Fire and blood everywhere. A demon unleashed upon everything, rampaging and causing chaos. The broken glass hurting against his bare feet, a white haired boy walking across the floor, not wearing any clothes at all and soaking wet. And on his left cheek, a barcode, with the number 0-1 upon it. He looked to be only six years old, as he witnessed what could only be described as a bloodbath.
And he caught glimpses of it, a green haired person going on a rampage, but it wasn't just the scientists or guards. Before they scattered and ran off, he saw the fight between 0-6 and 1-3. He saw the green haired boy completely demolish 0-8 as well through a wall.
Still, that terrifying fight had to be pushed out of his mind. He had been wounded as well, as blood dripped down from a cut that was on his waist, by his right hip, that looked rather nasty. From when he was attacked and tackled to the ground, and nearly drowned.
There was only one thing to focus on. He had to escape.
He walked and walked, limbing on a leg that had been hurt during the violent rampage. He managed to limp up the stairs, as several armed guards came out the door with guns drawn. Blood dripped down his face, a cut he didn't know he had. These guards were not allies though, and aimed them at him.
However, he reached out his palm and suddenly a blast of wind came out, knockign them all violently into walls. He limped forward, heading towards the maintenance closet he saw. A few more guards were coming from a side hallway, but he released another blast of wind. There was an explosion behind him, and he heard alarms go off everywhere. He could hear someone running behind him, but it didn't matter.
He refused to get caught. And when he made it to the maintenence closet, he saw the Access Port, and slammed his hand into it.
"Jack in...power up!"
ANd he virtualized himself into the Cyberworld before he could get caught.
Right as he felt a flame touch his back.
----------------------------------------
"Ahhh!" a ten year old boy with silver hair and adorable looks screamed, as he shot upwards awakened by his nightmare. His naked body concealed beneath the messy covers that had been tossed around during his nightmare. His red eyes contrasting to his white/silver hair.
"Are you okay, Master Kobayashi?" a holographic maid said as she suddenly appeared in his room.
"Its fine. Just a bad dream..." he said, remembering the spark of flame he saw. Green flame. "Bring up latest news report, file 44C".
"Recent Bounty posted on the Hunter Website, which you have hacked into Master. We confirmed there is a one billion dollar bounty now to capture Emerald Mage alive".
"Emerald Mage huh..." he said, as he adjusted something on a silver chain around his neck. A Silver Bullet. "One billion you say? That is it?"
"No. We have detected that there is a more discreet offer going around, but its only through private back channels normally secured, but not to you Master" the maid said. "We confirmed there is a secret ten billion dollar bounty on him, and eleven others, including Silver Bullet".
"I see...sounds like things are picking up. Perhaps its time I had a chat with this Emerald Mage...or put a bullet in him" he said, as he got out of bed. Instead of heading to the dresser, he picked up an advanced, high tech looking rifle and walked into the firing range area of his room, kneeling down and taking him at a target, and firing less then a second after taking aim. His shot perfectly hit the deadline, and the recoil seemed to be nothing to him.
"Understood. I will compile all the information for you" the maid said, disappearing.
"So, it took them four years to make their move? No matter" he said, reloading the rifle after recharging the rifle's barrel once he depleted the charge. "So long as I eliminate the target first, there is no chance of losing".
----------------------------------------
"What do you think? Will this work guys?" Momo asked, showing what appeared to be a note from a doctor verifying he was okay and did not need to be examined.
"Its a very good forgery" Alex remarked. "But, they are mandatory. Even if a seperate doctor checks you out, you have to go to their facility for an examination, in addition to a mandatory school examination".
"Yeah. And for the school one, everyone gets examined together, so dont get any bright ideas like trying to reprogram the memories of the doctors. They do it publicly to assure everyone its fine and good, but it also means you cant wiggle out of it".
"And honestly, if you avoid the doctors at the private facility, they are just going to look at you with more suspicion" Alex pointed out.
"So, there is actually no way to avoid walking into their trap? Great".
Alex and Rel just sighed.
"Its not an easy problem to crack, that is for sure. Not to mention they will likely monitor the school exam, so you cant even use a duplicate".
"Ahhhhh.....maybe I should just focus on the Hoverboard competition coming up in a week or so instead" Momo said, melting into his desk.
"Maybe, but you do need to do something about this issue" Rel pointed out.
"I could try and crash every system at the underwater lab" Momo thought.
"Each school is using a different one".
"All of them?"
"Wouldn't that risk exposure also?"
Rylo picked up his camera.
"You could always go public with what they did".
"Definently not. Then we would have even more people coming after us, and they would probably drag all of you into it".
As that was said, Ruri came over.
"Heyo, Momo-kun..."
"Still not doing it Ruri-chan" Momo told her.
"Oh, you will, I will make sure of it. But there is something else as well" she said. "Although its gotten much better since the twenty first century, bigots and discrimination still exist. So, you will be participating in and honoring the various days, and especially the week, set up to dismissing boundaries".
Momo immediately realized what this was about.
The school had two uniform types. Typically, they are seen as the boy's uniform and the girl's. However, technically speaking, that was just a social distinction that was instilled over one hundred years ago. In truth, any girl could wear long pants, and any boy could wear the skirt. In fact, there were a number of boys who did that when it was hot, and a number of girls who did when it was cold or windy. There was also a push to make it so everyone had the same gym uniform too.
However, Momo never did. In fact, the days he was absent always seemed to coincide with those days.
And in this middle school, which he was a first year student of, it was mandatory for several days a year, and for one whole week as well.
"Ah, I think I might be coming down with something..." Momo said, as he started to look away.
"No, you wont be getting out of it! Besides, just because you look cute in a skirt, doesn't make you any less of a boy!"
"I dont get that feeling from all the looks im getting from the rest of the class" Momo pointed out, as she looked around and saw many boys and girls blushing and looking with expectant eyes.
However, she continued to look at him with a sort of forceful look.
"Come on Momo. Support our sign of gender equality. Go with our cultural traditions, please?"
"I do support gender equality, I just dont like it how everyone looks at me like that, and I dont like the bullying. But...if you agree to four conditions, I will do it".
The moment Momo said those words, Ruri Yamoto knew it would be hard and arduous to complete those conditions and fullfill them. However, his statement had put the ball in her court. If Momo was actually at the table, actually willing to compromise to do it, then she could not just try to push it on him one sidedly.
She had expected this outcome, so she was prepared for it to a degree mentally, but she knew it would be hard.
"First of all, no pictures without my permission. The pictures will be encoded to prevent anyone from copying them, uploading them, or taking a picture of them to spread around".
"The class photo has to be an exception" she said, holding onto some ground. "That is a major part of the yearbook after all".
"Fine, but if I find that people have been cropping my image from that photo and spreading it around, and I will find out if it happens, I will never, ever do this again, and I will actively seek and destroy the existing copies".
"Fine. What else?"
"Two, I cant be bullied at all during the entire time. If someone bullies me during that week, its done and I will stop and never do it again".
I need to fight this bullying issue anyways. "Deal".
"Three. People cant give me weird looks, or looks full of desire or lust. They cant look at me with creepy eyes. If I see anyone do that, its over. I wont compromise on this".
That will be tough...everyone wants to see it though, so I should be able to get the class on board at least. Momo is the star of our classroom, after all.
"The people outside our class get a tiny bit of leeway, and the people outside of our school dont count. You cant fault people for instinctive reaction".
Momo pouted at her, but despite the cute appearance, Ruri held strong.
"Tsk. Fine, but only a tiny bit. If they dont correct themselves immediately, or if I see a lingering glance, that is it".
"Good. And what is the final one?"
"No one can hit on me or ask me on a date" Momo declared. "I wont tolerate that at all. It doesn't matter if they got to our school or not".
I guess that would exceed his limit no matter what huh? I will have to find something to do about that....but he looks like he only budged on the last one to force this one through. Well, if I get those people on my side, it should be fine.
"Deal. I accept your conditions" Ruri said, while Alex sighed.
He is totally going to change his mind and skip out of this right before it happens. I guess its up to me to make sure he honors the deal.
Incidentally, Rel and Rylo were thinking the exact same thing.
The three of them sighed, realizing that some of the troublesome work would be thrown on them.
"Now now, class, settle down. And Momo-kun, you better participate, or you will be getting punished".
Momo gulped a bit, but decided to stay strong with his conditions.
Maybe I can find an excuse...
Well, as a fallback at least.
"Now, I hope everyone is ready. The busses have just arrived, and we will be heading towards the National Science Center in Central District for our field trip. And do make sure you all behave, got it?"
As she said that, she eyed the boys in particular.
However, Alex had some concerns.
"Will you be okay, Momo?"
"Yeah...not every group of scientists is evil and is connected to them, right? And its Central District, where the police HQ is. Its like, the most secure district of all. And I know the police raided that place successfully, so it should be fine".
Momo said that, but he had some doubts. He was still worried about what might happen on this trip.
----------------------------------------
In Central District Police HQ, there was a man wearing some street clothes, a badge at his waist as well as a sidearm. He was currently at a large desk with many monitors, working on something.
[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/651118395751792682/800861443913940992/Police_7.jpg]
He was Cyrial City Police Department, or CCPD, Detective Tyral Harmo. Age 27.
"Still working on that case again?" a female detective asked him, walking up from behind. She was Sarah Wells, age 25, and one of his partners.
On the screens in front of him, as well as various notes and photos in a folder, were images and data collected from a crime scene four years ago. It was a major case, as what was supposedly an abandoned science facility seemed to be wrecked and destroyed from the inside. By the time they arrived, many people were dead, and a number of people had fled. They had managed to arrest a few people they found at the scene, but they all mysteriously were dead by the end of the week.
They had investigated the scene thoroughly, but most of the digital records were trashed. Even an expedition into the Cyberworld by their experts yielded little result. They had learned that there were test subjects there though, up to thirteen of them it seemed that were active, although they found a morgue with the corpses of two dozen children deep within, marked in the records as "Failures" and some mentions of a "Prototype". But it seemed there were thirteen test subjects that were the center of their experiments.
The only thing they knew about them was they were young, all still elementary school age, and all boys for some reason. It seemed they were performing unethical experiments related to the Cyberworld though, as well a genetic modification and the like. The records were pretty much trashed, so photo identification was impossible aside from bits and pieces. There was some bits of specific experiments he could piece together also, but nothing was really great.
And so far, according to all CCPD records at least, not a single one of them had been identified or found yet. The leads had also gone cold, as what they could recover could not be traced, and the fire and explosions ruined lots of forensic evidence.
"I dont want to just let these people get away with what they did. Besides, this case is still a major stain on the records, but since its cold, no one wants to actually put the time into it it seems. So they are happy with me letting work on it when I dont have an active case. Cyber is also concerned anyways, to the point they are not getting into a terf war with us from Major Case over this investigation. Plus, children were victimized".
"Well I mean, ever since the Cyberworld Event, the police have been forced to swallow a rather nasty pill" she said, as she looked over to a boy who was running right at them. He had brown hair, and was wearing a blue blazer, white T shirt, blue jeans, and black sneakers. He brought the two detectives some coffee, as a badge hung from his waist. In addition, there was a highly advanced collar, or choker, around his neck.
He was Ruki Mayr, Apprentice Detective, and was twelve years old. He also had a very strong connection to the Cyberworld, and assisted in Cyberworld related matters.
Although anyone born after the Cyberworld Incident had a stronger connection to the Cyberworld compared to those born before it, it seemed to be something that peeked as children. And if they continuously used it and made use of it, it would not deteriorate at all as they got older, and could even get stronger while they were younger.
As such, many police departments, after much investigation and arguments, realized they had to employ the most capable, most trustworthy of these children from a young age to help them utilize the Cyberworld for investigations and crimes, especially those involving the Cyberworld. Asking the children of the world for help though was a tough pill to swallow, but as the cases and chaos continued, it was only the departments that showed the ability to adapt and evolve that have been able to stem the tide and even bring things back to some normalcy.
That said, obviously they were concerned for their safety. The choker around his neck had a CCPD police icon in front to show they were an officer or detective, and in addition, they had various functions to monitor health and safety, record their surroundings, provide active GPS coordinates in case someone attempted to abudct them or they got trapped somewhere, and would even provide defensive energy barriers against harmful attacks. He also had regular medical checkups also, to make absolutely sure he was good physically.
And naturally, they only recruited people who were willing to do this. They also were not allowed to work too much, a very minimum set of hours, and would work only with proven veteran officers who were considered the best of the best. He had already skipped multiple grades and only had to spend some time at school, putting him ahead of Momo even.
"Thanks for all the hard work. Also, are you and Chiro having a sleepover at my house this weekend still?" Tyral Harmo asked Ruki, as he mentioned his adopted son, Chiro Harmo.
Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.
"Yeah, should be good. Also, the boss just let me know, since everyone is still dealing with all the chaos that was caused last week from the Cyberstorm, they are shorthanded and want us to provide extra protection for the National Science Center. Since there is a bunch of elementary and middle schools having field trips there, and given the recent virus outbreak, they want experts from our detective branches such as Major Crimes there".
"Alright. We better get going then. We might as well do this seriously" he said, securing a few programs first before heading out.
"I swear, he is going to let that case run him ragged" Sarah mentioned.
"Well, we just gotta support him. It is troubling we have yet to find out much on the matter".
----------------------------------------
"Anything yet from the new sensor system?" the man, Barto Fredrickson, asked impatiently.
"Nothing yet. And we are getting some interference we cant seem to correct for from our spyware in the CCPD system".
"At least tell me we have Hunter teams on standby".
"That is confirmed. We have even more mercenaries now to help us, and we also have made preparations for various operations".
Her and several other analysts were working hard, considering the amount of money they are being paid. Not to mention the danger they would be in if they didn't comply.
After all, he didn't care who he had to hurt to get what he wanted.
However, that was when their system pinged on something.
"What was that?"
"We just got a six percentage match...its not high, but its reasonable enough to investigate. We detected a signature at the National Science Center".
"I see...does six percent give us an identity?"
"No, it was picked out of a large crowd of people entering the center. And it was seemingly obscured by something before it recorded the data".
"Well then, I guess we will just have to monitor the situation. The place is high profile....ah, but wait. Have our Hunter Teams standby. From what I remember, I do believe there is a certain something we can take advantage of".
----------------------------------------
"Release the holy angels! Allow us to experience the new world!"
Chanting like that was heard as Momo and the class got off the bus and headed into the building. Although parts of it were free to the public, the protesters, or rather, the cultists outside, were obviously not allowed.
Alright, lets test this new program. Execute: False Shadow.
The entrance to the building involved going through a high intensity scanner, although it was only a Level 1 High Intensity Scanner. Higher level scanners would often not even let you pass while you were wearing clothes, so you had to go through them naked, since any excess would disrupt the readings. But as the NSC was publicly accessible, and it would be way too much of a hassle or problematic, only a Level 1 Scanner was used.
As that was said though, he noticed another boy sitting in a window that temporarily drew Momo's gaze.
[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/651118395751792682/800895411345817640/Mafumafu_.jpg]
It almost felt like there was something familiar about him.
"Hey come on, lets get going. We will get yelled at if we get seperated from the group" Alex mentioned.
"Ah, right".
Meanwhile, Kobayashi watched Momo as he left.
"...why does he seem familiar?"
He wondered that, as a man holding a brief case brushed by him. He ended up falling over, and the man didn't even say excuse me.
"Rude..." Kobayashi said, when he noticed something strange. The briefcase, and the man, was emiting heavy digital particles. It was feint, so only someone specially tuned would notice. But it was certainly problematic.
"Hey, Koba!" another boy said as he ran over. "Whatcha lookin at?"
"Heyo Remi. Just something weird..." Koba mentioned.
"You weird, or..." Remi started to say, but then he looked around and then leaned in. "Silver Bullet weird?"
"The later...can you cover for me for a bit?"
"Yeah its fine. O'Brian is practically blind, and im sure the rest of our class wont give us away. Himeka is out sick after all".
"Thanks" Kobayashi mentioned, heading off towards the stairs.
And in that time, Momo was also walking towards a center display with his class, which was showing an active display of the Cyberworld.
"As you can see, to this day, researchers are researching the Cyberworld, and trying to understand its unique properties and why it behaves the way it does, especially with children like you born after the crisis. This is just one of the specialized facilities around the world, researching it non-stop. After all, since there was one of the old GWN relay towers right on the island, many experts were already here".
As she said that, the tour guide noticed something new appear on her datapad.
"Ah, it looks like we have been approved to go into the research areas! Please follow me, and make sure you all stay together and stay safe!"
As she said that, the class began to head towards what appeared to be a highly secured door, with multiple mag-locks and pressure seals. She quickly de-activated the security mechanisms, and they all walked inside.
However, Momo noticed something weird about the building. It felt almost active, for some reason or another.
That said, he couldn't exactly just stand around, so he kept walking. They passed by some glass windows which showed various researchers, appearing to look at virus lifeforms they captured, or investigate other digital life. After all, not everything was viruses. All forms of data had life forms that formed. Birds, fish, and so on. However, they typically were scared off when a virus outbreak got significant enough.
There was also a research lab that appeared to be looking at technology. Notably, all the labs looked quite secure, and there appeared to be various safety measures in place.
"Come, we have prepared this lab right here for a tour" she mentioned, leading them down towards a new lab.
----------------------------------------
Kobayashi hid behind a corner, as he watched a man that seemed to be leaking data paricles.
He quickly pulled out some sunglasses, and put them on. He activated the HUD, and scanned the man and the area in front of him. That said, it was picking up a lot of readings in the area, especially the lab the man was entering. And one of them was humanoid.
Worried, Kobayashi followed him, taking out what appeared to be a gun with a holoscreen projector on the back. He activated it, and scrolled through options, choosing the Hack Bullet option, and fired it at the door.
"Lets just keep you open. Deploy holographic fake" he muttered, causing the door to appear to be closed and even made a fake closing sound, but only from the other side. For his side, he could see through clearly. He also took the time to shoot at some cameras, and delete him from their records.
And then, he looked inside, and saw there was a boy strapped to the table, naked. He quietly initiated a scan, to try and find a barcode or ID on him, but it came back negative. He was not one of them. He was also not human, which was another interesting issue. But the bigger issue was the biodigi-readings on the man.
Or rather, even though Kobayashi could see particles leaking out of him, there was no readings at all on that man. In other words, there was a high grade concealer at work. He seemed quite busy on the computer, so Kobayashi used his gun and brought up a holodisplay, mirroring what was on the computer and creating a record of everything.
It seemed like he was bringing up research data. He was downloading it, and deleting the local data. However, the data appeared to be about experiments that Kobayashi was all too familiar with. Still, he didn't want to give himself away, so he monitored for now.
However, when he opened up the briefcase, Kobayashi immediately took action. Immediately, he grasped his silver bullet that was around his neck by a silver chain, and put pressure on it. A program activating, and suddenly he was wearing a short sleeve jumpsuit, boots, gloves, and had a rifle out as he fired. The man seemed to sense the attack coming, and dodged, taking the briefcase with him and activating it. Something black seemed to go out of it, and entered the electrical systems.
And the man noticed at that point there had been a connection from the computer to the attacker, who was helmeted now, which meant someone had likely copied all that data.
Immediately, several virus forms appeeared around him, mainly these strange orb type things with mouths, that charged at Kobayashi. He fired a single shot, but lasers seemed to come out and cut through all the virus forms. He tried to take a shot at the man, but he managed to dodge it and got out of the room, heading for Kobayashi.
However, at that point the lockdown doors began to close as the alarms blared. Realizing this, he immediately made for the exit. Kobayashi tried to follow him, but a bulkhead door shut in front of him and sealed his path.
"Damnit!" Kobayashi shouted, as virus forms began to appear behind him. "Well, this is no good".
----------------------------------------
Meanwhile, down below, the class was getting a first hand look. At least that was the case, but then the particle count just skyrocketed all of a sudden.
And at the same time, alarms started to blare. Gas was released into the room, causing nearly everyone to panic and head towards the doors, Momo included. The one who didn't though, was Alex.
Extort Boost, active. Windblast Program, Execute!
He quickly used his Holowatch as he extended his hand, and executed a program. Suddenly, it shot out, and Momo, Rylo, and Rel, the three who were in front, were hit by it, knocking them out of the room.
That wasnt coincidence either. Momo hated being locked in closed and confined spaces, so he often stayed near the door when in rooms that could go into lockdown. Rel and Rylo were both there to help comfort him.
The gas that was pouring in seemed problematic.
Unfortunately, the door sealed before anyone else could make it out. Alex included.
"Alex!" Momo said, banging on the sealed door.
"Momo...Rel, find someone who can shut off the security system, or do it yourselves" Alex said, finding it a bit hard to talk with the gas pouring in. "Rylo...since you are so good with locks...sync with me, okay?"
"Right. Initiating Door Hack!" Rylo commanded, executing a program.
"initiating Door Hack" Alex added, running his own door program. For some reason, the gas was weakening them.
"What is this?" Rokuro sensei asked.
"...Anti-intruder gas...it shouldn't be in here though..."
Rylo and Alex were a bit stronger in resistance compared to the others when it came to the gas. But then again, they both were using the patented Physical Boost program only given to an exclusive few by the Reerdon Research Lab.
Momo and Rel meanwhile started to run around and look, but other doors were locking down. They would get trapped in this hallway if they didn't do something.
"VIrus forms!"
And the fact that virus forms were appearing didn't help at all. Rel immediately loaded up a combat program, and several spinning tops appeared around him. The moment the virus forms tried to approach, the tops attacked and crushed it, and their irregular moving patterns made it impossible for the virus forms to predict and adapt to attack. This let Rel fire off some attacks at range, and take them out.
"Is this a Cyberworld Problem?"
"It is, but its also here in strong numbers. These viruses dont have the ability to trigger a lockdown in a secure facility, nor release that gas. The facility and its defenses are too strong, they shouldn't even be in the building. No, a human caused this, and they caused it on this side".
"But they had to know we were here!"
"Yeah...and they did this anyways. A day when their security was probably the weakest, overwhelmed by all the kids coming here" Momo explained, unleashing green lightning at a few of them.
The problem was released on this side, so going to Cyberworld to fight the virus forms was pointless. There was a chance he could use Cyberworld to de-activate the lockdown though, which would put everyone else in a better position. And furthermore, he might be able to repair the defense systems.
Plus, he was worried about the possibility of people figuring out his real identity too easily.
"I am going in. I will be back as soon as I can" Momo told Rel.
"I will cover you until we can find an access point" Rel told him.
The two moved down the hall, when they saw a man come from down the stairs. He took out a gun and immediately fired at them, but Momo had placed defenses around them already so the bullets were stopped by Momo's military grade defenses.
However, they did do more damage then Momo expected to them. It appeared they had a program in them to worm in and destroy data. Momo's anti-virus programs stopped it, but it forced Momo to focus on defense rather then counter attack as he went towards a door that didn't close yet.
"Execute: Lightning Ray!"
Momo aimed his index finger as he snapped his thumb across it, firing a bolt of lightning that managed to hit his leg. He stumbled, and ended up rolling through the door, but the moment he did it was shut.
"What was that?"
"He must have a program inside the system. Now I definently have to go to Cyberworld".
Momo quickly ran a trace program, scanning the building. The building was interfering, likely a counter spyware program, but since the defenses had already been damaged from the attack that likely that one man caused, Momo's scan was able to work. His program was a custom job he perfected from programs provided by Alex from his company, so it was able to bypass the defenses to work and get him the data he needed. He only got the local schematics for the area around him, but it was enough.
Heading down a hall, they found a computer lab. Rel disabled the security cameras permenantly, although security in the room was already not functioning thanks to the virus program that had been unleashed on it.
Incidentally, at the same time, Kobayashi managed to pry a door open that was not a blast door, and entered a maintenence robot area. All of the robots were gone, which he didn't like, but he saw in the repair terminal what he was looking for.
A Universal Access Port. Used for all kinds of data hookups, maintenence work, connections, and so on. Or in this case, to enter Cyberworld.
And so they both entered at the same time.
""Jack in! Power up!""
And so, Momo and Kobayashi both entered Cyberworld. Momo immediately applied his identity concealer, and initated higher level encryption then normal. Given where he was, he figured it was worth using up more processing power then normal to ensure they couldn't ID him.
Kobayashi meanwhile had his own unique identity concealer. It was created entirely from scratch, as well as his encryption codes. It wasn't as high end as Momo's though, but in exchange, he had his own methods and countermeasures.
The two then exited their access tunnels and entered Cyberworld at the same time, catching sight of each other. Identity concealers stopped them from recognizing each other, but...
Its him!
Kobayashi immediately took out his rifle and open fired on Momo. Momo was just barely able to shield in time, deflecting the hit as he twisted his body around to avoid a direct hit, even to his shields.
"That attack...wait, that rifle?"
For a moment, Momo seemed stunned, as Kobayashi fired off another attack at him. He fired a few at once, but Momo dodged accordingly.
"What the hell is this all about?!"
"Dont think I would ever forget what you did, Emerald Mage. Or rather, Worldbreaker!"
"Worldbreaker....damnit. You have..."
Momo tried to say something, but then he had to dodge as a shot fired through the walls of the digital buildings. Momo then launched an electrical attack as a response, but Kobayashi dodged it so easily and fired another shot.
"Don't you dare lie to me! I know you killed them! Six...did you think I would let you get away with what happened!?"
Momo knew he had to calm him down as soon as possible, as the attacks got worse. After all, there was something far more important to deal with right now.
"You got it wrong! And we dont have time for this!"
"You are a part of all this! No way this is just coincidence! I dont know what game you are playing, but I wont let you hurt anyone else! I will beat you, and this program!"
The way he was speaking, it reminded Momo of something.
"0-1?!"
"Oh, so you do remember the one you tried to kill!"
"I didn't try to kill anyone!"
"Liar! I saw you! I remember seeing you!"
"Remember...so that is it" Momo realized, as a shot broke through the cover he hid behind.
Now that he knew it was 0-1, Momo could at least defend himself better and predict attacks. In terms of them all, even if they were all part of the same experiment, there were differences and subtleties between each of them still. Some of it intentionally, some of it naturally. Momo, or 0-6, had more versitility. Programming affinity and processing ability were also good. But 0-1 had him beat in terms of firepower, especially long range firepower. That said, 0-1 was no slouch at close quarters combat either. And he excelled at stealth.
"You got it wrong, it wasn't me!" Momo pleaded, as he jumped around the side. Cyberworld often mimicked the appearance of the area they were around, but differences existed in certain areas. Especially in places such as this research facility, it was practically like it had its own city in here. The system was that vast and massive and advanced. "You are being manipulated!"
"That lie wont work on me!" he said, firing another attack as Momo dodged.
"Fine then...I didn't want to do this since it risks drawing more attention, but oh well. Execute, Worldshaper!"
Suddenly, a massive amount of spikes charged out of the ground at where 0-1 had been sniping from. He kept moving around as well, but naturally Momo kept track of his movement.
He had to go into full dodge mode, and then Momo darted towards him. Momo then raised his fist, and punched him right in the cheek, knocking him to the ground as Momo moved to sit right on him, and put his hand on the helmet.
"You...bastard..."
"0-1...I am not who you think I am" Momo said, deploying a dome around them with the identity concealment program loaded in, to prevent anyone from being able to look inside and recognize them. Momo then disabled the one around his body, as he took the helmet off of Kobayashi properly. After that, he removed the skin concealment program, and showed Kobayashi his arm.
"You got it wrong. I am not 1-3. I am 0-6".
"What? No, no, this is a lie!"
"0-1....think about your memories in detail. Reflect on them. And then, remember the special code that 1-3 developed. What was it?"
"...Memory reprogramming. That could be fake though!"
"1-3 is a manipulative demon, but we both know he is incompatible with my special code: Worldshaper".
As memories started to be triggered in Kobayashi's mind, he had a massive headache as he realized the truth.
"...damnit. I remember now. He tackled me to the ground during the fight, used his program on me...but...wait, I distinctly remember him beating the crap out of you. Didn't you die?"
"Barely escaped that. That said, can we maybe talk about this later?" Momo said, as a swarm of black tendrils approached them. Momo quickly re-enabled his identity concealer.
"Yeah...we can talk later. Where?"
"Internet Cafe 'All Day-Play' in the Market District, room two, tomorrow at five".
"Deal. Now, lets take this idiot down" he said, putting his helmet back on. Momo disabled the area concealment, and Kobayashi immediately open fired on the tendrils, destroying them into bits with every shot.
ANd Momo took the time to get closer, and hopefully find the source. They took way too long with that scuffle, so they had to make up for it.
Momo used Worldshaper to immediately shred through the various tendrils, which appeared to just be remote defense/attack programs, and didn't actually harm the program that created them. With the line of sight clear, Kobayashi fired a powerful shot at its core, only to be stopped by a Multi-Tiered Firewall Barrier. It broke through a few, but stopped at the second to last one. And the firewalls it did break through regenerated and adapted immediately.
"I am switching programs. I think it adapted to the program I used for that shot, so I am using a different attack program. That said, we need to time this properly. I need you to break some of the firewalls, so I can hit it before the firewalls adapt".
"Got it! Going in! Worldshaper, Thunder Gale!"
Executing two programs at once. Momo unleashed a thundering gale from his fist as he punched, and it shot out and tore through multiple firewalls. The tentacles came at him as more appeared, having seemed to reinforce the number after Kobayashi's attack. But Worldshaper came into play, as a massive storm appeared overhead and came down at the barriers, altering Thundering Gale and adding its power to it to stop the adaptation and break several more. Momo then went in for a killing blow, but it used another defensive technique to shoot him down.
But as Momo was shot down, a shot came from where he used to be, and tore through the remaining defenses. The source program tried to evade, but a significant chunk got damaged, and several tentacles disappeared as the speed dropped a bit, and a few firewalls faded away.
And then, a second shot came right afterwards, piercing through it on the other side, doing more critical damage before it had a chance. Momo then brought down the lightning, controlling it with his arms as it struck it once more.
"This thing is a lot tougher then we thought!"
"Yeah...but this should do it!" Kobayashi said, as he fired another shot that went right through the center. With that, the program recieved enough damage to be totally destroyed, and many systems and areas around them seemed to begin to restore themselves.
"Now we better go, before it registers us as a threat" Momo mentioned.
"Yeah".
The two opened their access tunnels, and encrypted their exit path as they left Cyberworld.
But they had no idea at the time the full consequences of what happened this day.
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The man walked down an alley, far away from the scene of the incident. He didn't care if some kids ended up dying, he only cared about himself. That said, he had seen something that got him interested, a possibility to make a lot of money.
He picked up his phone, and made a call.
"Hey, long time no chat. I am curious...those thirteen escaped test subjects of yours, you still looking for them? Because, I think I might have encountered one today..."
With those ominous words to start a conversation, the man continued to walk into the dark alley, chuckling to himself.
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"And you are sure? Silver Bullet and Emerald Mage, just disappeared without a trace?" Detective Tyral Harmo said as he arrived home rather late. Thanks to all the chaos that happened where he was supposed to protect, he ended up super busy and worried as he took his shoes off and entered the house.
And as he did, he came across a blonde haired boy wearing what appeared to be a collar or choker around his neck, a white apron, yellow sleeveless shirt, and black shorts. Notably, on the back of his neck, barely visible through his blonde hair, was a barcode, with the marking of 0-2 under it.
[https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/651118395751792682/801906739225690112/Vocaloid02__Len_Kagamine_Little_Len_Kagamine.jpg]
"I see, well get back to me as soon as you can when you have more leads" he said, hanging up the phone. He briefly glanced at the boy. "Thanks for starting on dinner".
"Its okay. I usually have to cook anyways, since you are terrible at it" Chiro mentioned. This was normal for them, as father and son, even if Chiro was adopted. "So I guess no leads today?"
"Sorry...I feel like we got close, but suddenly government hired investigators swooped in and wouldn't let us local police have the crime scene. I think I have leads on two of your siblings at least though. I think Silver Bullet and Emerald Mage are like you...I see you removed the concealer".
"I dont like wearing it when I am home" he mentioned. "Even if I cant see it, I dont want to run from my past. I just, dont want them to come barging in and taking me back".
"Well you know" he said, placing his hand on the collar around his neck. "You can always..."
As his hand went across the buckle, Chiro seemed to start shivering a little.
"...sorry. Just thought you might be better".
"Its fine" Chiro said, resuming his cheerful demeanor. "Anyways, let me guess, you want to take a bath together again? To save on costs so you can spend more money on looking into my past, and what happened right?"
"Well...that and I sorta wanted to give you a good birthday this year".
"Its okay...id probably prefer that, dad. But, you know...you dont need to spend money on it. I can wait, you know?"
"But there could be other children out there that need help also...I only found you by luck, and somehow we managed to hide you. But...others could still be suffering..."
Chiro took his dad's hand, and smiled ever so innocently at him.
"Its okay. We are close now. But...I wouldn't mind sharing a bath either with you, dad".
"Alright. While you finish dinner, ill make the bath preparations".
"Sounds good!"
And with that, the two decided to shelve the work talk for another day.