Platonic Shift

Pre-season. No one ever thought one single tremor of fate would change so much. And it was shocking to watch as it did. A late tribute for those affected by the Tohoku earthquake.

Rob M/Dolphin & Alice M

Genre/s: Family/Tragedy

Time Unspecified

The Digital World: The Lone Valley before the Gate…

He suddenly awoke to the ground trembling.

The two had been delaying the inevitable, spending one more night together in the safety of the lone valley before returning to higher ground…and the Gate, essentially a rare point on the digital plane in which the mapping of its framework resulted in that point coexisting on the real plane in precisely the same coordinates. There was only one other, in a place all called the Dark Area, and in consequence, almost all those living avoided. In fact, it was rumored that only the dead souls long forgotten existed there; wraiths with no body nor mind…and those who transgressed boundaries to prey on them, those so thoroughly corrupt that they lost all sense of right and wrong. But no living being had ever passed through there and told the tale (all knew that the dead had not the capacity of passing such gifts to the world they had departed) and the Gate said to linger there was as much a mystery as the rest of its expanse. And so, all in all, it was not an option while another existed.

And she can't stay here forever, he mused somewhat sadly, watching the human child stir in her sleep, the light blonde hair spilling and tangling into the soft moss she lay upon. The picture of relative peace after the many variant digimon had settled under the rule of the four Soverigns and the turmoil succeeding creation finally faded.

Following the world's subconscious 'big bang' so to speak, the barrier separating it and the parent world lost a degree of its impermeability, allowing certain digimon who had surpassed the digital energy requirement to pass through…and some from the other world, all children with the capacity to imagine and adapt in situations adults would be too close-minded to do. There were few, far outweighed by the digimon lost (and unknown to them, deleted in the other world, unable to maintain the protein structures essential for survival outside the digital plane), but they all stayed to help after hearing of the plight, and through them and the trials of friendship that followed, the Digimon developed more humane characteristics and the need to kill Ennui was temporarily suppressed.

But it wasn't a picture of perfect peace; even under the firm hands of the Soverigns, those with the ability to yearn were still restless, and connected as they were, the Earth's problems seeped into their own.

And as soon as the thought crossed his head, another tremor shook the ground, and the eleven year old girl woke with a start.

'You didn't have to shake me Dobermon,' she grumbled good-naturedly, still caught in sleep, before blinking in confusion after seeing the said digimon more than an arm's reach away (figuratively of course). 'Huh? Wha-?'

The question was answered before it even left her lips. The unmistakable sensation of two unmovable forces colliding somewhere beneath their feet.

And following that, utter chaos. As digimon and human alike fled for a safe sanctuary from a storm from which there was no escape.

The Gate loomed above them, as majestic and invisible as it always was. Normally, one could spend hours searching for the precise point of transfer, but time was of the essence. One simply had to pray that it was in their path.

Before the said path crumbled beneath the force.

Friday, 11th March 2011

The Human World: San Fransicso International Airport…

They had been prepared, but not for that. What had been expected to be an earthquake of magnitude 5 at the most on the Richter scale had shot above 9 and left a wake of devastation and chaos in its wake. The timing was recorded to the minute, making history: 14:46 JST, Friday 11th March 2011, with the epicenter located 43 miles east of Tohaku's Oshika Peninsula.

It was one of the most powerful earthquakes to ever rock this world. Fifth known to mankind since the records began. And it wasn't simply something passing in speech to become an urban legend in years to come…though perhaps it would. Like all lessons of history, it would eventually fade into legend, then legend to myth as new world progression eradicated the older ties that attempted to hold their fort. But at that current point in time, it was horrifyingly real, as he, Rob McCoy, continued watching the live footage as rescuers finally began digging about the worst of the rubble.

He was an assistant professor at the Palo Alto university, lecturing in Commercial Arts and Graphics (namely animation) Design. Free for the next three breaks as the campus broke up on a short term break, he had intended to visit his only son and his family in Sendei, as well as enjoy the tourist resources. Arriving at the airport after a long traffic haul however, he found that all flights to Japan, and even more so Hokkaido, had been canceled pending reevaluation.

All he could do then was watch as more stories were uncovered. A small girl clutching debris and adrift on the sea until a helicopter picked her up, crying for her parents and older brother who had been separated during the shock. A mother clutching a still bundle in her arms, screaming and wailing and refusing to let go even as an older man attempted to drag her with the other hundred or so people now homeless and seeking shelter. Bodies being excavated from crumbled buildings and roads. Fires being frantically fought in the hopes that someone still lived amongst the debris, and waters flooding dilapidated towns and areas as a tsunami followed in the earthquake's wake.

The reports continued, occasionally broken by commercials: smiling faces, laughter, humour…but many didn't feel like laughing. Especially those around the world who were now praying for the safety of their families and friends.

A hand handed on his shoulder softly. A work colleague: Natalie Tynes her name was.

'You heading somewhere?' she asked over a new announcement.

Rob shook his head. 'I was,' he said. 'But apparently not anymore.'

She looked at the screen he had been fervidly focused on. 'You got family there?'

'Son,' the other man heavily replied, watching the death toll rise on the screen. 'And his wife and daughter.'

The blonde woman nodded in sympathy, removing her hand. But she said nothing. What could one say without the hollow emptiness that persisted a lack of experience?

She left. He waited. Watching footage, some inspiring as whole families were reunited and given shelter, others anything but as the bodies piling up grew in number and the widespread damage showed clearly as the overflowing debris was slowly being cleared away, by workers, and where they fled to avoid the rising waters, the tsunami waves.

It would be a long time before he could find out whether what remained of his family survived. His heart screamed for haste and a desired result, but his face remained blank as the story continued to scroll itself out.

Time unspecified

The Digital World: The Dark Area…

In an instant, she found herself in darkness. There was nothing save soulless, screaming voices. Voices with no name. No identity. Nothing, save their own voice, merging into each other till there was no distinction.

She tried to call to the other, to anyone…but as soon as the scream escaped their lips, they merged with everything else, indistinguishable to the darkness.

Lost, confused, nonexistent. That's how things existed in the Dark Area. And she was becoming a part of it.

16th April 2011

The Human World: Sendei, Miyagi Prefecture, Tohaku…

International flights to Sendei had finally been reopened, the damage from the earthquake and tsunami partway healed. But stepping into the Japanese airport, he noted sadly that no amount of paint and repair could restore it to its former glory to one familiar with it. People frantically rushed past, most families seeking out their relatives. He too rushed, looking through the crowds in the slim hope that someone he knew had come. That someone could give him the news he desired to know. With phones down, he could not even ring and ask.

He left the airport without meeting a familiar soul, travelling rapidly through the barely affected city centre (as far as all damage went) to the washed out coastline, houses once up to their roofs in murky water littered with household possessions ruined beyond repair. The water had receded now, enough for him to plotter through with large gumboots and only get the pants below his knees partway wet, sloshing past abandoned houses, one with two people, a couple he presumed, attempting to salvage their belongings.

The death toll had reached hundreds in this area of Tohaku alone, and it was still growing.

He paused at one particular one, still familiar even after the drastic changes since he had seen it last. A dog, large and black, should have been bounding up to meet him here. An eleven year old girl painting on the porch with her father should have been waving…but there was only the caved in door, soaked and half buried in tainted water there.

He climbed over it and went inside, noting a few people, volunteers, were already at work inside, salvaging what could be saved and cleaning the rest for rebirth. They all paused in the work as he entered, staring slightly at him as his eyes fell on a picture frame, miraculously whole, in a young woman's hand.

A middle aged man, one far younger, and a girl who could have been no longer than eight, all smiling up from the glossed paper.

The female saw his stare, offering the photo to him. He took it, never loosing sight of those light eyes staring at him.

'Where are they?' he asked, little hope remaining after the time had passed, and the mounting death toll, one of the largest on record and still not fully confirmed. It always dwindled in the aftershock, but this would be the last, breaking, blow.

'The family that lived here?' The woman turned to an older man, who looked through the papers he held. 'Man, 37. Woman, 34. Girl, 11. All were confirmed dead.'

The lone bowed his head, for the moment, beyond tears.

Time unspecified

The Digital World: Chamber of the Sovereigns…

'Alice! Alice, wake up!'

She groaned softly, feeling as though her body was far away from her soul. But even as she thought that, sensation returned to her skin, tingling slightly in an almost electrical manner.

'She won't wake of yet.' This voice boomed, though somewhat kindly, one she didn't recognize but could still sense the feeling behind. 'Rest is still needed after the damage her soul took.'

'Humph, we should have left her.' Another recognizable voice, this one laced with a sense of discontent.

'Be reasonable Zhuqiaomon,' the second voice reprimanded. 'You are not near as cold as you appear.'

'You fool of a Digimon,' the other snarled. 'Tying your life with a wayward human spirit.'

'Should we be having this conversation?' a fourth voice interjected mildly. 'What with the kid waking up and all…'

There was a frustrated snort. 'Hardly. Look at her. It will take years for the fragile spirit to solidify after its close shave with death.'

The voices faded out then, having been barely legible to her from the start, and almost in entirety, so did she, save the small pressure of something, or someone, still calling her back.

The End

Author's Notes

Ennui: a term in modern and contemporary literature. Literally, it refers to boredom, but it also relates closely to the paradoxical nature of modern life (ie. The interplay between yearning, desire and ever-present boredom.)

The mapping of the Digital World to Human World: it's a branch of mathematics, more specifically, Linear Algebra/Real Analysis (1st -2nd year University). It's a one to one mapping, but there's a special sort where T:V-V, ie. Maps onto itself despite a transformation being put on it. There are special vectors and values for which this is true, called eigenvectors and eigenvalues respectively, and those coordinates are the 'gates' I was talking about. Generally for a two dimensional subspace such as a sphere (yes, they're 2D in mathematics, not 3D), there are two points. I've deliberately made one essentially inaccessible. It's technically the Dark Area (next paragraph).

The Dark Area: refer to the Frontier Season of Digimon. It's the area where Kouichi (Koichi) Kimura first wound up in the Digital World and became Duskmon, as well as where Lucemon was imprisoned.

Sans Fransisco International Airport: nearest international airport to the Palo Alto University, which Wiki claims Rob McCoy (aka. Dolphin) lectures in.

Hokkaido is an island in Japan, which contains Tohaku, which in turn contains Sendei, which in turn contains an international airport that was flooded by a tsunami after the earthquake.

Sendei's centre was barely affected, but the tsunami damaged the international airport, the port and much of the coastline.

The ending was inspired by the scene where she fades into the air after Dobermon's data finally vanishes, the dead look and monotone she has, and the US comic which doesn't fit into the Japanese canon.