Flying over the city, heading towards a private airstrip located outside the city, north of the North District, a large plane flew. It was incredibly advanced, capable of vertical takeoff, emergency hover landing, and the like. It had over a dozen safety measures for each safety measure that would allow the plane to land in an emergency as well, and several different monitoring systems that were checked daily.
And the inside was just as luxurious, like living in the mansion of a rich person. The living room, where a man was sipping fine wine unable to feel any turbulance at all, looked at a recent news article. The mystery painter, Lapis Sky, had recently produced another painting which had appearance once more in Cyreal City. No one knew who the artist was, only that they painted natural landscapes, people, cities, and such.
But each painting was a masterpiece, a work of art that could not be denied. It had such a refreshing energy to it, the masterstrokes of a genius combined with the energy of springtime. Whoever the painter was, they had talent that put them among some of the bests. The colors were also so vibrant as well, and they had done a number of paintings of the Cyberworld even, giving those who cant normally access it or have difficulty doing so a beautiful window into the world.
"I must find out who this artist is, and meet them" he mentioned. "And I must have this painting".
Whoever the painter was, they did a good job of staying anonymous. So far, no one had been able to discover their real identity. Even he, Doctor Gregory Thomas, of Thomas Internation, had made no traction despite hiring some of the best private investigators and net divers in the world.
But he would not give up. He was obsessed with the beauty of the paintings, and therefore the beauty of the person and mind behind it. As he took a bit of medicine, his butler came over.
"Sir, we are approaching the landing zone now".
"Excelent. We have a few errands to run after all, and then we shall head right to the art museum. My daughter, Suzuka, should meet us there too".
----------------------------------------
The Market District. It boasts the largest market without a doubt in the entire city, spanning dozens of blocks and having many businesses inbetween. One might think that an open air open sky market might not do so well given the sheer amount of rain and wind they get, but the city and the culture adapted accordingly. Although it is still open with various stalls and such, there are walls at various points which stop any fierce wind from being too bad, while not preventing a pleasant breeze from coming in. There was also a number of canopies that were made of strong fibers, tied and bolted down, to cover the top, although the recent addition was a prototype barrier. It was only activated on the heaviest of days, due to the electrical costs involved, but the people themselves didn't typically mind a little light rain.
But as such, given the various foot traffic involved, only a few areas in the market district actually had vehicles. As such, it was mainly a pedestrian district, although bikes and hoverboards were used a lot too. And perhaps that was why there were a number of businesses that specialized in foot traffic, such as the Searabbit Delivery Service, where Momo worked, and also various places where one could sit down, rest, and have something to eat, such as cafes. There were also various places such as internet cafes and reading cafes, where one could spend a lot of time eating and relaxing.
Naturally, there were also plenty of residential areas, both houses and apartment buildings.
And in one such internet cafe, Kobayashi entered, checking in at the front before heading towards a room. He had to turn a corner and go down a hall, as he headed towards the room. Each room could be rented by the hour, or by the day. There would be several computer systems, a table and seating. There was actually some bedding as well, for those who would be staying long term, as well as a private bathroom with a shower.
The moment he entered though, he immediately materialized a gun and held it at the corner of the room next to the door, as Momo pointed some sort of blaster at him.
"I guess we both knew trust would never come that easier" Kobayashi said, removing the concealer on his barcode and ID. Momo, with his free hand, did the same. "So, I guess we might as well go all the way then?"
Kobayashi said that, as the door closed on its own. He used his own free hand to lock it, while the two pointed weapons at each other.
"Yeah...but, can we at least agree to lower our weapons while we do this? Its a rather pointless gesture anyways".
"Fair. If we were serious, one of us would have fired anyways".
With that, the two both dismissed their weapons.
First of all, they took out their Holowatches, and made sure to set them up so they were isolated from any network and could not send or recieve signals from anything, and would not store any data. Once that was done, they scanned each other's barcodes, and confirmed some of their data while forming a datawall around them.
No issues were found either, but both of them had a look in their eyes, a look of concern and seriousness, one they could not just overlook.
"Alright, I am kind of hungry right now, so lets just get this over with, shall we? We wont be satisfied till we do an intensive scan with no obstructions anyways, in addition to a visual examination".
And so they did some last safety checks to be safe.
----------------------------------------
Momo and Kobayashi looked across each other now, with a table between them. They had dried off and gotten dressed now, and were a bit more normal and expressive and not as wary. Momo was wearing a sleeveless white shirt with seperated black sleeves on his arm, a green windbreaker jacket hung across his chair that he was sitting in backwards, and black shorts, as well as green shoes that were by the door, as well as a pair of smaller black boots. Kobayashi meanwhile had a black T shirt with a big red stripe down the center of the front, back, and the sides, grey shorts, and the black boots were his.
And between them, was a couple of burgers and a lot of fries, as well as two milkshakes. All of which they were currently consuming.
Kobayashi had used a special scan program and confirmed the information stored on the Bar Code. Subject 0-6. Although he now went by the name Momo Mokuba. And Momo had done the same to Kobayashi, confirming he was 0-1.
Their clothes were still a bit ruffled, but they had only just gotten re-dressed.
"So, we have looked over each other naked, run various scans. I know we just had a whole moment, but...anything else we should do to allievate each other's concerns?"
"No, id say this was fine. Frankly, I was convinced before we stripped, but I like to verify even when I am sure or think I can trust something".
"Well, thats fair" Momo replied. "Frankly, considering the fact you didn't go all out during our fight and use World's Arsenal, I did have to make sure this wasn't some sort of trap to be safe".
"Well, it is harder to maintain a full body virtual disguise after all, so seeing each other take off our clothes and seeing each other naked is a good way to test it. As for holding back...I do think I was seriously trying. But enacting that Program I was worried would leave an opening. Seriously, leaving aside being afraid of being captured again by the people who experimented on, I was worried about running into 1-3, especially since I had not met anyone else".
Momo smirked a little, and revealed something. A program of extreme intricacy, something that loooked overly complicated and advanced. And Kobayashi went wide eyed when he saw it's red, holographic glow.
"I already met him, actually. So you can relax...though, I did nearly die or get erased in the process".
"Wait, you met 1-3 already?"
"Yeah, but he is so fargone...and given he tried to kill several of us, its hard to say he is one of us. I actually somehow managed to use his own program against him, and then took it from him".
"Wait, what? How? It should be impossible for any of us to use the program of another, including Memory Manipulation".
"Its possible if we are in physical contact with them, or have a strong and secure data-link to them. In this case, I was grappled with him when I managed to take his Program and use it against him. I somehow managed to rewrite his memories. However, I cant use it unless I go and meet up with him again. For the record, as much as I could rework his memories, it seems he had a bit of brain damage from the experiments, so right now I have him imprionsed in a long term psychiatric care facility, up past the edges of the Mountain District. Its isolated enough that at least as far as I can tell, no one has yet to realize he was there".
Hearing that, Kobayashi sighed with relief.
"So, the biggest nightmare I have had for all this time was already dealt with...how the hell did you beat 1-3 alone?"
"It wasn't easy. In any case, its not like he is the only one we need to worry about. 0-4 wont exactly be a pleasant to deal with, and 0-9 was more then willing to betray us for benefits. And we can only guess how mentally scarred the others are, especially 0-2 and 1-1".
The two grimanced, thinking about their past and what happened to others like them.
Kobayashi then brought up some data.
"I am fairly certain the NetWarrior, Racer, as well as Ruby and Saphire are some of us, but I didn't want to risk making contact in case it was a trap. I am sure the others are the same, which is why none of you came to me while I was Silver Bullet, right?"
"Yeah. I am not going to blindly walk into a trap, especially without some good backup" Momo told him, drinking some more of his milkshake. "Even if its not guarenteed, im not dumb".
"Same. Now that we at least made contact, we might be able to at least scout them out though".
Kobayashi finished eating another burger after he said that, gulping down the whole thing.
As for why they were eating all that food with just the two of them, when they were too active they burned energy and calories like crazy. During the fight between them and the fight afterwards, even though they didn't totally get serious, they probably burned over eight thousand calories each.
"I tried doing some light investigation work at least, but as expected, I didn't get much done on my own when I never actually did any field work on the matter" Kobayashi admitted.
"I did try and do some internet searches, but I guess as a port city, people of all types come through here, and lots of various cultures. Although the island maintains its own unique cultural identity, it doesn't chase out or exclude outsiders, so it was quite difficult to get anything tangible".
As they talked, Kobayashi brought up the public profiles for various young NetWarriors. The issue is that, since the Cyberworld Incident only happened twenty years ago, and only those born after it had good affinity for it unless they bought a lot of expensive tech, almost all the NetWarriors were young. Especially since not everyone realized it at first, middle and elementary school NetWarriors were far more common then high school or early college.
The only benefit was that it meant the people who had kidnapped them and experimented on them had to go through the same hell to find them again. And since Cyrial City was so close to one of the old GWN relay towers, it seemed that an even higher number of those with high affinity were born here. That was why they could operate so easily, although they were paranoid and used countless security and concealment programs to hide themselves also.
However, even then, it might be possible to identify potential candidates. So the next thing they did was try to list details about the remaining members that they could remember...however, they ran into a new problem.
Momo's List:
0-1: Kobayashi
0-2: Girl with yellow hair, capable of creating unique throwable programs with a variety of effects.
0-3: Silver haired boy, could run and operate much faster then normal.
0-4: Blue haired girl, exctremely anti-social and dangerous. Tended to be very manipulative, literally.
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0-5: Blue haired boy, very emotional. Often very depressed by their situation. Frequently experimented on without pain medication for research purposes.
0-6: Himself.
0-7: Red haired boy. Wielded some sort of strange fire program, very high performance. He set the entire building on fire when everyone was scrambling to escape.
0-8: Teal haired boy, terrible sight without glasses. Incredible hearing though, enhanced through the project. Uses sound and sonic based programs somehow. No one really understood it, even the scientists didn't fully understand and they created it.
0-9: Blonde haired boy, backstabbing and dangerous, could seem charismatic though. Could manipulate and influence the emotions that people felt.
1-0: Black haired boy, twin to 1-1. The two were frequently tested and used against each other, punished for each other's failure, pitted against each other. They had the program to seemingly reposition and move data instantly, or rather, teleport. However, in the experiments, as part of the pitting them against each other part, it was set up so 1-0 got the better end of a bad deal.
1-1: Black haired boy, twin to 1-0. Identical to his brother, including the program they had. However, got the worse end of the deal, and likely highly traumatized.
1-2: Brown haired girl. Could summon and create her own data lifeforms and command them. Often rather sickly herself.
1-3: Clinically insane and locked up in an insane asylum. Memories erased and reconfigured, but still a subject of concern. Was able to manipulate memories, program revoked.
The issue was that Momo and Kobayashi had very different memories about a number of them. For one thing, Kobayashi remembered 0-2 as a boy, 0-5 as a girl, and 1-2 as a boy. He also remembered one of the twins being a girl.
"It could have been 1-3...but we cant be sure whose memories are right and whose are wrong. He was used as a pawn a lot by the scientists. I remembered you well though, you grew a bit but your body is the same" Momo mentioned.
"My memories of you we know were jumbled, but once I saw you naked the memories did get even more clear. 1-3's memory manipulation wasn't perfect....and we know the scientists loved using him as a tool, and he loved doing what they had him do. Its possible they were messing with our memories while we were there, and only after all this time away from their influence, do they correct themselves with a proper reminder".
"That would explain it. It seems a bit weird the memories only properly re-aligned when we saw each other naked, but the scientists didn't exactly give us clothes, or treat us like people, so there is that".
"Too bad we dont have any of their records" Momo said, unaware that all the records the police had said they were all boys, which contradicted both of their memories.
But it was agreed that they were at a stand still.
At this point, they had to accept the fact that they had probably hit a dead end. With evidence of memory tampering on them both, until their memories recieved a proper jolt or something to remind them, it was meaningless.
And also....
"We should probably accept that some of them are dead".
"You should have killed 1-3" Kobayashi pointed out.
"Maybe...but I wont kill in cold blood. I decided that before I fought him. I wont ever stoop to their level. If possible, I will capture alive every time".
"Well, I think it is a bit foolish...but, I wont deny that I feel like its the right answer. To be honest, I have essentially done the same...ah, speaking of which".
Kobayashi took out a device. It apepared be a rectangular box, and could be clipped onto the side of Momo's shorts. It hummed with energy, and appeared to be custom made.
"What is this?"
"Its a weapon, making them is my specialty after all. To be exact, I created it inside the Cyberworld, and made it so it can freely go between the real world and the Cyberworld. It's my version of a Cyberdrive. It can be programmed with a certain capacity of storage, for weapons and the like, but I also made it incredibly difficult to break or damage, to be safe. I programmed in some basic weapon programs of mine, and stuff that I remembered you were good with...I even made a version of the Buster Gauntlets".
"Eh? Seriously? I haven't been able to remake those at all yet!" Momo said, as he happily picked up the cyberdrive. The innocent look on Momo's face, with his happiness, warmed Kobayashi's heart.
"Yep. Its better then any market purchasable Cyberdrive or anything that you could ever possibly find from technicans you might know" Kobayashi said, sounding rather proud of himself.
Kobayashi managed to equip it, but he stumbled a bit, so Kobayashi went over and leaned over him to help. However, with them both fussing a bit, they ended up falling to the ground, with Kobayashi landing on top of Momo. The two couldn't help but smile and alugh at the situation they got into, their wholehearted laughs making them both feel cheerful and happy.
And then there was a knock on the door, so they both pointed weapons at it.
"Excuse me, we have a delivery for a Mokuba-san? From Searabbit Deliveries".
"Oh, boss?" Momo said, surprised but not totally dropping his guard. Kobayashi got off of him, and he went to the door. Slowly opening it, he checked and saw it was a normally delivery person it seemed, with a rather large package.
"Boss asked you to do this. Its a big job, high priority, so he wants you to handle it tonight".
"Ah, thanks" Momo said, accepting the package. He was given a paper to sign, and he signed successfully. Once that was done, the man left and Momo closed the door, locking it.
"...how did he know you were here?"
"More then likely, he deduced it somehow. I did some work this morning, and he is scary good at it" Momo mentioned, as he opened the package. However, the contents were surprising. There were two boy's suits in there, as well as a note which Momo started reading. "Saw you and your friend enter the manga cafe while doing some deliveries in the area, and I got a notification for a job so I thought I would ask you both. Pay is really good, and they asked for two boys to deliver two engagement rings at the time of a proposal at an art museum. Good luck. PS, it pays ten times more then a normal engagement job, and the food and drink are on the house. You just need to be sure to be ready for the actual time, and find the one who plans to do the proposal".
At first it seemed like a weird job, but then Momo saw the money for it.
"...ten times as much...and that is for each of us..."
"Lets do it" Kobayashi declared. "The food will probably be tasty".
"Agreed".
Won over by the money, and the aspect of expensive food, the two boys accepted the job easily.
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Doctor Gregory Thomas entered the museum, wearing his nicest tux, as he entered with his daughter who was similarly dressed. As the two headed into the lobby, they saw a wide variety of lovely and extensive artworks listed throughout. Paintings, sculptures, various works of art. Some of which defied all expectations or imaginations, and others had beauty which blew the minds of those who set eyes upon them. Some areas had pieces from a specific period, others had pieces from all over, brought together for either some form of relevance, or just from the same collector, or numerous other reasons.
That said, there was one artist that he was mainly focused on. As they entered one hall, their work was the thing that they centered upon immediately. It was a work of art, submitted anonymously under a pseudonym of sorts. Zeros Skie. It was a beautiful piece, showing a city upon an ocean, with whales in the background. But it was as if there were two states, in transition with each other. Halfway between the real world and the Cyberworld, but the colors were amazing.
He was not the only one though, as he saw two young boys, one with green hair and one with white, staring at it with wonder.
"Ah, its nice to know the youth of our future have such good taste, right Suzu?"
"Indeed, father" Suzuka mentioned, eyeing the two boys. "Now then, shall we go and make our own offers?"
"Indeed. We cannot let anyone get the upper hand in the acquisition of this piece".
The way they said indeed was a bit pronounced, perhaps a verbal tic the father had which the daughter mimicked. She was only sixteen, but she had quite the eye and the ear. There were many other people, various adults but some children as well. That said, the children were often more drawn to the Cyberworld pieces like those two, with few exceptions.
But as the two left, Momo and Kobayashi just watched in awe.
"This color scheme...this person definently entered the Cyberworld and the Real World quite freely, even moreso then us I think...the colors are right, just as we see them. Color interpretation often is somewhat factored by the manufacturer of the Cyberdive tech people use, but...this person clearly physically entered Cyberworld".
"Well, its not like people are not born with that ability. Ours might be enhanced however, and I cant help but think that perhaps they might be one of us as well".
Certainly, the painting felt as if they were in the Cyberworld itself. The two boys, looking quite fancy yet adorable in their tuxedos, could not help but look at it. It spoke to their very souls, highlighting the beauty of the Cyberworld, as well as the dangers.
"...I have been so worried about being found, I barely enter unless it is for an emergency, but...this reminds me about how the Cyberworld can be beautiful, and how it can be used for positives as well as negatives" Momo muttered, finding himself unable to repress his thoughts.
"We should probably find the target...that said, these rings...what happens if the one who gets the proposal says no?"
Kobayashi made a fair point.
"Best case scenario, we get ignored. Worst case scenario, we get blamed, hit, and end up having a rich influential person hate and target us with harrassment for awhile".
"And how often does those two things happen?"
"Both are pretty rare...the worse one is slightly more common, but most fall inbetween...unfortunately, focused on the negative side, because when things go wrong they often want someone else to blame. More convienent for them".
"I see...that sounds like it sucks. Well, its a good thing I am not publicly listed".
"I mean, my home isn't, but...its my workplace you know? Please dont leave me alone here".
"Hey, I am not two. I am not going to tackle hug you and give you kisses just cause I see a little bit of hope".
"Well, at least we remember that much the same about him. Or her".
As they spoke, they kept looking at the painting. It was just so peculiar, so incredibly realistic, it was impossible for them to ignore. And made by someone who went by the name Zeros Skie, which was probably a pseudonym. That said, as he looked at it more, he then calmly grabbed Kobayashi's hand, and began walking away from the painting. Kobayashi quickly adapted to follow him, but he was a bit shocked.
"What is it, Momo?"
"That painting. If it mesmerized us like that...if the enemy were to learn or already knows about it, and perhaps the emotional impact it would have on us..."
"Then looking at it for too long might draw attention to us. Good call, I was so caught up in it I dropped my guard".
"Yeah...the fact that happened to both of us concerns me greatly..." Momo mentioned, as they headed into a new room. "Lets just admire some other pieces, and wait for the client to contact us. Lets also grab some food from the buffet table".
Nodding along with Momo, Kobayashi followed him, making sure to keep up. It didn't take them long to find it though, all they had to do was follow their noses and they found it easily. A number of other children had gone towards one section, and adults another. So they went to where the other children were to get some food.
Certainly, when they saw the spread, they saw a lot of tasty foods and drinks that while looking nice and fancy, definently would appeal to children. Momo himself was drawn to focus on the burgers and fries, while Kobayashi eyed other high calorie food. Their bodies burned more then the average one did, so they needed to load up all the time. And it was free.
"Hey now, no cutting in line" one girl told them as they started to serve themselves some food.
"Pretty sure there is no li..."
"Shut it new girl, I am talking to your boyfriend".
Even though Momo was wearing a tux, it wasn't unusual for girls to wear tuxes in this day and age, so the usual misperception occured.
"I'm a boy..." Momo corrected, giving the other kids a bit of a shock. However, the girl who appeared to be the leader of this group did not back down.
"Then strip and prove it, while I talk to your boyfriend" she mentioned.
"Now now, just because there are so many naked statues here, doesn't mean you have to join them" another boy pointed out, getting involved in this children's dispute. "Also, Maggie is it? You sure you want to cause trouble and embarass your family in a place like this? You think they will be happy?"
Seemingly nailing several hard points for her, the girl suddenly went red as she stopped talking. Momo and Kobayashi looked at him, and saw another new face they did not know. A boy with blue hair and eyes.
"Zeke-kun? You are here?"
"Yeah, I am. And so is Director Rossi, and you never know when she might show up".
The girl appeared to be bothered by this, as she and a few of her posse immediately left. Momo turned towards the boy.
"Thank you".
"Ah, no problem. Name is Zeke".
"Momo".
"Kobayashi".
As he said that, he took a plate and quickly loaded it with food himself, before giving them a nod.
"By the way, I saw you admiring that one piece earlier. What did you think about it?"
He asked that question out of nowhere. That said, since they only just met him, they were not sure how to answer. Or if he could be trusted.
"Honestly, I was just trying to wrap my head around it. I thought it was interesting though".
"I wonder if the Whale was a real whale, or a digital whale myself".
They gave such answers, which caused Zeke to let loose a bit of a giggle.
"That is some interesting thoughts for sure. Personally, I was just thinking that it could use more people myself".
Zeke said such a line, as he walked away towards another room.
Once he was gone though, Kobayashi whispered to Momo in a hushed voice.
"Blue hair...but ever since the Cyberworld incident that is not rare anymore, but still...there were two candidates".
"Maybe, but he seemed a lot more open, and if he knew those rich kids, it seems like he might be well known. Plus, he seemed just a bit to cheerie and flashy...maybe".
"Right...well, I do think the painting was made by one of us though, whoever that is".
Hearing that, Momo looked a bit surprised, but only a bit.
"What did you think of?"
"Zeros...what if, that actually is just Zero. Zero Skie then? Ah, but we are both sure that 0-4 was a girl. I once heard in a culture class that three can numerically represent the sky, but 0-3 was someone we also agreed on as having silver hair. Unless our memories were both messed with for that one".
It was a good thought for sure, but if they suspected every random kid they met, then they would have so many more candidates.
"There are a lot of unknowns, but I think the odds of us randomly encountering one here are rather low. Even if it is a district we both dont normally go to, its just too odd".
"Well, I cant think of anything else from the name that could point out some clues. But...whoever did paint that picture, they are not afraid to express themselves. That said..."
Kobayashi looked at his phone, which he had taken out to look up the people they had just met.
"That boy is expressive it seems, and it seems like he was adopted, but...according to the paperwork, he was adopted over six years ago. At least from these articles. He does seem to be a bit of a recluse though...but that girl, the one that zoned in on us? I checked her out. Maggie Bellmire. Of the Bellmire Foundation. Very competitive, wins a lot of awards in school...younger then you also. And, she was also adopted by her parents. About four years ago, roughly".
Hearing that, the two remembered that bossy girl. It seemed strange, but...
"Ah, there you both are!"
Suddenly, they heard that and got grabbed by their arms from behind and pulled away.
"Come on, its time! I need you to get into positions for my proposal. Dont screw it up, it has to be perfect, with both engagement rings present!"
And so, they got pulled into their job finally, and could no longer resume their discussion.
And so, the night went on like that.
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Later that night meanwhile, a boy stared at a canvas. A short thirteen year old, his hair had been shifted away from his neck, just enough to reveal a barcode and 0- imprinted upon it, as he wore just a black paint stained T shirt and shorts.
And then, he was looking at the same room, the same canvas, in the Cyberworld in the time it took to blink.
"I wonder, do people really fully understand the truth of these paintings?" he muttered to himself in a hushed voice. However he shook it off, causing his hair to fall down and cover the exposed bit as he stood upon his bare feet, walking across the colorful floor splattered with dried paint as he approached his canvas.
He nodded, as once again he just appeared in the normal world again.
"Well, I am sure this will help".
And then, picking up a brush, he began painting.