Introduction: About a year ago when I joined this site, the first story I did was Digimon tale called Digimon: Home by the Sea. And it was followed by a four-part sequel called the Demon Crisis saga. But at the end of those stories I left things unfinished. I had a couple of other stories planned, but at the time I had gotten a little tired of working on Digimon. So I decided to take a little break and work on some other projects.
I had planed to get back to the project only after a few months, but one thing I've learned about writing is that sometimes you don't control what you end up writing about. During the summer I ended up doing this Pokemon story that turned into this massive AU that I'm still working on. But I never forgot about this little Digimon series of mine, and even though I've got three other stories going on right now (one that's on hiatus more or less) I decided about a week ago to get back to it. So I reread Home by the Sea and Demon Crisis, reviewed my old notes, and pretty much just picked up where I left off.
And now here we are with a story that takes place in the Tamers world, though there will be a few guest stars from Adventure. Oh you never will believe the horror that is soon to happen to Jeri and Takato. Just sit back and enjoy the ride.
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon.
Chapter 1: Dance With the Devil
Jeri Katou walked through the remains of a ruined city under a blood-red sky. As she walked, she saw many rotting humans corpses scattered around her on the ground, some of which were not entirely whole. Jeri didn't know just what catastrophe had occurred in what looked to be the remains of Tokyo Japan, or at the very least she could not remember. She thought that perhaps there had been some sort of war, but then none of the corpses looked to be wearing military uniforms. It was as if some nameless horror had come and killed the city.
What was perhaps even stranger was that Jeri was wearing a sparkling backless red dress with matching heels and elbow-high gloves. It was as if she was on her way to some sort of party. Jeri thought a few times about turning back from wherever she was headed and going to look for someone actually alive in that post-apocalyptic city, yet she felt some sort of need to get to her unknown destination.
"Come." Beckoned a gentlemanly male voice. "Come to me, my dear."
Jeri could not tell just where the voice was coming from, but she felt as if she had no choice but to obey. After an uncertain amount of time, Jeri finally reached her destination, a small vine-covered mausoleum with large wooden doors. The doors swung inward as soon as Jeri reached them, allowing her to enter the structure. What Jeri found inside was by far the last thing she expected. It was a large ballroom with a wooden floor, far larger than anything that could fit inside a mausoleum. There was no ceiling above, but rather a star-filled night sky with a large bright full moon lighting the area with its pale rays.
As Jeri walked a little further into the room, the large doors slammed shut behind her with a thud that made her jump a little. She soon realized that she was not alone in the ominous twilight ballroom. All around her were pairs of people she could not recognize, all of them either men in elegant tuxedos or women in magnificent gowns, and they all had masks covering the top halves of their faces. These masked people were all in pair, talking quietly amongst themselves and sipping glasses of what looked to be red wine. Though a darker part of Jeri thought that the liquid could also perhaps be blood.
It was clear though that whoever these people were, they had noticed Jeri's arrival. Suddenly all conversation in the room stopped when a spotlight from an unknown source shined down on the middle of the room. And in the vacant spot where the light began to shine appeared an elegantly dressed man with short brown hair wearing a red cape and mask in addition to his black tuxedo. The masked man held out a white-gloved hand to Jeri, and as if a legs had a will of her own, Jeri walked up and took it. Then as if on cue, music began to play and Jeri found herself dancing a waltz with the masked gentlman.
Jeri found herself enjoying the waltz with her mysterious dance partner. She thought that perhaps it was her boyfriend under that red mask. But everything suddenly changed when she noticed that that the moon turned from a brilliant white to blood red. Then in an instant the other dancers transformed into blasphemous indescribable horrors made out of some sort of red protoplasmic matter. Soon after, Jeri noticed that her dance partner had transformed as well. The thing still had a humanoid shape, but there was no clothing or even skin, only blood-red muscle. On the sides of its head were long curved horns, and beneath the red mask it was still wearing it had bright yellow inhuman eyes.
"Join with me." The creature said to Jeri with a fanged mouth before leaning in to bite Jeri on the neck.
Jeri shot up in bed with a scream, cold sweat covering her brow. She looked over at the clock on her nightstand and found that it was three forty-seven AM. Jeri sighed heavily and climbed out of bed. She knew she needed a full night's sleep, as she had an early class that morning. But sleep was going to be hard to come by after having such a nightmare. At the very least Jeri felt that she needed a glass of water.
Just before heading out to the kitchen of her apartment though, Jeri glanced and noticed her reflection in the full-length mirror of her room. She looked like crap. But then not many people looked their best at almost full in the morning. Her long brown hair was a mess, but then anyone's hair is a mess first thing in the morning. What Jeri noticed was how pale she looked, as well as the bags under her eyes. Not to mention that the oversized grey t-shirt she was wearing for sleep ware was almost covered in sweat like she had been out jogging. But then Jeri was not at all surprised by her appearance. She had been having a rough few weeks, both due to a lack of sleep and some problems she had been having with her boyfriend, Takato.
Jeri soon pulled herself away from the mirror and resumed her trip to the kitchen. Upon getting out there, she pulled an empty glass out of the cupboard and poured herself some water from the faucet. Soon after, Jeri sat down at the counter in the middle of the space and began to take a few sips. As she drank, Jeri went over the events of her nightmare. The monstrosities that the dancers in her dream had changed into reminded her greatly of the D-Reaper, the digital entity that had captured her ten years before. Then there was her dance partner. The thing had reminded her of the D-Reaper as well, but its voice was something different. Jeri felt as if she had heard the same voice somewhere before, but could not place it.
Eventually though, Jeri decided not to dwell on the events of her nightmare and tried to put it out of her mind. It was probably going to be the only way she could get back to sleep that night, if sleep would come that is. What troubled Jeri though was that it was the latest nightmare in a long series that had been going on for the past three and a half weeks. And all of the nightmares all had that same gentlemanly voice. Jeri could not figure out just what these nightmares meant. Though the thought did occur to her that perhaps something had stirred up memories of being held captive by the D-Reaper, since many of the monstrosities that appeared in the nightmares seemed to resemble the digital entity in some fasion.
Whatever the nightmares were though, it was clear that they were getting worse. The one that Jeri had just had that night was so far the most vivid. Jeri glanced at the clock on the kitchen wall and saw that it was four AM. After gulping down the last of the water in her glass, Jeri got up and began to walk back to her room to try and get more sleep.
The following afternoon, Takato Matsuki was out walking carrying a large brown paper bag in his left arm. He was not alone in his trek through the city. Walking at his side was a large primarily red dragon-like creature. It had yellow reptilian eyes and batwing-shaped ears or horns on the sides of its heads. Its chest and stomach was white and there were black markings on parts of its body. This was Takato's Digimon partner, Guilmon. And he was not the only Digimon traveling with the brown-haired young man.
Riding on Takato's shoulder was a small primarily white creature with large green eyes, short arms, large feet with purple toes, and ears with purple triangular ridges. On its forehead was an inverted red triangle surrounded by three smaller black triangles. This Digimon was Calumon, an old friend of Takato and Guilmon's. The people that Takato and his two Digimon companions had passed on the sidewalk paid little attention to them. Ten years before, it would've been a different story. But since the incident with the D-Reaper the public had slowly become more aware of the existence of Digimon. And during that decade more children had become Tamers to a few wild Digimon that would occasionally slip through the boundary between worlds. Of course local governments would keep tabs on these Digimon out of fear they might go rogue, but seeing a human with a Digimon in broad daylight was not an uncommon occurrence.
As the three reached the crosswalk and waited for the traffic light to turn green, Takato noticed a familiar young man walking up to him. He had dark hair and was wearing a black shirt, tweed jacket, tan slacks, and black leather shoes. Riding on the young man's shoulder was another Digimon, one that looked like a greenish-white rabbit-like creature with very long floppy ears and small a horn on the front of its head. Takato knew this young gentleman as his friend and fellow Tamer, Henry Wong, and Digimon as Henry's partner, Terriermon.
"Hey Henry." Takato greeted as Henry walked up.
"Hi." Henry greeted back as he stopped and stood to wait for the light to turn with Takato. "Didn't expect to run into you around here today."
"Yeah, I have to make a delivery for my parents." Takato explained, indicating the bag he was carrying.
"There wouldn't happen to be some other reason why you're out this way, would there?" Terriermon said with a rather sly expression.
"Terriermon…" Henry said with a heavy sigh, as he knew just what his little Digimon friend was implying.
"What? This is near where Jeri lives." Terriermon innocently pointed out.
"Actually, Terriermon's right. The real reason why I'm out this way is to see Jeri." Takato admitted. "The delivery is just on the way."
"…So does that mean you and Jeri are talking again?" Henry asked with a hint of hesitation.
"Nope." Takato replied with a sad smile. "I still don't get why Jeri's mad at me. I mean I've thought about it over and over again and I can't figure out what it is I did."
"Did you try asking her?" Henry suggested.
"Oh yeah, that was the first thing I did." Takato said with a rather dark chuckle. "I asked her, 'why are you mad at me?' and she says, 'you know why', and then she slammed the door in my face. Ever since then she's been giving me the cold shoulder."
"So you're going to try and ask her about it again?" Henry assumed.
"I asked Takato to come and see her." Calumon revealed, finally joining in on the conversation. "Jeri's had me pretty worried for the last few weeks."
"Why? What's been going on?" Terriermon asked.
"Well, it seems like Jeri's been having these really scary dreams." Calumon explained. "But she won't tell me about any of them. And they seem to be getting worse. I was hoping that maybe Takato could get her to open up."
"Light's green." Guilmon spoke, causing the others to look and see that the traffic light had indeed changed. The group quickly went over to the other side of the street.
"Well, Terriermon and I have to be off now." Henry told the others. "Hope it works out for you and Jeri."
"Thanks man. See ya later." Takato replied, but just as Henry was walking off, a question suddenly came to Takato's mind. "Oh hey, did Yamaki find out anything about what happened to Rika and Ryo?"
"Hey, if you haven't heard anything, neither have I." Henry replied. "Yamaki told us that he'd let us all know if he found out anything."
"Yeah, you're right." Takato admitted. "I'm just worried, that's all. I mean they just vanished off the face of the earth without any word."
"I'm sure those two are fine." Henry said reassuringly. "Heck, for all we know they found a way into the Digital World to do some sort of special training or something. Well, I really better be going or else I'll be late. Later."
"Yeah, later." Takato replied with a wave as Henry walked off.
After Henry had left, Takato and his two companions continued onward. As they headed down another crowded sidewalk, Takato thought about how rough of a month it had been. For one thing, Takato's friends and fellow Digimon Tamers, Rika Nonaka and Ryo Akiyama, had mysteriously disappeared very early in the month. Takato and the others attempted their own little search, but found no trace of them. Having exhausted every avenue, Takato and the remaining Tamers saw no choice but to leave finding Rika and Ryo up to the head of an organization known as Hypnos, Mitsuo Yamaki.
Then there were the problems Takato was having with Jeri, who had been his almost since he had rescued her from the D-Reaper a little over ten years before. Though they hadn't officially become a couple until high school. But since that incident there had always seemed to be a spark between the two. Just before Rika and Ryo vanished though, something had occurred that caused Jeri to shut Takato out. Yes, Takato was sure that it just did not seem to be his month.
Several minutes later, Takato had finished making a delivery of bread to one of his parents' regular customers, a sixty-two year old woman he knew as Mrs. Ushio. Mrs. Ushio was a nice old lady, though it seemed to Takato that her mind wasn't what it used to be. She was under the impression that Guilmon was some sort of large dog, though Takato had to admit that the old woman wasn't far off. As intelligent as Guilmon was, it often seemed like he had the mentality of a K-9. The dragon Digimon would often do things like chase squirrels in the park or bury various items for reasons that even Guilmon himself did not understand. One time Guilmon had even buried a sweater that was a favorite of Takato's mother, and unfortunately it was not returned in the best condition.
After completing the delivery, Takato and his two companions had reached Jeri's apartment. Takato knocked on the door and after a moment Jeri answered. Jeri was wearing a black sweater and long grey skirt. Right away Takato noticed her pale complexion and became concerned. Jeri meanwhile looked at Takato with an expression that made it clear that she was not pleased to see him.
"Uh, hi Jeri." Takato greeted with a nervous smile. "Calumon said you'd be home at the time of the day. How've been?"
"What are you doing here?" Jeri asked as she crossed her arms.
"Well, Calumon told me he's been worried about you and thought I could do something to help." Takato explained as he rubbed the back of his head, inadvertently putting Calumon on the spot.
"Oh god. Calumon, what have you been telling Takato?" Jeri asked in a harsh tone, causing Calumon to flinch.
"I-I only told him that you've been having bad dreams." Calumon admitted. "And I thought that maybe Takato could do something to help."
"Well you had no right!" Jeri scolded. "And as for my dreams, it's nothing to worry about!"
"But Jeri…" Calumon tried to speak.
"Will all of you please leave? I've had a long day!" Jeri said as she grabbed the door to slam it in their faces.
"Jeri wait!" Takato said as he quickly stopped the door from closing with his hand. "Will you at least tell me what I did to make you so mad at me?"
"You know what you did!" Jeri told him.
"No I don't!" Takato insisted. "I honestly have no idea what I did."
"I saw what you and Rika were doing together last month at Suzie's birthday party!" Jeri explained. "You could've at least had the guts to tell me it was over instead of going out behind my back!"
"Wait, what?" a very confused Takato replied.
"Get lost!" Jeri shouted before slamming the door.
For a moment Takato thought about knocking on the door again to attempt to get Jeri to explain her last statement, but quickly realized that it would be a lost cause. Defeated, Takato and his two Digimon companions left. A few minutes later they were outside of the building.
"What was that about?" Takato wondered as he looked back up at the building. "Does Jeri actually think that I cheated on her with Rika?"
"This is the first I've heard of it." Calumon replied. "I knew she was mad at you Takato, but she never told me why."
"I don't get it, why would Jeri even think something like that?" Takato asked.
"Takato, wasn't Suzie's party when you and Rika had that little accident?" Guilmon brought up.
Suddenly it all hit Takato like a meteor. Over a month ago he and his fellow Tamers attended the seventeenth birthday party of Henry's younger sister, Suzie. Some time during the party, Takato went outside for some fresh air and ran into Rika. Takato couldn't recall just exactly what had happened, but somewhere along the line he had tripped and the next thing he knew the two of them were on the ground in what an innocent passer-by would see as a very compromising position. At the time he thought that nobody was there when that little accident occurred, save for Guilmon who was in the bushes at the time, and perhaps Rika's Digimon, Renamon. But from what he had just learned Takato deduced that Jeri must've come outside at just the wrong moment and jumped to a very wrong conclusion. It was after that party, Takato realized, when Jeri had become quite frigid towards him.
"Aw damn it!" Takato yelled as he punched the wall of the building. "This whole time Jeri thought I was making out with Rika at that party? I have to go talk to her and straighten this mess out!"
Before Takato could rush back into the building though, Guilmon suddenly made a low growl. He looked at his snarling partner and saw that Guilmon's pupils had shrunk. Takato had seen Guilmon act this way before. It was perhaps the dragon Digimon's more dog-like qualities.
"What is it boy?" Takato asked, though he knew what the answer was going to be.
"There's a Digimon nearby." Guilmon snarled.
"Uh-oh." Calumon spoke, and suddenly the red triangle on his forehead lit up briefly.
"Calumon… did this Digimon that's appeared just evolve?" Takato asked.
"I think so." Calumon confirmed with a worried expression.
A second later the three heard an explosion further down the street. Immediately they all ran to find out what it was. Upon turning a corner they saw a humanoid figure with a blue pointed hat and flowing blue cape. He had shoulder-length straight brown hair and was dressed primarily in red. His face, chest, wrists, and feet were clad in silver armor. Floating at the warrior's side was a glowing blue crystal ball, and in his hands he wielded a sword lit with red flames. Takato got out his D-Arc to find out just what sort of Digimon he was dealing with.
"Mistymon, an Ultimate level Warrior Digimon." Takato read from the device's holographic screen. Suddenly Misty swung his sword into a car parked on the side of the road. "Let's take care of this guy Guilmon!"
Guilmon nodded and Calumon quickly flew off Takato's shoulder using its enlarged ears as wings. Suddenly Takato's D-Arc let out the mechanized cry of one word.
"BIOMERGE"
With that word, Takato turned into a ball of red light and flew into Guilmon.
"Guilmon biomerge digivolve to… Gallantmon!" Guilmon cried out as his body flashed with a brilliant red light.
When the light faded, Guilmon had changed into a humanoid knight clad in white armor. He had a flowing red cape and a narrow stream of silver hair flowing from the top of his helmet. Above his eyes was a red visor styled in the shape of Guilmon's face. On his shoulders and knees were red guards with gold trim. With his right arm the knight held a long silver lance, and with his left arm he carried a large circular silver shield with gold trim and a red version of the symbol on Calumon's forehead on the front, surrounded by the symbol of a golden sun.
"Lightning Joust!" Gallantmon called out as he launched a stream of blue energy from his lance.
The blast hit Mistymon in the chest and knocked the magical warrior off his feet. Mistymon quickly recovered though and stood ready to face his opponent.
"You picked a really bad day to cause trouble." Gallantmon said in his own voice and Takato's as he walked towards him.
"Digi-Modify!" a male voice suddenly called out, surprising Gallantmon. "Hyper Speed, activate!"
Suddenly Mistymon leapt into the air and seemed to vanish. An instant later the magical warrior reappeared and swung his sword at Gallantmon. The knight managed to block the strike with his large shield. Gallantmon looked around and saw standing nearby on the sidewalk a young man who looked to be in his early twenties with wild brown hair. He was wearing thick black sunglasses and a long tattered brown jacket with a white shirt, black fingerless gloves, black jeans, and white tennis shoes. Within Gallantmon, Takato noticed the young man was holding in his right hand a navy-blue D-Arc with white trim.
"Not a bad block." The young man commented as he took what looked like a trading card from a pack on his belt. "But let's see how you handle this." He then swiped the card through the side of his Digivice. "Digi-Modify! Power, activate!"
Suddenly Mistymon vanished again, and a second later he reappeared right behind Gallantmon and slashed him across the back with his sword. The force of the attack almost knocked Gallantmon to the ground.
"Digi-Modify!" the mysterious young man called out as he swiped another card through the side of his D-Arc. "Slayerdramon card, activate!"
The blade of Mistymon's sword changed and became segmented. He slashed at Gallantmon with the sword, the blade coming at him like a flaming whip. But the knight managed to block the attack with his shield.
"Enough!" Gallantmon cried out. "Shield of the Just!"
With that, the shield fired off a massive blast of energy that sent Mistymon flying back. As the warrior fell to the ground, he glowed with a purplish light and transformed. He had become slightly shorter and was wearing a primarily yellow garment with several zippers in if. He also had on brown leather boots and gloves, and on the front of each boot was a golden crescent moon. The long collar of his blue cape covered the lower half of the Digimon's blue face. Atop his head he wore a large conical blue hat with a white skull on the front, and in his right hand he carried a golden staff that ended in the large shape of a sun at the top.
"A Wizardmon?" Gallentmon observed.
Suddenly there came the sound of clapping, and walking up to Wizardmon's side was the young man who seemed to be his partner. Gallantmon split back into Takato and Guilmon and approached.
"Beautiful, outstanding job." The mystery man said to Takato and Guilmon. "Such blazing passion, such will. You two might be the guys we've been looking for."
"Who the hell are you?" Takato demanded to know, accompanied by a growl from Guilmon.
"The name's Parker Nash." The young man said with a bow. "You've already met my partner, Wizardmon. You're Takato Matsuki and Guilmon, right?"
"How do you know who we are?" Takato asked.
"Are you kidding me? You guys are famous!" Parker replied with a small laugh. "You guys took down the D-Reaper and saved two worlds. And after seeing you fight I'm even more sure that you two are the guys we're looking for, don't you think Wizardmon?"
"They do seem like worthy candidates." Wizardmon agreed. "But we need to learn more about them to be sure."
"Right you are buddy." Parker concurred. "But that'll have to wait for another time. We'll be seeing ya real soon Takato."
"Wait, just who…" Takato began to ask, but before he could finish Wizardmon raised his staff and a blinding flash of golden light hit both him and Guilmon.
The light soon faded and both Parker and Wizardmon had vanished. As Takato and Guilmon stared at the spot where the mysterious Tamer and Digimon once were, Calumon flew back onto Takato's shoulder.
"I really don't think this is our month Guilmon." Takato said to his faithful partner.
Author's Note: I actually had a few problems writing this first chapter. Not because of the length, I've actually gotten used to doing longer chapters. I just had a few problems with some of the scenes, the dream sequence in particular. I was stuck until I remembered this one very odd short film that featured a scene where the main character danced with this guy in a devil costume. When that scene came on, the guy sitting next tom me said, "Ever dance with the devil in the pale moon light?" That's where the inspiration came from. Anyway, I wanted to open with a nightmare scene partly because I had done the same with Home by the Sea. Unoriginal perhaps, but I felt it provided some symmetry.
Please review and let me know what you think.