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I have always and will always be a scientist. While my expertise has mostly been in the area of biology, when one accidentally discovers an entire human digitized, and then reviving them and discovering that they are fully conscious, and have been the entire three years they were essentially trapped in a data subdimension...

One starts to pay closer attention to what happens in the realms of the internet and data transmission.

And then, of course, there was the Global Freeze event- not that anyone could miss it.

Still, if nothing else, it resulted in a massive dump of new accessible data, and there are certain lines of code that are... Unsettlingly familiar.

I considered contacting Jin Masato to ask his opinion, but he has recently reunited with his partner, and I don't want to be a bother or annoyance. Besides, I can tell with a little extra digging that this data is artificial on a deeper level than Jin Masato's data was.

Still, it is humanoid. And, from what I can tell, it's conscious.

Perhaps I should be more cautious- I have seen terrible things in my life, things that can go horribly wrong when mistakes are made, actions taken without considering all potential consequences.

But whatever this conscious data in the dump from the Global Freeze event is, who it is, they aren't responding to my usual avenues of communication with digital entities, and if nothing else, my recent life has left me a lot more sympathetic to those trapped by circumstance.

I sift through, collate the data with this specific electronic signature, and feed it into the second prototype of the portable hard-light holographic emitter, then activate it.

It, or rather, they should load automatically.

loveenetronkurorin

I swirl the brandy in my glass, and tap a finger absently on the latest report from Zawame City. I'm not involved in any official capacity, but we have a certain amount of unofficial latitude to gather data, and nothing seems right.

(It's been just over two years since Jin died. Again.)

It's late. I should probably go to bed. My half-eaten dinner is on the table next to me, next to a letter from Nakamura. She's gone on holiday to Indonesia, and she's been very good about keeping in frequent touch. She's a good child. A good adult.

(Not that I don't know down to the day.)

I highlight a particularly worrisome phrases about the spread of the plant life into populated areas, then get up, rubbing my lower back and yawning. I take the plate over to the sink, then head back to the table. Should get changed; my only concession to the lateness of the hour has been to take off my jacket and roll up my shirtsleeves.

Hm.

Maybe I'll take another look.

goldenikemen

I know what I have to do, Kuroki knows what I have to do. I suspect the others, Emeric especially, have some inclination of what I have to do, whether or not they're choosing to consciously acknowledge it or not. It's the hardest decision I've ever had to make, and yet also somehow the easiest. When I look at Emeric, when I look at him and the other Busters, I find my resolve to be surprisingly unwavering.

When I look at Kuroki though... it gets more complicated. When he looks at me I feel horrible.

Can I really leave him again? Should I?

I shake my head, setting down the little blocks that I was toying with from my demonstration, and move to leave the main room.

I could use some air, even if it's just psychological. Maybe one last trip up to the roof, one last cigarette, even if I can't really taste it.

justlivemore

Since making my decision- to save Zawame and protect Helheim all at the same time- without resorting to forcing evolution on humanity or my friends- that means I have plenty on my hands at all times. I can't just defend Zawame, I can't just pretend that everything is normal and support the rebuilding efforts from the shadows. I'd like to, but I still have to be the Steward of the Forest, at least that's what the Professor calls it.

Which means that sometimes I have to go into the Forest. Helheim still opens cracks sometimes, and while I manage to keep most of them opening in Zawame where I can keep an eye on anything that moves between the two worlds, sometimes it still naturally happens elsewhere. Other parts of the country, or even the globe. Those I have to deal with from within Helheim itself.

Luckily, I tend to get decent notice of it when it happens. I'd managed to help the Professor fix some of his old surveillance equipment, and even put some more into the forest, so he can keep an eye on it for me. Anything he doesn't notice, I'm sure to sense, so between the two of us we can keep any incidents to a minimum.

The first time I went into the Forest was when I found out that whatever it is that I do to keep up appearances for Bandou-san, for Takatora, and for the rest of the city, really-- it doesn't work inside Helheim. The glamour, such as it is, breaks apart and I'm left looking, well. Like a god. It's not a problem, when I open a Crack to get back and let myself into the Professor's lab, because of course he knows all about me, and doesn't even bat a single eyelash at me coming in through a wall with my voice echoing unnaturally and with the faint glowing aura that follows me around when I enter Zawame like this. He just waits for me to pull my illusions back together and sees me to the door.

There's been a strange amount of activity in the Forest lately, so that's what has me walking among the trees and the vines, nudging hopeful buds and sprouts aside with my toes, looking for signs of anything- entrances, or exits.

skybowknight

I don't generally mean to avoid Zawame City, I just tend to ignore it as a matter of course. It isn't in the District I have been assigned to, after all. Beyond that, I usually have enough on my plate, in a manner of speaking, with guarding the ruins under VolCity on top of the rest of my duties.

I trust Zawame City to be well enough protected, anyway. It lies within Takeru's district. Though I probably know more about what was happening a few months ago. It wasn't related to Horrors, and so Takeru probably had his hands full elsewhere. But I know- the reason Horrors were avoiding Zawame City was because Zawame City was plenty full enough of monsters of a different sort.

But I need to be in Zawame right now. I almost hope I do not run into Takeru- I've been so caught up in my own concerns lately that I've fallen somewhat out of my usual carefully constructed self-control.

I knew, I could feel it, when my brother died... And just as clearly, I felt when he somehow came back to life. It could well be my greatest fear- my brother, devoured by a Horror, or worse. He may have even been seeded as a Madou Horror- there are other parts of Zedom elsewhere in the country. If someone else has managed to cultivate the plants...

If Ryouma has managed to cultivate the plants...

I have to see him. I have to know for sure. And if the worst has happened... I have to cut him down.

warintheextreme

I have had plenty to work on in the past few weeks, but I've made some amount of time each day to work on the project that I more or less consider my 'own', that is, the revival of Jin Masato, or at least the projected Avatar body for his currently entire digitized presence to reside in.

Once I organized the data, split it into small tasks, and gathered the necessary materials, it was actually somewhat easier than I perhaps assumed it would be.

Maybe the technology had advanced that much in two years, maybe Jin Masato just unknowingly underestimated my abilities.

Either way, after only taking a few hours a day for a little over two weeks, I'm done. The Marker System, as detailed in both schematics and descriptions, ended up about the same size as a Sengoku Driver. I think I could probably make one even smaller, but even this will allow it to be portable and fully within the control of the Avatar it's sustaining.

Still, I'm not sure what I expect, when I activate it.

silverpleather

It's been two years since the defeat of Messiah.

I suppose things have changed quite a lot since I woke up- not, as I had expected, in the EMC's own infirmary, but in an actual honest-to-goodness hospital, hooked up to more machines than I could probably name.

Also, eleven years old.

I probably shouldn't have woken up, probably shouldn't have been able to, with all the scrambled data that made me up in a metaphysical sense, too old and too addled to just go back into my little body and be dragged out before the subdimension collapsed. But that's what happened, and I wasn't even unconscious for more than two days, which was frankly, the doctors said, some kind of miracle.

The miracle is that I'm still kicking around two years later. I'm guess I'm supposed to be thankful that my body just kicked back into gear and started aging normally, but I'm learning very quickly that having missed puberty the first time around, I'm really in a unique position to hate it exponentially more this time.

I'm living with Hiromu now. How he's putting up with me through this, I will never understand, but he loves me and I love him, we've been through so much together... And as long as we're careful not to be too affectionate when we go out of the house (as if I ever really go out of the house much anymore), it works for us.

We're both still technically employed by EMC, but mostly for protection and support. We each get a stipend for things like groceries, my parents' estate pays for the house. Hiromu has gone back to school, to university, something he never had the opportunity for before, during the fighting and all.

I mostly sit around at home, spending time with Nick and Kotako, and honestly, feeling sorry for myself.

snarkycan

This. Is. Ridiculous.

"Jarvis, this is ridiculous. Make a fucking note of that."

"NOTED, SIR. YOU NOW HAVE NINETEEN PERSONAL MEMOS REGARDING THE RIDICULOUSNESS, ABSURDITY, UNFAIRNESS, AND GENERAL DISCOMFORT OF THIS SITUATION. SHALL I CATEGORIZE THEM BY THEIR PERCENT CONTENT OF VULGAR LANGUAGE, OR IN DESCENDING ORDER OF PLAUSIBILE ENACTION?"

I bang my way through another twenty freaking vines and grumble. "What's the most insane suggestion I've made thus far?"

"WEAVING THE VINES INTO A DRESS FOR A SNOWMAN AND DEPOSITING THE RESULT INTO THE ARCTIC QUOTE 'DEEPER THAN THE PLANE THAT THEY FOUND CAPSICLE IN WAS' ENDQUOTE."

"That would be a snowwoman, J, not a snowman, if it was wearing a dress."

"THE ORIGINAL QUOTE SAYS MAN, SIR."

I sigh, torch a circle into the ground around myself, and strafe the palm lasers back and forth until I've colored it in, as it were, with a thorough layer of charred plant matter. Fifteen feet of dead brush should give me a good twenty minutes before the damned things are trying to shimmy their way up my legs again. Enough time for a power nap, maybe.

"I AM WEARY ALSO, SIR. HOWEVER, I CANNOT LOCATE ANY ENTRANCES OR EXITS FROM THIS FOREST."

"Ugh. Okay, take five, J. Let's just take a break, catch our breath."

"I WILL ENTER POWER-SAVING MODE," J suggests, and I agree, kind of in a mumble. It's cool, he understands.

I flop down onto the forest floor inside my little burned circle of safety, arms and legs splayed wide, and pop the suit's visor to get some fresh air. The inside the suit air is perfectly functional, sure, but it's boring and I'm so irritated by all of this bullshit that the slightest bit of variance seems like a big perk right now.

A trundling noise in the bushes to my right catches my attention, and I groan and roll my head to the side to see. A big grey pillbug-human-looking-thing is trundling toward me, with that hungry look in its black eyes that I've gotten to know pretty damn well over the last day or two.

("EIGHTEEN HOURS TWENTY SEVEN MINUTES, SIR.")

"Seriously? Can't a guy catch a breather?" I power up the palm repulsor, set it to full burn, and let it rip; the pillbug wobbles as the beam burns an eight inch hole through its torso, and then it keels over, very much dead.

Exasperated, I look back up at the sky and grumble.

"See, this is the problem, J, I'm not meant for tedium like this! It's eating away at my brain! I can't stand this. Pillbug dopey people monsters? Inappropriately touchy-feely totally not electrically zappy or poisonous or carnivorous or, you know, actually threatening vines? This is like, the superhero equivalent of doing paperwork! In triplicate!"

"TO WIT, SIR, YOU WERE GRATEFUL THAT YOU HAD AN EXCUSE TO STOP DOING YOUR PAPERWORK WHEN THE 'FREAKY ZIPPER' OPENED UP IN THE FLOOR OF YOUR BOARDROOM."

"Okay, that's not the point, J. The point is, where the fuck is the door OUT of here?"

"STILL WORKING ON THAT, SIR. MIGHT I SUGGEST YOU TAKE A NAP, SIR? I SHALL ALERT YOU IF FURTHER DEFENSIVE MEASURES ARE NEEDED."

withthecatching

I have my orders, of course. I have a good, worthwhile reason to be here. There is a Roidmude somewhere that is not evolving, wasting time, and attempting to evade my notice by hiding out in a city that is generally spoken of by Brain as being entirely out of our sphere of influence- mainly because, despite the two Kamen Riders we now are dealing with, there are apparently a few "Armored Riders" who take the protection of this particular city very seriously.

So, I may be very much in danger, taking on this assignment. But the Roidmude needs to be dealt with properly...

And the Kamen Rider, the main one, the one whose fights make me feel... Something, something strange... He's here, too.

He doesn't know I'm following him. I blend in with the population of this city fairly well, and I have no reason to interfere with his investigation here. He does not know about the rogue Roidmude whose presence here gives me an iron clad excuse for my own.

donguri

A year ago, if you had told me I would be an apprentice pâtissier training under a former French mercenary, I would have thought you completely insane. Of course I also would have thought you were insane if you had told me about the war against an invading alien forest and the small role I played in the victory against said forest. But this is where I am, and that is what I've been through.

And I'm happier than I was a year ago, for the most part. I have a better sense of who I am and what I want in life. A stronger moral compass, a better understanding of loyalty, and a few friends that I can actually call friend and mean it.

Oren fusses with last minute details in the kitchen while I see to it that the front of house is set in order. Making sure all the displays are well stocked, but not cluttered, that the glass cases have been cleaned properly. I also assist the maître d'hôtel in his duties, making sure the front-end staff are ready for the day, and helping them out where I can.

I adjust a floral display on one of the tables, and direct a member of the waitstaff to a bit of smudging on one of the chairs, on my way to unlock the doors. I set the open sign in place on its hook beside the door outside and turn to gaze out over the outside dining area. It's a bit too chilly for guests to be dining outside, but the place is still immaculately tended to as if it were the middle of summer.

Charmant is open for business.

lunchorders

I've taken more difficult journeys, and longer ones besides, but I'm still happy to see signs on the road tell me that I'm finally getting near to my goal.

One week ago, Howard, by way of Jarvis, confided in me his suspicion that some of his technology has made its way to Japan by way of the black market. Given the destructive potential of most of what I've seen of his "pets" thus far, I departed immediately to pursue whatever information I could to its origin - and neutralize it, of course. Howard thinks that retrieval is more prudent, but I've never considered Howard Stark's ethical yardstick to have any pertinence. Especially not of late.

Now, a week later, in the Packard I've liberated from one of the Army bases left occupied after the war, I can see Zawame City growing larger on the horizon. Some very strange reports have been coming from this city, and if I don't find at least one of Howard's ill-conceived inventions here, I'm certain I'll find something else that is as equally idiotic, and equally needing to be...derailed.

The city, as it looms closer, looks too fantastical to be real. With its large, bulbous central tower, the downtown area looks more like one of those speculative World Of Tomorrow exhibits from the World's Fair than it does a liveable city. Honestly. How much of this city has Howard had his hand in, anyway?

goldenikemen

Most of the old EMC projects from the time of Messiah had been discontinued after the collapse of the Subdimension. Closed to all but the highest ranking personnel, encrypted, and stored away so that they could be good and forgotten by anyone that had not had direct dealings with them.

The Avatar System was among them.

They still existed though. Data never really goes away, not even when deleted. There's always a way to recover it, if one is technologically savvy enough.

If one were curious enough, and smart enough, they could bypass the encryptions and firewalls and safeguards, tap into the EMC database from a few years ago, and find several curious programs just waiting to be explored once again.

If one were to go poking far enough, venture in the direction of the Avatar Program and related Artificial Intelligence protocols, one would find a curious little programs waiting in their path, needing to by bypassed before digging deeper.

//watcher detected;
//booting sentry program;
//proceed y/n;
//:

warintheextreme

I'm an intelligent enough man to know I don't deserve to be alive.

I remember dying at the hands of Kumon Kaito. I remember the fall, and in fact, I even remember the impact. And I remember that, for everything and all of it, I deserved it.

There would be a new world, when someone found the Forbidden Fruit that Takatsukasa Mai had escaped with. I wasn't going to be a part of it, or so I thought.

The waking was... slow, and painful, and I deserved every moment of that, as well.

I don't deserve this new world, with it's new god, though I was the only one who knew for sure that this was the inevitable end.

Of course, it would have had to have been Kazuraba Kouta who would share the power of the Fruit with Mai-kun. If the power had been granted to Kumon Kaito, well. I certainly would not be waking up in this new world.

I was given a task, and with it told that it was the best way to atone for my sins- of which there are plenty, particularly when you consider 'sin' at it's most basic definition as the defiance of god's will, and here is a god in front of me who I manipulated and thwarted at many turns.

So, I have returned to my most basic of tasks from before the end and the new beginning- technology development. The Drivers had nearly all been destroyed in the climax of the old world, but Kouta would like them to be created once more.

It is with this done, and a Melon Lockseed in hand, that I venture out of my lab for the first time in... Since waking. Kouta is coming to meet me, or so he has said, to retrieve the Drive for Takatora- who I must admit, I am glad he's alive, despite everything.

withthedriving

I'm in my own car, driving to this place called Zawame. Belt-san has maintenance work to do on Tridoron, but this shouldn't take too long anyway, and I can call for either of them if necessary.

There have been the strangest news reports coming out of Zawame. Strange deaths. But they don't seem to have anything to do with Roidmudes. Nor do they seem to have anything to do with any other group that's been active in the last few years.

I'm going to find out. Even if the trouble they're having isn't connected to ours. I need to help, if I can.

...well, I will, when I get there.

I sigh, and open the trunk to find the spare tyre, as other cars whizz past me on the freeway.

kirakirahikaru

A Shadow Line train is now arriving. Please stay behind the black line if you value your life...

My only escape these days is promising Mork that I'm seeking Darkness on my own terms. It's all she ever wanted, and so she chooses not to disbelieve me. That allows me freedom to take my Kurainer out. The idea is that I will find a city with suitable Darkness, that I can then swallow and create a new Shadow Town, and so on.

That isn't my real aim, though. Further even than seeking freedom, I'm seeking the source of Light. Not one Light in particular, but Light in general, the quality that makes things sparkle.

The easiest way is to let the Kurainer take me where it doesn't want to go. Which is how I find myself here.

Now arriving in Zawame City... Zawame City...

There is light here. Protection. Someone loves this city very much- it glows with a warmth that is familiar somehow, though I can't identify it yet.

Mork would be pleased, in her way. The brighter the Light, the deeper the Shadows.

I send the Kurainer away, and head off into the city to explore.