In Wall Slum's Ninth Avenue, the police-issued Cargodramon that appeared in the skies above the Castle of Nine Wolves let out a warning.
"---We got tipped off by our patrols... You're no match for us, crappy code cracker! This is the police department! We are the DigiPolice that strikes fear in the hearts of all!"
"The DigiPolice!"
It was as Eiji had suspected. The DigiPolice were scarier to code crackers than the thought of demons. When it came to cyber-terrorism and Digimon Crimes, there was no better counter-Digimon force in Japan.
"Oh wow! It’s my first time seeing them!" Eiji was immediately excited. "This is so cool! Loogamon, get a picture of that Cargodramon!"
"My eyes are not cameras!" Loogamon snarled as he glared at the Cargodramon. Its powerful built-in sensors were pointed directly at Loogamon.
—ML (Mindlinked) active.
The duo was being probed. The sensors fulfilled an aspect of police questioning by scanning what they were carrying.
"You're one of those degenerate criminals, the SoC, aren't ya?! And a Mindlinker on top of that... That tip-off we got wasn’t an exaggeration!"
"Tip-off? Exaggeration?" Eiji had no idea what the voice was talking about.
"You even Hololized yourself for me... Are you really that dumb or as cocky as y’look? Hey! I want answers outta youse, you ding-dong cracker and fivehead Digimon!"
"Ding-dong?"
"Fivehead?"
Eiji and Loogamon looked at one another.
Apparently the nickname "fivehead" was because the voice was making fun of the large headpiece on Loogamon's forehead.
"Get your ass over here…" The voice trailed off and corrected herself. "You’re coming back with us to the station."
"That's optional, right?" Eiji said innocently. "I’m in the middle of work right now, so..."
He began to walk away.
"Ohhhh, lookin’ down on me, are ya?" She hissed. "Hit ‘em with the M16 Assassin!"
TATATATATATATATATA!
There was a crossfire.
At the call of the woman with the phony Edo dialect, who seemed to be their commander, the Commandramon squads that had split up into left and right took aim.
"Hey! They're shooting at us!"
Eiji fell to the ground, covering his head. Rays of fire crossed above his head.
"Those were warning shots."
"Says you!" Eiji shouted back at the DigiPolice commander. In what world was firing assault rifles at full power considered a warning shot to civilians?!
Someone climbed down from the Cargodramon on a rope.
"A female officer?" Eiji breathed a sigh of relief.
She too appeared to be Hololized… but the voice of the police commander that he had been speaking to apparently belonged to her.
The woman had shoulder-length bobbed hair that was black with inner green streaks. She had on gyaru makeup, and was wearing a cap, high boots, and a loose-fitting jacket. It was a rather unique look for a police officer.
"Oh... You're kind of cute."
That was Eiji's first impression of her.
"I'm tired of hearing that."
"And a lot of self-esteem, too!"
She was the type that most guys, not just Eiji, would be thrown off by.
"So whatcha’ working on, SoC code cracker? Poaching Digieggs? I’ll drag ya off red-handed in that case!"
Although she looked cute, she had the mouth of a sailor and a difficult personality... At least she was clearly dedicated to her work.
"That DigiPolice lady means real business," Loogamon said from his lowered stance. He, too, had been wary of the Commandramon’s shooting.
"Hey, Loogamon... What happens if we get shot?"
"Ah? Why don’t you go find out."
"Whaaaat..."
RATATATATATATATATATATATA!
"Gyaaaah!" Eiji screamed.
The Vulcan cannon suspended from the Cargodramon's fuselage dug holes into the dirt with its 30mm rounds right in front of the cowering Eiji's eyes.
The smell of gun smoke lingered in the air. Were they breaking up the soil to plant new vegetation or something, damn it?
"Like I've said many times before," Loogamon said matter-of-factly. "In the Digital World, data has substance."
"I understand now..." Eiji shuddered.
If he got hit by a bullet, it would hurt like normal and he’d die. Eiji's soul would break into pieces. That's what he felt would happen.
"Don't call me a lady! Do you wanna die during a Mindlink?!" The female officer was fuming.
"What a short fuse!" Eiji exclaimed.
"I should’ve brought Mechanorimon with me," She continued with grit teeth. "I'd have burned you to death in an instant. Lucky for you, it's under maintenance. Hey, you shit code cracker! Last warning here!"
"You wanna know what I was doing here?" Eiji raised his voice. "I was walking! I was mapping the area while walking! I wanted to know about the Digital World, uh… For science!"
While he made it sound nice, he wasn’t exactly lying.
"You what? …Cargodramon!"
"They carry no signs of Digieggs or captured Digimon, Deputy squad leader," Cargodramon reported.
"In other words...?"
"It appears that they were indeed taking a stroll through Wall Slum, just as they claimed."
"Nggghhh!"
The loud lady that was their deputy squad leader was clearly disappointed.
Although the SoC was a dangerous code cracker group, that alone didn’t qualify an arrest. Minor faults weren’t a warrant for prosecution.
"This is Wall Slum’s Ninth Avenue, and they’re at the Castle of Nine Wolves! It’s the ninth avenue of hell!” She shrieked. "Even we, the DigiPolice, can't step in here without the proper equipment… It’s a den of rogues! You’re plenty suspicious if youse just out here takin’ a stroll in this dangerous place!"
"It's no use... This lady is beyond high-strung." Eiji gave up on holding a conversation. He checked the map on his virtual monitor as he held his head.
There was the Commandramon, and then the Cargodramon in the air...
(There’s others here too…? There’s something else aboard the Cargodramon…)
The DigiPolice had reinforcements. There wasn’t going to be an end to this.
"Let's get out of here, Loogamon... Loogamon?"
When Eiji looked up, his Digimon was already gone.
—"Spiral Bite!"
Sharp fangs pierced body armor. One then two markers disappeared off the map.
The Commandramon’s bullet-proof armor was ripped apart like cardboard and they were knocked away one after the other.
"Huh…?"
Eiji was taken aback. It had all happened so fast.
Loogamon had fought back… defeating them with only his sharp teeth and claws.
Loogamon stood before the imperial court of the Castle of Nine Wolves.
—This is my home!
He howled as if to emphasize that fact.
"Th-Th-Th-This is an obstruction of justice! Why you…! What kind of monster are you anyway?! Is this... some kind of trap?!" The deputy squad leader’s voice turned in on itself.
The tip-off that she had received was a trap— from the way things had turned out, it wasn’t wrong of her to think so.
But it was Eiji who was even more astonished.
"He took out two fully equipped Commandramon in an instant... Loogamon, you're super strong! But wait... Don’t do that! You can’t mess with the police!"
Eiji was back to holding his head in his hands again.
"Why not? Shouldn't I have?" Loogamon keened and tilted his head to the side in a dog-like gesture.
The rest of the Commandramon tried to re-encircle Loogamon from a distance while retrieving their fallen comrades.
"If you mess with the police... You’ll get taken from me! We’ll be arrested!"
"There's no such law in the Digital World. The only rule in Wall Slum is eat or be eaten."
"Whaaaat..."
Eiji, with his head still in his hands, connected to GriMM in a last desperate attempt. He wanted to inform the SoC interviewer of what was going on.
"...Hey, the interviewer guy momentarily left his seat!"
What a horrible person.
"How dare youse treat my subordinates like that!" The Hololized deputy squad leader rolled up her sleeves.
"Is that... a Digimon Linker?!" Eiji noticed.
She was wearing on her wrist a watch with a smartwatch-type dock. It had police colors so the coloring was different, but it looked like the same type that Eiji was wearing.
"You'll pay for underestimatin’ me!"
Police lights suddenly came on, rotating their warning lights around her.
"What the heck is happening right now…?" Eiji cried. "Hololization is way too convenient!"
"That lady is Mindlinked, too!" Loogamon returned to Eiji's side and braced himself.
Abadin Electronics received orders from the police on a variety of electronic equipment. What’s more, Ryusenji was an advisor to the Metropolitan Police Department.
"You’re kidding me…!" Eiji cried.
"Her Digimon partner is... over there!"
Loogamon looked up at the Cargodramon.
BOOM!
The Cargodramon moved in the sky above.
It changed the angle of its rotors and raised its nose slightly to open the large hatch at its rear.
Something— The Digimon that had been waiting in the cabin peeked out.
Smack, slap… Smack smack…
"What the hell is that?!"
A chill ran down Eiji’s spine.
With a hideous writhing, the Digimon pushed itself out of the hatch and landed on the ground with a heavy thud.
—NUMEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
It was a huge slug.
"Ughhhhh! It's Numemon!" Eiji screamed in terror.
Character design/illustration: malo
