MPC 59A + 59X [53B]: The New Beginning
Feb 7, 2019 23:22:35 GMT
Post by Alan Pantell on Feb 7, 2019 23:22:35 GMT
MPC Name: Begin Again
MPC Number: 59A
Requested Reward: Posts
Wild Card Name: Crackdown in Shibuya
Wild Card Number: 53B
Requested Reward: Posts
0. Morning
Darkness.
...He couldn't see anything.
Of course he couldn't; he had his eyes closed.
…He wondered if he should open them.
He decided not to just yet. It was too cozy. He'd prefer to sleep in. He didn't have anywhere to be, after all.
...For someone who didn't have anywhere he needed to be, he was pretty excited.
He opened his eyes, just to check the time.
...It was time to wake up. For some reason, he was fairly certain of that.
Darkness.
...Had he forgotten to open his eyes?
He opened his eyes, to wake up.
...He woke up.
Blinding light. Just for a bit. He'd be able to see momentarily. Light. A blue sky. Not the blue sky, but a blue sky. For some reason, he was fairly certain of that.
...And sound, too. A breeze. Gentle and quiet. He felt it on his skin. His skin. His skin. For some reason, he was fairly certain of that. He was in a bed. It was comfortable. Soft. He couldn't move as much as he'd like to. He must have been sleeping in a strange position. For some reason, he wasn't too certain of that, though.
He was wide awake. He felt full of energy. Yet he was content to stay there, watching the sky, hearing the breeze, and other sounds around him. Feeling the breeze, two. And the cushioning below him. He couldn't see much else. Mostly the sky. On his sides were the walls of... a... cradle. Yes. A cradle. Of this, he was able to be considerably certain. He was closer to one side of the cradle than the other. He decided he should try to get out of bed.
...The soft thing leaning on his cheek seemed to agree.
They decided they would try to get out of bed.
...He woke up.
I. Morning, In Prose
Alan Pantell scrambled out of bed. He knew he had had a strange dream, but the strangest part about it was that it was completely vivid, even though it wasn't lucid in the slightest. It was as if it had planted in him a memory of something that had never happened. He hated when dreams did that.
He had to hand it to his unconscious mind. It had so profoundly disturbed him that he no longer felt comfortable in a hotel bed, of all beds. He was full of energy, but he wasn't too certain that would still be the case after his heartbeat slowed down to normal.
Let's get this straight. My name is Alan Pantell. I am an 18-year-old human male. If there is one thing I am not, it is a disembodied baby head. It is currently September twenty... third, two-thousand-and-eighteen, and the time is... eight o' one AM. I am in a hotel room. This hotel room is part of a hotel, which is in... Shibuya. Tokyo. Japan. Asia. Earth. That's pretty neat. I am here... alone. That's pretty neat. I am here on vacation. Vacation from... from... school, I guess? No. Vacation from expectations. It won't work. I still have to go back to them. I have to try to enjoy myself, though, right?
Alan had brought some light snacks with him in his backpack in case he didn't feel like going anywhere for breakfast: two bags of chips and a box of Pop-Tarts™. Well, he had already been jolted out of bed, so naturally, he felt like going to find some place to eat. He took his smartphone from his pocket and searched for where he could find a meal in the area. All over the place, of course, but still, he wanted to have a particular establishment, or at least an area, in mind.
And of course, the maps show NO indication that the entire Entertainment District is shut down and blocked off. Sure, why should they consider THAT an important piece of information? Or that, you know, the cops start looking like they're ready to pounce if you so much as try to approach to ask questions? Whatever. It says there's a mall nearby. I can find something there.
Shibuya 104 made him wish he had at least eaten one of his snacks that morning. The food court on the first floor had all kinds of options, but his hunger forced him to go ahead and settle for some McDonalds™. Oh well, egg mcmuffins are more breakfast-y than sushi, anyway, as much as Alan hated to be "that" tourist. There were quite a few shops he decided he might be interested in purchasing from, but he also thought it'd be better if he waited until he wanted to go back to the hotel before taking any more merchandise with him. His backpack was already packed pretty full, after all. While the shrines and mountains and most things were breathtakingly beautiful, there was one thing Alan was sure would always pass the time.
II. The Arcade
One of Alan's greatest sources of appreciation for Japan was their arcades. Japanese culture cared for arcades for more than American culture did; that much was a matter of little dispute. Back in the United States, one would be hard-pressed to find a beaten up Cruisin' Exotica™ cabinet in a diner. Speaking of which, why was it always games from the nineties? Regardless, then there was Japan. To Alan, Japanese arcades were always a stunning sight. Vibrant colors, plenty of people, brand new games, (though now one might wonder where the nineties games went,) and most important of all: music games. Drumming games, piano-ish games, whatever you would call Sound Voltex™... the best Alan could ever find at home was Guitar Hero Arcade™, and the cities could only be on flame with rock and roll so many times. Alan, as a drummer since second grade, was most interested in said drumming game: Taiko no Tatsujin™. The core gameplay was simple: hit the center of the drum for red notes, and hit the rim of the drum for blue notes. Any other rules were merely for extra points. This simple idea left room for the tracks themselves to be as hard as anyone could ever want, not to imply that the games with more complexity didn't also become super hard.He inserted his yen and scrolled through the available songs, trying to find some he recognized. The "video games" section was a safe bet. He decided to play "The Windmill Song" from Klonoa: Door to Phantomile™. That song always put a smile on his face. It was a cute, fun, and fairly short game, but the ending always made him feel cheated and sad. The main character is forced away from the world where his best friend lives, as an inevitable result of his adventures. After eventually letting him go, the friend looks up into the sky with some kind of sad smile. Alan hated that smile. It pissed him off. Doesn't he care? Why did happy music always get him thinking about the stuff that wasn't happy?
Darkness.
In a moment, all of the vibrant lights of the windowless arcade had vanished. Alan had been standing still, so it shouldn't have been hard to remain where he was, but he felt his weight shift. The taiko's drum stick peripherals clattered to the floor as he himself hit the ground with a thud, his backpack softening his fall. It was as if he had been dragged into a corner, next to the machine. In the distance, footsteps clambered. He heard no noises of panicking. But he felt something rough covering his mouth. A hand? No, couldn't be. Actually, yes it could. He could feel it. Whatever was holding onto him was alive. Likely with some kind of glove on. He heard a whisper from behind his head.
"I'm not going to hurt you. Please just be quiet for a bit longer. I'm begging you."
Oh. That was interesting. This had all happened so suddenly, it hadn't occurred to him that he might be in danger. He decided the safest thing to do was believe he voice.
"They chased me in here, and they knocked everyone out with some kind of... short-term memory amnesiac gas. S... somehow, you were still standing. Before they noticed you, I cut the power. A lot of them are gone now. When they come back, they're probably frame this as... a terrorist attack, or a gas leak, or something. I probably made that easier for them. You got a light on you? Like a flashlight, I don't expect you to have-"
"Yea-"
"Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wait! Full disclosure, if you're willing to help me escape, we're going to have to work together, you're going to need to not freak out when you see me. Laying all my cards on the table now: suspend your disbelief, from here on, humor me, this is a fantasy world. I am a small magical creature. Reptilian. Dragon-like. But I'm very easy on the eyes once you get over the fact that I exist. If you don't believe me, feel around. Just enough for proof, though. Don't linger too long."
Alan moved his hand around in the darkness. The same texture he felt on his hand was felt all the way down the arm, and to the main body, which... did feel surprisingly small. Spines down what he assumed to be the back, leading to what the voice kindly informed him was his tail.
"Clearly," remarked Alan. "Okay, I believe you. What now?"
"Do you think I'd fit inside your backpack?"
"Well, it's mostly empty, I don't see why not."
Alan, who was now feeling rather lucky that he hadn't taken any of the loud, crinkly bags of chips from his room, let the mysterious ally who clearly wasn't human climb into his backpack, and close the zipper almost all the way.
"Now use that light of yours to get out of here. I don't hear anyone else around."
"On it." He took his phone from his pocket and turned on the flashlight. Hm. No one else seemed to be unconscious around here. Strange.
"If you're thinking this is like a game, here's a hint: you won't find anything lootable around here. I know it's cool, but we're in a hurry!" his backpack reminded him. "And one more thing: for convenience, you should know that my name is Levi. You?"
"Alan." Levi was right. He supposed it would be weird if he needed to ask "dragon-like creature in his backpack" a question without knowing his name. He quickly escaped from the relatively-small arcade. Immediately after exiting, he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Lev- huh?"
It wasn't Levi that had tapped him on the shoulder, and good thing it wasn't because there was someone else standing right behind him: what seemed to be a middle-aged, yet decidedly in-shape man, with broad shoulders, kind eyes, and a patient smile.
"Excuse me, young man..." said the stranger, in English, surprisingly enough. "Did you notice anything strange coming out of that building?"
Alan wasn't quite sure how to answer. "Was I... supposed to? Unless you're referring to the fact that blackout itself. Nobody seemed intent on helping me out; stumbled around a bit before remembering my phone had a flashlight function. Shouldn't they have some kind of backup for the power or something?"
"They did! But interestingly enough..." the man pulled up his sleeve to check his gold-plated analog watch, momentarily frowning with his eyes only, "...even electronics that hadn't been directly tampered with seemed to be going haywire."
"Look, I don't know if you're the owner of this building, or some kind of stakeholder, but, I dunno, if you're trying to get me to keep quiet about the power failure, I wasn't gonna mention anything anyway, so..."
The man sighed, and spoke under his breath, "Blasted legislators... let's enforce a law that nobody is allowed to know about... keep the peace and such..."
Just then, Alan heard Levi whisper to him. "You can get a head start if you run before the tension reaches its natural peak. You can see where this is going, right? Anywhere close by where you think it'd be easy to lose him?"
…
…
...the train station.
"To be perfectly frank, I was only asking you to see if you were willing to tell the truth." The stranger was digging in his pocket for some kind of radar apparatus. "After all, the 'strange thing' we're looking happens to be...." He gave a confused look at the radar. "...quickly moving away from me." He scoffed. "In the direction of the train station." He reached into his other pocket for a walkie-talkie of sorts. "Koukai to headquarters. Code grey. Open Chase Utility Tunnel 8-0, Route B."
Well, Alan had no idea that he wasn't being actively chased, since looking back wouldn't have been a good idea if he was. "Wait a minute. Levi, is he even chasing me?"
"He calmly walked down the alley he was standing next to. Keep running anyway."
"Any idea where?"
"No. I told you to get lost, didn't I? Listen to your heart or something."
"Hah, yeah, okay, my heart says..."
The so-called "off-limits" passage. There.
"Huh? I think my heart may have answered!"
"Good!?"
For once in his life, Alan acted without thinking; he knew that a moment's hesitation would stop him from following the helpful directions he'd been given. He'd never heard voices in his head before, so he assumed that this one wasn't a sign of insanity. He entered a dimly-lit passageway which looked like it should have been shuttered off but wasn't, and simply followed it down twists and turns, far more than there would normally be in a place like this. At this point the two were likely a few floors below the rest of the train station. They came across an abandoned platform which was somehow still lit, despite looking like its existence had been completely forgotten. Alan spoke up, half-joking to himself. "Is this Mementos? Are we going to Mementos? Is my heart leading me to the Prison of Regression? Because I thought it was better than that."
Quite the opposite, in fact. Down. Onto the tracks. That way. There will be a door. Worry not. No vehicles operate on these tracks.
Alan had to run for at least a full minute on the tracks to reach said door. There was nothing impressive about the door itself, save for the out-of-place looking scanner to the right of it. The door itself had no handle, and naturally, Alan had no idea what he was supposed to scan. "Um... voice who has neither confirmed nor denied that they are the voice of my heart? Hello?"
"Well, I'm certainly not whatever you said, but hello."
"Gah!"
From the darkness of the tunnel, back in the direction from which they came, walked the man they had left behind earlier.
"I'm going to answer your questions now. I have not been chasing you, but I had a pretty good hunch as to where you would run. I caught up to you by means of efficiently-laid out underground tunnels for use by Shibuya law enforcement. That reminds me. While I do not intend to arrest you, you are indeed breaking the law. I thought you should know. The law itself is a secret by its own specifications. However, I will be taking you into custody. Your 'friend' there will be arrested."
"Law! What law!?"
"Digimon are to stay out of Tokyo, and its people are not to shelter them. Ideally, no one is to find out about them at all."
"Digimon?"
"Di- have you... have you been assisting this one without knowing anything?"
"A-all I knew was he needed help. He sounded terrified, he-"
"Right. Well thank you for bringing him all the way here. We'll take care of the rest."
"But where is here? And what's this hunch? You said you'd answer my questions, so answer them, dammit!"
Finally, the man winced. He could never get used to this part. He seemed almost to snarl at his own predicament. "Listen," he started, "those- those things are dangerous. I don't know if there's any logic to it. But they pick people. They choose people, we used to think it was just kids, but it can be anyone, and we used to think it was just Shibuya, but we've seen cases globally. They choose people, and they latch onto them. And whether they know they're doing it or not, it's always disguised as some sort of miracle, or a chance encounter. But sooner or later, the ones who are chosen are led away. To their home. In the digital world, just beyond that door you're trying to get into. We've had a few strange cases where the chosen would up and disappear into the river. Tragic things, those. In that world, anything can happen. Some turn up dead immediately, some turn up fine. Some go back after turning up fine, and then die. And if you just think we're just attributing mysterious disappearances to something we can't explain, that's not all they do. Sometimes they skip a few steps and come here. They kill people."
As the man continued talking, Alan would occasionally feel his backpack twitch, these twitches ever-so-subtly increasing in frequency, but still being far apart.
"Property damage. Buildings. The Entertainment District is in ruins. And right up until it happens, they always tell me the same thing. They would never. He's my friend. The strength of our bonds will see us through. It's such an easy decision to make, just don't trust them!"
Alan knew something was wrong when his vision was blurred by a sudden stream of tears. He closed his eyes in the break in the noise and listened.
"Please..." sobbed a faint version of Levi's voice from behind. "...please stop... they never mean to... I'm not a... you shouldn't... I... I... I... I wanna h-help somebody..."
Alan could feel Levi flip over in his backpack, burying what he assumed was his face in his back.
"If you're trying to return them home... you said it was just through this door right?"
"That's why I need you to-"
"THROUGH THIS DOOR, RIGHT?" Alan slammed his hand down onto the scanner that served as the door's locking and unlocking mechanism. With a flash and a spark, the young man now clutched something in his hand that he hadn't before. The door to his right slid open. Alan stepped onto the elevator without hesitation. He did not close the doors.
"No!" The man ran up to the elevator and froze. Alan stared him back, unamused.
"Well?"
"Please... step off of the lift."
"Make me."
"No... not there... not in that place..."
"Goodbye."
With the door having slid closed, Alan and Levi were now safe. Alan took his backpack off and slumped to the ground. "You're safe now." It hadn't occurred to him that he hadn't yet even seen Levi's face. It was too late now. Too late to be shocked. Without another word, a tiny, wingless dragon was sobbing into his arms, as the lift began its long and slow descent into the depths below. Only holding another living being in his arms finally told him what was most important about his current situation.
"This... isn't a dream."
Levi's crying was interrupted by a small laugh. "Huh. No, it's not. And... and that guy back there... you won't die. I won't let you..."
"It's okay. I know you won't."
"Why...? We just met."
"Hmm... maybe I'm still not convinced this is real. Give it time. Whatever I see at the bottom of this elevator will probably convince me."
"You'll love it."
"How do you know? We just met."
"We did. And you brought me all the way here. Maybe we can use this elevator to become acquaintances, Alan."
"Maybe we will, Levi."
An officer stares at the ground below him, sunken to his knees, in front of a weirdly-placed elevator, in a weirdly-placed platform, at a normally-placed train station.
Thirty seconds of silent contemplation. Then he got up.
"I think I'll leave the kids another flower later. After work. Mmm... a black one..." The man traipsed off in the direction from which he had entered. "...and we'll color one petal blue."
THE BEGINNING
Words: 3421
MPC Number: 59A
Requested Reward: Posts
Wild Card Name: Crackdown in Shibuya
Wild Card Number: 53B
Requested Reward: Posts
0. Morning
Darkness.
...He couldn't see anything.
Of course he couldn't; he had his eyes closed.
…He wondered if he should open them.
He decided not to just yet. It was too cozy. He'd prefer to sleep in. He didn't have anywhere to be, after all.
...For someone who didn't have anywhere he needed to be, he was pretty excited.
He opened his eyes, just to check the time.
...It was time to wake up. For some reason, he was fairly certain of that.
Darkness.
...Had he forgotten to open his eyes?
He opened his eyes, to wake up.
...He woke up.
Blinding light. Just for a bit. He'd be able to see momentarily. Light. A blue sky. Not the blue sky, but a blue sky. For some reason, he was fairly certain of that.
...And sound, too. A breeze. Gentle and quiet. He felt it on his skin. His skin. His skin. For some reason, he was fairly certain of that. He was in a bed. It was comfortable. Soft. He couldn't move as much as he'd like to. He must have been sleeping in a strange position. For some reason, he wasn't too certain of that, though.
He was wide awake. He felt full of energy. Yet he was content to stay there, watching the sky, hearing the breeze, and other sounds around him. Feeling the breeze, two. And the cushioning below him. He couldn't see much else. Mostly the sky. On his sides were the walls of... a... cradle. Yes. A cradle. Of this, he was able to be considerably certain. He was closer to one side of the cradle than the other. He decided he should try to get out of bed.
...The soft thing leaning on his cheek seemed to agree.
They decided they would try to get out of bed.
...He woke up.
I. Morning, In Prose
Alan Pantell scrambled out of bed. He knew he had had a strange dream, but the strangest part about it was that it was completely vivid, even though it wasn't lucid in the slightest. It was as if it had planted in him a memory of something that had never happened. He hated when dreams did that.
He had to hand it to his unconscious mind. It had so profoundly disturbed him that he no longer felt comfortable in a hotel bed, of all beds. He was full of energy, but he wasn't too certain that would still be the case after his heartbeat slowed down to normal.
Let's get this straight. My name is Alan Pantell. I am an 18-year-old human male. If there is one thing I am not, it is a disembodied baby head. It is currently September twenty... third, two-thousand-and-eighteen, and the time is... eight o' one AM. I am in a hotel room. This hotel room is part of a hotel, which is in... Shibuya. Tokyo. Japan. Asia. Earth. That's pretty neat. I am here... alone. That's pretty neat. I am here on vacation. Vacation from... from... school, I guess? No. Vacation from expectations. It won't work. I still have to go back to them. I have to try to enjoy myself, though, right?
Alan had brought some light snacks with him in his backpack in case he didn't feel like going anywhere for breakfast: two bags of chips and a box of Pop-Tarts™. Well, he had already been jolted out of bed, so naturally, he felt like going to find some place to eat. He took his smartphone from his pocket and searched for where he could find a meal in the area. All over the place, of course, but still, he wanted to have a particular establishment, or at least an area, in mind.
And of course, the maps show NO indication that the entire Entertainment District is shut down and blocked off. Sure, why should they consider THAT an important piece of information? Or that, you know, the cops start looking like they're ready to pounce if you so much as try to approach to ask questions? Whatever. It says there's a mall nearby. I can find something there.
Shibuya 104 made him wish he had at least eaten one of his snacks that morning. The food court on the first floor had all kinds of options, but his hunger forced him to go ahead and settle for some McDonalds™. Oh well, egg mcmuffins are more breakfast-y than sushi, anyway, as much as Alan hated to be "that" tourist. There were quite a few shops he decided he might be interested in purchasing from, but he also thought it'd be better if he waited until he wanted to go back to the hotel before taking any more merchandise with him. His backpack was already packed pretty full, after all. While the shrines and mountains and most things were breathtakingly beautiful, there was one thing Alan was sure would always pass the time.
II. The Arcade
One of Alan's greatest sources of appreciation for Japan was their arcades. Japanese culture cared for arcades for more than American culture did; that much was a matter of little dispute. Back in the United States, one would be hard-pressed to find a beaten up Cruisin' Exotica™ cabinet in a diner. Speaking of which, why was it always games from the nineties? Regardless, then there was Japan. To Alan, Japanese arcades were always a stunning sight. Vibrant colors, plenty of people, brand new games, (though now one might wonder where the nineties games went,) and most important of all: music games. Drumming games, piano-ish games, whatever you would call Sound Voltex™... the best Alan could ever find at home was Guitar Hero Arcade™, and the cities could only be on flame with rock and roll so many times. Alan, as a drummer since second grade, was most interested in said drumming game: Taiko no Tatsujin™. The core gameplay was simple: hit the center of the drum for red notes, and hit the rim of the drum for blue notes. Any other rules were merely for extra points. This simple idea left room for the tracks themselves to be as hard as anyone could ever want, not to imply that the games with more complexity didn't also become super hard.He inserted his yen and scrolled through the available songs, trying to find some he recognized. The "video games" section was a safe bet. He decided to play "The Windmill Song" from Klonoa: Door to Phantomile™. That song always put a smile on his face. It was a cute, fun, and fairly short game, but the ending always made him feel cheated and sad. The main character is forced away from the world where his best friend lives, as an inevitable result of his adventures. After eventually letting him go, the friend looks up into the sky with some kind of sad smile. Alan hated that smile. It pissed him off. Doesn't he care? Why did happy music always get him thinking about the stuff that wasn't happy?
Darkness.
In a moment, all of the vibrant lights of the windowless arcade had vanished. Alan had been standing still, so it shouldn't have been hard to remain where he was, but he felt his weight shift. The taiko's drum stick peripherals clattered to the floor as he himself hit the ground with a thud, his backpack softening his fall. It was as if he had been dragged into a corner, next to the machine. In the distance, footsteps clambered. He heard no noises of panicking. But he felt something rough covering his mouth. A hand? No, couldn't be. Actually, yes it could. He could feel it. Whatever was holding onto him was alive. Likely with some kind of glove on. He heard a whisper from behind his head.
"I'm not going to hurt you. Please just be quiet for a bit longer. I'm begging you."
Oh. That was interesting. This had all happened so suddenly, it hadn't occurred to him that he might be in danger. He decided the safest thing to do was believe he voice.
"They chased me in here, and they knocked everyone out with some kind of... short-term memory amnesiac gas. S... somehow, you were still standing. Before they noticed you, I cut the power. A lot of them are gone now. When they come back, they're probably frame this as... a terrorist attack, or a gas leak, or something. I probably made that easier for them. You got a light on you? Like a flashlight, I don't expect you to have-"
"Yea-"
"Wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wa-wait! Full disclosure, if you're willing to help me escape, we're going to have to work together, you're going to need to not freak out when you see me. Laying all my cards on the table now: suspend your disbelief, from here on, humor me, this is a fantasy world. I am a small magical creature. Reptilian. Dragon-like. But I'm very easy on the eyes once you get over the fact that I exist. If you don't believe me, feel around. Just enough for proof, though. Don't linger too long."
Alan moved his hand around in the darkness. The same texture he felt on his hand was felt all the way down the arm, and to the main body, which... did feel surprisingly small. Spines down what he assumed to be the back, leading to what the voice kindly informed him was his tail.
"Clearly," remarked Alan. "Okay, I believe you. What now?"
"Do you think I'd fit inside your backpack?"
"Well, it's mostly empty, I don't see why not."
Alan, who was now feeling rather lucky that he hadn't taken any of the loud, crinkly bags of chips from his room, let the mysterious ally who clearly wasn't human climb into his backpack, and close the zipper almost all the way.
"Now use that light of yours to get out of here. I don't hear anyone else around."
"On it." He took his phone from his pocket and turned on the flashlight. Hm. No one else seemed to be unconscious around here. Strange.
"If you're thinking this is like a game, here's a hint: you won't find anything lootable around here. I know it's cool, but we're in a hurry!" his backpack reminded him. "And one more thing: for convenience, you should know that my name is Levi. You?"
"Alan." Levi was right. He supposed it would be weird if he needed to ask "dragon-like creature in his backpack" a question without knowing his name. He quickly escaped from the relatively-small arcade. Immediately after exiting, he felt a tap on his shoulder.
"Lev- huh?"
It wasn't Levi that had tapped him on the shoulder, and good thing it wasn't because there was someone else standing right behind him: what seemed to be a middle-aged, yet decidedly in-shape man, with broad shoulders, kind eyes, and a patient smile.
"Excuse me, young man..." said the stranger, in English, surprisingly enough. "Did you notice anything strange coming out of that building?"
Alan wasn't quite sure how to answer. "Was I... supposed to? Unless you're referring to the fact that blackout itself. Nobody seemed intent on helping me out; stumbled around a bit before remembering my phone had a flashlight function. Shouldn't they have some kind of backup for the power or something?"
"They did! But interestingly enough..." the man pulled up his sleeve to check his gold-plated analog watch, momentarily frowning with his eyes only, "...even electronics that hadn't been directly tampered with seemed to be going haywire."
"Look, I don't know if you're the owner of this building, or some kind of stakeholder, but, I dunno, if you're trying to get me to keep quiet about the power failure, I wasn't gonna mention anything anyway, so..."
The man sighed, and spoke under his breath, "Blasted legislators... let's enforce a law that nobody is allowed to know about... keep the peace and such..."
Just then, Alan heard Levi whisper to him. "You can get a head start if you run before the tension reaches its natural peak. You can see where this is going, right? Anywhere close by where you think it'd be easy to lose him?"
…
…
...the train station.
"To be perfectly frank, I was only asking you to see if you were willing to tell the truth." The stranger was digging in his pocket for some kind of radar apparatus. "After all, the 'strange thing' we're looking happens to be...." He gave a confused look at the radar. "...quickly moving away from me." He scoffed. "In the direction of the train station." He reached into his other pocket for a walkie-talkie of sorts. "Koukai to headquarters. Code grey. Open Chase Utility Tunnel 8-0, Route B."
Well, Alan had no idea that he wasn't being actively chased, since looking back wouldn't have been a good idea if he was. "Wait a minute. Levi, is he even chasing me?"
"He calmly walked down the alley he was standing next to. Keep running anyway."
"Any idea where?"
"No. I told you to get lost, didn't I? Listen to your heart or something."
"Hah, yeah, okay, my heart says..."
The so-called "off-limits" passage. There.
"Huh? I think my heart may have answered!"
"Good!?"
For once in his life, Alan acted without thinking; he knew that a moment's hesitation would stop him from following the helpful directions he'd been given. He'd never heard voices in his head before, so he assumed that this one wasn't a sign of insanity. He entered a dimly-lit passageway which looked like it should have been shuttered off but wasn't, and simply followed it down twists and turns, far more than there would normally be in a place like this. At this point the two were likely a few floors below the rest of the train station. They came across an abandoned platform which was somehow still lit, despite looking like its existence had been completely forgotten. Alan spoke up, half-joking to himself. "Is this Mementos? Are we going to Mementos? Is my heart leading me to the Prison of Regression? Because I thought it was better than that."
Quite the opposite, in fact. Down. Onto the tracks. That way. There will be a door. Worry not. No vehicles operate on these tracks.
Alan had to run for at least a full minute on the tracks to reach said door. There was nothing impressive about the door itself, save for the out-of-place looking scanner to the right of it. The door itself had no handle, and naturally, Alan had no idea what he was supposed to scan. "Um... voice who has neither confirmed nor denied that they are the voice of my heart? Hello?"
"Well, I'm certainly not whatever you said, but hello."
"Gah!"
From the darkness of the tunnel, back in the direction from which they came, walked the man they had left behind earlier.
"I'm going to answer your questions now. I have not been chasing you, but I had a pretty good hunch as to where you would run. I caught up to you by means of efficiently-laid out underground tunnels for use by Shibuya law enforcement. That reminds me. While I do not intend to arrest you, you are indeed breaking the law. I thought you should know. The law itself is a secret by its own specifications. However, I will be taking you into custody. Your 'friend' there will be arrested."
"Law! What law!?"
"Digimon are to stay out of Tokyo, and its people are not to shelter them. Ideally, no one is to find out about them at all."
"Digimon?"
"Di- have you... have you been assisting this one without knowing anything?"
"A-all I knew was he needed help. He sounded terrified, he-"
"Right. Well thank you for bringing him all the way here. We'll take care of the rest."
"But where is here? And what's this hunch? You said you'd answer my questions, so answer them, dammit!"
Finally, the man winced. He could never get used to this part. He seemed almost to snarl at his own predicament. "Listen," he started, "those- those things are dangerous. I don't know if there's any logic to it. But they pick people. They choose people, we used to think it was just kids, but it can be anyone, and we used to think it was just Shibuya, but we've seen cases globally. They choose people, and they latch onto them. And whether they know they're doing it or not, it's always disguised as some sort of miracle, or a chance encounter. But sooner or later, the ones who are chosen are led away. To their home. In the digital world, just beyond that door you're trying to get into. We've had a few strange cases where the chosen would up and disappear into the river. Tragic things, those. In that world, anything can happen. Some turn up dead immediately, some turn up fine. Some go back after turning up fine, and then die. And if you just think we're just attributing mysterious disappearances to something we can't explain, that's not all they do. Sometimes they skip a few steps and come here. They kill people."
As the man continued talking, Alan would occasionally feel his backpack twitch, these twitches ever-so-subtly increasing in frequency, but still being far apart.
"Property damage. Buildings. The Entertainment District is in ruins. And right up until it happens, they always tell me the same thing. They would never. He's my friend. The strength of our bonds will see us through. It's such an easy decision to make, just don't trust them!"
Alan knew something was wrong when his vision was blurred by a sudden stream of tears. He closed his eyes in the break in the noise and listened.
"Please..." sobbed a faint version of Levi's voice from behind. "...please stop... they never mean to... I'm not a... you shouldn't... I... I... I... I wanna h-help somebody..."
Alan could feel Levi flip over in his backpack, burying what he assumed was his face in his back.
"If you're trying to return them home... you said it was just through this door right?"
"That's why I need you to-"
"THROUGH THIS DOOR, RIGHT?" Alan slammed his hand down onto the scanner that served as the door's locking and unlocking mechanism. With a flash and a spark, the young man now clutched something in his hand that he hadn't before. The door to his right slid open. Alan stepped onto the elevator without hesitation. He did not close the doors.
"No!" The man ran up to the elevator and froze. Alan stared him back, unamused.
"Well?"
"Please... step off of the lift."
"Make me."
"No... not there... not in that place..."
"Goodbye."
With the door having slid closed, Alan and Levi were now safe. Alan took his backpack off and slumped to the ground. "You're safe now." It hadn't occurred to him that he hadn't yet even seen Levi's face. It was too late now. Too late to be shocked. Without another word, a tiny, wingless dragon was sobbing into his arms, as the lift began its long and slow descent into the depths below. Only holding another living being in his arms finally told him what was most important about his current situation.
"This... isn't a dream."
Levi's crying was interrupted by a small laugh. "Huh. No, it's not. And... and that guy back there... you won't die. I won't let you..."
"It's okay. I know you won't."
"Why...? We just met."
"Hmm... maybe I'm still not convinced this is real. Give it time. Whatever I see at the bottom of this elevator will probably convince me."
"You'll love it."
"How do you know? We just met."
"We did. And you brought me all the way here. Maybe we can use this elevator to become acquaintances, Alan."
"Maybe we will, Levi."
An officer stares at the ground below him, sunken to his knees, in front of a weirdly-placed elevator, in a weirdly-placed platform, at a normally-placed train station.
Thirty seconds of silent contemplation. Then he got up.
"I think I'll leave the kids another flower later. After work. Mmm... a black one..." The man traipsed off in the direction from which he had entered. "...and we'll color one petal blue."
THE BEGINNING
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