Chapter Text
Angelo pov
Something isn't right; the digital sun, which was supposed to set, remains suspended. I turned to TTT and queried, "Is the sun like this normally?" Tilting my head, I awaited her response. "No... it usually goes down by now, but why didn't it go down? I think we should get away from the beach," she suggested, rising to head back to the village. I followed suit.
At the village entrance, a massive earthquake nearly threw us off balance. Fortunately, we caught each other. Checking on TTT's well-being, I asked, "TTT, are you alright?" She regained her balance and flashed a thumbs up. "Never better... but we have to see what happened. A digital earthquake means something bad occurred," she explained. Nodding, we entered the global village, finding the TV head people gathered around a bulletin board. Instead of a speech, it displayed an antivirus system announcement—MAG-V detected. My realization hit: Michael Angelo virus, operating at DOS level, capable of causing serious damage.
Looking at TTT, it was evident she grasped the severity. Moving to a less crowded area in the digital landscape, we contemplated the situation. "Michael Angelo virus..." TTT mused. I leaned against a wall, asking, "Do you have any ideas?"
TTT, meeting my gaze, replied, "I do have ideas... remember the digital sun?" I nodded, acknowledging the peculiar time concept in the digital landscape. She continued, "A day in the global village is 5 hours in the real world, and if I'm correct, it should be the next day now." The realization hit me—five hours had passed. Time fluctuations in different worlds aside, our focus shifted to unraveling why the MAG-V had such a significant impact on everyone.
Suddenly, I could hear a lightbulb thinking—did TTT do that? Sparks lit up in her eyes. "I have an idea! Since you aren't really from the digital world but from the real world, I think you can fix this!" I hesitated, but with no other choice, TTT inched closer. No personal space for me.
"Will you do it? Please!" she pleaded. "Ah, damn it. Alright, I'll do it," I reluctantly agreed. TTT slowly backed away, a smile playing on her face. "Good! I'll tell you some secrets," she said, gesturing 'shh.' I gulped, listening intently to what she was about to reveal.
"Once another earthquake begins, there's a high chance the digital ocean will retreat to extremely low levels. A tsunami will occur. Don't worry; it's like a data clean option but more widespread. It won't affect anyone but the virus, and maybe you, since you're not really from the digital world." I brushed off the fact that I might be affected by the data clean tsunami. TTT's consolation signified her care for me.
"And so?" I inquired. She continued, "If we're taking into account that you can create weapons to destroy viruses, you might be able to eliminate the MAG-V immediately. Although, I think the only way to reach MAG-V is to ride the waves of the tsunami—to go to the digital sun or the global database, I guess." I needed a moment to process. "Hold on, rewind, rewind. I have to ride the huge tsunami? I have to go surfing to see the sun! And a big tsunami too?! Are you kidding me, TTT!?"
I asked her, and she just smiled. Oh, she is serious. She answered with a light nod. Oh god, there's no use. I just need to pray I'll survive. I sighed and said, "Alright... I'll go with your plan, TTT. And don't go crying on me if I die!" I expressed slight anger, reflecting on my transition from the initial fun in the digital world to playing the hero to stop a virus affecting everyone. What a life...
Before I could react, TTT hugged me, causing me to blush. "H-hey, what is this for?" The hug continued, and after a few minutes, she let go. "I'm just taking every opportunity. You do know I still don't have a physical body in the real world, right? That's why I'm always finding time to show my appreciation of you!" She smiled. Of course, I was embarrassed. Without any warning, my crush and current best friend hugged me out of nowhere! Who wouldn't be surprised if their crush just hugged them? Ah! Stop thinking about anything, me! Stop it! I gathered my composure and nodded before looking at TTT and asking, "So where's the surfboard?" I asked her. "Surfboard?" she said... Wait, don't tell me—
Well, this sucks. The digital wind blew past my face as the speedboat sped up. Why did I agree with her? I looked at the one driving the boat—it was TTT. She smiled as she noticed I was looking at her, so she gave me a smile. I looked at her with my deadpan face. "Are you seriously doing this?" I asked her as she nodded. "Yep! Get ready, Angelo. We're going up!" She said as I gripped harder at the digital speedboat’s railing. We are really doing this, and I can't believe it. I saw the towering tsunami ahead, heard the engine of the digital boat louder, and it looked like TTT was speeding up. I steadied my breath and got ready for what's gonna happen next…
Third person POV:
As Angelo and TTT ascended the towering digital tsunami, Angelo prepared to disembark from the speedboat. "Hey!! Angelo, you ready?!" TTT asked, and Angelo nodded. Reaching the summit, TTT steadied the speedboat on top of the tsunami. "Good luck!!" she exclaimed as Angelo leaped off, descending directly toward the literal digital sun. TTT drove back to the beach with a faint "Don't die" as she glanced at Angelo, who had recently entered the digital sun.
In the midst of the anticipated big fight, Angelo hoped the inside of the digital sun wouldn't obliterate him. Instead of magma numbers, he found the sun filled with solid databank bases – the storage for all the world's information. Unexpectedly, his sightseeing was cut short as he noticed disturbances in a corner of the database. It was time for a fight!
Angelo POV:
Well, I didn't expect this. Surveying the digital sun made of solid databank bases, I was about to marvel at the place when I heard thrashing sounds nearby. Quickly conjuring a gun, I readied myself and approached the source – digi-critters. It seemed I had to eliminate them. Sneaking to a hidden corner, I shot the critters one by one, once done I tried to restore some pieces, but it was futile. Some were chewed on, others in pieces.
Exploring the global bank, I encountered more Digi-critters. I was certain the MAG-V was a collection of tiny viruses put together.
Oh boy, I was so wrong… "?!?" Startled, I suddenly heard a loud roar emanating from the center of the global base. I hurriedly got there, praying it was the big boss so I could end things more quickly. And I was right. I stopped in my tracks, astonished by what I saw. Was this thing real? The critter stood as tall as a 5-storey building, resembling a dragon complete with wings and scales. If this were a real critter in the real world, doom awaited.
Suddenly, it ceased wrecking the place for a moment and looked in my direction—probably at me.
"Whoa... hello there," I awkwardly waved my hand for a greeting and immediately ducked. The dragon critter, or something like it, was fast. I narrowly avoided being thrown to another side of the global base by evading its tail swing. It roared, signaling it was time.
I readied myself, running around the maze-like place with the critter following me. Each time I took a turn, I shot my gun at the critter. It was no use, probably because I was aiming for its body, not the eyes. I weaved through at least ten corners before stopping and climbing on top of one of the pillar-like stockpiles of data, waiting for the critter. I thought of a new weapon—a gun, more precisely a sniper rifle. It appeared in my hands. Oh, this gun is heavy.
I tried following the things I saw during my escapades around the world, and one of them was how to set up a sniping spot. I crouched down, laid my body over the stockpiled data, and adjusted the scope for better zoom. Then, I waited for the critter. A few more minutes passed, and the dragon turned a corner. Found you.
**BANG**
The bullet flew through the air, straight to the eye of the critter. Sorry, I heard a deafening roar; it looks like it's pissed. I continued shooting the critter at different spots—left eye, right eye, even the exposed stomach. All of them hit their mark. Once it was time, I steadied my breathing and manifested the last sniper bullet for this critter. Perhaps getting to go around the world and investigating rumors in a bullet range isn't so bad after all.
The draconic critter was preparing for the classic move you'll see in a fantasy movie about dragons—fire breath. I saw the neck of the dragon critter glow. This was the right moment. I was pretty sure this would hurt a lot for me and the critter. On the count of three:
1. The critter is preparing.
2. The critter gathers all the energy to create a swirling hot ball of digital fire to burn my face.
3. The neck of the critter is glowing brightly. This is the time.
I pulled the trigger, and then...
**BANG**
I shot the bullet; the recoil was so powerful it actually sent me flying. But I briefly saw it—the bullet piercing the draconic critter's neck. Once it landed, the critter exploded into various numbers. I could say this was a successful victory if I wasn't falling into the digital sea! I closed my eyes, feeling someone catching me. I reluctantly opened my eyes; it was TTT.
"Good job, Angelo! You actually did it," she said as she drove back to the shore after catching me. She put me down, checked for injuries, and once confirmed I didn't have any, she hugged me. "YOU DID IT, ANGELO! YOU DID IT!" Déjà vu. This is like the first time we bumped into each other in the digital landscape. "I can't...breathe," I said as she realized it and let go of the hug. She smiled and put her hands behind her back. "Sorry, ehe. I couldn't contain my happiness!" she said. I sighed and then smiled at her. Without any warning, she took my hand with hers and guided me back to the bulletin board. I could see some places were still drenched in water. Looks like I survived.
I looked at TTT, and she pointed toward the bulletin board.
'Cleaning successful, please restart your own computer.' There it is. Luckily, the whole someone-fought-a-giant-physical embodiment-of-the-MAG-V, isn't announced or else they would make a lot of speculations. I breathed a sigh of relief. "So what now?" I asked TTT as she looked at me. "It's time for you to return back to the real world. I found the same thing that you said brought you here!" I see. I guess it's time to head back. We got to the place she mentioned, and I saw a portal filled with numbers. This is it. Time to go back. I let go of TTT's hand before standing beside the portal. Before I entered the portal, I looked at her and smiled. "Despite just a short hangout, we had fun, right TTT?" I said as she nodded in agreement.
A few minutes passed, and I guessed it's time before I entered the portal. TTT hugged me from behind. I'm taller than her, and essentially, this looks like she is burying her face in my back.
“I just hope one day... you can visit me again in the digital world…” Wait, do I feel that? Yeah... those are tears. I smiled and said to TTT, “TTT, don't worry... I'll try to find a way to visit you again... in the digital world,” I said smiling, and looked at her, but the moment I looked at her—
**Chu**
Huh... huh... huh!?!?! Did... did she just kiss my cheeks?!?! I gathered my thoughts. It took a while, but after a moment, she backed away from me just a bit.
“That's my gift for you, Angelo! Let's keep it a secret!” She did it again, the ‘shh’ gesture. This time I could see a blush on her face, so am I. I was flustered as well.
“Yeah!” I said happily. I couldn't contain my happiness. I looked back at her one final time and smiled. “See you later, TTT!” I said as I entered the portal back to the real world, back home. I opened my eyes. It was the bridge—the same bridge that got me to the digital world. But this time it was more reinforced. I could see more numbers. I walked over to the light again, this time back to my world. I took another step and reached out. Maybe this will be a new beginning for new adventures. I closed my eyes, and then... I opened them. I was back in my room. I looked at the clock; 10 hours had passed, but it felt like two days. I fell down on my bed. The adventure was tiring, to say the least. I just hope this whole thing wasn't a dream.
It really wasn't a dream. I opened my eyes again at 5 pm. It looked like I slept in. I washed my face and turned on the camcorder in my bed to check on TTT. I was greeted with the usual “hi! Angelo! How was your rest?” she said. But there was something different—the hair clip on TTT's hair. It was my gift. I inwardly smiled. “It was good,” I replied.