag you down to my office?"

"To determine what kind of person I was."

"Why would I need to do that? This isn't a marriage interview, you know. Why would I need to know what kind of person you are?"

"Because...You wouldn't ask someone for help if you didn't think you could trust them."

"Help? I lead one of the departments at Digicorps. main offices. I have the entire companies resources at my disposal to deal with any problems I may come across. What would I possibly need yo-"

"GiraffaKuwarus."

Erika's smile faded.

"Before he evolved you had over a hundred Perfect Level Digimon attacking him with everything they had, and you didn't even leave a scratch. Yet my group, with only four Adult Digimon, were able to push him back. That's why you need me."

"Wow." Her smile was still gone, but there was honest praise in her voice. "You are serious. And pretty damn smart, too."

"I just had a lot of time to think about it."

She laughed. Not a high-pitched laugh like earlier, but a deeper one. "Fair enough. I guess that's my fault." She took another long swig from her drink. "What do you want to know?"

"What are they? I know there's more than one of them, and more than one that's reached his level, according to what he said."

Erika popped the plastic lid off her drink and stirred it around with her straw. "We call them-" Her phone went off with a ringtone that sounded like a siren. She quickly pulled it out and read the message on it. She stood up and headed toward the door. "We're heading back to the company. Grab your Digimon; we might need him."

Kurohi stood up and pulled out his DP. He held it shoulder height as he walked, hearing the familiar tone that sounded when his Digimon completed uploading to it. "Security cameras?"

"Of course. I wasn't going to miss out on the conversation just because I couldn't take part." The brief silence that followed was quickly broken by Linkmon again. "Do you think we can trust her, Kurohi?"

"If we want our answers, then we have to."

They returned to Erika's office. She started up her computer, tapping her foot impatiently all the while. When it finally finished booting up, she immediately began to hit keys so fast that Kurohi had difficulty distinguishing hers fingers from the motion blur.

"There's an unauthorized Digimon in the system."

"What's it doing?"

"I'm not sure, but it's moving through our security programs like they were made of water. Or maybe it is. I don't know."

"What can I do?"

"I don't think there's anything we can do from here, which leaves us with one option." She pulls a DP out of her pocket. "How do you kick a Digimon out of your system? With another Digimon of course. Or in our case..." She gave Kurohi that mischievous grin again. "Two Digimon."

Linkmon shook off the mild disorientation from doing a wireless upload. He was now within Digicorps. internal systems. To be accurate, he was earlier today as well, but this time he was granted access instead of sneaking in.

The woman's voice reverberated around the inside of her personal computer. "All right, I'm uploading my Digimon...now."

Another Digimon began to materialize next to him. It was an angel, with gold armor and mask, and a red hat. He recognized it as being a Darcmon.

The female Digimon looked him up and down before speaking. "It appears my master wishes for us to work together." She crossed an arm in front of her chest and gave a short bow. "Please treat me well."

Linkmon hurriedly returned the bow. "Yes, and the same to you."

The woman's grating voice once again filled the area. "We don't have time for pleasantries, people. We've got a job to do."

"Since you know your way around, I'll follow your lead then."

Darcmon nodded. "Very well. This way."

The two of them headed down one of the pathways out of Erika's computer. Darcmon was able to get them past any security that slowed them down along the way. After about five minutes, when they reached a slightly different secured passage, Erika spoke up. "Our perp's in there."

Darcmon moved over to the passage, but it didn't open like the others did. "Master, this one is not responding to me."

"Ah, crap. Let me check whose computer this is...double crap!" There was an audible slapping sound. As they currently couldn't see the humans, Linkmon could only guess whoever owned the computer was deserving of a face-palm. "It's Shibumi's."

Kurohi's voice chimed in. "That's kinda ironic. Can't you get in?"

"No. All those R&D guys put a lot of extra security on their PCs, and Shibumi's the worst of the lot. I can't even remember how many different programs and passwords he uses to protect that thing. The man is a little paranoid."

"Just passwords and programs, huh? Link, open the door please."

"Understood." Linkmon stuck his tail into the transparent door-like obstruction that was blocking their way. It only took him a few seconds to disable it, and it opened to let them access. "It's open. We're proceeding."

Erika signaled to Kurohi to mute the mike on his DP so the Digimon wouldn't hear what she was about to say. "Would you care to explain what that just was?"

"What? So I gave him a few non-combat related abilities."

"A few? He's got more than just the ability to break into other people's computers?"

"Aren't we supposed to be looking for an intruder? Can't we save this for later?"

Erika gave a low growl, but turned back to the computer and unmuted her mike.

There were a total of eight obstructions blocking their path that Linkmon had to disarm. None of them were of much difficulty, thou it did take him a total of two minutes to get through them all.

The final door wasn't transparent like the others, so they couldn't see through it. As Linkmon drew his tail from the final one, it opened to reveal the strangest computer Linkmon had ever seen. Most computers he had visited were very simple. The area that Digimon had access to was similar to a desktop, normally a white sphere with shortcut icons floating around randomly. This computer however looked very patchwork. There were at least twenty different segments making up the wall, all of different colors and textures. Some of these segments jutted out at odd angels, while others receded into the wall to form little bubbles or pockets. And at the back of the computer, shuffling through a window of files, was a large silver spider.

"Unknown Digimon!" Darcmon's first reaction appeared to be to yell at it. "You are trespassing within an unauthorized computer system. You will cease your activities and come with us for questioning."

The spider turned away from its work and observed them, and Linkmon, in turn, observed it clearly for the first time. It was indeed spider-like, with eight long legs that looked almost like blades, but its body was not segmented like a spider, and it had no visible facial features except for a single visor-like eye. It spoke to them; its voice was like a thousand different whispers that fused to form one clear and coherent, yet robotic voice. "We will not comply with your demands."

Darcmon raised her staff to him. "Then you shall be deleted."

The chorus of voices spoke again. "We will not comply with your demands, thou we would like to see you try."

"Very well, prepare yourself." Darcmon charged forward and swung her staff down on the arachnid, but it quickly evaded the attack. She tried again and again to land a solid blow, but the spider's speed was too much for her to keep up with. She drew her sword. "Baptême d'Amour!" Her sword flashed faster than it could react, cleaving it in two. "Rest in peace."

The chorus spoke out from the remains of its body. "We will not rest until our mission is complete." The left half of it suddenly charged forward, hitting her in the gut and stunning her. The right half struck her head, sending her backwards. The two forms then liquified and merged together, forming another complete spider. "You are not strong enough to fight us."

Linkmon whipped it in the face with the flat end of his tail, forcing it away from Darcmon. There was a visible indent in its face from the impact. "Do not forget that there are two of us here."

The spider liquified itself again, and reformed back into an undamaged, solid body. "We did not forget. It appears we miscalculated. Miscalculated. Miscalculated." Its body wobbled uncontrollably for a minute before solidifying again. "We will not make the same mistake twice."

"We'll see about that." Linkmon went for another tail whip, but the spider blocked with four of its legs. Linkmon used hit tail to push its legs away and punched it in the eye. It made solid contact, but the spider liquified itself and retreated some distance before reforming.

"You possess claws, yet you attack us with fists? It is illogical."

Linkmon cracked his knuckles. "It's not illogical. If you can split your body apart to dodge a blade, then I need to use an attack with a wider surface area, which makes my fists the better option."

"It appears we made a mistake. Mistake. Mistake." Its body wobbled again, even more violently than before. When it spoke again, its voice had lost some of its harmony. "Stop making us make mistakes! Legionmon does not make mistakes!"

"Legionmon? So that's your name?"

Its body settled down. "We are Legionmon. The perfect Digimon. You are interfering with our mission, and must be removed." Its body split into eight pieces and turned into small lances. "Spider Sliver!" The lances shot forward, each targeted at Linkmon. He was able to dodge the initial strike easily, but they turned and followed him. They chased Linkmon around the computer, not leaving up for an instant.

Linkmon picked up the speed, letting the chase continue for another few seconds before looping behind the Legionmon spikes like a fighter jet and opening fire. "Disconnect Grenade!" The shot hit two of them, and one of them spun out into a third.

All eight of them reconvened into its singular spider form. "We are finished fighting. Our mission is complete."

"What?"

A file floated over to Legionmon from across the computer. It had a distinct silver outline to it. He had used himself as a distraction while a small portion of his liquified body had continued completing its mission. Legionmon absorbed the program into his body. "Before we leave, we request your name."

"And why would you want that?" Linkmon went for another punch, which Legionmon dodged.

"We simply wish to know." He was now floating next to the exit.

Realizing that he had no chance of catching him once he left, Linkmon fulfilled his request, hoping that even the few seconds would give time for a miracle. "I am Linkmon."

"Very well. Until the next time we meet, Linkmon." Before it could exit, however, the obstruction behind it closed.

"Man, this computer really is complex." Kurohi's voice was a welcome miracle in itself. "Did I make it in time?"

"Yes, you did."

"Foolish. We bypassed the security once. It will not be trouble a second time." Legionmon landed on the door and, on contact, dispersed into what looked like a swarm of tiny insects. Each of them were easily able to faze through the door as if it wasn't there.

"Wait!" Linkmon moved as fast as he could to catch at least some of it before it completely passed through, but was met with nothing but came up empty handed. "...He's gone Kurohi. He got away."

"So, do you know what he stole?" Erika and Kurohi were in the R&D office.

"No idea. It's Shibumi's stuff, so I'm pretty sure he'll be able to figure it out tomorrow. I'll call him in a bit and give him a heads up."

"What happens now?"

"Well, considering how late it's getting, I should probably get you home."

"Yea. Sure." Kurohi felt defeated. Not just because Linkmon couldn't manage to defeat Legionmon, but because he was so close to getting his answers, and reading into what Erika was saying, it didn't look like he was going to get them.

Erika locked up the place before they headed back to her car. It was quiet all the way back to Kurohi's apartment. Kurohi closed his eyes and laid back, suddenly feeling very tired. Maybe it was because of the car, or because of all the weirdness that happened today, but he honestly felt like crashing as soon as he got home.

They pulled up to his small apartment building. "Is this it?"

Kurohi opened his eyes and peered out the window. "Yea, this is it." He got out the car, but was surprised that Erika did as well. He went up to the second story, pulled out his key, and looked behind him. Erika had followed him up. Too tired to be either confused or weirded out, he pushed open the door and walked it. "Make yourself at home, I guess."

"Don't mind if I do!" She plopped down on his bed before he had a chance to, forcing Kurohi to take his desk chair. She stretched out in a manner that made Kurohi feel like she was showing off her curves. After fidgeting around for a minute, she settled down. "Your bed's comfy."

"Thanks."

"So where'd we leave off?"

Kurohi wasn't sure what she was talking about, so opted to remain silent while she was thinking.

"Oh, that's right." She turned over on her side and pointed at him. "We call them DIGIrus."

Kurohi's mind paused itself before going into overdrive trying to figure out what she was talking about. "What are they?"

"We're not quite sure. We originally thought they were viruses that somehow assimilated the data of Digimon and gained a sort of animalistic sentience, or at least until recently that is. All we really know is that they eat Digimon until they gain the ability to evolve."

"Do you know why your Digimon couldn't hurt them?"

"Just theories. Our main one is that since all Digimon are based on a singular AI, and the DIGIrus have programmed themselves to, essentially, ignore any affects of that specific program, but still allows them to deal damage to them. They're kinda like antibodies, and the Digimon are like a disease. They're built to destroy Digimon without being destroyed by them."

"Which would technically explain why the Illegal Digimon are able to, right? Or at least in theory, since they're data has been altered from the original to a greater extent than most Digimon."

"Yep. That about sums it up why we can't touch them, and why I came looking for you." She got up off his bed and stood over him. "Furijin Kurohi?"

"Yes..."

"We would like to hire you to form a special task force specifically for the purpose of finding, eliminating, and learning more about these creatures dubbed the DIGIrus. Do you accept?"

Kurohi considered it, which was tough due to the sheer ludicrousness of this whole situation. "You said hire. Would I receive compensation?"

"It'd count as an internship. It'll look good on a resume."

Kurohi wasn't quite sure about this. He would have to juggle his duties on top of college and work, thou he wasn't entirely sure what working in this type of task force would entail. There was one thing that kept creeping back into his mind. He might be able to use this position as the last card he needed to achieve his ends. "On one condition."

"Name it."

"Shibumi's program; the one I was talking to him about this afternoon. If you can get me a copy of that program then I'll accept. I'll need it if we're going to go toe-to-toe with something of GiraffaKuwarus again."

Erika seemed a little confused as to why the two were connected, but shrugged it off. "It that's all you need, then I'll see that it's done." She checked her phone. "It's late, and I should be headed home. I'll get back to you soon about your request."

"Thank you very much." Kurohi gave a small bow.

As Erika walked back to her car, a squeaky voice spoke to her from her pocket. "Can we really trust him, master? He seems somewhat fishy."

Erika pulled out her DP. "I trust him, Patamon. He's a good kid. Whatever he's trying to do, I really do think he's trying to change the world."

A boy stood in front of a large glass window, looking down at the streets of London. Behind him, his computer came to life, and a thousand voices greeted him. "We have returned successful, master."

"Very good, Legionmon. You have done very well."

"There is one thing, master."

The white haired boy turned to face the spider Digimon, but a smile never faded from his lips. "Oh, it's quite rare for you to run into trouble, my friend."

"While we were obtaining the program you desired, we were intercepted by another Illegal."

The boy's smile widened. "Is that so? Looks like someone snuck an extra piece onto the board while I wasn't looking." He shrugged it off. "Well, it doesn't matter whether he's a Knight, a Rook, or a Bishop. Any which way you see it, the game will still be mine."