The Reincarnator's Guide to Cyberspace (Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth SI) 3

As much as I disliked how hackers had used the Digimon Capture program, I couldn't deny its efficiency when it came to bringing out Digimon into cyberspace.

The Yuugo Avatar's Digimon sprung into existence in a matter of seconds.

My left hand was vibrating as a result of the device I made to compensate for my "weakness". The tool in the shape of a watch was capable of detecting the digital energy signatures of Digimon that did not actively suppress their energies, it was a collaborative effort between my partners and I, a tool that could both track and gauge the rough power levels of Digimon.

They had gotten exasperated with my "luck" of accidentally running into Ultimate leveled Digimon when they weren't paying attention, and helped me out with this project so that I wouldn't be caught unawares. After all, in the end, I was only human. I couldn't, and would never be able to sense Digital Waves, network disruptions, onsets of viruses, digital energies and many other potential dangers that my Digimon could comprehend.

In any case, the stronger the readings, the stronger the reaction. And right now, the remodeled Dark Dragon, Megadramon, was giving off signs that showed a great deal of raw power.

Thankfully, I was able to tell that it lacked strong control from the moderate energy level fluctuations I'm seeing from the HUD eyepiece, which were integrated to most of my programs and tools.

Considering the type advantage, Sistermon Ciel should be able to take Megadramon down easily enough. I would prefer not to let my Ultimate level Digimon (and above) fight right now, especially when Rie aka. Crusadermon, had created this "Yuugo" account with its own A.I., artificial memories and personality, in order to manipulate Yuuko and the hackers of the world.

Whatever is seen through "Yuugo" can be used against me, best not to give the villains ideas on how to counter my most powerful Digimon by revealing them this earlier.

"This is my Megadramon. Now then, bring out your Digimon if you don't want your account shredded."

"Well… you seem to be taking this rather seriously." I said slowly, buying time for me to mentally communicate with my Digimon partners, telling them of my plans, "Ciel, if you will."

My way of converting Digimon into this virtual world was a homebrew method, and while I could store up to a party of six within my Digivice, my Digimon tended to mix up their travel methods.

Whilst Tokomon preferred to stay in my Digivice, while Angewomon and LadyDevimon had no real preferences… there were some Digimon that were perfectly fine with simply following around. For such partners of mine, I had to come up with an alternative solution.

The sound of a gunshot silenced the noisy hacker group, it's a rather typical reaction for the majority Japanese hackers (at the moment), as they weren't used to guns at all. It was followed by the sound of glass cracking, a crack in space appeared to my side.

Another bang of the gun and another crack was made.

The familiar sound of a blade being drawn gave me a clear indication of when she would be making her entrance.

As the backdrop of cyberspace shattered, Sistermon Ciel took her time and walked out of the bubble of "invisible" data that she, and many of my Digimon partners, had been hidden behind.

I preferred this method of keeping my Digimon around. While keeping them hidden this way runs a greater risk of others detecting their power (compared to Digivice storage), it also lets my Digimon remain close to me and keep me safe when required.

More importantly, I won't be "keeping" my partners like mere programs.

"Hey there! You guys look like you're asking for trouble. Oh! Is that a Megadramon, I haven't seen one in ages!" The blue-haired Digimon dressed like a nun greeted everyone in a friendly manner.

My partner received a rude response by means of a dragon's roar.

"Well, that was rude." She harrumphed while placing her hands on her hips, not inconsiderably shapely hips.

Goddamnit! Even my hormones are digitized!

I get the impression that my "maturity" level regresses at the most random times.

"I'll say…" I drawled while I mentally patted myself on the back for ensuring that this disguised avatar wasn't capable of displaying physiological reactions.

"W-woah! She's cute!" "I never seen that type of Digimon before!" "T-they can talk?"

Just hearing the responses of the cannon fodder hackers made me want to track them down in real life and punch their faces in! I honestly didn't like the way some of them were looking at my partner, neither did I like how they displayed their sheer ignorance of the origin of Digimon.

I quickly reminded myself that the Digimon Capture app was made by Suedou, likely with the co-operation of Rie/Crusadermon, which meant that he knew of their origins and this was taken into account of their plans to encourage hackers to behave in a manner worthy of being scapegoated for their future plans.

In other words, while human nature was partly responsible for the canon treatment of Digimon, a lot of the blame could be placed at the villains manipulations to ensure they were treated that way. It was likely that the Digimon Capture program had somehow blocked out or prevented Digimon from telling the hackers of the Digital World and behaving like real beings, with the way scanned data was used to "create" Digimon, it was possible that their instinctual knowledge of their origins was scrambled in their formation…

… I have got to stop having speculative monologues. At any rate, I will get my answers once I find out how to safely get the Digimon Capture app onto a secure Digivice without it affecting my main account for some major research.

"Hmm, how about letting my partner and I go? I don't think we really need to fight. Unlike the others, my "master" isn't an evil hacker." Oh sure, one day I'm her partner, and the next thing I know she's calling me "master". Some of my Digimon pals have been indulging in way too much of the Fate franchise… I really have no right to complain about that, do I?

In any case, I was somewhat surprised at Ciel's non-aggressive question towards the Yuugo avatar, as among the Sistermon, she was the most intune with her killer instincts when comparison to Noir and Blanc, before they entered their "Awakened" mode.

"Yuugo" shook his head, frowning, "Unfortunately, I cannot allow that. Perhaps you're unaware of this, but the 'Tonberry Hacker' is upheld as an ideal for wannabe vigilante hackers. Too many "solo" hackers have gotten themselves into trouble by acting on their own sense of justice, causing chaos to spread-"

Getting a bit irritated at this one-sided exposition, I interrupted and told him that I had better things to do, "-If you're quite done implicating me for vigilante acts that these supposed hackers would have done themselves anyways, can I assume that you're not willing to back down?"

"To protect and restore order to EDEN, I cannot back down from this fight."

Yup, definitely an implanted phrase.

Seeing as I cannot reason with "Yuugo" when he's acting in according to his program, I gave Ciel the go-ahead, "Ciel, have fun."

"Hehe, you always tell me that~" She smiled at me then flashed a much more predatory smile towards the hackers that stood in my way, "You punks should be honored that you get to be taught an important lesson today!"

Sensing her intent, Megadramon quickly raised its weaponized arms to blast us!

The impact of two bullets againsts its metallic frame was followed by the sound of blade cutting steel. In the blink of an eye, Sistermon Ciel had got off two shots, dashed forward into Megadramon's reach and attempted to split its head in half!

She was so fast that I almost believed she outran her own bullets while having the time to switch out her guns for her blade-

-Oh wait a second, she may actually be that fast.

I was but a mere human, trying to quantify the powers of Digimon with my own limited perception was an exercise in futility. A program on the other hand… hmm, I have got to finish the program to measure the raw capabilities of my Digimon.

It would sure do a lot of good for those that are insecure about their strength like Sistermon Blanc and SaviorHuckmon.

In the time it took for me to process Ciel's pre-emptive attack, Megadramon had took to the air after struggling to fight off Ciel's blade and bullet combos.

Ciel was currently following the plan to not deal too much damage with her attacks, as we didn't want to show off an overwhelming gulf of power at this point in time, but she wasn't above displaying her speed as a way to put pressure on Megadramon so that it wouldn't have the time to fire its guns and missiles at me.

"-Fast!" Yuugo's second in command, Fei Wong, had reacted just like an anime character.

If this really was an anime and she was the one in the middle of the fight, her opponent would have already moved to her blind spot via Flash Step. Alas, such wishes were denied to us weak humans, no matter how much we want to replicate a Shounen Manga battle like that…

Well, at the very least, I can simply watch Digimon duke it out as a way to experience my most indulgent fantasies.

The two Digimon had already taken the fight up Kowloon's skyscrapers, Ciel was using the buildings as platforms to launch herself from to strike at Megadramon, whilst the mecha dragon struggled to escape from her pursuit.

"Megadramon, fly higher to create more space, then use Genocide Attack!" Yuugo held up his hand to the communicator part of his Digivice, giving orders to his Digimon.

My opponent seemed rather stressed about the fight, perhaps I should have asked Ciel to turn it down another notch?

Bellowing out a feral roar, Megadramon used an arm blast to propel itself upwards, before it flew higher, beyond the highest building. Through my HUD's enhanced vision, I could see that it had acknowledged the orders and fired a barrage of missiles at Sistermon Ciel.

"I've been waiting for this! Hahaha!" Ciel sounded excited over our communication channel, oh, I knew what she was going to do…

"Oh right, she just finished that game."

"Haa?! What's that supposed to mea-" Fei's shout was cut off when everyone saw Ciel jump off the building's roof, heading right towards the missiles.

And then she jumped off a missile, and the next, and the one after that-

"RULES OF NATURE!"

-and sliced right through Megadramon's chest, the Digimon struggled to maintain its strength and began to fall to the ground.

Ah yes. Memes, the DNA of the Soul.

Or in this case, all the quality of life improvements I did for my Digimon's homes have come to a head when most of them have began consuming human media, in particular, video games, movies and TV shows (anime included).

Resulting in my Digimon attempting to enact memes in cyberspace as well.

I feel like a proud father right now.

Ciel used one of her learned Holy-attribute skills as a way to change her direction mid-air, sent herself flying at the critically injured Megadramon and "lightly" kicked it towards us!

I felt a familiar pair of hands grip on my shoulders, following the slightly pull, I walked back to provide more space for Megadramon's eventual touch-down.

Note to self, add a trajectory calculation program to my HUD so that my hidden Digimon won't need to pull me away from a few more dangers.

"Thanks Noir." I whispered softly so that only she could hear my voice.

I got a happy "you're welcome!" response through the communication channel, it seemed like she was also happy that I could tell that it was her through touch alone.

… Is it me, or does that make me sound like a trained dog?

Nah, it's just me being a good friend and resident genius. Yeah, I'm going to believe that.

"Megadramon!" The leader of Zaxons rushed right to his Digimon, showing a surprising amount of care to it. I was 95% certain that this is Yuuko's initiative, not "Yuugo", seeing as the guy didn't show much love to Digimon until later in the game.

Wait… isn't Yuuko around 4 years old younger than me?

Oh wow, good job me. I got Sistermon Ciel to beat up a 12 year old's Digimon. I have never felt so accomplished in my life.

"Wow! That was a tough fight." Ciel landed next to me and uttered a blatant lie. Not very "sister" like if you asked me.

"N-no way! Yuugo's Ultimate level Digimon loss to a Champion level Digimon?! What kind of hacking did you do to modify your Digimon to that level of strength!?" "Yeah, that's cheating." "You cheat! Wait… we're hackers, we're supposed to cheat." "Oh yeah…"

The peanut gallery was in the midst of disbelief and utter confusion.

"N-not yet…"

"M-megadramon?"

The white-haired "boy" looked up in shock as the dragon forced itself up in spite of its body on the verge of splitting into two pieces.

Huh? What? Was that…

"For Yuugo's goals… I can't lose now! Rrrroooooooaaaaa-"

"What the-" Just as Ciel exclaimed those words in shock, my arm received a jolt of movement at the sudden increase in digital energy.

As for myself, I threw back my head and laughed.

"Hahaha we're getting fucking Nakama'ed."

I never thought I would be at the receiving end of the Power of Friendship (or dedication) this early on! There goes canon, but I was just too excited to think about that now!

Machinedramon emerged from the cocoon of light created by the Digivolution process!

Its partner was in shock, and I used the time to mentally discuss some plans with my Digimon on how we wanted to handle this, while letting them have their conversation.

"W-what…?"

"Yuugo, we cannot fall here. If EDEN is to remain safe from powerful hackers like him then… I will give my all to your cause!

"Megadr- no, Machinedramon… thank you! Let's show them our resolve!"

Sistermon Ciel stared at the Mega-Level Digimon fearlessly, and smirked, "Well, now wasn't that something. I can't say that I will be able to beat you as I am now…"

She probably still had a good chance to solo Machinedramon, but the Power of Friendship was incalculable, so it was best to minimize our risk a little. Ciel won't be Digivolving into her Awakened form so that we can keep that trump card close to our chest, but backup was a completely viable strategy.

"So that's why I think I'll let my sister join in the fun!"

A barrage of gunshots blasted a doorway open from the hidden data pocket, and Ciel's "sister", Sistermon Noir stepped out and made her presence known.

"It's about time. Honestly, I thought you were going to hog all the fun. It would be so dull and boring if you did."

"Noir, dull and boring mean the same thing."

"Whatever! There seems to be a pretty big guy up there, I take the head and you take the legs?"

"Yeah, let's go!"

Fei seemed to take offense at the sudden backup despite Yuugo's own surprise mid-battle Digivolution, and riled up the other hackers to bring in their own Digimon to fight against me to "even the odds".

Honestly, that was kinda unfair, not that it mattered to the two Sistermons.

AOE attacks were their specialty.

""Sisters Unison Raid: Double Mickey Bullet!""

When did they come up with a co-op special move!? Oh wait, they're just combining their special moves and started firing hundreds of bullets, as they twirled and spun around in mid-air.

All the other Digimon were utterly crushed by the dakka.

Machinedramon was severely weakened and attempted to blast us all into smithereens with his Infinity Cannon, but Ciel and Noir countered the energy blast with a combined Holy Light III skill.

"No way! Machinedramon…!"

"Yuugo… I-I'm sorry…"

"Geez. Stop being overdramatic. It's not like we're going to kill you or delete your accounts or whatever." I sighed and shook my head, my smile was hidden underneath my robe but for all purposes, my tone conveyed how content I was with how things went overall, "You're still a couple of years too early to beat us kid! But that wasn't bad, not bad at all… keep it up."

I got past the hackers and snuck away to a point where I could logout discreetly, after that, I went back to the Digifarm to brief all my Digimon on what had occurred. When the general briefing was complete, I called out my "inner circle" of Digimon who I had trusted with the secret of my past life to give them a more throughout briefing.

"I doubt Zaxon will fracture this early despite "Yuugo" losing in front of them, after all, they all got trashed equally so it isn't a matter about them being weak so much as we being strong."

"Thanks to your efforts, no doubt." Tokomon remarked as he flipped a page from his book with his cute tiny pink paws. Looks like he's still grinding the INT stat to become Lucemon, he seemed to be rushing it, so I guess he's really close now.

"Moving on from that, perhaps we could see a better relationship between Digimon and humans after such a display!" Angewomon was optimistic about how the hackers might change their ways upon seeing our relationship and Yuugo's Megadramon resolve.

"Or, Miss Rie, aka the Pink Royal Knight mind whammies everyone and poof! Back to stations of canon." LadyDevimon was not so optimistic and played the devil's advocate to most of Angewomon's position, as per usual.

While the two bicker, Sakuyamon and my other Digimon talked to me about a couple of other things. HiAndromon and I began to discuss some of the Development "moonshots" that I threw out there some time ago, saying that he came up with some marketable language and sentiment analysis algorithms that we could sell for lots of cash.

Once we were done discussing them, I showed everyone a couple of things I had developed thus far, along with some things I'm planning for future product releases. The more Digimon I have, the more money I need to feed them Digital Food and various amounts of "memory".

It doesn't really cost a lot considering how much I have in my bank account, but the more I have, the quicker I would be able to dole out quality of life improvements for all my Digimon.

Most of the things I developed were done by myself, my Digimon usually pitched in or corrected things here and there, as those were my personal projects. The "moonshots", on the other hand, were fully collaborative projects.

"Oh right! We managed to develop a "data mine" and alter the ores beneath the DigiVolcanic Island plugin." Piedmon reminded HiAndromon and I of the various additions to the Digifarm, and continued, "Andy here thinks we could refine some Chrome Digizoid if we do things right!"

"Wow! Isn't that the hardest metal from the Digital World?" I half-remembered it being something like that. Apparently, some of the Crests and Digimon armor were made from that.

"Can we really? That would be great. Big bro Hibiki will be well protected if it works!" Sistermon Blanc began to hop around excitedly at the prospect of putting me in a full suit of armor.

"That would be really nice. Not like he needs it, I mean, he's got us!" Her sister, Sistermon Ciel, crossed her arms and grinned confidently.

"Ah, stop it. More protection is always good. We don't want to lose him to something stupid like an arrow to the knee or a tentacle from behind!" Sistermon Noir had some weird notions on how I would die.

"Hibiki, you got mail." Angewomon used our meeting room's surround screen to display my email, huh, is it that urgent?

"Invitation to become a key speaker at… Kamishiro Tech Expo?"

With how my parents seemed keen on attending and networking with big industry players, I suppose I won't be able to use the "I'm trying to become more like seaweed" excuse again.

Guess I might be meeting people I would rather not meet sooner rather than later.

Hmm, bonus guest tickets? I wonder if Reiko would be interested in coming? She has always found it hard to understand what I do for a living, perhaps seeing all the tech exhibits will put things into context.