[Case] Whereabout of Light

"So Valt finds you cuuute, huuuuh~?"

"S-shush, Ophi; you're making me blush...!"

"Eheheheh; c'mon, who knew you'd catch the eye of the dragon who can kick my ass like it's nothing? A hell of a good choice for a mate, I'd say!"

"Aaaaahhhh...."

Cassie and Ophelia - both holosuited - would be amongst the first to step onto the scene. Cassie was as red as a beet from her sister's teasing, face in hands; whereas Ophelia was simply giggling and poking at her side, grinning widely. This teasing would not stop quite yet, either; the duo deciding to take the time to deactivate their holosuits as they made themselves comfortable amongst the others. "Cmooon, I'm not wroooong, am I~?" Ophelia would purr to Cassie - who only continued to unintelligibly mumble, from behind her flippers.

Though, she was unable to help but nod that Ophelia was indeed right - as much as she didn't want to voice it, from how flustered she was. This would only elicit a laugh from her Spadamon sister - Ophelia ruffling the tuft atop Cassie's head briefly.

As they both began to snuggle up on one of the couches though, Ophelia would lighten up on the teasing; instead smiling warmly to the little seal as she sprawled out across the Spadamon's lap. Stroking Cassie's head now, Ophelia would glance over to Yuuki and Hikaru, waving to them with a wide grin. "Yo!" She'd chirp; looking as confident as ever. "So, we're going to be meeting with those DATS agents, yeah?" Ophelia questioned,

"Are... we going to meet Tiger, again?" Cassie added; her tone soft and curious, as her sheepishness gradually faded. "I'd like to meet her, and her partner, again; maybe be friends, even!" She was sympathetic to Tiger, and her troubles with her missing son - much like Ophelia was - and she wanted to be able to be friends with them, and to help them! The two of them seemed like really nice people, even if DATS was about keeping digimon out of the Human World; but even then... That notion didn't really trouble either of them in regards to other agents, either. It was understandable, to them, to want to protect one's territory, to protect friends and family.

But that was going on a tangent, wasn't it? Point was, the two sisters both wanted to befriend and bond with Tiger and Jiro. Ophelia, in particular, might also want to spar with Jiro; but that probably wasn't going to be feasible at the moment, during discussions, much to her disappointment.

Hm. A message that called her to a particular terminal at Shibuya was ordinarily not something Mae would just answer willy nilly. There needed to be precedence behind her actions in the human world, and thankfully for the people present, she thought pursuing whatever this could be would be fruitful for relations with the government.

So, that was that. A tanned woman wearing a jacket, a tank top and shorts would approach the gathering KIZNA party. "We seem to be." It took the woman actually speaking to Ophelia to put the notion that this was really Mae's latest holosuit out there. "I don't know how this meeting will go--my foresight's been silent regarding this, but I don't think it's quite dangerous if we're meeting on what I can assume is equal ground."

Mae was also keeping her eyes out. Who would be coming to this terminal, and from where?

By the way, it's not just them that are in that place. Valt and Ryouta is there too, but they're more here as bodyguards than actively participating. Valt was about to get some sparkling drink for both him and Ryouta, and possibly a drink for Cassie too when he overheard...

...and immediately he gone from blue to deep crimson. Cassie might be very embarrassed, but Valt is even more so. He wasn't ready to let that secret out like that! Either way, a ping announces that there are new passenger. Hearing this, Valt returned to his station on the second floor.

Looks like they're here. The secret about Hyakumaru's form was actually that the Grand Locomon is temporarily borrowing the form of its Ultimate stage while it's in Perfect Stage of Locomon. However in turn, all its abilities are locked. While some might think it's a scare tactic, it's not really one. It's simply for the sake of convenience to talk. Either way...

"Welcome, Agents. Please have a seat wherever you please," Hikaru would say. "We appreciate your gratitude, but no such words are necessary. For formalities, let's introduce ourselves again... Name's Hikaru, well.. I'm now King Hikaru of Ys, but that's less important than my standing as leader of KIZNA."

"Itou Yuuki of KIZNA, I'm the acting leader along with my partner Hikaru. The current assembled KIZNA members, bars Miss Mae who's more of a close friend of ours are chosen for this meeting to answer your inquiries. We're hoping to give you insight on your missing family member. Hyakumaru, if you would, please?"

"Certainly, Sire."

The butler handed a file and prepared something that seemed to record the conversation. A drone perhaps?

"This conversation is for KIZNA use only, and you will have our oath that we'll not say this to anyone unless necessary in goal to find your missing family member. Everyone involved, I sincerely hope for your cooperation. Now, before everything... let's go over of what we have known."

Hyakumaru, being the butler he is, immediately attended to the two agents, asking if they want any refreshments such as snacks or drinks.

"Missing family member case one is Agent Machine's sister, Hana and her partner named Reina, is this correct? The date of loss was eight years ago, Old Terminus. Status of the target unknown, missing in action. Missing family member case two is Agent Tiger's son, Kazuo, who was once partnered to Jiro. What we know is that a claim by Arachnemon said that she was present there, in which a lie is suspected to be in play. Status, missing in action. Last seen, Shining Sea, is this right?"

with that... Yuuki began the talk.

"Let's go over with the general thing first. About the Shining Sea and Old Terminus... Honestly these two locations were rediscovered several months to a year and half ago Real World time. Basically... what I'm saying is it was somehow cut off from the rest of Digital World prior to that. We still have no idea whether it was blocked off, or merely transported to the future so to say. But the significance of this could either means your person of interest might either be rendered in the stasis, or tossed to the future, which is now, or trapped until now.

...Whichever it is, we have no exact idea... but currently, even as we're talking, Ys which is based on shining sea has slowly started a sweeping operation to find more information about your son, Agent Tiger. Regarding your son, as I said prior, if Digivice breaks, there are chance of bond being severed. There are no need for the human to actually die, so here's hoping...

With Ys' existence, we're hoping to send signal for your son to come to our city. If you don't mind, would you mind sharing the pictures of your son, Agent?"

Now it's Hikaru's time to talk.

"About your sister, Agent Machine, we're in less concrete evidence and plan at the moment. We're trying to make a task force to send down to the Old Terminus. It's a very dangerous place, and we at the moment need more time. I'd love to go there myself, but unfortunately we're swamped with problems too, especially regarding the Demon Lords.

However, considering it was place where old Digital World data gathers in, we have heard of rumors regarding sighting of human down there. Problem is whether it's a residual memories or not is unknown. We'll try to locate where this rumors sighting are seemed to be. People from Tenebrous are the one who seemed to know best, but considering they're the shady types... these rumors should be taken with grain of salt."

The voice on the woman talking to Ophelia sounded quite familiar, all things considered. Almost like if it sounded exactly like the wild docile Keramon named Mae, who helped them out when trying to solve the mystery of the lost Puwamon. Neither could put their finger on it just yet, but still, when she entered, Kenny and Skadi gave a friendly wave at her.

But as for Ophelia and Cassie... well, Skadi got a bad case of the giggles once more when she spotted her senpai going red in the face, forcing herself to cover her mouth to avoid fully bursting out laughing, while Kenny, listening to slightly embarrassed Gomamon X, smiled as Cassie explained why she did what she did, nodding in agreement to Ophelia's words. But the mention of the hubbub between Toki and Matadrmon would raise many an eyebrow from the two sisters. Was it a good thing they couldn't attend the meeting that day?

Welp, whatever the reason, that had to be put way back in the backburner for now, with the arrival of 2 of the DATS agents, one familiar and one unfamiliar, but no matter, they still waved at them as well. Of course, Tiger's greeting was warmly received by Kenny and Skadi. "No problem at all, ma'am. We just wanted to ensure everyone that day would remain both safe and happy, human and Digimon alike." The young man started.

Skadi twiddled her thumbs a little awkwardly, but gave a kind smile to Tiger, "I really didn't want anyone to get hurt that day, especially my tamer Kenny. It just makes me feel all the more happier that things actually went so smoothly for all of us, including you, and our friends." She was being real honest here. Even though the Arkadimon trauma happened a good long time ago to them, plenty of the aftereffects still lingered to this day. Was it any wonder Skadi became fearful and started pleading to Nise Agumon Hakase when things started to go downhill?

With Yuuki and the 2 sisters getting their intros out of the way, and the 2 of the agent's Digimon summoned (being a Dracomon X, AKA Jiro, and Hackmon), Kenny would follow in turn, "Anyways, I'm Kenneth O'Hara, and that's my partner, Skadi. She's a Valaismon." He gestured to his partner, "A pleasure to meet you's two today." Skadi nodded herself in turn to the agents, and both of them outstretched their hands to shake with them, if they so desired.

Had any of the 2 agent's Digimon sat next to Kenny or Skadi, they would find either Skadi cuddling up to them, not too dissimilar to Ophelia or Cassie, to help make them feel comfortable (it did help Skadi's wool was as soft as silk), or Kenny petting either of them affectionately. After all, Ramona did tell those two Jiro liked being pet, so why not? Regardless of what they did, they would listen intently on what all sides had to say, starting from the two agent's talking about their lost relatives (And in Machine's case, his sister's lost partner as well), to Yuuki outlining the details, the discovery of Old Terminus and the Shining Sea and what happened to those places in a short span of time, to their plans on how to tackle their situation, and finally to Ophelia and Cassie explaining about 'Lae' and how he could help find Tiger's kid

But how could Kenny contribute, exactly? After a brief pause with Ophelia finished, he explained, "Regardless, the moment we find your loved ones, rest assured we will do everything in our power to keep them as safe as possible. After all, Ys has some of the best security systems in the entire Digital World, with a giant barrier that keeps potential evildoers and troublemakers out, and outside of Ys, we have some pretty tough defenders that help keep the balance in the Digital World out there and make it a safer place for everyone, especially thanks to my girl Skadi." He grinned at his partner, affectionately ruffling her hair as always.

After another bout of giggling, and a friendly slug to Kenny, she turned and faced the agents herself, "Yep! Like he said, me and my sisters and my buddies at KIZNA will make sure they will remain safe and sound. You can count on us, you guys!" She reassured them with a playful salute to the both of them. But she was far from joking on that promise; they really would do everything in their power to keep their loved ones safe.

Agents Machine and Tiger and their partners accepted Hikaru's invitation to sit wherever they pleased. They would choose to sit either side of the aisle at the rear of the carriage, so that all four of them could face forward and see everyone else present. They quickly realized they were introducing themselves, so they would do so in return.

"My name is Nami... codename Agent Tiger, and this is my partner Jiro." the first DATS agent began. Machine glanced at her with curiosity, wondering why she would give out that information that easily, but, supposed that she just might be giving out as much hints as possible. In the end, he decided to come clean and do the same.

"And my name is Hideaki, codename Agent Machine, this is my partner Seifer." he would go on to say. Now that they had said that, neither of them felt so bad that they would hold back information from this group, given that they were being this honest. And even if they were sold out, it would be of little benefit to those that did so, because they would simply be replaced by more ruthless, less persuadable agents. So they held a lofty degree of trust on this train.

The DATS agents and their partners remained silent as they listened to Hyakumaru's briefing about what they knew. Eventually, when the sweeping operation over the Shining Sea was mentioned, Agent Tiger had to grip the sides of her seat to keep herself calm. This was the most solid possibility that she had encountered that her son might still be alive. She wanted to investigate immediately, but knew because of their covert meeting that this would not be yet possible.

Still, she cooperated. "Yes, of course, this is what he looks like." Agent Tiger said, sharing five of her best photographs of her son after his 10th birthday. She hoped that this would be a positive match to whatever intelligence was present in this carriage. She showed them to all, including Mae.

Next, Agent Machine gave a nod to what Hikaru told him. "Of course. Old Terminus is one of the least stable parts of the digital world right now, I understand the challenge that would be involved in getting to her."

He then mentioned that people from Tenebrous might be more willing to accompany them there. Agent Machine paused on this. From what he knew, Tenebrous was a strictly neutral underground city. But, if he could find volunteers to find what he was looking for, maybe he could strike something significant?

Next, they turned their attention to Ophelia and Cassie. Agent Tiger and Jiro smiled at the both of them. That they were here, they trusted that this would go nicely. Indeed, both of them snapped their attention to them when Ophelia mentioned she might have some leads to Kazuo.

"Is there any way you can get us in contact with this Lae individual?" Tiger asked, trying her best to hide her desperation.

"And know how we can gain his trust so that he could help us?" Jiro added. That name sounded a little familiar to him, but not enough for any solid recollections.

Tiger then continued smiling at the sentiments given from Kenny and Skadi. "Those are very admirable goals that you have achieved so far." Tiger replied, simply, remembering about how these two had done all they could as well to prevent combat breaking out, even when Tiger herself had been provoked.

As circumstances turned out, it was Jiro that was sitting next to Skadi, and the Dracomon-X appreciated being snuggled up to like this. Of course he kept his guard up in case this was some kind of method of subterfuge, but, so far that it wasn't, he'd thankfully return the setniments.

Then Kenny spoke of the civilization of Ys. While it did seem to be a nice place to meet up, Agent Tiger shook her head. "For the sake of continued neutrality between our worlds, I don't think DATS has the right to take a step into Ys." she replied. "That's your world. This is our world. At the most, I'd be comfortable in meeting up in Snowflake Village."

Lastly, Mae asked Agent Machine if he had any pictures of his sister. "Oh... uh..." the young man realized he had nothing on his person that could help. But thankfully Seifer was better prepared.

"Here." he said, and handed her a photo of Machine and himself, as well as his sister Hana and her partner Reina, all looking like they were having fun in some distant rural region of Japan.

Hopefully this was enough of a beginning that they could establish for the moment.

Ophelia's grin towards Mae would get a little brighter, at the holosuit'd Keramon's response; visibly happy to see that she got it right. "Eheh, fuck yeah! Good to meet you, too!" She'd chirp; extending a hand to shake hands with Mae, and adding "You bailed pretty damn quick after things winded back down, so I'm happy to actually meet you proper." with an idle upwards swish of her tail; her body language friendly and relaxed. The mention of glimpsing into the future, though, would make the Spadamon visible confused; tilting her head a little. "... Glimpsing into the future?"

"Oh, oh!" Cassie would speak up now; perking up visibly at Mae's direction, and raising a flipper to get the other's attention. "Like Rasielmon does, right? Are you able to become a Rasielmon, too...?"

As far as discussing things with Tiger and Machine and their partners went, though... Ophelia couldn't help but tilt her head curiously; whispering to Cassie "Why do the agents use codenames, do you think...? It kinda makes me think of the Silver Hand movie me and Kitt watched, forever back.."

This would prompt a soft giggle and a shrug from the Gomamon-X; whispering back in suggestion "Maybe there's something secret about their real names...? Like a secret identity thing!" That's what made sense to her, at least...!

Ophelia would hum at this, before shrugging and nodding. Made sense to her, too; certainly more than any other answer they were likely to consider.

They wouldn't linger on that subject for very long though; focus instead shifting to photographs of Tiger's son. Ophelia in particular would take interest in this; closely eyeballing the photographs, as though to try and memorize his appearance. Between this and having Tiger's and Jiro's scents, surely identifying her son would be a sitch! It was just actually finding him that would prove to be a problem, of course; but speaking of that...

As Tiger and Jiro both asked about Laertes, Ophelia and Cassie would perk to attention; having been briefly distracted by eyeballing the photos, as well as Ophelia's griping over Laertes' supposed cheating at hiding in hide and seek. "Yeah, 'course we can get in contact with him; he's our brother!" Cassie would be first to chirp; smiling brightly. "He's probably still living in Mom and Dad's territory, up in the mountains, so we'd just have to go visit him!"

Perhaps going up into the mountains sounded daunting, to someone who wasn't adapted to the snow and ice like Ophelia and Cassie were; but to them, coming to and from their birthhome was easy!

Ophelia was next to speak up; in response to the question of gaining his trust. "Only real issue, is convincing him to come with us. He's... not very social, to start. He always has been a bit wary of strangers and whatnot," She'd start; thinking back to all the times that he'd hide away, when the rare traveler passed thru their parents' territory. "He doesn't really like change, either. Hell, he's the last one to leave home like me and Cass have for a reason; he likes it when things stay predictable 'n shit."

"After Ophi first set out on her own, and before I had left to join her, he started stress-chewing on his tailfur for a little while..." Cassie murmured to herself almost absentmindedly; though would blink a second. "Ah; forget I said that, h-he's a bit self conscious of that..!" She was quick to correct herself, growing visibly sheepish. "I, uhm, think he'd be more willing to leave the mountains, though, if it's with us; we're family, after all...! We'd just have to be the ones to come over to and ask him for a hand!" Her sheepishness would gradually fade in lieu of optimism, now; the little Gomamon-X smiling brightly as she concluded "I think that he'll be able to help a lot, in sniffing out your guys' missing family members, though!"

Speaking of sniffing them out, though... Ophelia glanced to Tiger, Machine, and Seifer each; mentioning "If you guys have anything with your or your family members' scents on it, that we could borrow for us to have a smell to go off of, that'd probably help a lot. It's okay if it's just your scent; family tends to smell a bit similarly to each other, from my experience."

Things had been pretty amicable so far between both KIZNA and DATS, what with the agents giving out their and their own partner's first names willingly, followed by them handing out their respective photos of their loved ones in turn, and Kenny couldn't help but take a glance at both sets of them, just to see what they looked like. All the while, Skadi  continued the snuggling to keep Jiro comfortable, letting out gentle happy bleats all the while as her woolly body rubbed against his scaly one.

In fact, she only paused for a brief moment as her ears twitched, before quickly getting up and beaming at Tiger's brief but wonderful praise, "Thank you, Tiger! You're so nice!" She squeaked happily. She was about to leave her seat to give the agent a hug, but Kenny just stopped her in place by outstretching her arm to keep her in place.

"Skadi, I... don't think Tiger's in the mood for cuddles herself right about now. Besides, I think Jiro's been enjoying it a lot more." He lightly scolded his partner with a smile.

"Aww, but she's been so nice!" Skadi lightly moaned, leaning back onto Jiro once more, "I just wanted to give her a hug!"

Kenny just gave a light chuckle as he stroked the Valaismon's hair, "I'm sure you'll get your chance later, don't worry." Skadi was a good hearted individual, no doubt about that, but it was clear that she still had a lot to learn about appropriate behaviours, no matter how good natured they sounded on paper.

But much to Kenny's disappointment, Yuuki and Tiger had quickly shot down his idea, but not without good reason to. Not only were DATS agents weren't supposedly allowed to enter Ys at the very least, but inviting them into the Digital World period was not a very good idea just yet, as apparently the scars that old DATS left hadn't healed, and sheltering them would essentially be giving them ammo. "Oh yeah. Shit, sorry." He muttered.

Well, it sounded like a good idea at the time.

But still, there was one thing Kenny could add, "Speaking of, Toki did tell us briefly about what happened at Miyashita Park that day, or at least what became of the apparent ringleader there, Matadrmon. If I recall correctly, the spirit user did say that he only loaded him as a mercy kill because Matadrmon was overcome with both grief and anger. Take it with a grain of salt, I'm not psychic, but it wouldn't be much of a stretch to guess he also had a lot of baggage with the old DATS."

"If anything, Yuuki's right. Sorry, I guess I kinda jumped the gun a little bit with my little idea, I'm just not fully aware of the whole 'old DATS' thing, that's all. As far as I'm concerned, Archnemon's still out there, licking her wounds from what happened at Golden Week, so perhaps meeting up in the Digital World wouldn't exactly be the best idea for now. Perhaps when we find your kids, we could try to arrange someplace safer and a lot less riskier for you to get them, like somewhere in the real world, if that's OK."

He finished off his lengthy explanation with a little smile, "But like Skadi said earlier, when we find your loved ones, we'll make sure they'll be well taken care of up until the day you reunite with them. That's a promise."