Chapter 33:
Crossing Time
Everyone followed Naoko as she led them through the burnt-out trees and the ruins. Akira looked around with a thoughtful look on her face. She had the strangest feeling that she knew what this place was, but couldn’t put a finger on it.
It wasn’t until she saw the remains of a circular platform and a cylindrical glass dome that it hit her.
“This is the Digital Transfer Lab…” Akira said, her mind reeling. She looked around at the burned trees. “And this is – was – the forest with the colored leaves!”
Naoko nodded. “Helamon’s last attack wiped out everything here. But don’t worry, everything we need is underground.” She continued on past the wrecked transfer pad, stopping at a carved circle on the ruined floor. Carvings of different Crests lined the rim of the circle. Naoko motioned everyone onto the circle, then closed her eyes. A bright light enveloped them, and the circle began to lower like an elevator platform.
They floated downward for a few moments, then landed on the next floor down. The room they arrived in was surrounded by computer consoles, all turned on, with a circular platform in the middle, covered by a glass dome – an intact version of the ruins aboveground.
“What is all this?” Jun asked, looking around the room in wonder.
Akira started to say something, but Naoko silenced her. “I’ll explain later. In the meantime, I have a lot to tell you, and time is of the essence.”
She waved a hand through the air, manipulating the molecules around her as if she were playing a harp.
“Let’s start at the beginning, shall we?”
The room suddenly changed, and everyone floated in the air as the view moved over Tokyo, to Odaiba, and to a certain building on a university campus. The technology looked archaic in a late-1980s way, with large monitors and computers cased in beige plastic. Two people dressed in lab coats, a man and a heavily pregnant woman, were milling around a large, empty glass chamber, taking readings. In the next room, behind a large window, stood a little girl with violet eyes. She looked to be two or three years old.
“Before you ask, yes, that’s me,” Naoko said, “My parents are on the other side of the glass, preparing for an experiment.”
“What kind of experiment?” Jun asked.
“Project Mobius,” Naoko answered, “The world’s first attempt to bring an entirely digital life-form into the Real World. It was a tightly kept secret, so the world never knew.”
Naoko sighed and continued. “But something went wrong during the initial test. The realizer technology brought back a monster instead of the small digital life-form that was expected.”
“A Digimon?” Mana asked.
Naoko nodded. “A virus that set itself on infecting and destroying everything around it.”
The view changed, showing a monstrous Digimon with double helices and DNA fragments as limbs emerging from the glass chamber and destroying everything in sight. A fire ignited, causing an explosion.
“My parents disappeared during the incident and were presumed dead, while I made it out with a few scratches and smoke inhalation.”
Akira looked back at her in surprise. “You were lucky.”
Naoko gave her a funny look. “Lucky is relative. I spent 7 years being bounced around between distant relatives, until I came to Hikarigaoka.”
Seita and Yuka’s eyes widened at the name, and they gave each other a significant look.
“I was staying with a friend of the family at the time. I met three other kids living in the same apartment complex and made friends. And one summer night, we each received Digivices and were transported to the Digital World. It was there where I found my parents again, and met my younger sister, Setsuko.
The view changed to a group of five kids. An older Naoko, with Coronamon, and her sister Setsuko with Lunamon. A boy with messy hair was paired with Spadamon, and a girl with short brown hair with Floramon. A tanned boy with black hair was paired with Elecmon.
“Each of us were paired with Digimon partners, and tasked with saving the Digital World whenever it was in danger. We were called the Chosen Children.”
Akira’s eyes widened. “Chosen Children...”
Naoko nodded. “Naoko Magami. Setsuko Magami. Seiji Mitsuishi. Kou Cagayan. Mitoru Araneta. The five of us were the original Chosen Children. The ones to arrive in the Digital World first.”
“Mitsuishi…” Akira murmured.
“Araneta?” Rion asked.
Naoko continued without addressing them. “While Hikarigaoka in the Real World experienced the battle between Greymon and Parrotmon, we were in the Digital World, fighting to keep more Digimon from entering the Real World. By the time Greymon defeated Parrotmon and disappeared, we had managed to close every gate to the Digital World without any other Digimon coming through.
“What happened then?” Yuka asked.
“Our task was done. And we were sent back to the Real World.”
“But what about your family?” Kei asked, “Your parents, your sister?”
Naoko gave her a bittersweet smile. “They stayed behind in the Digital World. It would have been hard for my parents to convince the authorities that they weren’t dead and were actually living in another world. Even harder for my sister, who wasn’t even born in the Real World.”
Kei looked at her, confused. “So you…”
“Continued to bounce around between distant relatives. But at least I knew I had a family, even though I couldn’t see them all the time.”
Naoko sighed, then continued. “And things continued on until 4 years later, when the five of us were called to the Digital World again.”
“Did you meet the other kids?” Jun asked, “Taichi, Yamato and the others?”
Naoko nodded.“At this point, 7 more children were chosen to have partner Digimon, with an 8th one coming later. The five of us were content with helping Gennai to run the Digital World in the background while the other children explored and got their bearings. When they left for the Real World, we stayed to help stop the spread of the Dark Masters’ influence. When the children came back with their 8th member, we continued to work behind the scenes. It wasn’t until Apocalymon appeared when we realized the virus Digimon we found in that first experiment had escaped and mutated, and we could do nothing to help the other 8 children.
“What happened to them?” Mana asked.
“Fortunately, they defeated Apocalymon. And we all returned to the Real World soon after that. Gennai had all of our personalities recorded, formed them into AIs, and stored them into computers all over the Digital World. He had a special request for me…”
“Creating a program of you,” Akira spoke up.
Naoko nodded. “I was meant to be Gennai’s backup. A command program that would awaken if anything happened to the Digital World or him. I was created, then sealed, and that was the last thing I remembered for years.”
The omniscient view stopped, replaced by the solid walls of the room.
“I wish that was the end of the story,” Naoko continued, “but unfortunately, there’s more.” She looked around at all of them, then said, “I suppose you’ve heard of the Great Shaking of 2019.”
Akira stared at her. “Of course we have! It’s the one event that almost destroyed the entire earth!”
“It ruined the global infrastructure, and set technology back at least 50 years!” Jun added, “And to this day, no one has ever figured out how or why it happened.”
Naoko didn’t look at either of them, focusing her gaze on the floor.
“Don’t tell me,” Tian said slowly, “you’re the one responsible for it?” Everyone else looked at her in alarm.
Naoko sighed. “I don’t have all the facts, since it happened after my program was sealed and before I awakened. But something happened on August 1, 2019. Something the five of us did, that led to untold destruction.”
No one could say anything. Their minds were still buzzing over Naoko’s revelation.
“All I know,” Naoko continued, “from secondhand reports and salvaged data, is that somehow, a part of Apocalymon survived and bided its time, until 2019, when it attacked the Digital World again. My group was called again to fight. And whatever we did, it worked. Apocalymon was defeated again. But this time the price was too high – whatever we did destroyed both the Digital World and the Real World.”
Naoko closed her eyes. “The only reason I’m awake right now as the Digital World’s command program is because of what happened in 2019. I awakened to find the Digital World in ruins and Gennai destroyed, and the Real World devastated as well. It took decades to pick up the pieces.”
“But you managed it,” Akira said softly. “You kept everything from falling apart.”
“I wasn’t the only one who did,” Naoko answered, “Another organization did most of the work.” She looked directly at Rion. “You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“Yes,” Rion answered, “Infinity.”
“Of course,” Jun added, “Infinity Technologies, Inc., or ITI. It was because they helped rebuild the world that they became the largest tech company on the planet!”
“There’s more to it than that,” Naoko said, “They’re at the center of everything. It was ITI that funded Project Mobius.”
“That long ago?” Jun asked, surprised.
Rion nodded. “They’ve been around a long time.”
Jun looked at Rion. “Your last name… is Araneta, isn’t it?”
Rion nodded, sighing.
“So that means…”
“My father is the head of the largest tech company on the planet, yes.” Rion looked a little annoyed. “It doesn’t mean anything.”
“It means a lot,” Naoko answered, “ITI knows about the Digital World, and the Crests. According to the reports I got, they spent the last ten years searching for every one of you. They called the project Mobius Two.” She turned to Tian. “They found you first.”
“The pass-phrases…” Tian said.
Naoko nodded. Then she turned to Jun and Mana. “They found you a few years later, at Kadena Air Base.”
“The security breach at the air base!” Jun exclaimed, “And those weird guys dressed in black…”
“Dressed in black…” Seita murmured. Then his eyes widened. “There were weird guys dressed in black who tried to kidnap Yuka and knocked me out!”
Naoko turned to Kei and her expression softened. “They found you after that, kidnapped and found in the mountains in the middle of winter.”
Akira looked at Kei in alarm. “Kei…”
Kei didn’t say anything for a moment. “I don’t remember much,” she finally said, “But I hate wintertime and I’m scared of wolves.”
“My house got broken into a week after that,” Rion said gravely, “The intruders attacked my brother and… somehow left me behind. I don’t remember what happened then.”
Finally, Naoko turned to Akira. “They didn’t find you until the day you and Rion went to the Digital World.”
“But wait a minute!” Akira said, “Why were they looking for us in the first place? And why so violent? Kidnappings and attacks… What were they going to do with us once they found us?”
“That was what bothered me for a long time. Until then, ITI’s activities were utterly benign. It wasn’t until later, when I dug a little deeper, that I found out what their real plans were.”
Naoko waved a hand, and the walls of the room transformed again. A map of the Digital World appeared.
“About a year ago, I noticed a spurt of increased activity on ITI’s servers. The level of activity was very unusual for them at the time, so I investigated. And what I discovered was frightening.”
Every area of the Digital World except one turned black.
“They’d managed to seize control of almost every server of the Digital World, moving in behind my back after I’d completed my maintenance rounds. They formed the Midnight Army to invade and subdue each server Then they revived an old weapon and used it to control Digimon all over the land and sea.”
“The Black Gears?” Jun asked.
“Exactly. I couldn’t do anything about the servers under ITI’s control, but I could focus on the one server that wasn’t.”
“The one we’re on now,” Tian answered.
“Yes.”
“Are you the one who sent us the Digivices?”
“I am.”
Seita frowned. “But they came in the mail, of all places!”
Naoko smiled. “It isn’t hard to manipulate a couple of computers and 3D printers, and get some unsuspecting people to deliver electronic toys to a few kids’ addresses! Sending them directly to you through your computers would have raised a major red flag within ITI, so I did things the old-fashioned way.”
“But why would ITI do this?” Rion asked, “Take over the Digital World and the Digimon? My father would never allow it if he knew!” He thought a moment. “He has to know. If what you’ve said is true, my grandfather was a Chosen Child!”
“That’s one thing we need to find out.”
Naoko reverted the room back to solid walls. Akira and Kodamon walked up to her with serious looks.
“What do you need us to do?” Akira asked.
Naoko took a deep breath, then answered. “First, return to the Real World and prevent Mataymon and the Midnight Army from invading it. Second, infiltrate ITI and find out their ultimate plan. And third…” Naoko looked troubled for a moment. “Find my human counterpart. Once you return to the Real World, I won’t be able to contact you directly… unless my human self intervenes. She’s the only one who knows the codes for me to attempt a direct connection to the Real World.”
“That’s a tall order,” Seita remarked.
“Finding your human self…” Jun murmured. “But you were created 70 years ago! Your human self is probably over 80 years old now… She might not even be around anymore!”
“I don’t think we’d have to look very far, actually…”
Everyone turned to look at Akira, who had a thoughtful look on her face. “My grandfather’s name was Seiji. Seiji Mitsuishi.” She looked back at Naoko, eyeing her candidly. “If you don’t mind me asking, were you two… together?”
Naoko slowly turned red. “I would say mind your own business, but… yes.”
Akira’s eyes lit up. “I see. And does the name ‘Nami’ mean anything to you?”
Naoko grew teary-eyed. “Yes.”
“That settles it, then.”
“Settles what, exactly?” Seita asked.
“Naoko’s human self…” Akira said, “is my grandmother, Nami. And she’s very much alive.”