Chapter Text
She could feel the hole as it opened, a cycling mass of fragmented data that led back into the blank screen of the TV. It was familiar - the borderline between the real world and EDEN, the instant of disorientation as you were cast out of your body and into a virtual reality. The hole radiated that feeling in blues and whites, its presence feeling almost like a weight on reality - and the sudden tug of that weight hooked into her outstretched arm, dragging her forwards.
The featureless, human-shaped mass of data that was Ami Aiba near enough tripped over her own undefined feet, her body distorting wildly as she fell headfirst into the hole in reality that'd opened at her touch. It vanished behind her, dissolving into a thin ring of loose data particles that quickly faded away, leaving the office of the Kuremi Detective Agency mostly empty.
"...hm."
Kyoko Kuremi cast a quick look over the door, just to make sure the lock was closed - she hadn't wanted anyone walking in on the fascinating anomaly she'd brought back with her from Shinjuku, not until they'd fixed the poor girl's appearance data at least. Urban legends and quick glimpses were fine, but explaining a half-cyber entity sitting on her couch away to anyone but maybe Matayoshi would be a massive pain. Satisfied, she let out a small chuckle, fingers flying over the keyboard of her computer.
"Humans really are such fascinating creatures..." she murmured, dark eyes flashing a momentary, brilliant gold - there, that mass of data moving haphazardly through the Nakano Broadway intranet. She was no hyper-savant able to remember the exact location of every data port in the building, but it didn't take a genius to narrow down the point where the data stream was going - through the EDEN connection point on the fourth floor, of course. Then that meant the girl would be turning up somewhere in EDEN when she came out of the network layer.
Narrowing that down would be easier if she had a proper bug on the EDEN point, she'd been meaning to get around to that but it had never seemed too important... ah, well. She'd just have to log the avatar data flowing through and ping the correct user. Identifying Aiba was no challenge, her profile data was so completely different from every other user's that her desktop monitor nearly glitched out. From there it was as easy as pinging the girl's EDEN profile, and - there. A phone number. Easy enough.
Opening the phone line through her own Digivice, Kyoko smiled as the faceless avatar on the other end of the line fizzled into view.
"This is Kyoko Kuremi. Can you hear me?" she asked, briefly thinking over the implications of the feat the half-cyber human had managed. It was quite impressive, managing to rip open a direct portal to the Network Link she'd ridden into EDEN... "I nearly lost you, but I managed to get a trace." she continued as Ami visibly nodded, the data fragments that made up her body flickering in and out of the mass of blue in a uniquely disorienting fashion.
Ah, right, humans wouldn't have actually been able to see that hole she'd opened, would they? It was a purely Digital phenomenon, even if it was being effected by a half-cyber entity. "What the heck happened? It looked like you were sucked into the terminal and just disappeared." she lied casually, scanning the background of Ami's video link; it looked like a basic EDEN chat server, which both meant that no one should be listening in as a matter of course and meant that there were others around, clearly startled by the featureless avatar that had appeared in their midst...
Ami tilted her head, but didn't respond otherwise; Kyoko got the feeling there was supposed to be an expression on her face, but of course she didn't have one right then. The girl really was a quiet one... maybe it was shock, actually? Whatever had converted her into her current state almost certainly hadn't been pleasant.
Well, best to establish what had happened right away. "I see. I'm guessing you passed through the actual network lines themselves." Kyoko did not guess. "The office terminal is connected to EDEN's network. You rode the flow within the wires and appeared in EDEN... so then for you, the network appears as an actual series of roads."
Ah, she'd messed up a little. Ami hadn't actually said anything, so knowing what network flows looked like didn't make sense... "Still, it's shocking to see you make such a direct transition from the real world to the digital one." she admitted gamely. Even EDEN avatars couldn't distort themselves freely into pure data and shift from network to network so freely - that Ami was able to do that with no apparent discomfort and maintain a physical existence without a host body meant she really was something other than purely physical or digital anymore. How fascinating! "To submerge in the digital network just by touching the terminal... a dive. No - a jump!"
A satisfied grin crossed her face. Yes, this particular human was looking more and more interesting by the second.
"From now on I'm going to call that ability of yours a 'Connection Jump'." Kyoko happily informed Ami, who was managing to project a sense of bewilderment and quiet shock despite not having a face. "What a happy little accident! Now you can go look around for avatar part data."
Hm. Would stabilizing her avatar impede Ami's ability to shift between the physical and digital like that? Humans weren't supposed to bend that way, Kyoko was fairly sure... no, in her current state the avatar data would be more of a cosmetic mask than a real modification to the girl's half-cyber body. Though, that might mean that the loose data flowing gently off of Ami would be unimpeded... perhaps she should speak to Mirei about it, surely her fellow visitor would have some insight on the matter.
"Head to Kowloon." she instructed Ami, resolving to fix the poor girl's situation now and worry about potential complications later. "There's plenty of junk data lying around there, it should be easy to find what you need."
The girl nodded, and Kyoko closed the line, a wry smile still on her face. She'd really stumbled into something special, here - she could feel it. It was only a seed now, but with a little time and effort she was sure that this half-cyber girl could prove uniquely helpful for her own goals. First, though, she should look into figuring out what had happened to Ami's physical body - if it had been truly converted into the new half-cyber form, it might be entirely irreversible, which she would need... time to best figure out how to break to the teen. On the other hand, if her body was just lying around somewhere - or worse, had part of her mind still left in it somehow - it would surely be found by someone, and require care of some sort. Plus, that would raise the awkward question of how to handle having an Ami walking around and another one in the hospital...
Her computer beeped in alarm. Kyoko blinked - Ami had vanished from EDEN's network. Not even into a secure server or anything like that - just gone, as if she had never existed. The trail was still there, though... ah! Had Mirei already taken an interest? The Digital Monster Laboratory didn't quite exist in this reality at all, so of course her computer wouldn't be able to trace someone into it. For all her ability, it was just a normal computer.
Should she go down the hall and ring up Mirei to confirm? ...no, she'd already slipped up once. Alerting Ami to the real depths of her knowledge would tip her hand far too soon, with the others still unseen in this whole mess. Pulling up the DigiLine application on her computer instead, Kyoko quickly typed out an inquiry instead, then turned back to the tracking program and set it to regularly ping the area around Kowloon.
Leaning back in her chair, Kyoko pondered the situation a little further. Of course, she would be helping Ami no matter how things turned out; she couldn't simply ignore a person in need. Taking a sip of her coffee - the intensely spicy sourness of the kimchi she'd mixed in really gave a quite satisfying jolt to the system, and the egg helped it go down very smoothly - she briefly considered what made most sense, in terms of Ami's transformation. The fact that she'd been ejected from a terminal she hadn't logged in at, or perhaps even been near, was curious in its own right and implied that she had been fully separated from her body, rather than the physical transformation theory. However, being attacked by an Eater shouldn't have converted her EDEN avatar into a physically viable half-cyber state... should it? Kyoko simply didn't know enough about Eaters to be sure, but it didn't seem likely. But what else could be behind her mental data transforming like that?
Was it something about EDEN, then? No, there were plenty of cases of EDEN Syndrome even with the relative rarity of Eaters in the network as it was now. If it was a property of the network itself, another half-cyber being should already exist. Perhaps an edge case, so she couldn't rule it out entirely, but her instincts told her that was a bad lead. If it wasn't EDEN, then maybe it was the Eater - perhaps she had run into a strange one? The Eaters were hardly understood in any significant way, so again Kyoko couldn't rule it out, but there was no real evidence suggesting that either - the description of the monster that had attacked Ami in the depths of Kowloon as a 'white and black tentacle thing with a red eye' matched the Eaters Kyoko was familiar with.
Perhaps it wasn't either of those things. It could be an aspect of the situation Kyoko simply wasn't aware of because Ami hadn't been aware of it - or one she was simply failing to consider. Or, come to think of it, it could be that there was something unique about Ami herself. By all appearances, she was a normal girl, but Kyoko knew perfectly well that appearances were only skin-deep...
Another beep from her computer jolted her out of her pondering. Oh, Ami must have emerged from the DigiLab - good, good. Kyoko reopened the communications line, pleased to find that the area Ami was in had changed from the whites of upper EDEN to the electric blues of Kowloon.
"It's me! I finally got through to you." Kyoko greeted Ami. "I lost your trace info and had to search again. Where did you wander off to this time?" She did feel a little bad misdirecting the teen like this, but it really would tip her hand to be too comfortable with her unexplained disappearance.
"Ah, I found somewhere... unusual." the girl replied, sounding a little unsure of herself - mostly how to describe the place she'd wandered into, though. "There was a woman with purple hair there - she called it the Digital Monster Laboratory...? Oh, her name was Mirei. It was an odd experience."
Knowing too much about the DigiLab would be suspicious, but Mirei's storefront was her neighbor. "I see, so you ran into Mirei Mikagura." Kyoko nodded, faking consideration - there had been no question about Mirei taking an interest in Ami, although she suspected not for quite the same reasons Kyoko herself had. The woman was mysterious like that. Best to keep up appearances though. "Yeah, you could say we're acquainted. Regardless, for there to have been a natural progression where you would meet her... it seems like you have some really crazy luck."
Ami giggled helplessly, visibly shifting as a green, rabbit-like creature poked its head out from behind her... shoulder, Kyoko was pretty sure. It wasn't the only Digimon visible - there was a gear-shaped machine staring at a mass of metal in the background, and a somewhat reptilian creature with a pink, tropical flower blooming on top of its head just tall enough to be visible standing next to her. Terriermon, Hagurumon, and Palmon, respectively - all Rookies, which was impressive for someone who'd only just had the Capture program installed. They'd be able to help her perform basic hacking in EDEN, even if she was a complete novice to the practice.
Kyoko took a second to review what Ami had told her of the ill-fated earlier trip to Kowloon, then nodded. "If you're already in Kowloon, then you've achieved your original objective anyways. Let's start by-"
"Oh, right - just before you called!" Ami interrupted, drawing a surprised blink from Kyoko. "We were able to break through the firewall that was blocking the exit - well, entrance, I guess - to Kowloon! These guys made quick work of it."
Kyoko smiled. That sort of initiative was definitely to be commended - even if, judging by the smug grin on the Terriermon's face, at least one of them didn't really need the praise to keep their ego healthy. "Well done, then. You've saved us some time." she agreed warmly, briefly pulling up a scanner program she'd built a while ago for finding lost data in EDEN. It was the work of a few moments to send it scouting through Kowloon's entrance area, and she turned her attention back to the group on-screen. "I'm scanning the area ahead of you for junk data now - I'll mark some key sites for you to check. You should be able to find enough to replace your body parts with some effort. It's something of a stopgap measure," she admitted, thinking back on her earlier concerns about the avatar data interfering with Ami's half-cyber body or failing to seal the gaps, "and may not be a perfect solution, but I'm sure your skills are up to the task."
"We'll make sure she looks great!" Palmon piped up enthusiastically, leaning into Ami's side with clear comfort. The half-cyber girl, to her credit, didn't flinch at all, making sure not to jostle her leg as she turned briefly and waved Hagurumon back over. The machine Digimon floated over with calm cheer, its gear-like body bobbing gently on the digital breeze.
"I'll leave making sure it all fits together to you, then." Kyoko agreed easily. It would help to have Ami able to move around in the real world without people screaming about a faceless ghost. Although, that uncertainty about the girl was only growing stronger... perhaps she needed a little more of a pep talk. Maybe she shouldn't have been quite that candid about not having a quick solution to the girl losing her entire body...
Kyoko offered a smile, briefly remembering an old story about a faceless man. "It's alright, this shouldn't take very long. It's not like you need to defeat forty-eight demons or anything difficult like that, now is it? Think of this as an emergency measure."
Briefly, Ami hesitated - then nodded, her Digimon partners gathering up around her with resolved smiles. "Got it. I'll fix my body as quickly as I can, then."
"I look forward to meeting you in your true form." Kyoko replied easily, and to her surprise found herself really meaning every word of it. She closed the line, then giggled softly, amused and a little ashamed of herself.
It really was a bad habit for a Royal Knight to get into, being so used to lying and deceiving about her true nature and knowledge that she was surprised at even a petty honesty like that out of her borrowed mouth.
Idly tracking Ami's progress through Kowloon, Kyoko took the opportunity to have another sip of her coffee (ooh, the raspberry was starting to come through) and consider the situation some more. Even aside from the unusual aspects of the situation, Ami was clearly an excellent leader for her Digimon - the residents of Kowloon's Level 1 were weak, true, but she was making extraordinarily fast progress regardless, and for three Rookies to have taken such a liking to her already boded very well for her ability to connect with Digimon.
Much as her own ability far eclipsed anything a couple of Rookies were capable of, Kyoko was limited by the body she had confined herself to. It was only an idea, but having some freer hands around couldn't hurt, could it? And it would let her keep Ami close in case of emergency, should this half-cyber situation prove difficult to resolve in the short term...
Putting the idea to the side for now, she checked through her DigiLine messages again - no response from Mirei, she likely thought Ami's reappearance was answer enough... nothing from Matayoshi either, which was somewhat less expected...
Beep, beep. Oh, a call? ...from Ami? Had she already collected enough avatar data to reassemble her appearance?
Opening the line, Kyoko hummed thoughtfully at the teenager on the other side of the line. With her avatar data restored, Ami had the type of just-gaining-definition features common in high schoolers, although the eye was drawn more to her very bright red hair, almost candy-colored. She was using those features to look fondly exasperated at the plant-like Digimon fussing around her legs, even as her other partners floated gently by in the background, Terriermon riding on top of Hagurumon. More importantly, there was no trace of the loose data that had been flowing off of her undefined body earlier, and no seams or strange textures to her fixed appearance. It seemed that the fix had exceeded expectations.
"You look normal again." Kyoko nodded thoughtfully. "It's not a perfect solution, but it's a major step... with that objective cleared, you should come back to the agency."
The exasperation cleared in favor of a blank confusion. Ami exchanged glances with first the Palmon at her side, then the other two in the background - all of them offered shrugs, Hagurumon's extra gears nearly catching Terriermon's long ears in their teeth. Neither noticed.
"Um... I don't know how to get back, actually." Ami admitted, looking mildly unnerved by that realization. "I got into EDEN by complete accident..."
It was unlikely that she'd be handled by the system any different than a normal EDEN account now, if one with unusual abilities within the system... Kyoko nodded again. "You should try logging out like normal." she suggested. "Since you went in through a terminal here, my guess is that you should come out through the same terminal, just like how the system normally handles EDEN connections."
Then she smiled. "To be totally honest, I don't actually know what will happen until we try. Your case is completely unique." she said, because honesty was important, hadn't she just been thinking that? "If the worst happens and your data is scattered through the network, I'll salvage as much as I can."
The vaguely horrified expression on Ami's face made Kyoko feel bad and giggle at the same time. "Not funny." Hagurumon cut in, its unusual, grinding mechanical voice harsh with reproach.
"Sorry, sorry I'm just joking..." Kyoko giggled, waving off the Rookie Machine's rebuke. "It should be fine, really. You're being treated by the system as a perfectly normal avatar, aren't you? It should treat logging out from EDEN in the same way."
Ami visibly considered, then gave a half-hearted shrug. "I'll give it a try, anyways... maybe I can Connect Jump out if it doesn't work?" she mumbled thoughtfully.
"Contact me if you encounter trouble. Best of luck." Kyoko instructed the redheaded teen, then cut the connection, still smiling.
...she did keep a close eye on the tracking program, though. Kyoko hadn't really been joking about collecting Ami's scattered data if the worst happened and EDEN's patchy anti-virus measures took offense to Ami on the way out - it should be possible to reconstitute the teen in her half-cyber state, shouldn't it? With Mirei's help, surely...
Kyoko sipped her coffee again, quietly tracking Ami's progress back through Kowloon towards the entrance gate.
"...needs more yolk and less white next time." she murmured thoughtfully.