[IC] Digimon: Shattered Boundary

[Bondye]

???, Tokyo - 21:33

"Ma'am, we're picking up those EM signals again. Trying to pinpoint their location now."

A small group of people worked at computers. Monitors displayed maps and CCTV footage of various locations around Tokyo. The person in charge made her way to the employee who spoke up. "Do we have a general area?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am. Shibuya Ward." The map on his monitor outlined the area before dialing in on a specific spot. "Got it. The signal is originating from Yoyogi Park. It's a small breach, from the look of it. I'd be surprised if anything bigger than a Class-III got through." The woman took a sip of her coffee, peering at the monitor over the rim of her glasses.

"Have an operative dispatched to monitor the rift. If it's something small, we can contain the situation. Capture is preferable, but elimination or returning it through the rift isn't out of the question."

"Yes, ma'am. Sending the message out now."

"Let's hope we don't have a repeat of the Namiyoke Incident. The paperwork alone would be a nightmare."

---

Yoyogi Park, Shibuya Ward, Tokyo - 21:35

Mom's gonna kill me!

Umiko Mizushima sprinted along the path as if her life depended on it. After training with her school's swim team, she'd called her mother to let her know she'd be out playing DTW. She was supposed to be home a half hour ago, and the battery for Umiko's phone was almost dead. She'd been so wrapped up looking for Digimon and items out in the parks that she'd lost track of time.

Though she paid it no mind, the park was devoid of people. Most of the birds and other small creatures seemed to be hunkering down for the night. Umiko was trying to come up with an excuse. Ran into some old friends? She wouldn't believe that? A run of bad luck with traffic? She wouldn't buy that again. Trying to help an old lady cross the street?

She wouldn't believe me even if I did!

Maybe she could--

Hel-! Young Ta--er, can --ou hea-- e?

Umiko froze. Where was that voice coming from? It sounded like a girl, but her voice was broken up, as if by static. "Hello?"

[Crimson Flame]

Yoyogi Park, Shibuya Ward, Tokyo - 21:36

After school that day, Niko went out playing DTW searching for cute Digimon. Time really did fly because now it was dark, and well past the time a kid should be out on a school night. Niko thought about how he was going to explain this to his father when he got home. He knew what his dad would say. “You’re too addicted to video games, you need to get a real life.” Or whatever it was that dad’s said when they didn’t like something their child did.

There wasn’t a single soul in the park. Why would they be? Considering how late it was? Niko hoped maybe his parents would have gone to bed early, and then he wouldn’t have to explain anything to them. He could quietly sneak home and play it off as if he’d been there the entire time.

Hel-! Young Ta--er, can --ou hea-- e?

Niko stopped dead in his tracks, and looked around. He could have sworn he heard the sound of a girl’s voice. Though it sounded staticky... He didn’t see anyone around though. “Hellooooooo! Is someone there?! Come out come out wherever you are. I don’t bite! Promise!”

[Renny]

---

_{Yoyogi Park, Shibuya ward
"Pull the car over, Iori."}

Convincing Iori to leave was impossible, instead he had demanded that the mature woman walk atleast a few paces behind him. Her duty to ensure his safety would be in reach, while his desire for privacy was also fulfilled. He'd told her he was playing Digimon: Tamers' World but in all actuality his curiosity and instincts had driven him to, what he assumed, was insanity. A voice in his head, neither Haru's or his own, distorted yet alluring... pleading myabe? he wasn't sure but he would never allow another person's potential plea for help to go unanswered.

As he strolled along through the park entrance, tall lights shone softly overhead, Iori's shoes stepping in perfect tune with his own, Yasashiku paused. Iori paused in the same moment. The gold of his phone paled in comparison to the bright light of the homescreen. "I'm going crazy..." he muttered. "I'm out here cause I thought I heard a voice. In my head. I'm not even sure if it came from here."

"But it feels like I should be here." he thought, the minute noise of nature an odd accent to his slight-mania.

After a short pause she stepped forward. "Young master, perhaps we should head home now," Iori suggested matter-of-factly.

Yasashiku sighed in acceptance and defeat. "Maybe... give me five more minutes."

[Martian]

Yoyogi Park, Shibuya Ward, Tokyo - 21:37

Akira was laughing with his more recent friends as they passed by the park. They had just spent the last hour and a half out chasing Digimon, as they had been swept up into the craze. For Akira however it was not going good, only finding the most common Digimon this evening. Meanwhile his friend Koji had found a rare gold variant of Veedramon. So Akira was feeling a little jealous of him. As such, Akira wasn’t ready to call it a night as he still wasn’t satisfied with his Digimon catching.

Akira turned to his friends, “I’m just pop into Yoyogi. Anyone wanna come along?”

“Man, it’s just insect types in there,” Koji laughed, “Plus it’s getting late, so I’m going home.”

The others nodded and agreed, siding with Koji as usual. Akira just waved them off, entering the park. Luckily for Akira, he loved insect type Digimon, though he wasn’t sure why. Plus with how dismissive his friends were being, he didn’t feel like telling them the rumour that DTW might be adding rare Digimon at certain landmarks, like Yoyogi Park.

Akira took out his phone and began using its AR feature to try and find Digimon. Initially finding nothing, he figured that he should go a bit deeper into the park. As he did so, a ping sounded on his phone, indicating a nearby Digimon. Akira walked toward the Digimon, only to hear a strange voice.

Hel-! Young Ta--er, can --ou hea-- e?

“The hell,” Akira muttered.

Akira spun around trying to find the source of the distorted voice, but couldn’t see anyone around him. Maybe Koji was right and it was late, and Akira was probably tired. He heard that if you are overly tired you may hallucinate these kinds of things. But thinking deeper on the subject, Akira remembered that usually only happens after multiple days with no sleep. So he wasn’t overly tired, which meant that maybe it was a brain sickness.

The prospect of being crazy was not appealing to Akira, so he decided to pursue the alternate course of thought. That the voice was real. Akira kept his phone ready in his hand just in case this situation was dangerous, as he walked deeper into the park, searching for whoever’s voice he had heard.

[Riegal]

Brillia Tower Yoyogi-koen, Shibuya, Tokyo - 21:35

The door handle to Hana's family apartment clicked open, Hana herself stepping into her home. The lights were all off, unsurprisingly. Despite how late it was, neither of her parents were back yet--one of the downsides of high-paying jobs. They seemed to be happy to provide their daughter a comfortable life, but the girl wished they'd be able to enjoy their own money more.

Hana rubbed at her eyes as she made her way to her room. After turning the light on, she carefully placed her bag on the foot of her bed, pulling out her laptop and moving it to the desk next to her desktop computer. Turning both machines on, she booted DTW on the laptop and on her phone, frowning to herself. She hadn't had the chance to play at all today, having worked a shift. Her gaze shifted to her window that lead to an impressive view, the desire to head outside beginning to grow in her.

No, it was too late. Hana sighed and turned her attention back to her desktop, spending a few minutes clicking around and skimming the latest posts on a DTW-related forum.

Hel-! Young Ta--er, can --ou hea-- e?

Hana yelped, jumping out of her seat to look around quickly. Her heart rate had just spiked. Despite the voice she could have sworn she had just heard, she was alone in her room. She quickly looked back to her computer, noting her headset laying on the desk. A fast check later, she confirmed there was no audio playing, so it couldn't have come from that. Really, it had sounded like it had come from further away. The hallway outside her door? Or maybe even further than that? Hana swallowed, nervous and confused.

She grabbed the closest thing to a weapon she could find--her schoolbag filled with heavy books--and crept towards the door to her room.

"M-Mom?" she called out, to no response. She waited for a few seconds longer, holding her breath. It didn't sound like there was any movement outside.

Before she could psyche herself out, the girl quickly opened the door.

There was no one, as it should've been expected. Her grip on the strap of her bag loosened a bit.

Hana began to slowly breathe again, feeling silly, but not completely relaxed yet. She quietly walked into the living room, noting again there was no one, and nothing was misplaced.

The girl did pause with a blink though, her eyes looking through the curtains that covered the glass door leading out to the balcony. Somehow... it felt like maybe the voice had come from there? If it hadn't just been in her head, which it probably had.

Hana bit her lip gently, before steeling herself again to make her way over. The balcony door was unlocked and slid open, and she stepped outside into the late night, above the rest of the neighborhood.

Directly ahead of her was the edge of Yoyogi Park. Hana leaned onto the railing, her gaze drawn to the park, eyes widening after a moment.

The voice had come from there. Maybe. She... was drawn towards it though.

Hana pulled up the front of her hoodie over her nose, her brow furrowing as she tried to make sense of what was happening.

[AlteredTundra]

---

Yoyogi Park, Shibuya Ward, Tokyo - 21:36

"Come back here!"

The sounds of whistles and hollering security guards were becoming less ear-blaring the further Kaz ran through Yoyogi Park. The darkness that the night provided clouded their view of him. The clouds overhead hid the stars, which in turn also hid the light they'd provide. Even though the lights of the park may have allowed for some light to reveal parts of the park, what those idiotic and nearsighted guards didn't anticipate was on Shodo Kazuma's natural athletic ability - or at least as natural as one could be when that feeling of getting caught passed through his entire body.

Just about fifteen minutes earlier, Kaz had the brilliant idea of sneaking into the NHK Broadcast center. It wasn't a bright idea, that much Kaz realized now, but at the time of deciding it, he was neck-deep into half of an idea of trying to see if he could find some different Digimon there. He had found most of what he could around the neighborhood and even on the outskirts, but he never went inside the broadcast center.

So he figured why not? What's the worst that could happen?

As it turned out, a couple of by-the-book security guards would take that very literally.

And now he found himself hiding out up in one of the cherry blossom trees as the two security guards talked amongst themselves.

"Gah! He must've run off somewhere!" One of them said. He was an overweight Japanese guy with what appeared to be dark hair and an affinity for sweets based on his gut.

Yeah! Really top shelf security, aren't you, big boy?

"Come on, Takeda. We should get back to our post. Boss will have our head if we don't."

Yeah, Takeda, go wheeze somewhere else. This branch is starting to climb up my ass.

They went back and forth for a few minutes and eventually, Takeda came to his senses and Kaz watched them as they left the park. And he couldn't have felt any prouder for how he not only escaped them, but managed to climb his ass up in this tree.

Letting out a sigh, he made an attempt to adjust himself so his legs were hanging off the thick branch he was sitting on. "Alright! In one, two thr--"

Hel-! Young Ta--er, can --ou hea-- e?--

"--What?"

Whether it was the slightest hint of static or what he figured was a girl's voice, Kaz was distracted and hadn't caught himself in time as he fell out of the tree and his ass broke his fall. "Goddamnit!" He cursed, feeling all sorts of numbness and soreness course through his waist and lower back. It was as if the force centered around there and he knew he was going to feel that in the morning.

As he got up, he looked around. "Whoever said that is gonna pay for my comfort rice ball! I mean it! I like mine jelly-filled!"

[Bondye]

---

I do--much time. My--eople need help! You m--ave them!

Umiko was thoroughly freaked out now. Whoever this girl was, she sounded distressed. "I should call the police," she decided. She pulled out her cell phone, and frowned. The battery was down to five percent. But it would have to do. Umiko started dialing 110, but stopped when she something out of the corner of her eye.

A few dozen meters away was a pond and fountain. She'd passed it maybe a hundred times before. However, there was something there that was abnormal: a bright, glowing light. Smaller than a football, and roughly spherical in shape. But what was even odder was that it seemed to be radiating a kind of energy; on closer inspection, Umiko could see holographic 1s and 0s emulating from the light like a fog.

Something about it made her want to come closer, and against her better judgement, Umiko did. What in the world is this?

[Crimson Flame]

“Yoo hoo!” Niko called out to the voice. “It’s ok! You can come out! Don’t be shy!” Of course, the mysterious voice only answered with more staticky responses that didn’t make sense. No one came out to reply or anything.What is going on? The pink haired boy wondered to himself.

Then, he saw a bright glowing light. It was stood out amongst all the trees, and was shining not far from where he was. What was even weirder was all the ones in zeroes running through it. That definitely wasn’t normal, and Niko felt the urge to run torwards it. “Wow, this is getting weirder by the second. Awesome!”

[AlteredTundra]

---

I do--much time. My--eople need help! You m--ave them!

Okay, Kaz. You're hearing things. Someone doesn't need help and they definitely don't want you to -ave them -- save them.

Kaz sighed, taking in and expelling out deep breaths.

Sometimes you just had to take a minute to collect yourself and clear out the voice of the clearly-imaginary voice of some girl in your head. Kaz, you weren't hearing any voices. You're just hungry and frustrated. And maybe a little high from the adrenaline of nearly getting caught by some glorified mall cops that couldn't run a 100m dash if it saved their life. There was nobody in need of your help. The only lack of time you had was getting home before your parents did.

As he made his way down the park, alongside the pond, there was ...something that caught his attention. Blue eyes caught the sight of...some bright light. That was strange, especially considering that there weren't normally any sort of light show in the park and especially at night. So what then?

Kaz wasn't usually the type that would ask himself so many questions about the unknown. Usually, he'd just rush right into the danger with eyes open and a bit of stupidity pushing him full speed ahead, but tonight was proving to be anything but the usual night for Shodo Kazuma. He was hungry, had the close run-in with the law barely behind him, and he was hungry. So, he was being just a little cautious right now.

He stirred that particular pot for a few moments later until he saw a couple of others make their approach towards the towering pillar of bright ones and zeroes. "Oh hell no," he cursed. "No way I'm gonna be beaten towards the strange thing by anyone else!"

The idea that he wouldn't be the first one there motivated Kaz enough to take off into a sprint. It didn't matter to him how out of breath the silver-haired teen was or how little energy he had due to being hungry for a jelly-filled rice ball - he just ran. And as he did, in the back of his mind, he was terrified and equally thrilled for what might happen when he reached his destination.

[Renny]

---

_{Yoyogi Park, Shibuya ward
"I do--much time. My--eople need help! You m--ave them!"}

A warmth blew through him and he, for a instant, knew he was insane. His usual stoic expression, flinched. His lips shivered with the image of Haru's fleeting smile, the smile that uttered defeat and wished desperately for help. Fading as it was, the memory brought an unwanted familiarity to the cool night. It was warmer that horrible night, he realized. A snarl tightened his lips and the grip on his phone, even as Iori's shaky words of returning to the car drew closer to him.

I can't do that now, what if I'm the only one who can help this person.

Out of character for him and fully expected from her, from anyone really, Iori refused to chase after the sprinting boy. He rushed headfirst, gilted eyes wide-open, towards the humming, unnatural light in the park.

"Shit! Young Master come back!" she yelled.

Coming out into the open, stopping a reasonable distance but far closer than sane, Yasashiku shouted. "Where are you? I hear you, I'm here to help!"

[Martian]

Akira continued deeper into the park, determined to find the source of the voice. After a few minutes he decided that he was getting nowhere, seemingly going in circles around the park. It didn’t help that he didn’t know the layout of the park at all as he was new to Tokyo. After another minute of fruitless searching, Akira sat down on a park bench. Pulling out his phone and looking at the time, Akira considered heading home. Then he heard the voice again.

“I do--much time. My--eople need help! You m--ave them!”

Akira sprang back up onto his feet. The voice sounded closer this time, and a lot more urgent. Believing now that he knew the direction it was coming from, Akira began to run toward the voice. As he made his way through the trees, he found himself in front of a water fountain. Initially he just saw the few other teenagers gathered around, but then he saw it, some sort of an energy ball. And rising from the ball was many faint images of ones and zeroes.

The strange sight caused Akira to stop running, standing a few feet behind the others. His mind raced as he tried to find a logical explanation for what he was seeing. Maybe it was a prank, and they were all secretly on camera. Or maybe some sort of promotion using holograms. But if it were those things then why would it be in this almost empty park and not someplace with more people. Akira just didn’t get it.

“So, what are we looking at?” Akira asked no one in particular.