While we wait for Sunday’s chapter, I’ve decided to revise the Seekers story to fix some of the story’s awkwardness. I will keep the story the same but will try to make it sound nicer. This isn’t my story, so please make sure you check out the original. Let me know if this is something worth continuing. Make sure you start at chapter 1-1
Eiji finds himself in a domed room, staring at a massive hologram of networks swimming around his head. He stood surrounded by the World Web. Game servers, social networks, and cat photos are all in almost tangible clumps of code and data. Eiji is left speechless by the impressive showcase. The professor smiles.
Before them, a hologram produces a map of a strange yet familiar world. While not the best rendering, it was beautiful nonetheless. It was a world full of strange wildlife separated by distinct biomes. A world with islands and continents. Mountains and oceans.
“Welcome to the Digital World,” a warm mechanical voice begins to say. “A world that exists outside the sea of networks. The Digital world is inhabited by digital monsters, or Digimon” Suddenly a new hologram begins to materialize before Eiji. At first glance, the monster looks like a frog or rather a tadpole about to become a frog. It is green with black stripes, almost like a watermelon. A dorsal fin runs down its back. A single sharp claw stems from its arms and legs, and its tail rests lazily behind it. Sharp exaggerated fangs spill out of its mouth and its red eyes stare down at Eiji. It may not be the best quality, but Eiji marvels at the display.
Below the Digimon, its data reads “Betamon, child, amphibian, virus type.
“Digimon are living AI” the recording continues.
Living AI? Eiji thinks, Is that really possible?
“Digimon can resemble living, mythical and theological beings. They can take the form of mammals, plants, insects, machines, and even gods” The hologram cycles through visual representations to aid its explanation. The voice continues with the history of Digimon.
“Digimon can evolve. Throughout its life, a Digimon will exist in one of five stages. Baby, child, adult, perfect, and ultimate form,” the hologram cycles through a digivolution line.
“Digimon are our way of interacting with the digital world,” Professor Ryusenji chimes in. “This new world suddenly appeared on our network, and it has since helped prop up humanity. Digimon have played an important part in revolutionizing society. The application of Digimon as AI tools has lead to remarkable discoveries in different fields like software development, cryptographic security, and even medicine.” the professor is unable to hide his passion.
“However” his tone changes “There is a lot we don’t know about the Digimon or the digital world. Most people don’t even know it exists”
The dome begins to vibrate as an electric buzz begins to fill the room. The images in front of them disappear.
“Even if they did” the professor continues “they wouldn’t understand. Most people aren’t ready to understand.”
The dome continues to shift around them. Suddenly, the pair find themselves inside the cabin of a passenger plane. The flight is full. The engine roars as it carries the plane over clumps of clouds.
“There are two sides to this new world. While Digimon have been instrumental in important scientific advancements, there are people who will misuse them as weapons. Unfortunately, Digimon crimes exist,” the professor’s voice trails off.
The scene starts to play around them. One passenger films the cabin with his smartphone. In the seats next to him, his wife and daughter sleep soundly.
BOOOOH!!!!
The serenity of the cabin is suddenly interrupted by a deafening roar. Eiji is startled by the sudden outburst. The cabin erupts into chaos with a sudden flood of noise followed by an ominous silence.
ROOAAARRRRRR
The scene starts to go dark as the camera begins to shake violently. An alarm starts to sound as the oxygen masks come down. Panicked screams mix with the confusion and….
Eiji averts his eyes. He can’t watch anymore, but there is nothing he can do. The scene continues to play. The airplane begins to lose altitude. It crashes through the clouds and falls out of the sky.
Eiji and the professor find themselves in the professor’s lab. It looks like an ordinary university laboratory with tables filled with parts and unfinished gadgets. On the wall are shelves crammed with tools, materials, and cardboard boxes. One of the walls is made of glass, revealing an empty hallway. The two are alone except for the occasional whirling of machines.
Ryunsenji inspects the palm-sized gadget Eiji brought with him. A Digital Dock. “Wonderful,” the professor says as he turns the device in his hands. He is visibly impressed by Eiji’s work.
Ryuesenji connects Eiji’s dock to the lab’s equipment. The Digimon Eiji captured appears in a hologram. It is a familiar tailed frog-like creature.
“A Modoki Betamon, just as I requested. Look at how beautiful and gentle it looks” Ryunsenji smiles widely as he continues to study the creature.
Eiji scoffs at the remark “It took four Tyrannomon to capture it!” Eiji sets his belongings on one of the tables.
Ryuensenji continues to study the Betamon “wow, sounds rough” he says in an almost distracted reply.
Eiji remembers the fight. The cornered Betamon fighting back furiously, the shockwave emitted from the creature’s dorsal fin, and the Tyrranamon lost to this “blade fin” technique.
“This Betamon is different from the others,” Eiji begins his appeal.
“How do you mean?” Ryusneji seems miffed. He looks at the Betamon “Oh. You don’t know do you Eiji? You don’t know the difference between Betamon and Modoki Betamon?”
Eiji shakes his head in embarrassment. He didn’t like disappointing his clients. “Umm, is it the color?”
“That’s it!” the professor exclaims “so you do know the difference. I’ll make sure you get a bit of a bonus with your reward”
“Thank you so much!” Eiji’s mouth begins to water at the thought of meat for dinner. It’s been a while since he could afford meat, or any food really.
The professor seemed satisfied. He begins to transfer the Modoki Betamon data into the strange device.
Ryusenji turns to Eiji and asks “I’ve been meaning to ask. What did you think of our little experience from earlier?”
“Earlier…” Eiji shakes himself from his meat bowl dream “Oh you mean the video in D4? It was amazing!”
“That was a promotional video for our planned Digimon Land. The idea was to sell Digimon as characters to the general public to help educate them on the Digital World.”
Eiji’s imagination begins to race with ideas for the Digimon AI “I especially liked that Digimon are AI creatures. If I were a kid, I’d be hooked!”
Ryunsenji shakes his head as he turns his attention to Eiji. “You don’t understand,” his hand lands on Eiji’s shoulder “Digimon are alive.”