This is MJ. I'm an author, I'm an artist, I'm an analyzer. You can find all my work
at MJMunoz.com. Welcome to Digimon Chronicles where I continue to read Digimon Seekers.
We're starting chapter 2 after 18 parts of chapter 1. So this is chapter 2 part 1. Chapter
2 is called Hacker Leon WWW Airlines Flight 626. Is that chapter 2 long? Chapter 3 is
called A.G. Wolf of the 9th Avenue. I don't know, that has a certain music to it. WWW
Airlines Flight 626. Eh. Anyway. So here we go. I'm going to read it, I'm going to comment
on it, and you're going to like it. Your mileage may vary. Anyway. So here we go. Also, the
Digimon Dreamers manga is out and about. It has an official notice on it that it was localized
by a certain team, and that gives me a little faith because this one, Seekers, is just done
kind of anonymously. So anyway, that should be fun. I'll go ahead and read that as well.
So you'll be getting two Digimon Chronicles a week, I guess. I'll see how long that one
is when I actually get into it. So without further ado, here we go. This is K Kuhn's
translation, thank you very much. Chapter 2. Accurately on WWW Airlines Flight 626.
Chapter 2, Part 1. WWW Airlines Flight 626. There weren't going to be many people who
remembered that airline flight number, nor the model of plane to which it referred. Not
in today's world, where big news stories would frequently bleed together. While plane crashes
were not an everyday occurrence, they did happen somewhere in the world almost every
year. Although not every crash had a number of casualties in the triple digits. WWW Airlines
Flight 626 had reached cruising altitude somewhere above 30,000 feet after takeoff, when it suddenly
and inexplicably deviated from its flight path and disappeared altogether. Authorities
confirmed that the plane crashed into the ocean, but neither the plane nor its flight
recorder was ever recovered. Not a single body turned up. Everyone aboard was eventually
presumed dead when, several months later, a piece of the plane washed ashore thousands
of kilometers away from the crash site. The cause of the crash was never determined, let
alone whether it was an accident or foul play. Theories on everything from mechanical failure
to the pilot's mental health were floated, but none were confirmed. There was one person,
however, who knew the truth. That a codecracker used an AI known as a Digimon to deliberately
crash WWW Airlines Flight 626. This information was not made public because the public wouldn't
have understood. A majority of the world wasn't even aware of the existence of the Digimon,
let alone the digital world.
GASP!
Leon Alexander snapped bolt upright in bed. His breathing ragged. He'd had the same nightmare
again. He hunched over and studied his breathing before reaching a hand out into the darkness.
Soft light illuminated the room.
I heard you scream. Are you okay, Leon? said the Digimon beside his bed. The Digimon was
hollowized and was the source of the gentle glow. His body crackled with electricity,
occasionally setting off little sparks.
Pulsemon. Child level. Beast type. Vaccine species.
He looked like a small electric elf. A lick of fur on his forehead stood out like a lightning
bolt, bobbing gently as he worried over his partner.
Were you dreaming about the accident again? You haven't done that in a while, he said
softly.
Yeah, Pulsemon. I dreamed it again, Leon groaned.
Aided by Pulsemon's light, Leon snatched the bottle of mineral water from his bedside
table and twisted off the cap, draining the entire bottle in one go.
Do you need your medicine?
No thanks, I'm good.
Thanks, Pulsemon. What a time to be awake, huh?
Leon looked out of his apartment window at the commanding view of Denren district below.
The skyline was barely visible in the pre-dawn light.
You've got an early class today, don't you? Why not try getting a bit more sleep? Pulsemon
suggested.
Nah, I'll just get up now. The class is boring, but the professor is real strict about attendance.
The courses were online, but there were always attendance checks and a pop quiz on the lecture
at the end, which were a real pain.
Do you even need to graduate at this point? You're basically an Abbot and Electronics
DDL employee by now, Pulsemon said.
I promised my father that I'd graduate and get a job, so that's what I'm going to do.
Besides, being a college student with loads of free time leaves me with plenty of time
for other things, Leon replied.
Like ethical hacking, Pulsemon asked with a playful wink. Haha, I should go shower.
The nightmare had left his pajamas sticking to him with sweat. Leon Alexander hoisted
himself out of bed and shuffled to the bathroom.
Digital World, Walslum, 9th Avenue.
9th Avenue's boss, Lugamon, and a hollow-eyesed agie stood before the mausoleum of the Castle
of Nine Wolves.
So you haven't exactly gotten your memories back then? Agie asked Lugamon.
I can only tell from the sense here that this 9th Avenue is where I grew up and later claimed
as my territory.
The memories themselves were fragmented and lacked detail.
I see. I hope you'll remember the rest someday, Agie said.
I don't care either way, Lugamon shrugged.
Oh, really?
Lugamon didn't seem too concerned about whether he had his memories or not.
Do you humans remember everything that's happened to you and light clinging to those memories?
Hmm.
I don't remember anything prior to elementary school, so no.
And there are things from middle and high school that I'd prefer not to remember either,
Agie admitted.
Agie had become a freelance codecracker at the same time he graduated high school, so
inevitably he'd lost touch with all his friends who had moved on to higher education.
I thought as much, Lugamon snorted.
The stuff that's trivial we tend to forget about anyway, so who cares?
Well, don't you sound all grown up and tough, like a hard-boiled detective.
Just then, three Pteranomon emerged from the various alleyways surrounding the castle of
Nine Wolves' main plaza.
Oh, hi fellas!
Nice work!
Lugamon said.
The Pteranomon purred low in their throats as they handed over the data they'd gathered
to Lugamon.
They had been set out as a mapping tool to gather data as well as estimate the Digimon
population within the confines of Ninth Avenue.
They really got into the role of being your minions, the Pteranomon, Agie mused.
They were like the Underlings in a mafia group.
He tossed them a couple strips of meat as a reward.
There's still room for one more in my gang, Lugamon said.
You could be the minion number four.
My Pteranomon outrank me?
Agie grinned rightly.
Set these guys to patrol Ninth Avenue periodically, Lugamon said.
I fear there will be those foolish enough to try invading my territory while I'm away.
I'll set up the routine now.
Take good care of this place, Pteranomons, Agie said.
Petting one that loomed over him, the Pteranomon responded with quick, low growls.
Agie couldn't hold a conversation with them since they hadn't mind-linked, but, unlike
before, he could now tell when they were trying to communicate with him.
That felt nice.
Wooooooooooooooooo!
The will of a sharp, piercing siren snapped Agie out of his momentary reverie.
What's going on?
He spun around, scanning his surroundings.
The alarm wasn't coming from his Digimon linker or any other tools.
The other Digimon who had been loitering in the plaza fled in a panic.
Some retreated into buildings while others scrambled towards underground bunkers.
Agie, Lugamon shouted above the din, gather your Pteranomon and get back in here.
Why?
Agie shouted back as he used the virtual monitor to swiftly return his Pteranomon to their
bunk, then disengaged his hollow-eyesed form to return to Lugamon's Digicore.
He could now see through Lugamon's eyes.
A virtual monitor opened up before Agie's eye level.
Lugamon dashed up the side of the Castle of Nine Wolves to the top floor where a watchtower
stood, looking over the expanse of the net ocean.
The Digimon on lookout was the one sounding the alarm.
There's turbulence!
Lookout Digimon cried.
Turbulence?
Agie repeated.
He wasn't entirely sure what that meant in the context of the digital world, but he could
tell it was bad from the frantic Digimon below.
There!
Lugamon said, shifting his gaze, Agie's eyes focused, revealing a gigantic hole.
No, a whirlpool on the surface of the vast net ocean.
It looked as if someone pulled the drain plug in a massive bathtub.
The vortex had to be several meters in diameter, and it moved slowly outside Walslum within
the desert of meaningless data as it sucked all manner of digital detritus into its gaping
maw.
We stand on the security wall that protects the digital world from contaminant data of
the real world, but of course, no wall is perfect, Lugamon explained.
There are small gaps and cracks within the security wall, which caused the turbulence
that you see there.
The security wall was a literal wall that protected the digital world, while the wall
gate managed the flow of web traffic.
Walslum was built from the wayward bits of junk data that accumulated around the wall
gate.
But holes in security were bound to spring up anywhere, even outside of the gates controlled
by the digital world system.
So that's coming from a hole in the digital world security, Agie yelled, understanding
the broad terms.
Exactly.
They're like natural disasters that we never know when or where will occur.
That area in particular, though, is a hotbed of vortex activity, Lugamon said, keeping
his eyes on the path of the turbulence hotbed.
All of the data that Walslum can't contain spills out from the last coast into the outside
borders.
It'd be like if a huge garbage dump ended up trailing into the ocean.
I don't know why the current carries it all there, but there it remains, a floating island
of refuse, Lugamon said gravely.
That's awful.
Over there is Dusk Kingdom, but not even the scavenger Didumon at Fifth Avenue tread near
that area.
It's full of useless garbage data, after all.
No one knows if the contents of that useless data are the reason why it causes warps.
Warps?
No.
The warping creates all sorts of things to happen, but most of all, it creates turbulence.
Most turbulences are short-lived, but every so often a particularly large one forms.
On rare occasions, they threaten Walslum directly.
Then what happens?
The turbulence in front of them skimmed over the edges of Walslum.
Roar!
An immense roar filled the air as they watched the vortex tear up a section of Walslum, breaking
apart data before it was sucked into its vast void.
It completely obliterates an entire district, including all the Didumon who live there,
Lugamon said solemnly.
You can't be serious!
Fortunately, the current vortex quickly retreated and dissipated after grazing Walslum's outer
shores.
The sirens ceased wailing, and Eiji's Lugamon watched as Didumon re-emerged into the castle
of Nine Wolves Plaza below.
What happens when you get sucked into the turbulence?
If that thing is a hole in the digital world's security, then could it take you to the deep
digital world?
Eiji asked, furrowing his brow.
If there was a wall in the security, then surely there would be something on the other
side of the wall, right?
First of all, we Didumon don't call what's beyond the wall the deep layer, and besides,
that would be impossible, Lugamon said, shaking his head.
What makes you say that?
The digital world wouldn't allow a security hole to remain open if a human used the turbulence
to reach the deep digital world that you guys speak of.
What would happen?
Eiji asked, swallowing hard.
Even if you managed to endure the force of the turbulence itself, you wouldn't leave
it alive.
There would be no room for miracles.
Under no circumstances would the digital world's system administrator abide an intruder from
the real world.
Now, let's go, Lugamon said, changing the subject quickly.
Go where?
Don't go where me.
You're the one who set the reminder, and now I've gone out of my way to remind you.
That was enough to jog Eiji's memory.
Time flies when you're mind-linking.
Oh shoot, my appointment with Professor Ryusenji!
He shouted.
Eiji severed the mind link and returned to the real world.
Abadin Electronics, Denren Digital Laboratory.
Good morning, you two.
These are phenomenal results, Professor Ryusenji beamed, keeping praise upon Eiji and Lugamon
the moment he stepped into his office.
Thank you, Professor.
We owe our successful mind link to the Digimon linker and your tireless work, Eiji said,
smiling from ear to ear.
Lugamon's hollow-eyes form sat curled on the sofa.
And to your compatibility, my dear boy.
Mind linking doesn't work with just any Digimon, and it takes more than just an advanced device
to do it.
You two share a special connection, Professor Ryusenji said with a grin.
Still, Eiji began, when I came out of the mind link and woke up back in the real world,
I did feel a little woozy.
When Eiji had woken up from his first mind link, he had found himself still leaning against
the wall of his apartment.
His head had been swimming as if he was on board a wafting ship and he had felt like
he'd wanted to vomit.
I've been monitoring neurovitals through the Digimon linker, and I haven't noticed anything
unusual.
From looking at past trials, I don't think it's something to be concerned about, so long
as a bit of rest was enough to help you recover, the Professor explained.
It was no different, apparently, from an astronaut returning to Earth after a stint in zero gravity,
when something Eiji would grow accustomed to with time.
That's a relief.
Oh, there's also the thing about Lugaman.
Hey, Lugaman, don't talk to me, I want to sleep.
A languid voice shot back.
Lugaman got upset when he was bothered out of his naps, so Eiji decided to leave him
alone.
A question for the Professor, then.
How are Digimon able to talk in the real world, too?
Eiji blurted excitedly with his basic question.
Once you're mind-linked with a Digimon, you're able to communicate with them.
From that point onward, the Professor calmly replied, once a human had mind-linked with
a Digimon, they would converse with each other, even after the mind-link was severed.
So that means there are more talking Digimon in DDL?
Eiji prodded, extrapolating from the Professor's comment about past trials, that, as you know,
is classified.
D4.
Professor Ryusenji answered by way of indirect confirmation.
DDL was AE's state-of-the-art research laboratory.
The D4 division must be full of exceptional hackers, codecrackers, and now, Eiji suspected,
powerful Digimon.
Right then, to business, Eiji said, pivoting to the meat of the meeting.
The purpose of Eiji meeting Ryusenji today was to give the Professor his interim report.
Professor Ryusenji had selected Eiji to infiltrate the militant team of codecrackers known as
the Sons of Chaos, and get close to Tartarus, their mysterious leader, to learn more about
the massive operation the SOC were planning.
I got word from the interviewer that I had passed the SSC entry exam.
Eiji said, flipping his phone around to show the Professor, said interviewer's avatar,
an abstract icon wearing a necktie, as a headband sat alongside the message he'd sent through
Grimm informing Eiji that he'd passed.
What did they give you as your test?
To survey the walls slum on 9th Avenue.
That's a danger zone, where even codecrackers and the Digi Police fear to tread, the Professor
noted.
It was easy for me, thanks to Mind Link.
Luckily, it also turns out that Lugaman used to live right there on 9th Avenue.
It was his old stomping grounds.
Hmm, did you already know about that?
Eiji couldn't help but ask, well, DDL took, rather DDL collected, the Professor began
choosing his words carefully, Lugaman from walls slum all those years ago, to keep him
safe.
Safe, from Eiji asked expectantly, that's classified.
D4?
Eiji asked, guessing the answer, quite right.
Now were there any more developments with regards to Lugaman's memory?
The Professor asked.
He only remembered bits and pieces when he picked up his own scent in 9th Avenue.
When he evolved into Lugaman, it felt more like he was originally his adult form and
just remembered that form existed rather than achieving the evolution, Eiji said, voicing
a hunch of his.
Hmm, so he recovered some of the power that he'd originally had, the Professor said nodding
in acceptance.
He couldn't remember much of anything, but the other Digimon of walls slum remembered
Lugaman.
I believe they called him the Demon Wolf of the Castle of Nine Wolves, said Eiji.
Lugaman was a big enough boss, Digimon, that he had two names to prove it.
So his higher than thou attitude was from his original state of mind, I guess.
I'm just glad that it wasn't due to bad timing on my part, Eiji said, pleased with himself.
I'm sure you're already aware, but we have observed errors in Lugaman's memory.
What we would call amnesia in humans, the Professor stayed on topic.
Yeah, it's possible that as he remembers more, he will suffer bouts of mental anguish.
If and when he does, Eiji-kun, I want you to be there for him.
I want you to face the Digimon from the heart.
He was clear from the Professor's gentle tone of voice that he cared deeply for Lugaman.
He wasn't just some AI program to him.
You got it, Eiji said, looking over at Lugaman, still curled up on the sofa.
Whereas Eiji was hollowized in the digital world, here in the real world, it was the
other way around.
When I was hollowized in the digital world, I think I got to understand Lugaman a bit
better.
Like, how did you mind feel, I guess?
Eiji couldn't adequately put his thoughts into words.
Is that so?
Well, let me just say, then, that I feel incredibly fortunate to have met such a young codecracker
as yourself, the Professor said.
You really mean that?
Eiji said happily.
So much has happened since I met you and Lugaman, and now I feel like my life is moving again.
That's why I really want to work with Lugaman and the digital world, to change life for
the better.
Hmm, yes, life.
I suppose that makes you two partners in this endeavor.
Ryusenji describing him and Lugaman as partners hit Eiji just right.
You bet we are.
To Eiji, Lugaman was his Digimon partner, who he teamed up with to help one another
navigate the digital world.
That was how Eiji honestly felt about Lugaman, and Eiji would do whatever it took to make
sure Lugaman felt the same way about him.
If he could manage that, they could do anything, even grow successful in the digital world
and change his life for good.
Well, that's right, Professor Ryusenji said.
Here's a little something extra for you, seeing as you got him to evolve to adult.
Awesome, a bonus!
This was uncharted territory for Eiji.
He would never have been able to save up a 100,000 digicoin, let alone 500,000 in an
hourly job, no matter how many hours he poured into it.
Now though, he wouldn't struggle to pay rent or his credit card bills anytime soon.
Feeling financially stable was exhilarating.
It's sushi for dinner tonight.
His small success in the digital world were paying real-world dividends, and in turn affording
him the ability to take on more risks in the hopes of reaping big rewards down the line.
Now Eiji-kun, I want you to continue your investigation into the SOC, Professor Ryusenji
ordered.
Well, I'm an official member now, and I've already been contacted by the higher-ups,
so I'll be meeting with them later today, Eiji said.
You certainly work quickly.
Being able to mindlink opens doors.
It's better than any business card.
The mere mention of being a mindlinker earned Eiji immediate respect, and wearing the Digimon
linker conferred more status than any luxury watch he could have bought.
Who are you meeting within the SOC?
Let me check, Eiji scrolled through the messages on his phone to find the name Marvin.
Codecracker Marvin, I guess, is his name.
I've only texted him.
Marvin, the song-smith?
You weren't kidding about meeting the higher-ups.
Professor Ryusenji rarely took such great interest in people, so this caught Eiji's
attention.
Is he famous or something?
He's a codecracker that writes code as though he's a virtuoso playing their instrument.
He's one of the lead developers of that app you use, Grimm.
That's the one.
Which made him one of the leading software engineers in the world.
Grimm protected its financial and social media services with extremely robust security.
People the world over trusted it implicitly.
However, if you worked for or ran an upstanding enterprise, you couldn't use Grimm for official
business.
Why?
Rumor had it that Grimm was developed and run by volunteer codecrackers.
In reality, though, there was no end to all manner of public institutions and armies casually
using Grimm out of sheer convenience, which became an enormous security issue.
Oh, so he's huge.
Then maybe getting to their leader Tardis is just one step after getting to Marvin,
eh?
Eiji mused.
Be careful, Eiji-kun.
You're a spy.
Never forget that.
You must operate in the SOC's inner circles without blowing your cover.
I would prefer that you have a long career.
The professor cautioned.
Yes, sir.
Good.
Now before you meet with a member of the SOC's upper echelons, it's important that I show
you something.
It will be a matter of life and death for you.
Professor Ryusenji opened a file on his computer for AG2C.
D4.
Classified.
ML.
Experiment number.
Redacted.
Date.
Redacted.
Site.
And that is the end of chapter 2.1, or 2-1, called After the Airlines Flight.
And it's called Hacker Leon, but we didn't get a lot of Hacker Leon, which was a little
frustrating.
I liked everything we got with AG and Lugalon.
I liked getting with Ryusenji.
Something about the tone shifted for me as soon as we were back in the DDL lab.
And I don't know.
Maybe I just like the professor's personality.
Maybe I am a little frustrated or flustered with AG being kind of a, well, you know, AG
being AG.
Let's just put it that way.
Maybe I'm frustrated with that.
I don't know.
But something about switching from just his dynamic in the digital world to then being
here with the professor and Lugalon was interesting.
Although, I mean, it is interesting that there's this turbulence and that it reminds me of
the D Reaper, like wiping out sections of Wallslam and like taking them down into the,
I guess deeper into the digital world.
Is that what it is?
I'm not sure what it sounds like.
Anyway, but you know, that's interesting.
I like that Lugalon isn't like obsessed with finding his memory and filling that in.
That's a different spin, I think, on an amnesia plot.
That might just be an aspect of his personality, though, where he's not going to be open and
really express sorrow over having his memories lost.
He's like, yeah, whatever.
It doesn't matter.
I'm the tough guy.
That's what matters.
And this is my place, my stomping grounds.
And I'm ordering these Tyrannomon around.
You can be my fourth member of my crew.
And I don't know.
That was a really funny moment, too.
And it was cool to see that the Tyrannomon and Lugalon coexist together and that they
coordinate and work together and that he is, you know, they say in the text like a mafia
boss or mob boss, but I'm thinking just like he's the alpha of the pack.
And I think that's a really neat idea.
There was a really interesting dynamic, and I liked that A.G. was like, you know, being
friendly with the Tyrannomon more now, realizing that they're alive, realizing that they have
this level of intelligence, even if they can't communicate.
There's like an appreciation and a respect between them.
And I think that's pretty cool.
I like that.
You know, we've gotten to see the Digimon are tools.
They're just AI.
And then he's realizing that, yes, as they say so often, Digimon are alive and that he
can have these different types of relationships with them.
So that was a lot of fun.
I thought that was really cool.
And yeah, I like that.
And then it's a little funny that the professor is telling him that all these things are classified
and he can't know about them from his D4 thing.
But then he it sounds like at the end of the chapter here, he's going to open him up to
it, which going back to that, I.
I'll be a little frustrated next chapter.
We're back with Leon and we only get a snippet with him.
I want them to continue this thing with AG, close that out and then let's actually focus
on Leon.
And is it possible?
I tried to I just did it real quick.
I looked for six to six and I tried to see if that was the plane that had crashed in
the video that AG was shown before.
I'm pretty sure it is the same plane.
And I don't remember.
I feel like it was 10 years ago.
So was Leon a preteen in that?
Did that happen after he had met and was friends with AG?
But before, obviously, his college days, because it was like 10 years ago and like his parents
die and had he made promises to his father and had all this stuff with his mother.
And that's part of setting him up as like this orphan guy and, you know, kind of being
all alone and like what he has is, you know, the Digimon thing and being a codecracker
and whatnot.
I don't know.
Like we do not get enough of his character for me to really get a handle on him.
But I like him so far.
His vulnerability with Pulsemon and the fact that he has this recurring nightmare or whatever
makes him a little more interesting, makes him a little more sympathetic.
And I like I like that.
So I just would like to get more of him.
And I would like for the chapter that's called by his name to actually feature him in that
largely.
I mean, AG was mostly in AG Wolf of the Ninth Avenue.
But we had those long instances where we were with Satsuki and her boss, the I don't know,
Oolong, I'm sorry, whatever, the Chinese lady.
She got the Chinese name.
But her police boss lady.
So like we got instances with them and a little bit of Ryo Senji.
But it was like it was like 70 percent of the chapter one was all AG.
So I'll be interested to see how the rest of this goes and if we get a lot more focus
on Leon or not.
Yeah, I think I would like that.
So anyway, with that, I'm going to go ahead and get out of here.
Look forward to the next episode where I will be reading chapter two to Leon Hacker Leon
WWW Airlines, like six to six and also look forward to this week in a day or so.
The Digimon Dreamers episode coming up, because I will be covering that manga as well presented
by Digimon Web as part of this whole Digimon 25th anniversary project.
So I don't know if it's fair to call it that or if it's more of a it was like a ghost game
spinoff.
Instead of Digimon Ghost Game, this was Digimon Dreamers.
I think that's the deal.
But anyway, we will get to that later when we get into it.
And I will talk about it in the body of that episode, because let's keep them separated
and keep focused on one thing at a time.
Until next time, folks, take care.
This is MJ signing out.
I hope you enjoyed that.
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