Akihiko's flat, the top floor of a Shinkjuku Apartment turned base of operations, had been relatively quiet for the past few days. No notifications meant no missions, which meant there was no need for the different members of the team to converge in Shinjuku to perform operations or otherwise communicate with one another in person. Akihiko didn't mind, the off time meant that he had time to finish up training plans, logistics, and prep work he was otherwise behind on.

Or at least it would've if Mama hen hadn't invited them all out to breakfast. His phone buzzed incessantly on a nearby desk as Akihiko sat in front of a computer, typing away rapidly on one of the multiple terminals in his apartment's "hotbox"- the central location of his apartment where most of his computers, gadgets, and gear populated. It was a dim room, with server stacks and computer monitors taking up the majority of the space, with several seats in front of computers and tables crammed with unfinished gizmos, computer parts, and the spare parts of disassembled firearms. Absentmindedly grabbing at his phone, Akihiko stared at the message for a moment, and was tempted to put it down and continue working, but reluctantly texted a response back to the group, signalling that he would be available for breakfast as well.

At the Cafe, Akihiko remained mostly silent during the group's conversation, opting instead to continue work on his tablet as the group placed their orders. This was nothing out of the ordinary, Akihiko was always regarded as the busy-body, and rarely did much outside of work aside from the occasional trip to the bars. They hadn't been able to really have any conversation before the entirety of the group's phones went off in near unison. Casually reading his phone, as though he was too busy to be bothered, Akihiko scanned his phone for only a moment before he shut his tablet off and returned it to his bag. He looked up at the others, some of them sighing as Natazume went to cancel their orders. 

"Time for work."

Joining the others in the back room of a net-cafe, Akihiko eased himself into a professional looking office chair, a large, black leather chair set on wheels and with back support. Akihiko wasn't too pleased about the situation, normally they had time to prep before immediately jumping into the DgtWrld, usually they were given a brief, set with vital information from the Gvt. This time, no information had been sent to their Cnnt Apps, which meant they were going in blind. Akihiko had no unhidden disdain for moving in unprepared, but at the same time, the team had been through more than one mission with no prior information, and they were all still alive. Breathing out, Akihiko closed his eyes as he connected to the DgtWrld. 


When he breathed in, he opened his eyes and took on his new persona. Apex rolled his shoulders, the mechanical joints in his arms whining as they came to life. Before his eyes ran a quick diagnosis of his Avatar and its systems. He had been transferred without issue, his weapon programs were running with no issues, and his new Hoverboard program appeared fine. All around him was the black grid of the DgtWrld, a wide, expansive, almost desert like stretch of digital space.

His armored figure stood with the others as the suited persona of a Gvt Official appeared before them. Apex's eyes narrowed. He watched with suspicion as the following conversation took place. He shot Crystal a quick glance as he sidled up to her. "I don't like this." he grunted as they watched the scene unfold, ending with the official glitching out and disappearing. When the gravity shift hit, even Apex, one of the larger of the avatars, was forced to a knee as the waves of force crashed upon him. Growling angrily, Apex struggled to remain conscious for as long as he could before his eyes were eventually forced close by the overwhelming force. 

His eyes snapped open, and then squinted as he adjusted to the sudden white that had suddenly surrounded them. For a moment, he thought that they had been dumped out of the DgtWrld and were back in Tokyo. He then spotted the mechanical limbs that were his arms and legs and knew that he was still logged on. Apex was vaguely aware of the music playing in the background, as he got to his feet. Gone was the ordered black grid of the DgtWrld as they knew, and in its place was a golden city with colorful skies and clouds. A breeze rushed over them, and Apex put a hand to his face, the air felt real. Looking around, Apex quickly noticed that almost the entire team was absent from his current location- save Cypher. Apex frowned, activating the menu on his Cnnt, the screen fizzled and glitched. He couldn't access any information, likewise the logout feature was unavailable. 

Apex quickly looked at Cypher, who was getting herself used to their new environment. Cypher- the hot-headed, but talented Corrector with a big sword to match her nearly as big mouth. Cypher was a fighter, a very competent one, and was likely capable of causing the most damage on their team. She was an impatient one, whereas he was more deliberate; and the two of them had often butt heads on more than one occasion, but she trusted his judgement, as he trusted her intuition. Cypher mentioned the tall tower in the distance, which Apex's trained eyes immediately picked out in the entire cityscape. 

"That's a good idea." Apex agreed, gesturing towards the tower. "That place's our best bet at finding the rest of the team- if they're out there."

As he spoke, a metal mask appeared and sealed the bottom half of his face. His voice changed from a natural voice to a filtered voice, as though played through an external speaker. A rifle appeared in the air and Apex grabbed it. Checking the sights for a moment, he shouldered the rifle and begin walking down the street.

"Lets get a move on then, the longer we stand around here the more likely we'll end up a target."