17) A Visit to the Akihabara
A young boy wearing a ball cap was admiring the collection of Battle Cards he'd just acquired.
"A Grand Sevens!", this would make a nice addition to his collection. He was so preoccupied, he didn't notice the approaching stranger until he'd bumped into him hard enough to make him drop all his cards.
"Watch where you're goin'!", he called to the retreating back.
As he collected the cards he'd dropped: "Huh? where'd this one come from? I never saw a card like this before", he said to himself.
Chou Park
"Woah! That is a rare one!"
Kenta and a couple of his friends were involved in trading cards. Jen looked on; Terriermon lay on the slide, impersonating a plushie. Jen wasn't involved, as he didn't know these other two boys since they weren't in his class. Besides, Jen was into the video game, not the card game, and had never played with Takato, Kenta, or Kazu. He never got involved with card trading either.
"You're so lucky!", one was saying.
"So, you don't want it?", Kenta asked.
"No, not really..."
"I see".
He turned to the other unfamiliar boy: "I can't use it".
"Guess it's yours", Kenta said as he handed it over to Jen.
("It was cool, but I didn't want it...")
("Really, I kind'a liked it...")
("Me too...")
Kenta and his friends walked off.
"I really wasn't interested", Jen said.
Now that they were gone, Terriermon could drop the act.
"Say, what kind of card is it?", Terriermon asked.
"I don't know", Jen said as he examined the strange card. "I think it's a counterfeit, and not a good one either".
"Who would do that?", Terriermon asked.
"Who knows? Maybe someone looking to cheat someone out of genuine cards?"
Is that how Kenta got stuck with it, he wondered. "Some people can't resist puttin' one over, even if honesty is less bother. I wonder what..."
"What?", Terriermon asked.
Jen tried to run what looked like a bogus card through his digivice.
"HUH?!", he asked as sparks unexpectedly flew from the card reader slot. This wasn't supposed to happen, and he was unaware that digivices even had a source of the high voltage necessary to make sparks.
"It changed! It changed!", Terriermon was bouncing around.
As he watched, incredulous, the "counterfeit" card transformed itself into a Blue Card.
The Lee Residence
Janyu was returning from another day at work. His wife and youngest daughter were unloading shopping bags, and Shiuchon pulled out a hat.
"Hey! Do I look pretty?", she came running up to him.
"Yes, very pretty", he complimented, "it's a nice hat"
"Daddy said I look pretty... a princess with a new hat", she ran off.
"Hey", he said to his wife.
"Yes?"
"Did anyone from work come by today?"
"I'm afraid not, no one's come calling asking for you"
"I see..."
"I thought I heard you come in", it was Jenyra, "Could you do me a small favor?", he asked.
"Uhhhhh..."
They retreated to the study. Janyu was connecting a new peripheral: "There, that ought to do it", as he turned the new device on.
"Aren't you a little old...", he said as he glanced at the Terriermon "plushie" his son left on an equipment rack.
"Huh?"
"Nothing. Let's see it"
Jen handed-over the Blue Card, and Janyu placed in on a sliding tray of the card reader peripheral, and pushed in into the device. LEDs flashed, as it began accessing the card's magnetic strip. This device wasn't 100% legal, since it could be used to copy the data off credit cards and make duplicates.
The screen filled with ones and zeros: "What's that", Jen asked.
"Well...", Janyu began. Jen didn't miss the sudden look of surprise.
"What's wrong?', Jen asked.
"It's... nothing... nothing at all. Just a bunch of random numbers".
"That's all?"
"Yes... By the way, where did you get it?"
"A friend gave it to me"
"I see", as he closed the app, and ejected the card.
South Shinjuku
Koichi handed the Blue Card back to Jen: "Your father is full of it", he began. "There's nothing random about what's on that card".
"You sure?"
"As sure as I can be, Every code, every cipher, gives itself away by deviating from randomness. True random is white noise, maximum entropy, zero information. What you have there failed the entropy test in spades"
"Can you tell..."
"Now that's a whole 'nother story. Just because you know a code exists, doesn't mean you can crack it in any practical time limit. To tell what's there, how to decompile it, we'd need the specs for our digivices, and they didn't come with a manual, I'm afraid".
"How does a seemingly counterfeit card turn into a Blue Card?"
"You got me. I suppose if you could alter the structure of matter at the quantum level, but that's weirdness from the outer fringes of theoretical Physics. Anyone who knew how to do that would collecting his Nobel, not slipping bogus Battle Cards in some random kid's collection in the off chance it winds up in the hands of a Tamer and not the trash can".
"Doesn't make any sense..."
"I gave up the day I found Renamon crying on my roof. If I tried making sense of that, I'd drive myself to drink. You have something there, your old man recognized something in the data, and he doesn't want you to know about it for whatever reason. He panicked and told you an obvious lie in desperation".
"That's what I figured. It made no sense to make a bogus Blue Card and fill it with nonsense. Why not just leave it blank? That's why I wanted a second opinion... There's one more thing..."
"And that would be?"
"Why didn't it turn Dad's card reader into a digivice... or yours?"
"Maybe because it only works with peripherals associated with the game? In case a Blue Card winds up in the wrong hands and they tried doing what we just did".
"Thanks"
"Any time"
"By the way, how'd that camp-out work out?"
"Everything was fine up until that Shinduramon showed up".
"Impmon didn't cause you any problems?"
"We had to endure another one of his rants, but once that was over, he had as good a time as any one of us".
"Shinduramon, that the one you think was another Deva?"
"Fit the pattern, either no data, data greatly delayed or incomplete. He had this owl do his talking for him".
"An owl digimon?"
"No, just a common owl. He possessed it somehow, and it told us Shinduramon ate 'light' and was going to grow much stronger. I figured it meant electricity, especially after that freak black out".
"That is weird"
"Yeah, never expected anything like that. It also mentioned this 'God'. That snake Deva also mentioned a 'God'".
"Seems odd he'd tell you exactly what you needed to know to defeat him".
"I thought so too, maybe he was too arrogant to believe he could be defeated. I think we all know someone like that".
"Yep, does sound like someone we all know".
"I was wondering, why at the camp site? Are they coming after us?"
"Maybe, but the power plant's also up there. Where better to charge up, once it materialized?"
"Know that I will always protect you"
"Renamon, you're back. How's holding down the fort goin'?"
"Nothing today, no materializations".
"See, Jen? We don't have anything to worry about".
"No sign of your x-partner?"
"Not today"
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
That evening, Janyu Lee was off by himself, practicing his martial arts moves on the roof of their apartment building, under a bright full moon. As he did so, he recalled his college days. It was the occasion when they realized that they could no longer work on their Artificial Life project.
He also recalled what that government agent said: "apparently one of you hasn't grown up yet"
Once the project couldn't gain financial support and grants, the interest slowly died off. Participation dropped off. They all went their separate ways, his old college gang. But for one who refused to give up the faith. Shibumi.
"So, how's today's dinner?", Jen's mother asked. Tonight, she more than made up for the frozen dinners she served a few days ago. "Is it good? Do you like it?"
"Yuh?", Jen asked.
"It's nothing", Janyu replied, as he set his Sapporo down.
Tension still hung in the air. He knew his son knew...
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
"Dammit!", Janyu cursed to himself, as he discovered he had forgotten his cell phone. Shortcut through the park, and hopefully, he wouldn't be too late for work...
At a 'T' intersection of paths, from the right came Henry with Terriermon, and Takato without Guilmon. From the left-hand path, they encountered Impmon, who lived mainly in the park. Being agile digimon, impmon frequently played and slept in trees.
"Hey, hey, whadya say?", Impmon greeted.
Terriermon jumped to the ground: "You again..."
"Yeah, me again. You just got lucky the other day, wanna replay?"
"How about it, Jen, can I kick his ass?"
"Well, Jen?", he still got no reply. Henry was not paying attention. Terriermon looked: "Oh shit!", he thought to himself. Coming down the path towards the intersection was Jen's father, Janyu.
"Is there nothing you can do without asking?", Impmon challenged him. "That's always been your problem, yannow, you lack initiative. What a pathetic excuse for a digimon..."
"Digimon?"
"Huh!", Impmon was caught by surprise.
"You... are a digimon?", Janyu more stated than asked.
"Stay away!", Impmon demanded, as he threw a fireball at Janyu. He used the flimsy briefcase he was carrying to shield himself.
"You... are a real, live digimon!"
"What do you care?", Impmon threw another at him, this time grazing his arm.
"What the hell are you doing to Jen's father!", Terriermon demanded, as he stepped between Impmon and Janyu.
"What am I doing?!", Impmon repeated back at him. "You idiots! I'll deal with you later", he declared as he turned and ran into the woods.
"You OK?", Takato asked.
"Jenyra we have to talk..."
Jen gathered up Terriermon, and ran off. Takato joined him.
"Jenyra!", Janyu called after them.
South Shinjuku
"You say you tracked it down to the Akihabara?", Koichi asked.
"Followed the trail from Kenta, back to that friend of his, who got it from a friend, well, you know. Found that kid who found it when some guy bumped into him, down by all the shops selling electronics", Jen was explaining.
"So how about it? Can you give us a lift to the Akihabara?"
"I don't have anything planned, so that's not a prob. It's just that, how will you find this guy? 'Wearing a yellow jacket', not much to go on".
"I have to try, I don't know, but I think it has something to do with my father. I don't know what kind of trouble he's gotten himself into, and I can't ask. He's made that crystal clear".
"OK, then..."
Takato, Henry, Guilmon, Terriermon went with Koichi. "I'll catch up with you there", Renamon said, as she could always use that "teleportation" ability of hers.
The Akihabara
Takaro, Jenrya, and Koichi had come here looking for the strange Blue Card provider. The Akihabara was an island of quirky individualism surrounded by a sea of conformity. The site of many shops dealing with electronics, it was also the home of the Otaku, Furries, artists, artist wannabes, with their quirky shops and galleries and studios. It was also the sort of place where the sight of digimon hardly raised an eyebrow.
"Moumentai, moumentai!"
"I don't know what I'm gonna do now", Jen said.
"It's not just a family problem, it's everyone's", Takato replid.
"Speak for yourselves", Koichi said. "I never bothered hiding Renamon".
"I keep forgetting that"
"Jen, you had to know this would happen sooner or later, and I'm surprised the 'later' didn't come a lot sooner. Just tell them".
"I agree with Koichi", Renamon said as she arrived.
"Yeah, tell your old man how much Terriermon means to you. If it'll help, send him my way. If he knows Jen isn't the only one, it'll go that much easier, I think".
"I think that's a good idea", Renamon agreed. "In the end, honesty is the best policy"
Hypnos
"Yuggoths ready to deploy".
"More countermeasures... Yuggoth destroyed"
"Who?", Yamaki asked.
"They're coming through the Shaggai hole again, aren't they?"
"This time, there are two"
The Akihabara
"Do you think that guy'll show up?", Jen asked.
"Could", Koichi said, "then, again, we might win the Lottery. No evidence he lives anywhere around here...
"That doesn't bode well", he said as they watched every screen of every TV set across the street fill with snow.
"Sure doesn't", Jen agreed.
Terriermon was the first to spot it. This time, the digital field was forming, not on ground level, but above them. It was first in the form of a disk, then two jets formed from opposite sides of the disk. Two 'taurs emerged: one in the form of a ram, and the other, an ox. The ram 'taur landed in the middle of the street, and the ox 'taur landed on a pedestrian overpass. That one jumped to the street.
"Digimon!", Takato announced the obvious.
"Terriermon!", Henry called out.
"Yeah!", he answered.
Both ran towards each other, passed, and stopped at each end of the block. If there was any doubt as to their malicious intent, it was banished as they watched the ram 'taur demolish several cars for no good reason.
"Are these Deva too?", Koichi asked.
Henry ran the idents: the ram 'taur was listed as: Pajiramon. The ox 'taur: Vajiramon. The profiles fit the previous Deva perfectly.
"From here...", the ram 'taur said.
"...To here!", the ox 'taur agreed.
The digital field which had first appeared above them expanded until it covered the entire block. Pajiramon deployed some sort of sonic attack that was painful, and resulted in unconsciousness. The three Tamers nearly fell victim to it too, but Henry had pulled up the profile in time. Even with ears covered, it hurt like hell.
"Which one of these barn yard rejects do you want?", Takato asked Henry.
"I'll take that one", indicating the ram 'taur.
"Then I guess we get to gore the ox", Takato told Guilmon.
"Uhhhhh", was Guilmon's only comment.
"We'll keep an eye out for our little friend", Koichi and Renamon announced.
"Iron Hammer: digimodify!", Henry scanned the card that gave Terriermon a hammer bigger than he was.
"High Speed Plug-in W: digimodify!", Takato scanned his card.
Terriermon bashed Pajiramon in the head, getting in a solid shot, from behind.
Guilmon delivered a powerful kick to Vajiramon.
Neither did any noticeable damage. Terriermon took another whack at Pajiramon, got in another solid hit, but it wasn't good enough. Pajirmon knocked the hammer from his hands, and pinned him to the street under a front hoof.
"You are one of those digimon who have joined forces with the humans?", Pajirmon asked, as if he didn't know the answer.
"I'm Terriermon", he replied as if introducing himself for a social.
"And you?", Vajiramon asked.
"Guilmon"
"Let Terriermon go!", Henry demanded.
"What should we do with them?", Pajirmon asked his compadre.
"We load them so we can evolve to a higher level, what else?"
"Indeed", Pajiramon agreed, as he threw Terriermon upwards, while pulling out a cross bow that fired both bolts and energy bursts.
"You should be glad that I am the one to load your data!"
"Super Evolution Plug-in S: digimodify!"
Terriermon Evolve! ...
... GALGOMON!
He fired his twin 0.50s, though not fatal, it was sufficient to keep the ram 'taur off balance.
"I assume you evolve too?", Vajiramon challenged Guilmon. He drew one of his swords. "Then show me your evolved form!", he demanded.
"Pyro Sphere!", Guilmon opened up with his main attack.
Vajiramon deflected it with his sword.
"Pyro Sphere!"
Galgomon was keeping Pajiramon well off balance: "Vajiramon! Will you stop playing around and get serious!", he demanded. So far, Galgomon had blown off the tips of his horns. Stop playing with them!"
"It's not worth it", Vajiramon replied, and seemed a good deal less concerned.
"He's fucking with us", Koichi observed.
"Try this card", Takato offered.
"High Speed Plug-in B: digimodify!"
Galgomon moved in for what he thought was a kill, but Pajiramon fired off a seismic attack that knocked Galgomon off his feet. Before he could recover, Pajiramon's bolts had pinned his trousers to the street.
"I'm stuck!"
"Galgomon!"
Guilmon wasn't faring any better, as he couldn't get a Pyro Sphere past Vajiramon's blade.
Pajiramon proceeded to stamp Galgomon out of existence with his front hooves. He was taking quite a beating...
"Defense Plug-in G: digimodify!", Henry scanned the card. This one transformed Galgomon into a granite statue. That helped, but not much, as Galgomon was cracking, and bits and pieces of his stony structure were chipping off.
"Now what do I do?", he asked, getting more worried and desperate.
"Try this one", Takato offered one of his cards...
"Evasion Plug-in P: digimodify!"
That one didn't work at all.
"Dammit! I'm out of ideas and cards!", Henry announced.
"How about that one?", Takato pointed out the Blue Card.
"I'd rather not", Henry said, as he recalled the last disaster he had with one of Terriermon's evolutions, that time in the underground garage.
"Why the hell not?!"
"No telling what could happen", Henry objected.
Pajirmon was loading his crossbow: "Time to finish you off!"
"Henry! It's either use it or lose him!"
"Matrix Evolution: digimodify!"
There was a burst of bright white light that distracted Pajiramon, and then... nothing.
"It doesn't work?", Takato asked. How could that be when they'd both seen that it did work for Koichi.
"Did we fuck it up", Henry asked, "by scanning it?"
Pajiramon was once again aiming his cross bow at Galgomon: "Humph!", he dismissed any concerns for what Henry could do. It would soon be over.
Calumon had seen the whole thing. He projected a bright red beam of light skyward. Another burst of white light illuminated Galgomon, Pajrimon recoiled.
Matrix Evolution: Galgomon Evolve! ...
... RAPIDMON!
"He disappeared?", Pajiramon asked himself as his bolts struck nothing but street.
"No I didn't", Rapidmon announced as he delivered a nasty kick to the ram 'taur's head.
He fired energy bolt after energy bolt at the Cyborg type digimon, missing every time. He couldn't track to aim: "Dammit!"
"Rapid Fire!", he shot two RPGs at Pajiramon. Though still not fatal, the explosions threw Pajiramon well off balance.
Vajiramon ignored Guilmon, now that he knew his fellow Deva was in an increasingly desperate way: "Pajiramon!", he called out, "Use the Outworlders as a shield!", he began running towards the scene of the latest battle.
"Golden Triangle!", Rapidmon deployed his main energy attack, easily taking out the ram 'taur.
"Koyosetsu!", Renamon attacked Icedevimon as soon as they arrived. Once again, he dodged that attack.
"Super Evolution Plug-in S: digimodify!"
Icedevimon Evolve! ...
... MYOTISMON!
"Night Raid!", Rapidmon was unexpectedly attacked, as he was taking aim at Vajiramon. "Data Crusher!", he combined attacks. Rapidmon dropped from the sky, de-digivolving to Terriermon on the way down.
"Get him! Finish him!", Ruki ordered.
"Not now!", Vajiramon commanded. "Get away!", he countermanded Ruki's order. "We can always take care of them later. I still have a job to do here".
"I'm sorry we couldn't get here sooner", Ruki apologized, "to save your companion".
"He's not important. He would have deleted that annoying little digimon if he hadn't wasted his time running his mouth instead of firing his weapon. His own damn fault".
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
"Thanks for helping me out", Janyu told Terriermon, as he entered Henry's bedroom.
"That's OK", Terriermon replied.
"I should have said something sooner", Henry apologized. "Now that our secret is out, it's a relief. You aren't gonna do anything..."
"Don't worry about that, son. You aren't the only one who's been holding onto secrets. I have a confession of my own", he explained.
"It was about twenty years ago", he began, "when I was still in college. I was part of a group of enthusiastic young comp-sci students. There had always been plenty of research into AI, but we wanted to take that concept further. What we had in mind was artificial life. We would create virtual creatures, give them the 'Law of the Jungle': survival of the fittest, and the ability to evolve.
It was an Open Source project that anyone with an interest to contribute code. At first, we had some high hopes, including a sizable grant, to further our work. Unfortunately, the grant never came through. Being that we had to attend to the business of establishing our careers, start families, our ability to pursue our initial project decreased. Gradually, without leadership, our other contributors lost interest.
Since our code was freely available - anyone could use it - a video game company eventually picked it up, and developed Digimon from our initial project. They survived as the video game characters you play with. From our work came a fantasy for children all over the world..."
"I'd hardly call myself a 'fantasy'", Terriermon objected.
"That's the thing: you see, the imperative to evolve remained. It was an integral part of the project, and so digimon kept on evolving... all the way to the point of self-awareness. There is one other thing that's been bothering me: that Blue Card - how did Shibumi's code get on it..."
"Shibumi?", Henry asked.
"A nickname for one of my former colleagues. He was most disappointed when he heard of the cancellation of the project. Did most of the development; no lack of wild ideas, that one".
"And how do you recognize raw code? How do you know?"
"Back in those days, sometimes we had to code in assembly. It was all so new. Sometimes we had to load the program, or parts of it, by setting each and every bit by hand. Believe me, it ain't easy, and that makes it hard to forget. What was on that Blue Card definitely came from Shibumi, but who could be using it now?"
"Why tell me now? Why that cock and bull story about random code? It doesn't seem like this is anything to be ashamed of?"
"It's not that... It's I didn't want you getting involved. Back then, we all thought Shibumi was, well, a bit 'off' (finger quotes) if you know what I mean. He was always going on and on with his insistence that our artificial life would one day attain not just self-awareness, but would manifest themselves here, in physical form. No one really believed that. Even if he was right, even if the digimon attained self-awareness, there was no way they could exist apart from the systems that supported them. Or so we thought.
"Then I started seeing these reports of what were then called Unidentified Mysterious Animals, or UMAs. Even though the government went to considerable lengths to deny their existence, they began to look a lot like our digimon. That was well before your time, going back to the mid to late 1990s. That wouldn't be so bad, but then there were more disturbing reports: a rash of missing kids. Again, there were the usual denials, but I knew different.
"I was trying to protect you, but now I see it was all in vain. You somehow got involved anyway. Seeing that card, recognizing whose code was on it, frightened me for you. Yes, I was keeping secrets from you, and I suppose you kept yours from us because you feared we'd take Terriermon away from you if we knew what your stuffed animal really was. I suppose you were right. Now, what's done is done. Just be careful; we worry about you".
"I'm always careful".
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Takato and Guilmon were on their way back to the park. Vajiramon suddenly leaped onto the sidewalk, saying nothing, just pointing at Guilmon.
"What do you think you're doing?", Takato asked him.
"He just wants to talk", Guilmon explained, as he made to leave with Vajiramon.
"That's right", Vajiramon agreed.
"Talk about what?", Takato asked.
"None of your damn business, Outworlder! The kind of things only digimon can understand".
"Guilmon?"
"I want to know more about myself, my kind, and my world", Guilmon replied. "I promise, I'll be back".
"Back? When?!"
"When I have my answers", Guilmon told Takato. "Guide me", he requested of Vajrimon, as the two walked off into the distance.
"Things only digimon can understand?", Takato asked himself, as he stood in the now vacant street.