Thank you for keeping up with this project! I know these last few chapters have been a little slow, but I’ll keep doing my best to make them work. Make sure you always support the official release, and check out my version the following Monday. If you’ve been enjoying this project, please make sure you like, comment, follow, and share this with your friends!
Eventually, each founder had a Digimon partner. Saya had the bipedal dinosaur Digimon, Agumon. Kosuke’s partner was the ladybug-like Digimon, Tentamon. Yulin had the strange plant reptile, Palmon. Its leafy limbs ended in root-like tendrils, and a massive flower grew out of its head.
Thank you for keeping up with this project! I know these last few chapters have been a little slow, but I’ll keep doing my best to make them work. Make sure you always support the official release, and check out my version the following Monday. If you’ve been enjoying this project, please make sure you like, comment, follow, and share this with your friends!
Eventually, each founder had a Digimon partner. Saya had the bipedal dinosaur Digimon, Agumon. Kosuke’s partner was the ladybug-like Digimon, Tentamon. Yulin had the strange plant reptile, Palmon. Its leafy limbs ended in root-like tendrils, and a massive flower grew out of its head.
Saya, Kosuke, Yulin, and the professor gather in the secret test chamber away from the factory floor. Around them, the air fills with the whirring of servers and computers. The tables are filled with unfinished gadgets and notes. Saya wakes peacefully from her test, and the four get busy looking over the latest batch of test results.
“That’s it for today,” Yulin says as she submits the last bit of data. “The image is still blurry and pixelated. There is still no color, and all I can hear is static.”
“That’s a hardware issue,” Kosuke says looking up from his notes. “We need more processing power.”
“We’re so close…”Ryusenji trails off in his disappointment. Silence falls over the group as they continue to make notes and study the results. “We have to see the Digital world. The tests here are fine for now, but we need to get into their world somehow….If we could get into the Net and somehow control the Digimon…” The dangers of mindlink left them little room for error.
“I wonder what the Digital World looks like. Would we even recognize it?” Yulin says in her daze.
“The Digital World has its own systems similar to Earth’s,” the professor mumbles.
“What was that Professor?” The three turn to him curiously.
“I believe that these AI creatures exist in their own natural order. They have a food chain, evolution, and are forced to survive many environmental dangers….” The professor trails off as his mind drifts to a different problem. The students had grown used to the professor’s scattered grumblings. They fill in the blanks as he continues to mumble to himself incoherently.
“How’s work on the retrieval tools going? What is our failure rate at now?” Yulin asks bluntly.
“With our current toolset, our success rate is above 80%,” Kosuke answers.
“We’re treding on undiscovered ground. It is unreasonable for our initial results to be perfect, but we’ll get there. I know a solution is within our reach. Science is full of moments where the impossible is made possible, and I just know we’ll be the ones to do it,” Ryusenji says enthusiastically.
They dubbed the program, Tartarus. Like the many explorers before them, they would not rest until they set foot in the Digital World.
The night before Tartarus’s official launch, Yuli, Kosuke, and Saya visit the plot of land that would become Tokyo University of Electrical and Computer Engineering.
Their breath hangs in the frigid air as they look over the empty plot of land. Heavy machines sat to one side, but construction hadn’t started.
“Can’t believe this will all be a university,” Saya muses.
The three stood quietly in the dark of night. The cold air makes Kosuke shiver as he puts his hands in his pockets. The light of a nearby vending machine catches his eye. He makes his way over.
Yulin fumbles a pair of car keys into her pocket. “What possessed you to come all the way out here tonight?” She asks Saya. Yulin’s voice shakes from the cold.
“Don’t you want to see where we’re gunna work one day? I just wanted to check it out.”
“I guess we will be working here…”Yulin’s voice trails off.
“This is the only chance we’ll get to see it empty. Soon it’ll be full of buildings, people, and dreams…”
“Mhmm” Yulin says, not paying attention.
“I hope we’re all still together ten years from now.” Saya grips her Digimon Dock tightly. She raises the LCD screen towards the plot. “See this Agu? It’s going to be a whole new town. I hope it will be easy for you and the other Digimon to live here.”
The small pixelated Agumon looks back and forth on his screen, studying its surroundings.
“You talk to that thing all the time, huh?” Yulin asks.
“Don’t you talk to Palmon?”
“Um…well…” Yulin stumbles for an answer. Talking to her Digimon never crossed her mind.
“I mean it’s not that crazy. People talk to their pets and plants all the time. If Digimon don’t know human language, maybe they can start learning. If Digimon could understand us, we wouldn’t need special tools to control them.”
“Yeah, that would be handy.”
“Regardless of what you think,” Saya begins as she looks down at her dock, “I’m pretty sure Agu understands me.” She lets out a loving smile. “Right Agu?!” Saya turns her attention back to Yulin. “At least I’m pretty sure someone’s talking to me when I’m mindlinked.”
“So our partners can talk to us when we’re linked? And you never reported that?”
“You have to keep it a secret,” Saya pleads woridly. “If they think I’m hearing things, they’ll kick me off the project!”
Saya’s fears weren’t unfounded. While she was the most promising candidate, she took the longest to adjust to the mindlink and still struggled with her nausea. Regardless of the numbers, they were ready to replace her with a more suitable candidate the moment she outlived her usefulness.
“What does it say?” Yulin asks, changing the subject.
“I don’t know, but it feels..friendly? Like its calling my name, or its happy to see me. It’s just like you said.”
“What I said?”
“Connecting with Digimon is incredible…and incredibly dangerous.”
“We think we’ve discovered the Digital World, but what if we’re the ones being discovered?”
“All the more reason to continue with our studies. It’s too late to keep our worlds separated now.” A silence falls over them for a moment. “You know? My dad thinks you’re the most important member of the team.”
“Me?”
Saya nods. “You make this feel official. Like a real company.”
The sudden compliment stuns Yulin. She doesn’t know how to respond.
“When ever we make a mistake or lose focus, you’re the only one who can get us back on track.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I know it’s a lot…”
“It’s freezing! I can’t believe the vending machine still has cold drinks in winter,” Kuske grumbles as he walks back to the girls, holding three hot drinks in his arms. He hands each girl one.
“We can head back if you’re ready to go,” Yulin offers as she accepts her drink.
“Let’s stay a little longer,” Saya asks. She holds her drink tightly.
“I’m good either way. It’s nice to have a moment to zone out for a bit.” Kosuke takes a sip of his drink. “
“I’ll wait in the car then,” Yulin says as she walks away. She turns on the car and turns up the heat. She looks over at Kosuke and Saya as they huddle together and stare up into the night sky. The glow of the construction lights washes over them. Yulin takes a moment to snap a picture.
