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[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

I must say I enjoyed that game someone posted on the, what do you call it? CastleNet? A couple of weeks ago. Simple but entertaining. I've been poking around the network a little bit and I'm curious - is there anyone currently working as a system admin for it? Or any sort of moderator? I can see the hands of a few different programmers in here and I couldn't help but wonder.

[Having gotten hold of a laptop, Flynn sees no point in staying inside while he continues his poking at CastleNet. So he's migrated out to the garden where he's leaning against a tree with the laptop on his lap. Currently he's half working and half listening to the birds chirping in the tree above him and just enjoying the peace of nature.]

Comments

[Action]

[biggestdreamer]

[For lack of anything else to do, Takato had taken to wandering around the castle gardens. They were nice. He makes a note to bring Guilmon out here later. Maybe they could distract him from being upset over their recent discovery.

The boy pauses as he see the man standing by the tree.]

Um, hello? Do you live here?

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

[Flynn smiles at the boy]

I live at the castle, yes.

[biggestdreamer]

Oh. I wasn't sure. I guess I'm still getting used to this place.

[He gives a hastily polite bow.]

My name is Takato Matsuda. I just arrived here.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

[He calmly returns that bow, gesturing for the Takato to sit with him]

I'm Kevin Flynn. It's a pleasure to meet you, Takato. When did you get here?

[biggestdreamer]

[Takato folds his legs underneath him and sits down.]

A couple of days ago, I guess. It's been pretty confusing.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

Maybe I can help you. What do you know about this place so far?

[biggestdreamer]

This is another world, but it isn't the Digital World. That's all I know, really. Oh, and there is something called a loss that makes people really upset.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

[He raises an eyebrow]

The Digital World? No. No I can assure you this isn't the Digital World. [He smiles] The loss you're referring to is something that was taken from each of us upon arrival, here. For some people it's a memory, some lose an item. Some, like myself, lose the ability to do something.

[biggestdreamer]

[Takato nods and looks miserable.]

I don't know what mine is, but my friend can't eat his favorite food any more. I don't know how to fix it for him.

Mmm, its a world where everything is made out of data. When I went there even I became data. But this place doesn't seem very much like it.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

You'll find it in time. I wouldn't worry about it.

[He laughs]

My boy I think I understand better than the majority of the other residents here. I come from a place called the Grid. I used to say it was the Digital Frontier. A world within a computer.

[biggestdreamer]

Eh, really? Mr. Shibumi told me once that the Digital World was built on the internet.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

Well we come from two different digital worlds so it's entirely possible that yours was.

[biggestdreamer]

It's amazing, isn't it? I never thought that there could be another world like that.

...Are there digimon in your digital world? What about digignomes?

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

Digimon? No, nothing like that. We have programs, ISOs, grid bugs and a few other things, though.

[biggestdreamer]

I don't know what any of those are.

I mean, I sort of know what a program is. Grani started out as one.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

Generally programs are anything a computer is programmed to do, whether it's a game or a calculator or a security protocol, anything. In the Grid these Programs actually look and act like humans. They have entire lives in the Grid. ISOs are Isomorphic Algorithms.

[biggestdreamer]

That sounds a little like digimon, but they don't look like humans.

Well, most of them don't.

And I met some programs who aren't digimon at all. [Some sadness comes into his voice as he says this.]

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

Interesting. [He catches the sadness in his tone and he frowns, looking at the boy with concern]

We don't have to talk about this if you'd rather not.

[biggestdreamer]

No, it's okay. [He forces a small smile.] I was just thinking about the last programs I met.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

Back home, you mean?

[biggestdreamer]

Yeah. There was a program... It was called the D-Reaper.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

The D-Reaper? That's a pretty intimidating name.

[biggestdreamer]

It... The monstermakers said that it was originally supposed to help. It was supposed to keep the digimon from evolving too fast. But it evolved too.

And it decided that everything had evolved too much, humans and digimon. It tried to delete both worlds.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

[... Well that sounds somewhat familiar]

Was someone able to stop it?

[biggestdreamer]

A lot of us worked together to stop it. And we were able to do that in the end, even though many painful things happened.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

[He reaches out and lays a hand on the boy's shoulder]

I'm glad you were able to stop it. And sorry about the cost. It's... never as easy as we hope it'll be.

[biggestdreamer]

[He looks down.]

I know. I... Everyone tried as hard as they could. But even so there was a lot of damage.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

The same thing happened to the Grid to some degree. Sometimes trying as hard as you can just isn't enough, unfortunately. All you can do is learn from what happened and try to make things better from there.

[biggestdreamer]

I know. It's very sad when things like that happen. It isn't a happy victory. But it is better than it could have been.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

[He nods] That's exactly right. Things can always be worse, my boy. No matter how dark things are as long as there is still one ray of light you will always have something allow you to continue walking.

[biggestdreamer]

I believe that. I think... that you have to be able to believe in the future before you can change anything.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

And what do you believe in?

[biggestdreamer]

In my friends, and in myself, I guess. I think that the first step in making a better future is learning how to believe in yourself.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

See? You're on the right track already, my boy. [He smiles]

[biggestdreamer]

I hope so.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

Take my word for it. Believing in yourself is always the hardest part. Once you've accomplished that things will begin to fall into place.

[biggestdreamer]

[He smiles.]

I know. Guilmon taught me that. That you have to believe in yourself and your friends.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

Guilmon sounds pretty smart. Are they from your world as well?

[biggestdreamer]

Sort of? Guilmon is a digimon. He's from the Digital World. But he was born in the Real World.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

A "digimon." Huh. Can't say I've heard of that, before. [his eyebrows raise in amazement] Did you say a digital being born in the real world?

[biggestdreamer]

I was there when he hatched. Guilmon... he was like a baby when we first met. I had to teach him all baout the real world. Even things like how to eat.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

[he smiles] I'm sure you took good care of him. You're a good friend.

[biggestdreamer]

He took care of me too. We're best friends, and that's what partners do.

[messin_with_my_zen_thing]

That certainly is. [Except for when partners turn around and try to kill you and destroy everything you've been working on... I mean what. He smiles]

I'm glad you have someone like that. That's very important.