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Post by tridoriyaku on Sept 28, 2017 2:34:23 GMT
Two years? Where does the time go? A normal looking business man walked through the city streets, limping and trying to fix his once-again broken glasses (now half of them dangling from his right ear.) He wore the cheapest, blackest trench coat he could get at a thrift store (now stained with his own blood) and a nice (read: incredibly scratched up, beaten, and dirty) suit. It had taken him two years but his first assignment to the Digital World was a success. Astamon was now in his custody and he'd report to DATS and start on the paperwork. It may seem crazy, but he actually missed his old office job sometimes; no threat of dying and being absorbed by lunatics or digital monsters, no moving place to place trying to stay one step ahead of crime bosses and the environment itself, and best of all, coming home to his wife.But beggars can't be choosers.
The man approached the DATS building, smiling brightly and reaching out to push open the glass door. That's when his hand went through the non-existent door and he slammed headfirst into the dirty floor, the device holding his once-closest-ally Astamon sliding across the linoleum and under an overflipped secretary desk. "Ow..." He mumbled, carefully standing up, getting splinters in his hands. He looked around, confused. Was this the new cover for the base? "Hello?" He asked, adjusting his glasses. "Hello? Sirs? I caught Astamon?" He asked. The sound of a wild dog from the distance answered him. He continued further into the abandoned base, forgetting about the device.
He began moving through the building, looking at the lost and dusty cubicles, broken computers or empty desks lining the once cover-story. He felt his coat fall off, but he didn't care to pick it up, entering deeper and deeper into the abandoned building until he found it. In the center where there was once a powerful supercomputer where dozens of humans and digimon worked together to better the both worlds was nothing. A smashed TV screen, burned documents, emptied and overtipped desks, only a single WANTED Poster for Astamon laid in the rubble, its name and bounty singed too far to be readable. Yaku fell to his knees, and his tears fell to the floor. Once again, he was lost.
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Sept 29, 2017 2:27:17 GMT
Sophie James was hoping that she and Lantis were looking inconspicuous as they walked down the street to their destination in Central Shibuya. Since the adventure with Rich and Leo in the old DATS warehouse in the ruined Cinema District, she had obtained many documents from the runnings and experimentation of the old DATS organization.
She had filed them away carefully in the new AEGIS office in the secret Trailmon platform below Shibuya station. By now, the facility was going quite well. In their spare time, Sophie made sure that either Satoshi, John or herself was looking after it, developing what would hopefully be a respectable organization. One of these documents provided the location of the DATS headquarters, and so Sophie and her Leomon partner intended to take a look. Especially after the events of the previous week.
Sophie had been rather surprised to have been approached by a representative of the government, asking for AEGIS to come under government control. However, Sophie had refused this. For one, she was born a citizen of the United States and thus was not willing to go through the motions that might cause problems for her later on. And two, she wanted AEGIS to work independently from the wishes of the government. The representative was disappointed and ruled out government funding for the organization, but indicated that as long as they were working toward keeping Tokyo safe from digimon threats, they would be willing to turn a blind eye to their operations. This had rather shaken her.
But here they were, standing outside the entrance. Sophie was dressed in a coat, jacket, jeans and sneakers, and Lantis was currently in his holosuit, taking on the appearance of a teenage white haired boy. He would probably have to get a new one, now that he was a Leomon he thought he should look more intimidating.
Regardless, they entered. Lantis switched off his holosuit, regaining his normal lion-man appearance. "Approach with caution, Sophie, we don't know how many security systems are still active" he advised.
"Right" Sophie agreed. The building looked decrepit and abandoned, the lights were off. Sophie sighed. Rich was right, DATS really was no more.
Before long after entering, however, she heard the sound of a man sobbing. Was it a man? Or was it a digimon? She wanted to make sure. And soon she found him, a young man was on his knees, crying.
"Oh gosh... are you alright?" Sophie asked, walking up to him. Lantis stood still by her side, looking down with curiosity. "What's the matter?"
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Post by tridoriyaku on Sept 29, 2017 20:43:52 GMT
Yaku blinked at the sudden sound of another human voice. He adjusted his glasses, wiping tears from his eyes as he looked at the woman and her partner. He carefully stood up. "O-Oh, good, y-you worried me!" He laughed. "I knew the DATS wouldn't truly be gone." The man was lying, no doubts about it. He took his badge from his coat and flipped it open to show her. "Agent Yaku, back from the Digital World's dark area. I've captured the crime lord Astamon and need to bring him in for questioning." He looked on himself for the device, frowning. He gave a weak chuckle. "Uh... he must be in my coat, give me a moment."
He left the room the way he came in, wandering the halls of cubicles for the beaten up coat. "Just gimme a few moments! Of course this was going like this." He began chastising himself. "Whenever you need something to go wrong, call me in. I'll just enter the room and everything will cease working, an eternal jinx, born on the wrong day in the wrong place to the wrong woman a-ha!" He interrupted himself, picking up the overcoat and digging through all the pockets. "Of course I got the one with the most pockets in it..." He mumbled, annoyed. "So, uh, what rank did you say you were, Miss...?"
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Oct 2, 2017 23:31:22 GMT
Sophie realized that the man thought that she was a part of DATS. And it seemed as he showed her his ID, this was actually a DATS agent that seemed to have missed the memo that DATS was now pretty much abandoned, hence her idea to start AEGIS in the first place.
And he had captured a crime lord? "Well, that's good to hear, but-" Sophie began, trying to tell him that she was not a DATS agent. She sighed, boy this wasn't going to be easy was it? Lantis folded his arms, the Leomon somewhat amused by all this.
Sophie followed Yaku as he seemingly went back the way he came for his coat. Then he asked her who she was. Sophie reached into her pocket and pulled out a rather rudimentary identification, merely laminated cardboard at this stage, but thankfully with some help from her friends, they had designed official looking identification cards for themselves. "Sophie James, AEGIS leader" she said. "But don't worry, we're not an enemy of DATS, in fact, we want to pick up where you guys left off".
"Correct" Lantis said, backing up his partner. "Perhaps the matter for Astamon could wait a little later? I think that we might need to talk a little about the state of things here".
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Post by tridoriyaku on Oct 3, 2017 16:05:48 GMT
Yaku set down the coat and took the ID, looking it over. He was confused. As a former businessman he knew that an ID didn't actually mean anything, but in Japanese culture it was rude to refuse or bring to harm someone else's property, no matter how "official" it may be. He took out one of his own, from before he entered the digital world, and gave it to her as wells as giving back her ID. The card explained his name was Tridori Yaku, and that he worked for some toy company named "Bandai". It gave the company location and his (probably long-defunct) company phone extension. He bowed again.
"I'm sorry. I-I shouldn't have assumed." He ended his bow and looked at the two. Leomon, he knew all sorts about Leomons. One of the most powerful allies one could have in the Digital World. He'd met a group during his travels, and they refused to help him until he was able to beat one of them in a duel. He asked to fight the weakest one, naturally. But that was a story for another time.
"Well, I'm not sure what happened here..." He confessed. "I was away in the Digital World... oh dear, if DATS aren't here anymore does that mean my company credit card doesn't work? Oh man, I just spent a whole night at the fanciest hotel I could find in Terminus. If that bounces I'll be in deep, deep trouble..." He trailed off, worries overcoming him again.
"A-and we shouldn't neglect Astamon, I used to work for him... undercover, of course. He's a lot stronger and smarter than he looks, and he has a machine gun. If he escapes in the human world it's plausible he could do more damage than any human criminal."
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Oct 8, 2017 3:48:49 GMT
Sophie took Yaku's business card and her ID with a short bow and looked at it. So he worked for Bandai? Interesting. She also hoped she had the courtesy right. Sophie was born in America after all, and despite being a quarter Japanese in her ancestry, she had only been here for three years.
At the mention of DATS now being defunct, she could only cringe with sympathy as Yaku mentioned he would be in deep trouble if his company credit card bounced on the hotel. "Er, that would be bad, yes..." she said.
"This is why I'm glad bits are still used for that sort of thing in the digital world" Lantis said, rubbing his chin. "I mean credit cards are traceable, and when I want a bit of privacy with a cutie I picked up at a nightclub in the seedier areas of Terminus I don't want Sophie to find out- Er... I mean..." he realized he had just said this out loud and Sophie was giving him a dirty look.
"You mean what you said, Lan" she said, supposing it would be best to keep her composure here. After all, it seemed the matter at hand was what to do with Astamon. He was a Perfect level after all, and Sophie wasn't sure if AEGIS was strong enough to contain him. "Well... if you like, I could ask my little brother to assist?" she offered. "His partners are twin super megas and they might have more experience in dealing with such powerful digimon".
Soon AEGIS would hopefully be strong enough to deal with such threats. Lantis recovered from his moment of silliness, then folded his arms again. "Whatever the case, Astamon should be sent back to the digital world and dealt with there. He's too dangerous to keep around here" the Leomon said.
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Post by tridoriyaku on Oct 8, 2017 13:57:31 GMT
"No, no, I have him contained I just need to find uh... the device he's contained in." He turned the coat upside down and began shaking, getting nervous about how bad an impression this was leaving on her. "He was supposed to be brought in and processed and I-I don't know the full details but he was going to be safely detained, they assured me." An empty energy drink bottle and a few pieces of paper fell out of the coat, he was now officially worried. "The only way for a digimon to get out of the detainment is if someone opens it, a-and I set down locks, and passwords, and and failsafes." He was once again lying. Any grandma who knew how to slide a finger across a screen could open Pandoramon's box and free the mon. He took a few deep breaths, trying to lessen himself from the panicky stammerings from before. He needed to be professional.
"And I assure you I did not go anywhere seedy. I'm married, thank you." He said, offended. Besides, most digimon women are far, far too large for me. They tower over me, it's intimidating rather than attractive... He thought to himself. "Regardless even if DATS is gone I'm still in control. I'm trained to deal with this situation if he gets out. I may not have a digimon, o-or any spirits, or even any lieutenants but I've done three years in the digital world without them, and I am just as alive and well as I'll ever be." He explained... then his fake arm fell to the floor. "Oh dear." He leaned down to pick it up, but kept accidentally kicking it away.
"So tell me about AEGIS." He embarrassingly tried to shift the subject.
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Oct 13, 2017 2:43:36 GMT
Sophie tried her best to remain nonjudgemental as the former DATS agent was currently shaking his coat. However, his words worried her. "Is that... the normal procedure that DATS went through?" she asked. She looked at Lantis. "What about the other digimon that DATS ended up capturing? Did they break free?"
Lantis gave a worried expression back. "Oh gosh, yes, that might have been the cause of the rampage that destroyed the Entertainment District" the Leomon mused worriedly.
And if that wasn't bad enough it turns out Lantis had offended Yaku. The Leomon looked startled but Sophie responded calmly. "Lantis wasn't implying you went to those hotels, he was talking about his own debaucherous habits" she said.
"Y-yeah..." Lantis said, scratching the back of his mane. "Sorry about that".
But even if DATS was gone, Yaku was still a trained agent. "That's a relief" she said. All they needed to do was find this "Astamon". But... Yaku had no partner. Or spirits. Or lieutenants. Just seemed to be an ordinary human... with a false arm. But Sophie didn't see his antics as ridiculous at all. "Oh my gosh..." she gasped as she realized he was an amputee.
Lantis also realized that he had caused offense earlier and should rectify it. The Leomon rushed after the false arm, picking it up. "Here" he said, holding it to him.
Sophie then cleared her throat as Yaku asked about AEGIS. "Well, we're basically a group of humans and digimon that want to act as the gatekeepers and protectors in regards to digimon on Earth" she said. "We don't want universal justice everywhere, we simply want to make sure that if a digimon manages to get through the portal and start causing trouble on Earth, we want to be the ones to stop them".
"Correct" Lantis said, agreeing. "Currently our strength is at three humans and digimon capable of evolving to at least Champion. But we hope to recruit more".
"Our base is... in a secluded spot in the Shibuya Station Trailmon Terminal" Sophie continued. "So we're out of the view of the general public. We thought putting our main office near the place where a digimon would most likely enter Earth would be the best decision".
Sophie hoped to scope out Yaku's capabilities before asking if he'd be interested in transferring from DATS to AEGIS.
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Post by tridoriyaku on Oct 13, 2017 3:16:22 GMT
"Three kids and their champions?!" He asked, shocked, standing up suddenly and slamming the back of his head on the false arm. Bending back down to wince he let out a nervous cough. "I have lived in the digital world for three years, and I can tell you that the very idea of what likely can and will come out of the portal of the digital world is far more powerful than you could imagine!" He carefully stood back up, avoiding hitting his head again and taking the arm from the Leomon. "DATS may not be an official organization anymore b-but we had contingency plans, we had operatives deliberately trained in case anyone crossed us! Th-the holy knights, the Devas, even digimon we didn't think existed anymore or were just legends we had complicated a-and important plans to keep them in check and away from the human world!"
He stammered and looked around, not realizing his toupee had fallen off in the second paragraph of this thread. "I cannot stand idly by while ch-children run into warzones with flags and wiffle-bats held high thinking they'll come out unscathed! The second we get Astamon to a secure location you will take me t-to your base, hopefully somewhere far out of the way of the main station because if any digimon gets out of your grasp they can enter a crowd and vanish like a cookie at a dinner party." He tried to sound as stern and masculine as possible but eh... no dice.
"As for any digimon sent free, I do not know of any, I returned for two weeks and was sent back to the Digital World with no fanfare. Just a badge and instructions to arrest Astamon." He put the coat back on and his arm back in, taking deep breaths and continuing to retrace his steps. "Have you been to the digital world? If so, then where? I need to know if you have any friends or enemies there who may interrupt your work."
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Oct 18, 2017 2:43:25 GMT
Lantis winced and muttered an apology as their words seemed to surprise Yaku so he bumped into his false arm. An odd occurrence indeed, but, Sophie was used to those since she met her brother's digimon.
"Yeah, I know..." Sophie said, agreeing that it seemed unlikely that if AEGIS just had 3 members and champion levels they didn't have much hope of stopping things. "But my brother can evolve his twin partners to Super Mega, and he knows quite a few others at that level. If we get any threats, I'd ask them to help us out".
"But it might be tricky if they're all in the digital world" Lantis advised. "Which is why we wish to get strong so we can be worthy successors of DATS".
"We've made... arrangements to keep it hidden" Sophie said, carefully. Of course the headquarters to AEGIS wouldn't be obvious to all and sundry. Only those that knew it was there would be able to recognize it. She ignored that Yaku was wearing a toupee. Not everyone was gifted with the family genes that she had that rendered every James she knew to have thick black hair until the age of about 50 when it transitioned to thick silver hair.
Well, if any digimon had been here, they were hopefully sent back when DATS went defunct, hopefully held securely in the digital world or elsewhere.
"Yes, I have been to the digital world" Sophie said to Yaku. "Although I haven't ventured far from Terminus. I'm aware of the dangers that lurk outside the city. I met Lantis there. This was around... 6 months ago. Since then I've mostly been busy with setting up AEGIS".
Did they have any enemies? "So far just a Chuumon that tried to steal another human's digivice" Lantis answered. "We let him go after he gave it up though". Hopefully that wouldn't be an enemy that would make things difficult for them.
"Sure, we can take you to AEGIS HQ" Sophie said, delighted. "It would be an honour to have a real DATS agent to help advise us of how to run our future operations".
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Post by tridoriyaku on Oct 18, 2017 21:25:31 GMT
"Alright, a handful of Super Megas, that's good!" He said, somewhat relieved. It wasn't DATS level but he could work with this... well, SHE would work with this. He may be taking command but eventually she'd realize she could have her Leomon toss him out a thirteenth story window with no real penalties, so he was definitely not going to try to overstep his boundaries. "Very, very good. I assume you already have a way to contact them if something needs to happen? And the base is hidden, no enemies, but that also means no real presence either..." Yaku began thinking, enemies. Astamon, the guy with the bear who wanted his wife, LadyDevimon... He shuddered when he remembered LadyDevimon. Attractive, perhaps, but a bit too concerned with his abilities than an actual, caring relationship.
"As you know, DATS was one of the biggest government organizations in the country, dealing with threats on levels far greater than most of the human world had seen. If you want to make the next DATS you'll definitely need more members, weapons for those members to defend themselves, researchers and scientists to make those weapons, people sworn to secrecy and their country, with knowledge they could be tried for Treason if they turn on you, th-this is a very, very big deal. Most importantly though, " He exited to the front room, beginning to look under things for the device. If Lantis would listen closely he might be able to hear it. "You will need someone to keep these things under wraps, to make people look the other way when an Amusement Park is suddenly being ravaged by a giant orange, to help people forget a giant bird and dinosaur destroyed an apartment complex, and to make people think that when your workers disappear suddenly they're NOT saving the world. I was only hired by DATS because the rest of the world thought I was dead, but obviously you can't do that."
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Oct 24, 2017 8:43:46 GMT
"Currently we rely on our D-Terminals" Sophie explained to Yaku. "And no presence is fine. We're building it up gradually, we don't want to be well known until we're properly equipped to deal with the threats that might occur". She felt the need to add something as well. "Also we... don't plan to be quite as active in facing digimon as DATS were. I have... heard stories about them flying too close to the sun and suffering disaster after disaster" she looked at the older man. "Have you heard of the agent called Rich and his partner Leo the Coronamon? I've met them too".
Indeed, Rich has led them to a hidden, abandoned DATS warehouse in the ruined entertainment district, where they obtained an item that hopefully returned him to normal, as well as many files on the equipment that DATS was using. Sophie had assigned Satoshi to study them.
"Eh... I see" Sophie said, a bit concerned when the word 'government' was mentioned. "The fact is, I'm not a citizen of Japan, I was born in the United States" she said, and felt that might make things awkward if she got involved in the government. "That's probably going to complicate things when it comes to government authority".
To be honest, Sophie wasn't certain if taking a step that far would be worth it, considering AEGIS's humble beginnings. But there would be time for that in the long term. "For now, we simply hope to fill the gap and provide some security in Tokyo before word of DATS going defunct hits the wrong ears".
Those other things that Yaku mentioned made Sophie uncomfortable. If a digimon hit an amusement park, she had no way of remaining unseen. It would be a disaster of international proportions if it was seen that there were aliens attacking Japan. For a moment, Sophie's resolve wavered, but Lantis sensed this and stepped forward.
"I have full trust in my partner that we will eventually be able to meet that standard" he said. "Our numbers may be small now, but we will grow and we will protect this world from whatever forces may be waiting for us".
"Okay" Sophie said, smiling at her partner. "Thank you, Lantis" she turned back to Yaku. "As soon as you find Astamon, I'll lead you to our base" she waited patiently.
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Post by tridoriyaku on Oct 24, 2017 14:58:25 GMT
"I uh... no, no I don't recall a man named Rich." Yaku admitted, sheepishly. "I see. And you're here in Japan on a green card? Vacation? Study permit, perhaps?" Now they were getting into some odd details. "If you had to return to the states, do you have a second in command who'd uh..." He began looking all over the floor, leaning under tables and overtipped chairs. He did find his toupee, though. He had a minor panic attack at realizing his male pattern baldness had been exposed to these two and quickly put it back on. Astamon knew of his hair problem back when they worked together (undercover, not the first time), offered him some implants. Of course Yaku refused, mostly because he didn't trust most digimon with his surgery, especially with his luck and how many enemies he had in The Dark Area.
"I don't understand how you uh, well, didn't think about this before though..." He said, finally searching under the secretary's desk and spotting the device. "Aha!" He frowned as he found it hard to reach. He took off his fake arm and tried to use it for some extra distance, only succeeding in knocking it further away. "Once again Astamon has bested me..." He said, solemnly and standing back up. "Mister... Lantis, was it? Could you do me a favor and pick up this desk? Our mutual friend is being rather elusive." He then turned back to Sophie.
"So wait, what will happen to your Leomon if you have to go back to the US? I'd imagine your family would notice you spending time with him more than anyone else."
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Post by Sophie & Lantis on Oct 27, 2017 0:26:39 GMT
"Well... my family came to Japan on green cards, my father's an engineer" Sophie explained. "And his mother is Japanese and she returned here a while ago... she's helping us stay here so there's little chance of us being deported".
In truth, Sophie's grandmother had returned to Japan when her grandfather died, a year after she was born. It seemed Grandma Emiko had lost any affection with America along with her husband. Fortunately, Emiko's willingness to arrange a sponsor for her son's family allowed them to move to Japan for better opportunity when Sophie was 15, and she loved it here. Yes it took her a while to learn the language and customs, but, she just felt so much more alive in Tokyo than she did in Omaha.
And then, digimon came into Sophie's life. And of course she had to find a way to use her luck for the power of good. But she didn't really want to share the full story yet. That would come when she gained full trust in Yaku.
"Yes, I have a second in command" Sophie said, nodding. That would currently be Satoshi, as he knew the workings and intricacies of the web of data that was growing ever tighter around AEGIS. "And he is a Japanese citizen".
Would that cause problems later though? Sophie hoped not. She wanted to trust Satoshi, but, maybe they should have a real heart-to-heart about it later? In fact Sophie didn't even mention to him that he would be her first choice as a second in command. There was just so much to do! Yes, she was 18 and legally an adult, but, all this so soon after she finished high school.
As she was thinking of this, Lantis sighed and lifted the desk as Yaku requested, hopefully giving the clumsy man access to the device that held Astamon.
She took a small deep breath to maintain composure. She was only in the position she was in because of all the people supporting her. Her parents, her brothers, her digimon partner, her AEGIS team. They trusted her, and she would not let them down.
"I didn't think about this before because, well, I suppose it came from a shock to find that DATS was defunct and there was virtually no real barrier from digimon entering this world and causing chaos" Sophie admitted. "And I saw all these kids running around the digital world, and... I just became an adult, so, I pretty much decided "If nobody else will step up to the plate, I will". She was speaking a little louder than normal. Not out of anger, but out of determination. "Alright, I haven't thought out everything. AEGIS is currently a fledgling. As it stands, it cannot ever hope to replace the organization that once occupied this building. That's why I'm asking you to help me do this right".
Hopefully they could get this task done soon.
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Post by tridoriyaku on Oct 27, 2017 0:46:19 GMT
He grabbed the device, climbing out from under the desk and making sure his toupee remained on his head. "Excellent!" He said and held out the device. "Astamon, your daring escape has been foiled again." He popped his fake arm back in and carefully pocketed the digimon again, she could probably hear the mobster cursing at him. "Thank you, Sophie." He bowed. "And it's good to know you have some kind of contingency plan at least. I'm sure between the lot of us, AEGIS will make some good strides towards helping both worlds. Would you like to lead on? There's probably nothing left on the ground floor, and I don't quite trust this building that used to be filled with security devices designed to counter digital monsters." He frowned, thinking about how likely it would for him to die a horrible death.
"In fact, it was probably really lucky neither of us got wiped out on the way into the base proper... what security do you have in your base?" He asked, realizing how close to death he was.
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