《The Phantoms Net - Book 1: Rise of the Fallen》 Chapter 001 - The Beginning Chapter 001 - Beginning ¡°There are many beings in this world that strive for bigger and greater heights that they would be better off without. Day in, day out humans hurt and kill each other for such heights and greatness, never thinking of the consequences. I too am one of these pests, pushing towards his goals no matter what happens. But I won¡¯t stop at petty theft and murder, I will push the world myself with my own doing. I will bend every rule of the world to my way, even if it means selling my soul to unlock the ancient ones. The infernal spawn looked down upon from long ago, and their children living today in hiding somewhere.¡±¡°I will proceed to my destiny.¡± ~Child 06~ Codename ¡°Phantom¡± Year 3073 20 years since the first disaster The world these days is, let''s just say, hectic. No, not hectic because of horrible crisis or wars, but technology. Todays planet Earth is devoted to the use of technology, it surrounds us and makes up our very ecosystem. Even the people themselves are fused with technology, cyborgs old books would call them or robots with some biological will to live. There are even fully living AI controlled humans walking around with their own will, neither breathing nor living. But me? I¡¯m just a normal teenage kid who''s all one hundred percent human and proud of it, ranking high in the top gun royale tournaments. It''s a living and everybody walks away in the end, but it''s never pretty to do. I always lived on my own, never knowing where my parents were or who they even who they were. But other then that, nothing ever happens really¡­¡­ ¡°This sectoral tournament of the Gun Royale goes to Blue!!!!!!!¡± I heard my name be screamed over loud speakers as I appeared in front of a large crowd, all cheering for me as a robotic looking man quickly handed a trophy to me and a data card full of my winnings. ¡°Smile and wave kid.¡± He grunted to me as he smiled into the crowd. Obeying him, I put on my usual fake smile for the crowd, pretending to enjoy the spotlight. Just as soon as it had begun, it was over, the quiet rushing over me like a wave of water. I stood alone with a new trophy and a meager prize to help me get along for another day. ¡°Sigh, another day''s work done.¡± I muttered to myself as I walked to the nearest exit, feeling empty as usual. Its not that I didn¡¯t like winning tournaments, it''s just that it never made me feel whole. As I walked out the door, a wave of fresh air met me as I gazed at the city before me. I lived in sector 11 of the major New Tokyo area, a completely new city made in the place of the previous one that was wiped out nearly twenty years ago. But not a trace of the old disassaster remained, now being replaced by a sprawling city above and below me with many layers. I walked along the walkway I was on, every now and then gazing over the edge into the lower levels of the world I lived in. ¡°What am I even meant for anymore?¡± I quietly asked the dark murky depths of the lower city, but I silently laughed. ¡°Heh, I keep asking that all the time and you never answer back. I shouldn¡¯t be surprised anyways, you¡¯re not a sentient city...yet.¡± As I talked like a mad person, I couldn¡¯t help but notice a girl near my age with long dark air looking at me from a corner of building, but shook it off as nothing. ¡°I got to stop doing these talks outloud to myself and rather keep ¡®em up here in my head.¡± I thought to myself now, not wanted to make too much of an embarrassment to myself then I already have done. As I walked along my way, the street lights along the sides of the roads came to life, illuminating the world for the next phase of its life. Just as they did I came to a dead stop, frozen in place from what I saw. ¡°Hey boy, we got business with you alright?¡± said a masked and fully armored figure in front of me, a pulse rifle pointed at me. Shaking my jitters, I spoke to him. ¡°W-Whats this all about? Have I done something wrong?¡± Annoyed at me, the man angrily shook his rifle, beckoning me to follow him. ¡°Yeah yeah, cut the smart talk kid and come with me. Piss me off and I might as well deliver you dead.¡± Tilting his masked head, he added, ¡°And I lose half my pay if you show up as a corpse, I don¡¯t want that. We both don¡¯t want that right kid?¡±Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. My body not responding to my brain, I just shook my head rapidly. I didn¡¯t want to die, but I wasn''t fully afraid of death. I faced the worst odds in all the tournaments I won, but now I could do nothing but stand still. No special gun to help me out, not that I could do much anyways if I even had one on me. Just as I began to step forward to him, a loud shot rang out from nowhere. Just as he had been standing there, the masked man sank to his knees, blood flowing from a gaping wound in his chest. As I stared at him, a figure grabbed my hand and ran with me past the dying man on the street, making me jerk in fear. A voice spoke in a very soft and feminine matter, as if to sooth and relax me. ¡°Keep calm, I¡¯m saving you right now.¡± We turned a dark and wet corner into a narrow alley and I caught a glimpse of my savior''s face and realized it was the girl I had passed before. ¡°Y-You, I saw you earlier! Whats going on here?!¡± Still running forward with me in tow like some damsel in distress, she spoke to me in a calm emotionless tone. ¡°I was just sent to pick you up, nothing more then that. And if you don¡¯t stay quiet, we might die here.¡± ¡°Die, but why? I¡¯ve never done anything in my life to attract any of this attention my way, I¡¯m just lonely guy with nothing.¡± I whined, hoping she would tell me more to help ease me, but she only gave me a quick look and kept silent. Every now and then we would turn a new corner, going deeper and deeper into the city, only our loud breathing seemed to be heard as we ran. ¡°What is even going on any longer? I don¡¯t get a bit of it, but maybe I will just have to wait to find out. Maybe there''s more to this for me, maybe I¡¯m not a complete loser after all.¡± I let out a slight sigh of contempt as I thought to myself, drawing another quick glance from the girl saving me. Further we plunged into the city, the world seeming darker and darker with every footfall. xXx Sector 11, Lower levels B22 Just as much as we had been running on the higher floors, we now had come to level B22 of Sector 11. I never had been in this area ever, nor do I think most people living in the sector did either. It was mostly filled with vagabonds, drunks or rusting outdated AI units and it smelled of musty old machinery, humming lowly in the background as they droned to their massive tasks. We had finally stopped near an old gigantic pipe and I spoke again to the girl, completely exhausted from what we had just been doing for what seemed to be the past half hour. ¡°H-ho¡¯kay, now why have we stopped running from one guy that most likely died when you shot him in the freaking chest?!¡± I wheezed to her as she looked at me emotionlessly as ever, responded as such as well. ¡°He¡¯s not working alone, he was hired by the Phantom. And the Phantom never hires just one person to do a job, she he most likely has backup after us.¡± She walked a bit behind me and looked around, searching for anything that might be watching. ¡°The Phantom must have finally found you, and he won¡¯t stop searching until he catches you. How you show up never matters to him, he can always use the body for creative things.¡± As emotionless as she was, I could tell when someone had a distaste for someone and she certainly had it for this ¡°Phantom.¡± ¡°Who is he?¡± I asked in wonder, having never heard of such a man in my whole life in New Tokyo. The girl grabbed my arm and took me with her into an opening of the old pipe, the feeling of water greeting my pants as we walked. ¡°Not even I know who he is or what he is that is, no one really knows in the Draco Organization. He could be a person or a net virus that grew sentient and dark. I¡¯ve never seen him or it, but I have met those that he hurt, many of them old friends of mine. Once his use for you has elapsed, you never return the same.¡± ¡°But why does the Phantom want me now? I¡¯m a nobody in this world.¡± I told her as we walked in the slightly cramped spaces of the pipe. ¡°When we get to HQ you will remember as fast as you can who you are Blue.¡± My eyes widened as I heard her say those words, not being able to comprehend what she was saying to me. ¡°Remember. Remember what? This is all too weird¡­.¡± I lost myself in my thoughts as we walked in the wet pipe that took us to who the hell knows where, awaiting some kind of destiny. But how was I to know it was deeper then I thought? xXx Location, Unknown. Sector ??? From its, or rather his location, a dark figure smirked to themselves as he watched a girl rescue his prey. He was not surprised such a thing could happen, after all he face great odds from other organizations in New Tokyo, as well as the rest of the world. But he was not sad or angry, but very pleased with the situation. Sure he had paid a fortune worth of credits to the mercenaries he had hired, but it did not worry him that they had failed so far. In fact he didn¡¯t even care what happened, that his prey get locked up and protected if a far off location he had yet to discover. All he knew that the boy would be some sort of key, and the more the key learned, the greater his reward. His plans are only just now beginning to fall into place, and it would take the boy and this girl to help steer them further. He was the Phantom of the Net, and he decided he could take a rest pursuing a child. He had other plans to work on with the Fallen and the old men in charge of certain organizations. The Phantom could only laugh, because things were only just beginning fall into place. <<<<<<<->>>>>>> Chapter 002 - Memories Return Sector 14 It must have been over an hour since we traveled from Sector 11 through the lower level pipes, but we had arrived in a new section of the city. Being greeted by the sight of shops and homes lighted in neon colors, I asked my companion and savior where we were now. ¡°Where is this, it''s not Sector 11 anymore.¡± Walking forward with me still in tow, she responded with a low voice. ¡°This is Sector 14, a sector built for business and crime alike. We don¡¯t want to stay out here unnoticed for too long, not everybody is as friendly as you think they are.¡± And sure as she had said this, I noticed some of the people on the street look at us with dark and brooding stares, It was almost as if they were animals and we were the unsuspecting prey that had walked into their lair. I had to keep my eyes on the lighted signs over the shops we passed, the only thing here that helped me keep calm. ¡°Sector 14, it doesn''t look all too different from the other sectors, but the people sure are.¡± I thought to myself as we kept our pace up on the street until we came to a complete stop at what seemed to be an old and rusted door. Letting go of my hand, the girl started feeling the door, as if she was looking for something on it. ¡°What are you doing?¡± I asked her, not aware of anything that would help her on the door. Not looking at me, she responded as she kept working on the door. ¡°This is one of our ways into your new life Blue.¡± As she said it, a small keypad shaped light popped on in the center of the door and she let out a slightly pleased sound. As she typed whatever code was needed on it, she kept talking. ¡°Of course it might be new to you now, but you might find it''s a bit older than you thought.¡± As soon as she finished typing on the glowing keypad, the old and greatly rusted door sprung open loudly. Just as much as I was surprised to the sight, so were any people who were happening to pass us by. Quickly taking my arm, the girl took me inside the darkness of the newly open space, with the door shutting behind us. As soon as the door closed, bright white lights suddenly sprang to life from the ceiling, illuminating a long corridor that seemed to go down a bit into the city. ¡°Where are we?¡± I whispered to myself, amazed at the simple hallway. Walking in front of me, the girl talked to me. ¡°You are now in the protection of the great and wonderful Draco Organization. The people you will find here are much the same as you or me, just with different back stories and such. And now you will find someone who is more willing to talk to you and tell you. And well,¡± She paused to look over her shoulder at me as we walked into a brightly lit room full of monitors and other high level looking computers. ¡°Tell you your old and new life if that makes sense.¡± Walking away from in front of me, she waved an arm to an older looking man who stood in front of a lone chair in the room. Looking at me with a small smile on his face, he spoke up to me. ¡°Thank you for being able to get here Blue, I was afraid Tasha might not be able to get to you in time. The Phantom is getting harder and harder to calculate these days, it''s like he¡¯s a machine hooked up right to us. But anyways,¡± He motioned for me to sit down in the seat, and I was somewhat grateful for it. Sitting down into the chair, I spoke to him. ¡°Can you tell me what the hell is going on here? First a guy comes up and points a pulse rifle at me, and then she shows up and tells me a Phantom is after me? What have I ever done?¡± Sensing my confusion, the man looked at me with the same soft smile as before. ¡°Ah yes, why did we save you? Why would an unknown person such as the Phantom target a child like you who only ever competes in tournaments for his daily living? I will tell you why Blue.¡± He looked at me now with all seriousness in his face and voice, as if he was about to share the deepest secret he had. ¡°You do not remember currently, but your memory has been altered in order to protect you from the Phantom. It was done a long time ago when you were a child, as per the instructions given to me by your parents. They wanted you to stay safe from what they did and from the Phantom himself.¡± Pausing, he waited for my reaction to everything he had just said in the space of a minute. Having been caught off guard by hearing altered memory and my parents wishes, I had an almost funny tone in my voice. ¡°You mean to tell me that the parents I never knew fucked my memory up and sent me off to survive on nothing but the next first place prize? You have to be kidding me!¡± The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings. Not at all surprised by my reaction, the man motioned for the girl, Tasha her name was, to come behind me and pick up something. Looking at her, I saw her lift what looked to be a helmet with a long cable attached to it, running all the way to one of the monitors. As she placed it on my head, the man spoke to me again. ¡°It''s not uncommon to not believe such things, because your memory has indeed been altered. It was changed when you were seven years old, and now you are 16. I think it''s times you got some of the memories you deserve, memories that will help you fit in a bit more.¡± Nodding his head, Tasha tapped something on a keyboard and I began to feel an immense pain in my head. It was as if a million volts of electricity were being pumped into my brain, causing me to jerk here and there as I felt the pain. Still talking to me as I began to get odd feelings in between pain, the man continued. ¡°The pain is only short, do not worry. You should be entering the reconstruction period now of the treatment we are giving you.¡± Just as he had said, the pain diminished and my eyes closed and opened rapidly. Not hearing the old man''s voice or even seeing him, I was replaced with a scene of a young child and an adult woman. The child¡¯s voice screamed out in sadness, not happy about something with the woman. ¡°Mom, why are you going away, why?! Take me with you!¡± Looking at the child with the welling of tears in her eyes, the mother bent down and took ahold of the child near her. ¡°Hush, it''s alright, it''s going to be okay. You have to stay here and protect everyone from the ghost okay?¡± She whispered into the child''s ear, something that soothed him. Shaking his head slightly, the child spoke back. ¡°B-but the ghost scares me, he never goes away! How can I protect anyone from the ghost?¡± Setting the child back down, the mother crouched and responded with the lightest tone I had ever heard. ¡°You have a bit of power inside of you, just like everybody else. And there are others that will help you through the good times and the bad no matter what. And you know what?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± responded the child. Smiling, she answered him. ¡°I don¡¯t think the ghost will ever harm a hair on your head, because he¡¯s really afraid of someone like you Blue. So never forget that or us okay? We are always here, no matter what.¡± Just as soon as the mother had said that, a shock wave reeled over me as I realized she was my mother again. The shock ws so hard that I broke out of the memory and was once again in the room with Tasha and the old man. Smiling at me again, he spoke to me in a somewhat caring voice. ¡°I take it you saw someone close to you again? Who was it?¡± ¡°I-it was my mother¡­.¡± ¡°And what was it about?¡± Rubbing my hair, I spoke with a shaky voice. ¡°S-she was leaving me behind...and she said to protect everyone from the ghost¡­.¡± Looking him in the eye as I said this, I had a mini realization. ¡°Wait! The Phantom¡­..Ghost¡­..are they the same person? Or was I just afraid of a make believe creature¡­.¡± Shaking his head to me, the man sighed. ¡°Your mother was a very brilliant woman, and she was right about you too. The Phantom was around back then, but he was much different in those days. It was as if he were a ghost, a man and a virus all in one. Your parents both went after the Phantom to stop him in the Net, but never returned¡­.¡± ¡°The Net, what is the Net?¡± ¡°The Net is exactly our world,¡± This time it was Tasha speaking to me to help explain what the Net was. ¡°The Net is the past, present and future of this world we live in. You can go to any time within it and live out ones days, albeit with the main events never being able to change.¡± Hearing her say this to me barely helped my already swarming brain, still hurting from the information ¡°download¡± from the headgear still attached to me. ¡°The Net, a world just like this¡­¡± I whispered to myself, as if it was some kind of imagination of my mind. Walking over to me, the man held out a hand to me, which I accepted. As he helped me up out of the chair, Tasha took the headgear off of me. Putting a hand on my shoulder once I steadied myself up, the man smiled. ¡°They are still alive Blue, going through time in the Net. Hell, they could be in this same time right now watching us as we speak here. Only a very thin wall exists between us and the Net. And that brings me to the next part of where we are.¡± Walking away from me, the man spread his arms out wide. ¡°This here is the Draco Defense Organization, a secret operation set up by me and your parents. Here we can unlock the hidden potential within any human, the secrets left behind by God himself. You will be trained in what your parents helped to unlock and protect others like she said you would. Because¡­¡± He looked at me square in the face as he help me captivated. ¡°We are the sworn protectors of this city and world, the DDO. We stop anything, be it a small hacker or even a dreaded ancient creature, nothing gets in the way. Now, shall we get you to the enigma gear your mother entrusted to me?¡± <<<<<<<->>>>>>> Chapter 003 - The Enigma of the DDO Sector 37 - Outermost Reaches It was here, yes here, the Phantom knew it. The Phantom had come to an old abandoned Gothic Cathedral from well before the disaster twenty years previous. The Phantom did not have to look long and hard for what he searched, for it greeted him in the center of the church. An ancient and twisted looking statue from some long since extinct civilization, a statue that entombed an ancient being long feared. He could only smile silently to himself, pleased with how careless the people who kept this relic were. The statue was an agonizing looking figure of something far to demonic to be found in any church, but that did not scare the Phantom. Reaching a hand out from within his dark cloak, he touched the smooth and dusty stone a yearning. As he did, the stone began to crumble bit by bit until traces of something began to emerge from the stone cocoon. Stepping back as he watched his miracle, he could only say one thing to the mass of shadow that rose before him. ¡°We have work to do, servant of Lilith.¡± xXx Sector 14 - DDO As I followed the old man with Tasha beside me, we passed deeper into the DDO that would soon become my new home. As I was greeted by various different people we passed, I spoke up loudly to the man in front of me. ¡°What is the DDO? How come I¡¯ve never heard of it before?¡± Still keeping his exact same pace, he answered my question. ¡°The DDO is a secret organization that has been around since before the disaster twenty years ago, and in fact help stop the rest of that disaster from tearing apart our world. We were unknown before that time, surviving off of anonymous donors and busting small time criminals. But now we are payed and kept secret by the government, with several branches of our office in other countries such as the US and Britain.¡± Pausing for a brief second, he opened a door with a wave of his hand and beckoned for me and Tasha to go first. Entering the room, I could tell it was an old science office, thick with dust and piled with books throughout. As I tried to navigate the room, the old man moved past me and continued his speech. ¡°Your parents were both members of the old DDO as it would be known now, and they both helped stop a lot of big name criminals in their youth. In fact, your mother was the same age as you when she first used her enigma gear to help stop a mass murderer from claiming more victims.¡± He walked to a large cabinet and placed a hand into his pocket, fishing for something as he spoke with a soft smile. ¡°Later on she grew older and when she reached her early twenties she became a top commander here. And then she met your father, who was still learning how to be an enigma user. Heh, those were very good times indeed. Until the disaster happened¡­.¡± The disaster, I knew the basics about it. It was still the rage to talk about in New Tokyo, but everybody always said it was a miracle the city rebuilt so fast. I was not alive during the time of the disaster, so I never knew what life was like when it happened. Speaking up again, I asked him another question. ¡°What was the disaster? No one ever told me what exactly happened, just that something big hit and then vanished. And suddenly the city was rebuilt.¡± ¡°It was a Fallen.¡± I turned my head to look at Tasha, who had uttered the words. Not understanding what she had said, I prodded for more information. ¡°A Fallen? What¡¯s a Fallen now?¡± Puting a key into the cabinet before him, the old man frowned. ¡°Ah the Fallen. That is what we call them, those creatures from somewhere else. We believe the Fallen to have once been something amazing,¡± Twisting the key in its hole, the man opened the cabinet as he spoke. ¡°This world is highly mixed with biological and technological life these days, but back thousands of years ago basic civilization existed. It was from them that we found old carvings and paintings of Angels.¡± Taking something out of the cabinet, he walked back to me. Placing some sort of weird looking metal bracelet, he continued. ¡°Or what were once Angels of great purity and honor. Everything we had seen were images of twisted and dark Angels, nothing like what we had read in books. We came to learn something happened and they were twisted, having went against their own God to spawn a new race. A race to compete against the only other race at the time.¡±You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story. ¡°They hated Humans and who created them.¡± Said Tasha, knowing this story I was hearing from both of them. Speaking a bit more for me, she added, ¡°They went and created their own race, the Tears and began to slaughter mankind. But God and the rest of the Angels we saddened by losing old friends, having made merry every day in Heaven together. One by one, they sealed away the twisted ones and their spawn somewhere. The end.¡± Not seeming interested in what sounded like an old bedtime story, Tasha sighed in boredom. But I was intrigued by such and ancient tale. ¡°So these Fallen are the Angels or the Tears?¡± I asked them both, wanting to know more. ¡°The Fallen are both in some sense to us, however the one at the time of the Disaster was a twisted Angel. Your parents both fought it together in a long drawn out fight that I and the rest of the team had to watch from the sidelines. It was horrible what the creature was, it was neither Angelic nor Sublime, but rather a dark demented force to be reckoned with. It was eventually killed thank goodness, but that amount of energy used took a lot out of your parents. But it also brought them closer together as a result. And what they used was this.¡± He pointed that the thing in my hands, the hunk of cold metal that cooled my skin. ¡°What is it?¡± I asked. ¡°Well why don¡¯t you put it on your wrist?¡± Doing as he said, I slipped it over my hand and felt a quick jolt of cold yet friendly energy wash over my entire body. Something a bit more relaxing than the previous memory headgear from earlier. As I looked at it, the old man instructed me to close my eyes and think slow, calm thoughts. To drown everything out and then I would be able to fully know what this was. It amazed me what the power of doing what he said could do, making it seem like you were alone. All I could feel was me and the thing on my wrist, until suddenly it was as if my eyes were open and watching. Standing before me was my Mother again, smiling as she saw me. ¡°Ah Blue, it seems the time has come for you to receive this enigma gear I have entrusted to my old mentor Mr. Yaoti. If you are seeing me here like this, it means I never came back to be able to do this myself and I apologize for my tardiness.¡± She laughed and it made me smile, something about remembering her laugh made me so very happy. It was the most pleasant feeling in the world to have just to hear her voice fill my ears. Even though I was just remembering that feeling, it was not strange to me. ¡°I know it may seem weird to you, but for some reason all humans have this special kind of energy inside of them that makes each of them resonate differently. But we are unable to access the new potential within ourselves, because no one knows of it. Well not until this recent century at least. What you have on is called the Enigma Gear, a device that comes in many different forms that can access the hidden energy and thus the potential in all of us. The one you have was my first one I got when I joined the DDO in my early teens.¡± I could see her smile at the thought of her first time with what was round my wrist, and it made me smile just as much. Just having something like this from my mother made me feel better in this world, a comfort I never had. Interrupting my thoughts, my Mother continued. To activate the gear, you must just think clear thoughts and it will activate. The more you do this the faster it will happen. I bet you are already in your other self huh?¡± I jerked my attention and looked at myself and to my amazement she was right. My old clothes were gone, having been replaced by an old looking squad outfit that had a patch imprinted on it that said ¡°Toyama Squad¡±. At my both my hips were two fully automatic pistols in their holsters, and the outfit was complete with a old gas style gas mask around my neck. Looking at my mother again, I saw her eyes closed, smiling at me. ¡°This is the other body that runs off of that special energy in us all, it fuels this other form forever until it has been damaged and so forth. You will find many feats are now capable in this form Blue and I hope I can see you use it one day! Oh but I must be going, but don¡¯t worry Mr. Yaoti will help you with the rest I cam certain!¡± The scene with her began to grow more distant, her feeling that she somehow put into the gear attached to me vanishing. I began to feel empty, as if this was the last time I would see her. But something she suddenly said before she left brought me up. ¡°No matter what Blue, always look forward. I will always be there with you no matter what, so never be sad or alone. And I am sure there are other things you are unaware of at the time that will help as well. Farewell.¡± Suddenly I was with Tasha and Mr. Yaoti again, however I was in the same outfit as the vision I was in. Looking back and forth at them both in embarrassment, I apologized. ¡°O-Oh I¡¯m sorry, I don¡¯t know what happened!¡± Laughing at me, Mr. Yaoti patted me on the shoulder hard. ¡°My dear boy, it is certainly alright! You must of had some sort of vision to help you, because you were muttering to yourself like crazy. But it seems you have unlocked your Mother''s old squad uniform, tailored to suit you though.¡± Smiling softly and looking at Tasha, I saw her shrug at me without a shred of emotion. ¡°It looks like he will be useful after all, but he¡¯s weak even with his Mother''s old guns.at his side. There''s no way he could amount to anything.¡± Gulping as she spoke about me being weak, Mr. Yaoti ignored her and reassured me instead. ¡°Don¡¯t listen to her, you may be weak, but you are still trainable. You have use with guns, so that will help you train fast. There is so much for you to learn and study here, and before long you will be a fully fledged agent like Tasha.¡± Huffing a bit to herself, Tasha turned and left me in the room alone with Mr. Yaoti. ¡°She doesn''t like me does she?¡± I asked him ¡°Nonsense boy! I can tell you for a fact that she likes you a bit, after all she rarely exhibits such emotions. She¡¯s a very special girl, and I think she can help teach you quit a bit here. I think in the morning we will have you will start your training¡­¡± <<<<<<<->>>>>>> Chapter 004 - A New Day Sector 14 - The DDO - Next Day After the events of the previous night, nothing much else happened other then me getting my own room in the DDO HQ that would now become my home. But now the promise of learning more about the Fallen, the enigma gear and my parents interested me about the DDO. Even though my old memory seemed to be coming back slowly, I was still ¡°brain dead¡± on what was going on. Deciding that might as well investigate the HQ, I pressed the panel to my door. Much to my surprise and shock, a new face appeared to me as the door swung open loudly. ¡°Hi there! You seem to be up and at ¡®em already! Here, take this!¡± The person, a new female person to me, shoved what looked to be some sort of food in my hands. Still shocked, I spoke to her in a shaky voice. ¡°U-Uh, hi. So who are you again?¡± Feeling embarrassed with herself, the girl suddenly tensed up to my question. ¡°Oh my God, I did again! I¡¯m so so-so-so SORRY!!¡± She cried out loud to me, her face slightly flushed. Waving my hand to reassure her, I said. ¡°Oh it''s no problem, I¡¯m still not used to this place anyways or who is here exactly!¡± Smiling and feeling confident again, the girl waved for me to follow her. ¡°Well lucky for you I came by to help you learn a thing or two about this place! Just follow me!¡± Following her, I ate whatever she gave me and listened. ¡°This as you know already is the DDO! Here we do a lot of different things, but all tied with that enigma gear on your wrist. Of course there are many different enigma users and such, but we also test other things out here. We are kinda like a secret justice league and a science lab! Cool huh?¡± Nodding my head to her, I could tell she was right. Left and right we passed by several different people all wearing scientist attire. Not skipping a beat, the girl continued. ¡°Of course the main thing we do here is stop the big bad guys from taking over the world without enigma gear, or what ever else is trying to cause mass murder. One of the main things we use is the Net, which allows us to go to any time we must.¡± The Net, as much as I knew about it from last night, I was still quite interested in how it worked. ¡°So how does it work exactly?¡± I asked her with a light smile. Sensing my interest in the Net, she stopped in front of a door and opened it. ¡°Why don¡¯t I show you, just come into here.¡± Walking in the door, we were now in a circular room with what almost looked like giant pipes with doors in the room. The pipes almost reminded me of the old style mail pipes you see in old books. Walking to a monitor, she waved a hand at it and uttered a few commands for it. As she did so, two of the doors on the the pipes opened, leading to nowhere new. Pointing for me to get in one, I did as I was instructed. ¡°You want to know how the Net works? Then this ought to help you out greatly. How about we go back to, say, a few years? Yeah, that''s good!¡± Waving to me as the doors closed, I could also here her mutter. ¡°I wonder why Tasha put this all on me¡­.¡± <<<<<<<->>>>>>> The Net Just as I had been standing inside the tubular pipe, I was now in the middle of a street in New Tokyo. Looking around I saw people go back and forth, smiling and waving to one another, an almost unheard of thing in the city nowadays. ¡°What do you think of the Net Blue?¡± I jumped at the familiar voice of the girl who had taken to me to wherever in time this was. Turning around, I saw her wearing a different outfit then she had before, and before I could ask about it, she explained. ¡°Oh this is my squad uniform, and I am the captain of Maki Squad.¡± Looking her up and down, She was dressed in a sort of purplish outfit that seemed to be one complete fitting uniform, with a bit of extra parts around the the upper torso for more protection I guessed. Seeing as this was her enigma gear as well, I decided to turn my will to mine as well. Closing my eyes, I focused my mind and instantly transformed into my uniform. Chuckling to herself, Maki smiled when I opened my eyes. ¡°That''s not bad for a uniform, but I got a better mod that''s more suiting for you.¡± Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Raising her hand, a floating panel appeared before her and she pressed a few buttons. Speaking as she did so, I noticed my uniform begin to shake and change. ¡°I know all about the history of this outfit from Mr. Yaoti and how it was your mom''s, so we will keep the old squad name on it. But just tinker a bit with the outfit itself and make it work well for you and that gas mask around your neck. Just press this and that, and¡­¡­..¡± My uniform suddenly changed to that of a long trenchcoat over a nice business suit with a full on tie. It seemed silly to me at first, but I sort of liked it compared to the previous layout I had on. Other than that, nothing else had changed. Nodding her head in a gleeful appreciation for her sense of style, Maki spoke to me. ¡°Alright Blue, now you look awesome! Plus with a simple switch of the enigma gear, you can make the trenchcoat disappear as well as the mask. And I think a suit rather works for you very well. Hmmm, yes yes!¡± Rubbing my head with a smile, I blushed slightly at her kindness. ¡°So, um, where are we exactly?¡± Snapping out of her her happy thoughts, Maki instantly went red in the face. ¡°Shit! I got completely lost again, I''m sorry! This is New Tokyo before the disaster of long ago, about seven years before to be exact.¡± Turning around and walking down the street, I followed after her. The people around us looked and stared, but didn''t make too much of us. ¡°So this is the past of New Tokyo before I was born?¡± I asked her, intrigued by where we were. Nodding her head, she spoke without looking at me. ¡°Yes, this is the past from long ago in our history. The Net allows us to go both back and forth in time, however we cannot change the major events of history Such as the disaster that will happen in seven short years from now, in this very spot. Stopping, she pointed down at her feet. ¡°This right here, right now is where the first Fallen will appear. I¡¯ve come back here multiple times to see its demonic qualities suddenly wipe out life in an instant. It''s a wonder how your parents were even able to take it down without dying in the process, even with the enigma gear at their disposal.¡± ¡°Have you seen them fight it?¡± I asked, since it would make sense if she could see the Fallen, then she could see my parents. Nodding her head to my question, she gave me a light smile. ¡°Yeah, I¡¯ve seen them fight it, as well as talked to them here.¡± My eyes growing wide at hearing her say she¡¯s talked to them, I exclaimed loudly to her. ¡°You can talk to them, even if it''s the past?! How!¡± Slightly embarrassed by the extra stares I had drawn to us, Maki just waved it off. ¡°You can do a lot of things here in the Net Blue. You can even talk to people important to you or not, there''s no limit to what you can do in here. Which is why we operate for the main part in the Net. The majority of criminal activity can be found here in the Net as well, hiding themselves away in time.¡± ¡°So others have access to the Net as well besides the DDO I take it?¡± I asked her, regaining my posture after letting myself get too excited over the prospect of speaking to people dear to me. Leading me to a street cafe, we sat down as she answered all my questions about this ¡°world¡± ¡°The Net was designed to be used as an investigation tool to help gather information and evidence against criminals. But soon it was found out that small time ¡°events¡± could be changed and stopped. It meant we could go and stop the worst murder from ever happening or the biggest criminal hacking organization from doing what they had planned. This can be done because of how closely intertwined both realities are to one another. The Net is just a fancy way of saying a world within our own world. A world with no real point of time like ours. But even so¡­.¡± She sighed loudly as she explained, ¡°That meant criminals could get into the Net and go to whatever point of time they wanted and hide from within there. This world of boundless time is just as real as our world bound by time itself. And so these criminals can steal or cheat anything they like in here. And thus us at the DDO also has to operate in here at times, going to different points in history to make sure nothing crazy happens.¡± Nodding, I seemed to understand what she was saying. The reason why the DDO was mostly unheard of was because that they operated mainly in the Net, but that didn''t mean they were always in it. ¡°Is this why there are squads, such as yours and my mom''s from the past?¡± She nodded her head again, signaling that I was right. ¡°Yes, we train a lot of different candidates and create new squads to keep the peace here and in the real world. You however came to use a bit differently from the rest, you have family history in the DDO. And so,¡± She stood up from the streetside table and smiled. ¡°Maybe you should talk to someone more close to you. She always came to this same cafe before it was destroyed long ago.¡± Pointing her finger at someone, I saw a girl walking down the street that made my heart jump. On her chest was a emblem matching mine that said ¡°Toyama Squad¡± <<<<<<<->>>>>>>