Catch You Catch Me~
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The directions were fairly simple. Juli Mizrahi had informed the party about Sakura – the girl housed inside MOMO – and what the Federation had decided was an appropriate plan of action to protect the Y-Data she gave her life to defend. After giving the go-ahead for Shion Uzuki and the rest of MOMO's friends to initiate the dive, Vector made clear its deep commitment to providing additional support, ordering employees on standby to be ready at the U.M.N. Control Center if needed.
The explanation given was simple: The divers were to use the software to facilitate a seamless connection between their own consciousness and MOMO’s internal reality structure. The major risk was that this could potentially distort her sense of self further, or it could destabilize her already-fragile mental landscape. If the operation failed, it could corrupt her subconscious domain or collapse it beyond salvage. Therefore, various experts in the field deemed it imperative that Shion and the rest of the group should align with certain familiar roles or ‘characters’ pre-selected by examining Sakura's memories and interests. Juli gave her input, offering archived data of previous experiments as well. If the ‘intruders’ were familiar to Sakura, it was less likely she would reject them, and it would not influence her and MOMO's shared subconscious domain. Stabilizing what was called the “Sakura Unit” would also quickly sync MOMO's personality layers, providing smooth recovery of any corrupted data.
Of course, the mission was time-sensitive, so half of the group had neatly secured themselves into the neural link system before there was any opportunity for questions. Only Shion, who had performed Encephalon dives with KOS-MOS countless times, noticed something strange about the procedure. She felt the familiar prickling sensation of her dive suit tight against her skin, small electrical impulses working to acclimate her to the system. The suspicion in the pit of her stomach only grew, bright colors blooming forth full-bodied across her Visual Memory Unit until they seared behind her eyes. She tried to raise her concerns to the group, but it was too late. She could already hear the shadowy voices of her friends coming from all around her as they collapsed into the dive, vertigo pulling her forward. A pleasant numbness rocketed from the very point of her toes all the way up to her chest, quickly swallowing her whole. Shion could have sworn she'd spoken aloud at the very last second, but all that came from her lips was a soft sigh as she fell forwards and upwards into that pool of twisting light.
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If you'd asked Junior how an Encephalon dive felt, he'd probably say it was like waking up from a really good dream in a room you don't remember falling asleep in. Awareness slowly comes back to you, but as you take everything in your consciousness is startled and takes a few moments to catch up. This time, though, it was way more than a few moments. He was the first one to materialize, likely due to the fact he'd been here before. They were on the outskirts of a memory he was well acquainted with. He took it all in slowly, clenching and unclenching his hands as he'd been trained, eyes scanning across the horizon...
There's the gas station… There's the road… It's still summer... I remember... when suddenly, lifting his hands, Wait—what am I wearing?!
By this point, chaos and Ziggy were fully formed. Ziggy was solid as a rock, silent and dedicated. He was stern as ever, even as his came to. It was like nothing could disturb him, no matter what about him had changed. Junior panicked as he looked himself up and down. Eyes on Junior, chaos laughed to himself softly as if he'd finally gotten the joke -- one could have guessed from the way he laughed that he'd known their destiny all along. Finally, Shion and KOS-MOS began to swirl into this reality. The sentence Shion had been trying to say came out jumbled and disorganized until she was as solid as the turbines endlessly spinning behind them.
“There's something wrong about this!” Shion called. It echoed out slightly. There was a quiet jingle of a set of small bells, the type used for pet cats, before KOS-MOS attempted to offer her comfort.
"Shion, all systems are normal. The plan is fully operational. MOMO’s subconscious domain is stable. I am reading that the Encephalon dive was completely successful for all participants."
Laughter erupted out among the rest of group from all except Junior and Ziggy. Perhaps the latter was unable to treat his surroundings with such levity when the situation was so dire.
KOS-MOS had been totally dressed up head to toe in a silly costume. Round, yellow ears were clipped into her hair, perfectly matching a very fluffy and equally yellow suit. She sported a long lion’s tail and small curved wings that hovered around her back. Big gloves covered her hands, and oversized slippers on her feet, all resembling paws. Shion thought to herself that the paws added something really special to KOS-MOS’s gestures as she addressed the group. A large bell jingled from an adorable, neatly buckled pink collar with each movement. All that poked through her costume was her gentle face—a stranger would likely have never guessed she was a robot! A very pensive look came upon her as she realized nearly everyone except her was laughing.
"Does not compute..." One could have sworn that there was a flicker of embarrassment behind her monotonous tone.
The laughter didn't last long, however. The party quickly realized that they too, had taken on strange costumes. Suddenly it all clicked.
"Our roles!" Shion exclaimed.
"Screw the roles!" Junior had dashed away while everyone was occupied to hide himself behind the gas pump. Perhaps his destiny was the most embarrassing of them all. Since he was the most familiar to Sakura, it was only inevitable that he would have to take on the main role...
"We have a very important mission to do, Junior." chaos was gentle but the smile in his voice was audible. "I don't think we have much time to stick around here."
chaos’s costume was much more dignified than the others’. He wore a long cloak that cascaded down around him, a dark noble black that shone a faint blue under the summer sky. On its breast was an embroidered star. His hair was longer, tied to the side with a sun-bleached purple scrunchie. His new pair of perfectly round glasses seemed right at home on his face. It seemed as though he had multiple layers under his cloak, the most apparent of them a silky tangerine shirt buttoned tight up around his neck. Needless to say, his getup did not provoke the same laughter as KOS-MOS’s had.
“That's rich coming from you!” Junior seethed. One could imagine him hissing as a cat would with all his hairs on end, still hidden from view behind the dilapidated gas pump. “You're the only one who actually looks normal here!”
Ziggy still hadn't noticed his own ridiculous outfit. It was likely he never would. His outfit was similar to KOS-MOS’s, but his fur was navy and his ears were pointed. Instead of white curved wings, his were a bright sky blue. His tail, a simple cat’s tail, swished back and forth while he awaited further orders.
Shion didn't bother spending any more time arguing or standing around gawking. Concerned for MOMO’s safety, she marched behind the pump, ready to pull Junior out even if she had to do it by force. She was dressed in a delicate Japanese school uniform. It fit her very nicely, perfectly tailored to all her measurements and trimmed neatly. A pink headband gave the impression of a soft curve between her longer strands of hair and her straight-cut bangs. She wore a black long-sleeve overshirt on top of her uniform, boasting an unfamiliar school emblem on the right-hand side. Underneath this was a soft turtleneck. The white skirt she wore flowed out about her as she made her way over, nearly tripping a few times over her sweet black Mary Janes. She found herself thinking that her outfit was reminiscent of an outfit MOMO would wear herself, but she hadn't seen anything else like it beyond very old movies her brother had shown her from the Lost Jerusalem era.
Her pace slowed as she came into Junior’s line of vision, some of the others crowding behind her. Laughter exploded, five – no, ten – times more than when they had all laid eyes upon KOS-MOS.
Junior had been dressed up in a frilly, doll-style dress. It billowed out around him like a tutu while the top remained tight to his form. It was a strange material, almost like leather, with matching kitty ears and a matching tail. He clutched a long, pink wand in his hands. He definitely looked like a main character. Sheepishly, Junior revealed himself to the group, arms crossed. He reached out for memories of the countless pranks Albedo had played on him and Gaignun, praying they would give him the strength to face the humiliation.
“Let's just do this...” He grumbled.
As everyone came together, catching their breath or wiping their face as they beheld him, KOS-MOS stood still in place, thinking with all her power, quietly, “Does not compute...”