...

...Connecting...

...Connection verified. Begin search.

Search parameters: Compatibility with Crest virtues.

...Scanning...

...Search complete. Compatible individuals located.

Begin transfer.

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The wind swept hotly over the open summer sky, buffeting against the windows of a small, but decent hotel located around the Saitama district of Tokyo. A young woman with a petite yet curvy build in a tubetop- little more than a white sports bra, really- with a high cropped bomber jacket, rather short shorts, several belts, and tall boots rose from a crouch, stepping in behind a decorative tree, and up against a brick wall encircling the building. The duffle bag around her shoulder rustled as she crept towards the nearest window. Peering inside, she subtly passed each one, checking for items that were out of place. Finally finding a room that was empty, she pressed her hand against the lip of the window, and began pushing upwards.

A quiet cough behind her signaled that her efforts had, unfortunately, not gone unnoticed. She slowly released her grip on the window, turning to find a… little girl? Or boy? And not so little, either- just very short in stature, but with a bearing that radiated authority. The girl(?) was dressed in a sort of uniform- very official-looking, aside from the tinted goggles she was wearing over her eyes, and the black leather jacket draped around her shoulders. The tag on her shirt read, “Security.” She leveled an angry scowl at the intruder behind her tinted lenses.

“Y’know,” began the girl, in a surprisingly-deep contralto voice, “the front door is easier.” She gestured at the intruder to move away from the window. “Show’s over, kid. Come with me. You can explain why you’re skulking around here to the owner. Maybe they’ll be sympathetic, but I doubt that.”

With a shift of her heel, the dark haired girl leveled her gaze, though not directly at the shorter individual. Instead, she rolled her eyes, if only slightly, before stuffing her hands in her pockets and kicking her foot idly. “Can’t a girl get a shower? I mean, how could you make someone pay just for water. It’s a necessity, after all,” the purple haired girl responded, doing her best to stress her need and feign innocence.

The security guard was unmoved. If anything, the scowl deepened. “Can’t find a bathhouse for a few hundred yen? Pull the other one. Last chance, girl- come with me and you’ll probably be let off with a warning. Don’t test me on this.”

In response, the girl’s hands raised yet again, this time making eye contact with the security guard- almost. “Fine, whatever you say. Can’t blame a girl for trying, can you?” she then reached down and turned her pockets out, somewhat emphatically. “I’m broke,” she muttered, almost to herself.

“Does that look like my concern?” snapped the guard. “My concern is keeping intruders off the property. You're an intruder. So off. The sooner I get you to the office, the sooner I can go on break, and the sooner you can… I dunno, turn a trick? Can’t think of much else you’d be doing in that getup…”

In lieu of a verbal response, the would-be intruder simply gestured broadly with her arms, as if to say ‘after you’. There was no point pushing it any further, nor did she have anything to say- nothing that seemed like it would help her case at least. The security guard walked over to the intruder, grasping her firmly by the shoulder as she started to wheel her out from behind the hotel, but… something seemed… off. A strange weight in the air, like the gravity had increased. The guard shook her head.

“Whew. Must be hotter out here than I expected. At least that’s some silver lining for you, getting to go in—"

Her sentence was interrupted by a glowing ring suddenly etching itself into the ground around them.

“What--” exclaimed the guard.

“--the shit??” the taller girl exclaimed incredulously, her downcast gaze able to catch the strange markings now opening up into a bright void that suddenly swallowed the girls up with nary a sound. The circle closed and faded away, the ground the two had stood on unmarked, as though neither of them had been present at all...

---

...Transfer successful

Bearer:Courage=acquired

Bearer:Love=acquired

Begin transfer of remaining Bearers...

---

The room was dark; Nothing lighting the room except for a lamp with a dim bulb and a laptop screen flashing in front of a young man dressed rather oddly. His fingers typed away, the clicks of the keys enough to mark the immense word-per-minute count he was capable of as he seemed quite focused. Another payment had been arranged, and he knew what that meant; Whatever they wanted taken down, he'd take down. This time he felt like the pay was a bit shallow to support his efforts, but at the same time, he appreciated the cute challenge that was COLOS: He wasn't entirely sure who they were, just that they were developers of some kind; Developers that pissed off a old employee, he'd assume.

"...♫"

He just had to get in, and make a document public. How hard could that be, right? Sure these were devs, but they were surely only focused in their little field; Compared to him they probably lacked a lot of small qualities he had. He was KEFKA, after all: Cyber Attacker, information thief, and leaker. He'd been learning computers for most of his life, there wasn't anyway he was going to end up being outdone just yet.

Just a few more keystrokes...

He perked up as he broke in; Eyes scanning the numerous files for what he was intending to find. Most of the names on the folders were irritating, non-descriptive of exactly what the hell they were. Though most companies did tend to have crappy naming conventions for their stuff, so it was par for the course when looking it all over. He found a folder of employee information... All conveniently enough in simple text documents; Because the company was stupid.

pennard.text

hoid.text

malazz.text

"....." He was growing annoyed with the names that didn't match what he was looking for. He pouted momentarily, but perked up as the name came up; Toriko.text. Was this the guy who hired him, or was it someone he was pissed off at? Didn't matter to him, all he needed to do was download this for himself, send it out, and then he would be set for a little while. Though, if he were to just download all of the information instead... That'd get him more recognition, right?

He began a download of the folder, figuring he should've just taken it from the start: He didn't always think ahead enough and it made him slower like this. But now all he had to do was sit back and--

_"...?"

"...?!"

Something seemed to be happening with his system; His screen was bugging out, and warnings were popping up. Shit, had he been caught?! Their security had looked like total garbage; How the hell did they manage to get ahold of him when he was even being as sneaky as he could about it? He furiously typed, attempting to continue his download but realizing the whole situation was going bust; Their security came out of nowhere, and with a few key strokes it was clear that it wasn't just locking him out; It seemed to know his location, and worse off than that, also seemed to have a secondary command that automatically sent that information out.

He jumped up with his laptop, preparing to leave his home: There was no telling how this could turn out; He needed to get the hell out and watch to see if police came to his door. He could go wait across the street at the coffee shop; That ought to be enough to throw off the idiotic feds if they showed up! Though maybe going farther away was a good idea... He really didn't want to just suddenly get caught; That'd end up ruining his reputation! Then

He had to change; But, ended up distracted as he noticed something new on his screen: It was bugging out more than before, seeming to maybe be an increase to the security measure. What took him by surprise more, however, was how the room was suddenly getting brighter; Like he had turned on a light, or something. Eyes reacting to the glow, all he had to do was look down to notice that there was a ring surrounding him on the ground; Causing the young man to panic and attempt to flail out of the ring, but not nearly fast enough to prevent him from being swallowed by the light beneath him; Leaving naught a trace of him behind...

---

...Transfer successful.

Bearer:Knowledge=acquired

Begin transfer of remaining Bearers...

---

"There's no shaggin' way!"

Pacing back and forth inside his on-set trailer, Perdy had a phone up to his ear and a scowl on his face. He was furious! He was far away from home, filming a movie, and his old friend and current housesitter was asking him how HIS DVR worked! He had it perfectly set for while he was away, and she was now going to ruin everything he had prepared just so she could get something she wanted?! This was un-groovy and especially unacceptable!

"Oh, come on! Ghost Hunters is great! You'll love watching it when you get back!" The voice on the other end of the line replied, seeming insistent.

"No way, honey! I don't have time for ghosts; My episodes of Sex in The City need to be recorded! I HAVE to know what happens!" Perdy insisted, standing in place momentarily as he was met with silence. He got impatient and spoke up again: "Riley?! Riley! Do NOT mess with it! Just watch it once, then go play with Goochie or something, or other!"

"Ehhh... I already set it to record." Riley admitted sheepishly, followed by a small chuckle.

Perdy inhaled a deep breath, then exhaled with a loud, clear annoyance. "By. Cancelling. My. Recordings?" He questioned, seething with irritation.

".... Yup." Riley admitted, dryly.

"Why do you always pull things like this, darling? I trust you to look after my household, and my sweet Goochie-baby, and you ruin my recorder for my shows, eat and leave messes without cleaning them up, and I already KNOW you knocked the new bloody vase over!" Perdy was, essentially, turning into a screeching wife... Except he wasn't married. Or even in a relationship currently; So it gave him a minor realization of self-obnoxiousness.

"The... Vase?" Riley questioned.

"The. Vase." Perdy replied, annoyed.

"Oh, right. That shattered thing by the entrance! My bad."

"RILEY--!!"

Perdy paused his ranting, finding himself at a loss for words; She loved getting on his nerves, didn't she?! And she didn't do it for fame, or attention from others (Aside from potentially him...) It was all targeted to annoy him as much as possible! He rolled his eyes at the situation, about to tell her he was giving up and he'd talk to her later; Before a ring of light suddenly appeared beneath him, taking him by complete surprise, though his shades did block out the light.

"What the-- What is happening to the floor?!" Perdy questioned, fear in his tone as he was swallowed into the light beneath him as quick as he could spurt out his final words. The call then cut off, leaving Riley on the other end of the phone staring in momentary confusion. She shrugged after a moment, kicking her feet up on his coffee table as she clicked the remote to unmute the television, figuring he'd be fine.

---

...Transfer successful.

Bearer:Reliability=acquired

Begin transfer of remaining Bearers...

The phone on her bedside table lit up as it received another message, illuminating the dark bedroom as the device drifting across the wooden surface as it vibrated. Lazily lifting a hand up and stretching her arm over to it she dragged the mobile towards her and tilted to screen so she could see what it said; one of her ‘friends’ wanted help studying for an upcoming math test and of course they it was her they came to first. With a sigh she quickly tapped out a response to the request before throwing the device back down on the mattress and burying her face back into her pillow.

It was less than a minute later before the phone began vibrating again, no harsh light filling the room this time with the mobile screen down on the bed but she could feel the vibrations through the mattress. Lifting herself off of the bed Erika turned over so that she was lying on her back, giving up on the idea of having a moment’s peace and quiet. It was a different person this time, another ‘friend’ inviting her to a sleep over next week.

Erika frowned at the screen, staring at the message with the obnoxious number of emojis before tapping out another response and dropping the phone onto her stomach. She’d have to attend the sleepover, there was no way around it; parties she could ignore with excuses about other engagements or wanting to get an early night, double dates she avoided with her usual excuse of wanting to stay single till college, but for things like this she needed to put in some effort if she didn’t want people to start asking questions. One whole night where she’d have to keep up the façade the entire time; at least it was on a school night, so she could make an excuse to retire early if she was getting frustrated.

Her head dropped onto the pillow and she stared at the ceiling, eyes glazing over as she tried to let her mind just drift away. The spell broke when she felt her phone vibrate again, this time directly on her stomach. The screen illuminated her room with its searing blue light, revealing a room filled with typical teenage girl paraphernalia; the walls were adorned with posters for bands she’d never listened to, but whose albums she could all name from memory, and pictures of male models she despised but whose entire history she could recite if needed. Her vanity was covered with make-up kits and fashion magazines and the floor was home to a number of stuffed animals that had been thrown from her bed so she could slump down in their place.

Reaching behind her head Erika lifted the pillow she was lying on out from under her and raised it above her face. She lowered it down till it covered her head, drowning out the sounds of the phone to an extent while also making it difficult to breathe, and held it there for a few seconds before letting it go. Throwing the pillow to the side she reached down and recovered her phone, holding it over her face to see the screen, expecting to see another message with a request for help she would need to deal with or sending an invitation to something she would have to find a way out of.

It was neither of those. Instead it was a message from a number she didn’t recognise containing nothing but junk text, just a mass of random characters that filled the screen. Was this some kind of prank? Was it someone from school playing a trick on her or maybe some new chain letter that she was supposed to forward on?

Staring at the screen in confusion Erika felt a headache coming on the longer she looked at it; it was even starting to look like the characters were changing and dancing around the screen. Sitting up on her bed Erika tried to back out of the message, only to find that she couldn’t. No matter what button she pressed her phone wasn’t responding; had she been sent a virus? Was her phone being hacked? The more she looked at the randomly shifting characters the more it seemed like there were actual words or phrases mixed in with the noise. Eventually, one by one, some of the characters in the middle of the jumble began to lock into place, slowly beginning to form a message.

Bearer located

A circle a light suddenly erupted around her, bright shining white replacing the blue that lit her room as Erika dropped her phone in shock. Before she could even think of trying to run, the centre of the circle opened up into nothingness and Erika was swallowed up.

****

...Transfer successful

Bearer:Sincerity=acquired

Begin transfer of remaining Bearers...