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●LoveLESS.○ - chapter 1 – The honey-eyed hacker, the golden masked virusSUMMARY :: Ten years have passed since the digital world and the real world have become entangled. In this new environment lives the hacker LoveLESS who lives to cause chaos. When she is tracked by something calling itself Neo2930 she goes from angry, to frightened, to curious. Little does she know her curiosity of Neo will led excitement and adventure she's never imagined.An indecipherable code cascaded down her vision as her fingers ran fluidly over the tablet screen. She was winning. The slow but steady flow of Adrenalin began as her victory came closer and she let a small smile curve her lips. "Got it..." the girl breathed. Writing followed the victorious coding :CODING ACCEPTED ::TRANSFER OF FUNDS FROM ACCOUNT -9332 TO -3661 COMPLETE.ACOUNT BALANCE -9332 : $ 00.00ACOUNT BALANCE -3361 : 1,542,193Teeth showed through the curve her her lip and she added the last insult to insure her notoriety rose along with her bank account. Fingers flitted across the screen and encoded an endearment;Your donation of funds is greatly appropriated- ●LoveLESS.○Reaching up the girl loosened the visor that covered her eyes and placed the plastic and glass contraption on the table before her along with the tablet computer. Letting a satisfied sigh escape her lips she allowed herself to ease back into the soft leather couch and relax. Stretching her neck, she double checked the tablet's screen to make sure it was doing it's job; running her encryption program to hide her tracks. Not that anyone could even backtrack to her. They couldn't even stop her.Lazily LoveLESS ran her hands through her strawberry blonde locks, fluffy the thick locks that had been flattened during her fun. The girl's, or rather young woman's, innocent, angel kissed freckled face, and honey eyes belittled the havoc she'd reaped in the recent months. Her appearance and diminutive stature led her to appear younger then she was, it always had. Her hormones began to settle and the rush left her.It never lasted long enough. The money was nice, she couldn't deny it, it enabled her to focus on the digital side of life and improve her skills, but it's not why she did it. Some people drove fast, some people did drugs, some people based jumped; she hacked, but all did it for the rush. LoveLESS grabbed a large pillow and arranged herself on her side. She pulled her tablet over, minimized her running program, and quickly brought up the news and it picked up in the middle of a broadcast." -Representatives from the UN today announced dates for meeting with representatives from the digital world. Vaccine and Data digimon are being represented but as far there is no announcement from the Virus digimon that any such representative will be present. Tension with the Demon Lords as the digimon like to be addressed, humans, and other digimon types remains strained. "In the last decade the revelation of the digital world and it's digital but all too real inhabitants had become known and rocked the world. They had pushed the real world on a rapid tumultuous river ride toward the future and the revelation of the importance of the digital life. Despite her active digital life, LoveLESS had no digimon partner and she was proud of it. She did what she did with her own skill and did not need to rely on a partner on the other end to do what she did. Even though she could not deny that her lack of a partner may even help her in her efforts. Any hacking was almost always linked to a virus digimon now a days and to their human partner. The connection between the two by the use of a digivice, something every digimon produced and presented to their human upon meeting and bonding, almost always led to their discovery and down fall.Rumor was that human hackers, as well as other law breakers, abounded in the digital world as they ran from the real world law. One reason the UN was so eager to meet with digital representatives was to develop some sort of extradition laws between the two worlds lest the digital world become a haven for the Earth's criminals. Without the other world connection LoveLESS was well below the radar and even when she was above it little to no time was spent tracking her. Other hackers were far easier to catch or at least to protect against. What was one honey eyed girl to dozens or hundreds of eager and stupid hackers that flooded the system."Where is he...?" LoveLESS murmured to herself. The last three times she had gotten on and hacked a system she'd attracted the attention of someone or something. A something that had done what no one had ever done to her, backtracked her movements. The fact that it had tracked back to her and high-jacked her screen to converse with first enraged her, then frightened her, and finally peaked her curiosity. The thought that her mysterious follower was a digimon had crossed her mind and it did not make her as angry as she thought it was. No, rather then angry she could confidently say it poked and prodded at her curiosity. Why were they bothering with her? The fact that they never gave her away, never pointed the law in her direction told her they were as curious about her as she was of them. The handle she was attempting to hide her eagerness of seeing was Neo2930. Each encounter left her scrambling to track the typer and disable them; to turn the table. Her pride demanded it.As she absent mindlessly twisted her thick curly locks in between her fingers she heard her computer give that distinctive noise. Bah-Ding! Eagerly she sat up at the edge of the couch and slide the tablet into her lap. The screen went black, only a blinking white cursor present on the screen. Then text began to appear.Neo2930 : Found you again.A smile pulled at the corners of her mouth again and she felt a rush of excitement. "You're mind now..." came a wispy declaration as she slid on her visor.–Eagerly from behind his mask he watched as she skillfully weaved her coding, disabling the security and funneling funds to one of several accounts he noticed she had. LoveLESS, she was so distinctive with her maneuvering he did not even need her to identify herself to know it was her going to work. Although only recently reaching out to the hacker, he had watched her for sometimes. She slipped in and out of bank accounts and glided into secure government files. At first he was convinced there was some digimon connected with her, no human could do the things that she could do in the digital spaces that connected the two worlds like she did. Given his predicament he did not like humans, didn't hate them but didn't think much off them, but he had to concede that her skills impressed him. The corner of his mouth twitched upward into a grin at her cheeky note typed its way across the screen.Your donation of funds is greatly appropriated- ●LoveLESS.○The digimon reclined back on his heels and ran a golden clawed hand through his white hair, a nervous gesture he often found himself repeating when he first debating making contact. He sat in a bare white digital prison, only the flicker of screens he produced to watch for LoveLESS's and others movements keeping him company. He could hack other systems, hack other humans, but he could not free himself for this lingering purgatory-like realm, the area between the two worlds. A dead space used for transmit humans, digimon, and data; not a place one would ever willing choose to stay.Sliding back off his heels he sat flat with his over arching thin wings folded neatly against his back. He drew his long legs to his chest and draped an elongated arm around them, the other still running through his hair, still considering. If he continued to contact the hacker without following through with his plan the chances ever increased she would finally snag him. No path he used to get to her was the same but he knew with her skill she was already forming patterns and working out his system.He needed her. That was the fact that had begun to solidify in his mind the more he learned of her. This hacker was possibly the only one with the skill not only to free him but to not alarm his keepers as she did so, thus insuring his escape. He had been waiting for her to maneuver again, to get another chance to get in contact with her in hopes of not only securing his escape, but simply for the interaction. He wondered if LoveLESS was waiting as well. The digimon sucked in a sharp breath and released it. "Now.. or not at all..." he told himself as he began spreading his virus along her trail, tracking her back to starting point. A sense of satisfaction came over him as he once again took control of her device.Neo2930 : Found you again.LoveLESS : You kept me waiting.Again the twitch of a grin played on his face. Still cheeky and already working the messages back to him. He paused, once again considering all he was intending to do, and typed.Neo2930 : It's time we meet face to face.This time she paused. Or at least he thought it was a "she" that's how the digimon always referred to LoveLESS, as a female. It never really occurred to him that the hacker could be a male. Finally a response.LoveLESS : No dice.Neo2930 : This isn't an optional invitation.–LoveLESS could take care of her self at a distance usually, except with this Neo it seemed. Close up, less certain. She was not in any way physically intimidating. The thought crossed her mind again that this might be a digimon and the forceful invitation made her feel a pin prick of dread. How would they meet? Was he watching her? She steeled her self and continued to work her coding, searching for a way back to the source trying as best she could to ignore the ominous statement."Almost-" there was no breath left in her lungs to finish her statement as it felt as though the remaining air had be forced from her. Shooting straight from her tablet screen emerged a golden clawed hand. Faster than she could even register to move it grasp around her and she felt her self pulled though the screen. A sensation of moving fast, falling, but all at the same time standing still as everything rushed around her overwhelmed her.
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●LoveLESS.○ -chapter 2 – Face to Face
It wasn't a rough landing, or a rough entry really. LoveLESS had been gingerly set on her feet, it was her own fault her knees collapsed in on themselves and she was now sitting on her folded up legs. She slid off her visor and rubbed her eyes with the palms her hands, half from the blinding white she found herself in, half from apprehension. Her heart pounded in her chest and she wanted to give herself some semblance of composure. Taking in and releasing a slow breath LoveLESS lowered her palms and looked up to see Neo.
Before her, at a respectable distance, stood a very tall humanoid digimon. Gangly, that's the first word that came to LoveLESS's mind. He had long thin legs and too long thing arms that nearly touched the floor. Belt buckle banded boots wrapped around his calves and were caped in metal and tipped with two long pointy spikes on each foot. A gold ornate plate covered each of his knees and a second set of belts wrapped around his upper thighs. His pants were black but he wore no shirt over his pale white – almost gray skin. Starting from just above is left hip and cascading upward to his left shoulder were red sphere embedded half way into is skin so they bulged outward. Brown leather straps wrapped half way up his forearms ending in golden tipped claws. On each forearm three red spikes on the upper half above the wrappings. Over his left shoulder was a small black shoulder guard and around his neck a black fitted wrap. Arching over his shoulders on both side were thin folded crimson wings whose size she could not guess. Thick, messy white hair traveled past his shoulders. Covering the entirety of his face was a golden mask with large golden horns extending from the side. Three pairs of dark red eyes looked over her from beneath the mask evaluating her as she did him.
"Frightened?" His voice was somehow only slightly muffled from behind the mask. It was a quiet voice that did not seem to fit its owner.
"Of you?" He nodded. As nonchalant as she could despite her still pounding heartbeat, Loveless asked "Should I be?"
The digimon cocked his head to the side, and peered at her. She lifted up her chin and stared back. She was not going to back down. If he wanted her dead he could have reached through her screen at any time and done so. Before he could respond LoveLESS added boldly, "Despite the fact that I have found myself to be your kidnap victim and am in unfamiliar surroundings, I am not afraid of you." Maybe to test her he took several steps toward her. She remained firm. "I have never met a digimon this close, much less talked with one. Does your kind often run around topless?"
He stopped again and peer at her from the side. A low chuckle came from beneath the mask. "Cheeky, and no. I just had the fortune of being coded without one and as you can see-" he waved his long arm around in a wide sweep of the stark white surroundings, "- I cannot go retrieve one even if I so desired to wear one."
The hacker too looked around the empty space. As her heartbeat began to clam she felt a twing of something – pity? "Is Neo you name then?"
"My name is NeoDevimon. If I had friend or acquaintances I would tell them I prefer to be called Neo."
LoveLESS crossed her arms across her chest and regarded him, her visor still clutched in her right hand. "Why the 2930? Is that some repeating line in your coding?"
Another low chuckle. "29 minutes and 30 seconds. That's how long it took me to trail you down once I decided I wanted to speak to you. Now that I know your ways it takes me less than a minute. But then again you knew that and didn't alter anything." His six eyes looked down at the small human from where he stood above her.
It was true, how impressed she had been that he had tracked her, and the ensuing exchange had convinced her not to alter anything that would hinder him tracking her again quickly if need be. "Yes, but also the faster you got to me the faster I could then attempt to get to you," She replied.
"A risky game you've played with me."
A thought struck LoveLESS. "Risky for me or you? If I had gotten back to you could I have accidentally killed you?" she questioned.
NeoDevimon looked away from her. He had actually never considered that it was that he had left himself so wide open to attack from the hacker. "Harm me maybe, kill me. . . "He paused then turned to face her again, "No. Digimon do not experience death like you creatures in the real world do. Our lives are an endless cycle of rebooting." As they continued to talk the nervousness Neo had first felt when she entered his space was dissipating. It seemed her curiosity trumped her discretion.
"Even if it was risky I had to do it. I need your help."
The hacker furrowed her brows. "Oh so this is a business thing." The digimon's head cocked to the side again, was she angry? She had since come to stand on her feet, hands perched on her hips. Her bare feet were planted in a wide defensive stance and she wore an earthy brown linen dress that flitted down to her knees. A sweet heart neck line and short capped sleeves finished off her look. Thick curly locks cascaded half way down her back and over her right shoulder. The top of her head could only have been as high half his chest. For such a tiny thing to have reaped so much mayhem . . .
"At first, yes I intended this to be all business but in our subsequent interactions I must admit you pull at my curiosity." LoveLESS brows unwrinkled. "Your skill with coding is amazing and to do so with no assistance from my kind. . . I have been in this place for many years and I have never come across another hacker like you." The ego boost cooled any anger the diminutive hacker felt. He continued, "I can hack you and others but I cannot hack through my prison. That's why I need you. I know you can free me and that you can do it in a way that my watchers aren't alerted."
"Your watchers?" A thought occurred to LoveLESS, "You're not some kind of digimon serial murder locked in solitary confinement are you?" The suggestion caused him another chuckle and he shook his head. "Then why the walls? You realize if you want me to help you you're going to have to be honest with me."
"I will be . . . as honest with you as I can. I am not a criminal, or a murderer. I have done no crime other than simply existing. Unlike other digimon who are created in the digital world through the ebb and flow of the data stream, I was created here by artificial human means."
"You were manufactured by a human?"
"In a way yes, I think the term customized would be more appropriate. My data wasn't developed from nothing. I assume by the name given to me my base code lies with a Devimon." Nervousness crept through him again and he ran a clawed hand through his hair. Never had he admitted so much of himself to another creature human or otherwise. "Why I was created and by whom I do not know. Only that for whatever reason they must have thought me. . ." He considered carefully his word choice and looked away, "inappropriate to live among my own kind."
The feeling of pity LoveLESS felt began to grow the more she talked with him. Unwanted, imprisoned, and all alone with no reason as to why. Maybe he did know why and if he was withholding the information she could hardly blame him. She wondered if he'd ever told his story, abridged as it was, to anyone before. Despite the lingering questions she felt she could trust him. She was far too curious about him to deny him any help. "Okay."
Neo looked up at her and found her honey colored eyes fixed on him. "You'll help me?" He breathed out the words. A smile curved at the corners at her mouth and she nodded. A feeling of exaltation began to rise within in him but he forced it down. Having her help and finally having his freedom were two separate things. Neo would not allow himself to get his hope and expectations up yet. Her smile faded as a realization came to her.
"I need my tablet. It has all my programs on it. Without it can't hack my way through a gmail account."
Neo reached his hand out and grasp at the thin air. A thin standard paper sized glassy tablet appeared in his hand and he walked toward LoveLESS. "I took the liberty of installing copies of all your programs on to this. It'll run faster than your human made device and it's stronger as well." He held out his clawed hand to her.
LoveLESS closed the remaining distance and took the gently clasped computer from him. It was feather light in her hands. The touch screen was glassy and responded instantly to her touch. Her smile grew. Curious, she flipped it over. The back side was all a solid color, a beautiful turquoise color. "Why blue?"
"It's the color I imagine the sky looks like. You don't like it?"
'What he imagines the sky to look like…? He's never seen it…' Sadness grew up from within her again. "It's beautiful, turquoise is my favorite color. Thank you." She tucked the device in the crock of her arm and slide on her visor. "When did you have time to steal myprograms, how did you do it, and how did I not know?"
"If I told you that I'd have to give up all my secrets to you."
"And if you told me I would never get to muddle through it myself right?" she responded as she settled cross legged on the floor, the tablet perched on her knees.
"I wouldn't want to deprive you your curiosity," Neo said as he circled around in front of her, sitting as well his excitement at possible freedom rising again.
Coding filled her vision and she slid her fingers along the screen taking it all in. "Any pointers?"
"I cannot even access the coding. And even if I could and had something to tell you, you really wouldn't want to know would you?"
"No, takes away some of the fun. . ." the hacker admitted. "They've hidden it. Unless someone was looking they would never find this place, but . . .This coding is so simple. I guess that whoever put you here thought no one would bother with it." Code continued to scroll past her vision. "Okay, I'm in. Since we're in between both places right now, what happens when I delete the cell's wall coding?"
Neo shrugged. "I'm not really sure I-" his response was cut off as the walls, ceiling, and floor began to pixilated and dissolve revealing a criss-crossing flow of data.
LoveLESS quickly got to her feet clutching the tablet to her chest. "Oh, I didn't mean to do that, this code is very fragile . . . I can't stop it," she said as she backed away from a widening hole in the floor. Thump! She had backed right up into Neo. She looked up at himas a long arm snaked around her waist and held her to him.
"Hold on to me," he advised as he peered down at her. "We are going to fall and I'm not sure where we'll land." Just as LoveLESS wrapped an arm around the one encompassing her she felt her feet dangle and once again the sensation of moving fast, falling but staying still aseverything rushed by filled her senses.
A/N – Next chapter starts their adventures into the digital world. Thanks for reading, if you have some time to spare toss me a review or some thoughts!
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●LoveLESS.○ - chapter 3 – The Dirt BasinEverything seemed to fly around her and LoveLESS felt her stomach start to turn. She held tighter to Neo's arm and pressed her face against it. She willed her stomach contents to stay where they were and for this sensation to stop. Suddenly a weightlessness took hold of her, a light blinded her and the next thing she knew she was gazing hazily up at a clear blue sky. Translucent strips of data flirt in and out of sight as they strolled along the sky. LoveLESS continued to lay motionless on her back soaking it all in. "The digital world... " she said with bated breath as she slid off her visor. Slowly she pushed herself up. Neo, along with the tablet he had gifted her were nowhere in sight.She had landed in a dusty heap at the base of a scraggly cliff. Brown sand-like cliffs and stone formations surrounded her but unlike the shapes the real world scenery took, stones shaped over time with wind and water, these formations had sharp right angles, curly sides and perfectly geometrical shapes cut into them. LoveLESS climbed to her feet and with dismat to remembered she was shoeless. Hanging her visor around the back of her neck she swiped off the dust from her bottom and began to walk around. Around a curve she spied her turquoise tablet. Fear of the crack in the screen she was sure to find crept into her mind as she walked over and picked it up. She found to her delight not even a scratch graced the touch screen. After a few more minutes of aimless walking, with several stops to pick out stones that lodged in her now very dirty feet, she discovered that she had landed in a small, completely enclosed ravine. "Wonderful. . . " she sighed to herself. A loud crunch of landing feet caught her attention. Thinking it had to be Neo she quickly turned around only to find it wasn't Neo.Slowly, Neo opened his eyes and was greeted by the same clear blue sky, a sky whose color he's only seen from his screens. A breeze gently rustled his hair, a sensation he'd never experienced before. Joy he'd never known before began to build within him and he began to laugh. Laying flat on his back, the breeze tickling his scalp, and the much dreamed of blue sky above, Neo laughed with pure joy. The moments passed as he soaked in this new freedom. He hardly knew what to think or what to feel. Suddenly he stopped and sat up, quickly glancing around him. LoveLESS was not within sight. His joy began to become replaced by mild dread as he noticed his landing had been at the top of a perfectly square rock perched upon an impossibly skinny stone pillar. Had they both landed here and then the tiny hacker had tumbled off?Quickly he was on his feet and peering down at the scenes below him, afraid what he might see. At the bottom of a ravine off to his right he spotted her; slightly dusty and looking annoyed but intact. She was not alone. While her back was turned a small creature jump down and landed with a thud. Even through his alarm Neo thought 'My kind takes the strangest forms.' The digimon was a few inches shy of being as tall as LoveLESS and it's body was the shape of a dark purple five-pointed star. Large gloved arms sprang from its sides and large booted legs sprang from below it with a brown leather cowboy set on its top point.With quick silent movements Neo navigated down off his perch and into the ravine. As he landed he heard a crunch of metal on metal. The star digimon stumbled backward clutching at its face while LoveLESS advanced on it, her tablet raised up high. She had used it like a club! So focused what the spunky little hacker she failed to notice his arrival. Unable to help himself he began to laugh again at the scene. Both combatants turned toward him. The digimon's face registered panic but LoveLESS smiled at him and brandished the tablet again."You're right, this thing is way stronger than any tablet the real world's made. It survived that landing and this guys face." As she made her way over to him the digimon beat a hasty retreat, clambering up the stone face and out of sight."I'm glad to see you're alright. When I realized you weren't with me I began to worry. But I see you're prepared to take care of yourself hm?"LoveLESS tucked the tablet under her arm. "I always have in the past, and I can still do it now in the present. Look-" She pointed up to the sky. "It is just like you imagined it would be?"Neo looked up. "No," he said."No?""No, it's far better than I could have imagined. It's beautiful." The sincerity and joy in his voice gave LoveLESS a good feeling. She rarely did anything for anyone, she was mostly tied up in causing headaches. "Come see." Before she could respond Neo scooped up LoveLESS on his arm so she sat in the crook of his elbow and bounded out of the ravine. She flattened herself against him as they ascend up to the cliff's edge, her stomach it seemed had not completely settled from their trip here. "It's all beautiful isn't it?"From her spot on his arm she looked around. It looked like they were middle of desolate no where. The same rock formations from the ravine littered the landscape along with more ravines and plateaus. "If you like spaghetti westerns, sunburn, and desolation it's nice." She then voiced the one thing Neo had never thought about. "Now what?"His shoulders sagged and he honestly responded, "I don't know. I've been so obsessed on escape I never planned what I wanted to do once I had. I thought I'd jinx myself if I started planning for a future I might never have."LoveLESS patted on his chest and motioned to the ground; meaning she would like to be put down. He looked down at her. "You have no shoes.""Really? I hadn't noticed." She looked up at him with sarcasm plastered on her face. "I guess that explains why my feet are burning and bleeding.""And you want me to set you down? Silly. You're a wisp of a thing I'll just carry you.""Fine, then let me sit on your shoulder, I want to better view. Sitting down here on you arm I feel like a little tiny purse dog," she said as he gave her his other hand and helped her up to sit on his shoulder guard.Continuing the conversation she asked, "Well what kind of things did you do in your purgatory-cell?"As he responded Neo began to walk around, still relishing this world and his new freedom, "Hacking, rearranging code, causing headaches."His walk was smooth and even and caused LoveLESS no discomfort from her seat on his shoulder. "Like what, you didn't need money or anything." She was honestly curious too. What would a digimon hacker think was fun to do."Rearranging doorways so the lead to walls, formatting doors to not open, recoding cakes so it looks and smells like fish heads but still tastes like cake, that kind of thing."LoveLESS laughed, "those are the kind of things you do?""This world is nothing but data and I have a key for unlocking it. How can I not do things like that? I like to cause mischief and mayhem, not terror and destruction."LoveLESS ran her fingers through her hair massaging her scalp and untangling her strands. Deciding to attempt to get some more information from her companion she said, "I assume that not all virus digimon can do that, I mean effect the digital world like that or this place would be nothing but chaos. Is that why you were hidden away?""Hm, I'm not sure really. It's possible I suppose. I know where we are I think.""Ya, 50 miles from anything in all directions, right?"Neo ignored her and came to a stop. "Give me your tablet please. I want to show you something."The hacker obeyed and placed the thin machine into his outstretched hand. Grasping the tablet in one hand he gently touched one golden claw tip from the other hand to the screen. The screen flashed and scrolled coding and the tip of the claw seemed to slip into the screen. He handed the tablet back to LoveLESS. "Here, digital world GPS. We're in the middle of what they call the Dirt Basin. You're right though, there nothing around for miles fortunately a trailmon track runs right through here, we should be able to catch a ride.""Aw, cool program! Is this something you made up yourself? Or did you steal it?" She asked as she examined the map. Indeed about 5 miles north was a train track that ran parallel from their current position. Stretching off to the right the tracks shot off of the land and kept going over the open water and into the main point of the digital/real world connection. A label that popped up as her finger hovered above it declared it as The Hub. The opposite way down the tracks showed the train weaving through several small settlements and into a wooded area."Stolen. Someone already had the financial foresight to develop and market the map. Walking to the track won't take too long, but trailmons aren't known to be punctual, depending on the mon. They can be a temperamental kind of digimon." Thinking about his own kind Neo asked, "Am I frightening to look at? That little digimon took off just at the sight of me.""I dunno, you're unnerving based on height alone, maybe it's association. How are other Virus digimon thought of? The news keeps saying their being uncooperative with the real world and the other digimon.""I think that is the general sentiment about my fellow virus type digimon I can't say from personal experience. Any virus digimon I've come across was doing awful hacking jobs with the help of a human. I mean awful, hacking away at the coding with a dull hatchet bad. I have no desire to associate with that."LoveLESS giggled, "Wow, you're a regular elitist aren't you?"Neo twisted his neck slightly and looked at her with three eyes. "Would you have associated with that?"She scoffed, "Well of course not, but they aren't my kind. Besides I am an island on to myself."He chuckled in response and started walking again. "An island? What are you doing here then.""Me?" LoveLESS smiled. "I'm getting a free ride and presents from a kidnapper." He laughed in response to her. "Don't tell me how to do it, just if you think I can. Do you think I could manufacture some coding and give myself some shoes?""LoveLESS, while this world my resemble your world more then the screens of data and code you're used too, it can be manipulated just like the codes can. You could be able to do it the same way I carry out my mischief. Of course I'll say mum on how I do it. It would take away the fun right?""You remember I like my fun," LoveLESS replied with a smile still on her lips. Stretching her arms above her head she let out a yawn. "Before you snatched me away I was planning on curling up in my feather down comforter. How long do you think It'll take you to get to the trailmon?""Hm well, lets take a look and see if we can see the trailmon at all. Hold on to me." Before LoveLESS could manage to say 'how? Would I do that from up here?' they were airborne. Each beat of Neo's crimson red wings brought them higher. "There, it's coming from the ocean, from The Hub." Sure enough a yellow steam engine with five cars was heading down the tracks and out toward the other side of the Basin. "I think it's a Kettle trailmon." Readjusting to place a securing hand on LoveLESS Neo glided with the air current to intercept the yellow trailmon. As they neared the tracks Neo slowed farther and prepared to land on one of the compartments. "You know what's funny?"Pushing her hair from her face and replied, "No but I feel like you're about to tell me.""I've never flown before," He laughed. "No room in the cell.""So I'm part of your maiden flown voyage?""Yes, you're part of history," Neo joked. As the kettle trailmon approached it saw the two hovering. Apparently jump-on were common in the digital world transportation as it didn't pay them much concern.As it went beneath them it shouted out to them in a loud but nasally voice, "Last compartments empty! Pay when you hop off!""Thank you," Neo yelled back as the compartments thunder underneath them. With a soft thump he landed on the last car. Taking hold of LoveLESS with both hands he gently placed her on the slightly swaying rooftop, shielding her from the rushing wind with his body. On shaky legs LoveLESS made her way to the ladder to the end of the roof and climbed down. The compartment door swung open for her and she entered.To her delight the last car was a sleeper car. A single corridor ran along the right side of the car with three doors leading off on the left to the rooms. The walls were wooded with wainscoting and painted a pale yellow. The nasally voice re-emerged from a speaker mounted on the wall. "Like I said all the rooms are open. I don't have a dinning car and the other cars are simple passenger cars."Although the car was taller than a normal human train car, Neo still had to duck his head to avoid hitting the ceiling. "Can you tell me how long to the next town please?" Neo asked as he followed LoveLESS through the first door."The voice now came from a speaker in their compartment. "The Dirt Basin is a big area. It's going to be five hours until we hit Line In The Dirt."LoveLESS let out a small laugh, "I guess that it's so named because it's the cut off point for the Basin right?""It's a very practical name," buzzed the nasally speaker. "I'll alert all passengers when the stop is nearing."Yawning again the hacker let down the lower bed. The compartment was wood-paneled with the same pale yellow color as the corridor. A large picture window covered the left side of the compartment. "I need to sleep," she said. "Do you need a bed? Cause I'd rather you be on the lower and forgo the possibility that these flimsy chains cannot support your weight and you come crashing down if you're on the top bed."Neo settled with his back propped up against the wall opposite of the beds. "I'm too excited to sleep. Besides I need to make some financial arrangements for this ride and the next town.""You mean steal some money?" LoveLESS said through a yawn."Judging me? You of all people. . . "The hacker unfolded a stiff white sheet and fluffed the flattened pillow. "I didn't say anything, I was just clarifying. Elitist and touchy, huh?""Go to sleep.""I am, you keep talking." LoveLESS settled under the sheet her back to the wall. She must have been more tired then she though because the gentle sway of the train quickly lulled LoveLESS to sleep.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
"Attention all passengers!" LoveLESS woke with a start. Groaning and stretching she sat herself up as the Kettle trailmon continued. "We'll be nearing Line in the Dirt in ten minutes." She attempted in vain to straighten her hair. Neo still sat on the floor facing her, his legs crossed and arms resting on his knees."You have a nice nap?" he asked.LoveLESS gave up on attempting to straighten her hair and quickly put it into a sideways braid instead. "I slept like the dead," she replied as she rubbed the sleep from her eyes. "You have a nice sit?""Fascinating sit," replied the digimon sarcastically. "I was thinking that going away from The Hub was the smart thing to do. This track leading out has only one rail, while many of the others have several for back and forth transporting."LoveLESS sat on the edge of the bed and reached down to rub her blackened feet. "Why, you think people will be after you?""Someone locked me away, so I'm sure someone will be looking for me. Plus with all the squads around I'd like to be somewhere with a lesser population. Oh by the way," Neo pulled out a small shiny blue card from his pocket. "Made us a bank account while you were sleeping. The digital world doesn't have paper money, everything runs on credits from bank cards; paid our travel fees too.""Ha nice," LoveLESS replied taking hold of the card to examine it then handing it back to Neo. She could not wait to make something physical from nothing from data, starting with some shoes. "I guess getting away from the squads is good for avoiding anyone messing with our fun too huh? I heard the squads are not all that organized though, like kind of hodged podged all over the place. I guess I don't know much about them actually."The screech of the brakes and the lurch of the car let them know they were nearing the station. The two looked out the window. The Dirt Basin had reminded LoveLESS of a spaghetti western but this town looked like it had been lift from a John Wayne movie. As the trailmon started to enter the town it passed several small buildings made of dull looking wooden boards. Classic western-style raised wooden sidewalks lined the buildings and several buildings had over hanging roofs held up by wooden poles. With one final jolt the train came to a stop."Now arriving at Line in the Dirt Station!" Cried the nasally voice from the over head speakers. The two got to their feet and left the compartment the way they had entered, through the back. The station was nothing more than a platform with a handful of humans and digimon waiting to board the Kettle trailmon. LoveLESS cleared the gap between the car and the platform and watched the other travelers exit. Two digimon with their human partners and one digimon alone. The departing passengers and waiting passengers gave Neo a wide berth and quick glances."Virus digimon aren't around this part of the map much I guess. Things are very segregated in the digital world, that's why I'm getting so many looks," Neo explained and added, "I looked up some information while you were asleep. There's not much here really; a saloon, a hotel, a few stores and then some locals houses. We should get a room in the hotel, plan out the next course of action.""Agreed, I have a lot of stuff to look up now that I've rested up. I know some things that are going on in this world but not nearly enough. Also, I want some shoes." Her last statement had a hint of a whine in it as she stared at her bare feet. The town was indeed small, it seemed it was just something that sprang up out of the needs of travelers on the rails. Without travelers it would probably never been settled. More Starmon populated the town but unlike the one who LoveLESS uppercut with her tablet they had a silver and gold sheen to their star-shaped body. Other common residents were several large walking cactuses in different shapes with boxing gloves and digimon with a pistols for bodies and cowboy hats on their heads. The breeze from the Dirt Basin carried dirt and sand all through out the town and LoveLESS suspected there wasn't one corner you wouldn't find sand in. The largest building in town was the two-story tall hotel which the two found easily. A large wooden billboard across the front of the building above the swinging saloon door read "The Dirt Nap Inn."The two entered through the swing door and approached the desk. Behind, with its head on the desk, lay a sleeping digimon. It was small golden-colored digimon resembling an armadillo. And indeed a small framed plaque read "Hello, I'm Armadillomon! Please ring for service!" A thin trail of drool dripped from his snoring mouth and puddled on the registration book. The two exchanged looks and LoveLESS grinned before sliding the service bell close to the sleeping digimon's head and banging on the bells repeatedly.The sleeping digimon was so startled he jumped up and slid out of his stool to the floor. Still dazed the little digimon scrambled back on to his stool. "Sorry little lady I guess I dozed off," he said as his tired eyes came into focus on LoveLESS. His eyes grew wide when he saw the large virus digimon standing behind her. "S-so a r-room then?" He stammered out.LoveLESS folded her arms on the desk and leaned against it. "That would be fabulous. I don't know how many days but it doesn't look like you're all that cramped around here. By the way he's not going to eat out your soul or anything so relax." Picking a spot not covered with his drool she scrawled her and Neo's name on the registration book while the golden-colored digimon fumbled with room keys.Armadillomon picked up a set of keys with the tag B2 on them and set them into Neo's outstretched hand. "My name's Armadillomon, please l-let me know if you need anything. Your room is up the stairs a-and on the left."LoveLess just gave him a smile before turning to run up the stairs, eager to get started on some shoes. Neo gave the digimon a soft word of thanks before following LoveLESS's lead. The warbling voice of Armadillomon drifted up to them from the first floor, "Welcome to The Dirt Nap!"The floor boards creaked and groaned as they made their way to their room. "Do you think it was wise to sign your hacker pen name?" Neo asked. "You do like to sign your work and now that you're in the digital world it's more likely that the authorities would try and track you since I'm sure you're going to be doing some more signed work." LoveLESS gave him a look and took the keys from Neo."But that's half the fun, the running away." She smiled. "Getting their attention then getting out from under their nose shows just how much better I am than them." She unlocked their door with a small bit of difficulty. The room was small with a large digimon sized bed against one wall, a large picture window overlooking the small dirt main street, and a dresser opposite the bed. A small sink sat next to the dresser; the hotel must have a shared bathroom. LoveLESS jumped on the bed and folded her legs underneath her while Neo walked over to the window to slid it open then sat down with his back propped up against the backboard of the bed to watch while LoveLESS puzzled her program out and doze lightly. Even sitting up against the backboard his feet nearly hung over the edge of the bed. Apparently this larger sized bed still wasn't large enough for Neo.Excitedly she set her tablet on her knees, slid on her visor, and got to work fixing up a program for making items. Making an article of clothing should be a simple feat, not something complicated like the tablet Neo had crafted. The hacker flew through her program and produced the coding she thought would create a sheet of cotton cloth. Before her eyes coding began to appear in the air in front of her in a rectangular shape. Quickly the coding disappeared and the cloth began to appear. To her dismay it fell apart into threads in her hands. It would seem that more than using a hacker's skill, she would have to use a computer animators skills. She would have to program everything about the item she wanted to make right down to the thickness, texture, and stiffness; then use her hacking abilities to place the item into the digital space.She frowned at the failure but felt more determined to get the coding right. Curious, she got up and snatched a white worn hand down from the towel rack on the sink and flopped back down on her stomach on the bed. She set the towel in front of her and crossed her ankles in the air. Her jump on the bed roused Neo from his semi-nap. He uncrossed his feet and stretched out his wings."Just take a nap," LoveLESS said. She had turned onto her side, and slipped her visor up so she could look back at him."I can't, or I'll get my sleep all turned around. Here in the digital world it's still five hours till night down."LoveLESS arched an eyebrow. "Night down? You mean sunset?"Neo shook his head and fixed his six eyes on her. "The digital world doesn't have a sunset. It goes from day to night and back again. You'll see soon."LoveLESS rolled back on to her stomach and flipped the visor back into place. "Okay suit yourself." She got to work on the cloth wash towel in front of her. If she could hack into its coding she could build on it instead of having to start from scratch. The coding looked extensive but it was simplistic and LoveLESS soon was able to dye the cloth green, make it stiff like wood, and fluff out the fibers. She reverted the coding back to its original state then went about expanding its dimensions making it as large as a beach towel. Smiling to herself she reached out and touched the cloth, testing its durability. It all held together. She was ready to try to create her cotton cloth again. The coding appeared before her eyes in the shape of a small rectangle before dissipating and revealing a small cotton square. LoveLESS slid her visor up and reached out to pluck the cloth from the air. It held together and was the perfect texture. Each little thread was in place and it was flexible and light; just like she had coded.Happy that she had gotten the hang of creating objects; LoveLESS then minimized her programs and opened up her web browser. Time to pick out what she wanted to wear. Since she needed shoes she figured she might as well just pick out a whole new outfit. Besides she wanted to test out her new skills. She typed in one of her favorite sites and began to pick out an outfit. She picked out a mustard yellow fitted dress that went to the knees with capped sleeves and flared out at the waist. A ribbon went around the waist tied into a bow in the front. It had a folded over collar and three buttons in the front. Despite her small stature that caused many girls to put on high heels; LoveLESS hated any kind of heel and for shoes she found a pair of light blue flats with shiny silver capped toes. To go under her dress she decided to pick out a pair of black leggings. She had grown tired of hauling her tablet around under her arm so she found a light brown leather bag with a large strap she could wear over the shoulder as well as a small handle so she could carry it like a brief case. It had two pockets on the outside and she thought she could put a large one on the inside to put the tablet. Since she was getting a new set of everything she also found some panties and bra she could base coding on.She slid her visor back into place and began to weave her coding. With several trials and errors she produced a mirror image of the ginger dress tailored perfectly for her. She reached out and grasp the dress in her hands. As soon as she touched it the dress gave way to gravity and flopped over in her hands. It felt perfect, all the seams and buttons aligned and she felt the same rush of adrenaline she got from hacking accounts start to flood her blood stream. Each piece she made was easier and quicker than the one before it and soon her spoils surrounded her on the bedspread. She felt a tug on her ankle and looked back to see Neo pointing to the window.She looked out and saw the night down starting. A straight light formed across the sky. On once side was the bright blue sky, the other the dark inky night. With the descent of the night line the air instantly began to cool and soon the whole world was covered in night."At every place in the world it's night now," Neo explained. "Unlike the real world, the digital world doesn't have time zones or anything like that since our world doesn't rotate around a sun. Oh by the way, you should wash your dirty feet before you put them into your nice new shoes."LoveLESS had rolled onto her side again to look back at the digimon to give him a 'duh' look. Her serious face was negated by the rumble of her stomach. Neo had to chuckle at the girl and he climbed to his feet. "Go ahead and get all changed, I'm going to go get some food."LoveLESS raised an eyebrow at him. "You sure that's a good idea? You saw the way the clerk looked at you. Fell out of his chair and stuttered like I don't even know what."Neo shrugged and walked to the door, "Not going to change stereotypes by staying to myself. I don't know what they'll have here, anything you want or definitely don't want?""I don't eat meat, besides that I'm too hungry to care," LoveLESS replied as she stretched out her legs and arms. "It's been so busy today, I forgot I haven't eaten since before you kidnapped me from the real world."Neo opened the door and looked back at the girl on the bed. "You're never going to let that go are you? Even though if I had the time and asked you politely you would have come willingly." The hacker balanced her chin on her hands and gave him a wide smile. Neo shook his head and with the mumbling of "cheeky girl..." he closed the door on her.