The D-Shutter Chronicles
Book One: Keystone
Prologue:
Unforeseen Consequences
Gennai had destroyed these pictures before. He was sure of it. The image of the seven Digi-Destined, swathed in the rainbow, ascending towards the digital world in the night sky. Their faces had been magnified enough to identify Tai Kamiya's determination, or Joe's panic, but only Kari and Takeru's faces were circled in black, permanent marker. Gennai's gaze shifted. The next image was from one of the many security cameras inside Tokyo Big Sight—he could see the logo watermark in the bottom left corner—capturing Mimi and Sora during the battle against the Bakamon, blown large enough to see the apprehension on their faces.
Gennai knew he destroyed them before. He stepped away from the wall and swept across the laboratory to the other side. On this wall hung pictures of the Legendary Warriors vanquishing Lucemon from the human world. The picture at his front was Susanoomon in mid-collision with Lucemon Shadowlord Mode. Left of it hung an enlarged picture of Zoe, Tommy, and PJ in the middle of Shibuya, holding their D-Tectors aloft. On his right, Kouiji and Kouichi were together in a hospital ward, D-Tectors laying on Kouichi's hospital bed.
But I destroyed these.
Static rippled through the ceiling speakers. Gennai flinched, flexing his hand over the pommel of his sword resting at his hip. He stepped away from the walls into the lab's center, among the displays and tables, gazing up at the ceiling.
"So, our ghost in the machine has a face." A young man's voice said, surprised. "You must be Gennai. You've been making data coleslaw out of my Digimon footage for the past six years. Entire seasons' worth of anime episodes and manga chapters that practically wrote themselves. Poof! Gone." He chuckled bitterly. "Now, I'm back to throwing money at basement geeks for their terrible plots and character sheets. Thanks, jackass."
Gennai's eyebrow arched. He expected a trap, or some malevolent evil. Hearing someone rant about cartoons was something new. "You dragged me all the way out into digital space for that?"
"Well don't we sound inconvenienced." The voice bit back. "Emerald wanted this face-to-face meeting to gloat about more important things, but he got distracted at the last minute and left." A crunching echoed through the speakers. "Me?" He said, mouth mid chew. "I just wanted to hear myself complain about paying cow-towing munchkins more than I have to."
"I didn't catch your name, mister…?"
"Spinel. Gregor Spinel. I'm the brilliance behind all of the 'promotional stunts' that put the real-world public at ease after you and your friends Godzilla'd across most of it." Gregor audibly swallowed. "Once people realized the critters were apart of the next 'animation sensation sweeping out of the rising sun nation', they leapt on the merchandise like a Black Friday sale." Gregor chuckled. "It was pretty fun to watch them tear each other apart in reckless abandon."
Unease fluttered in Gennai's gut. He had spent hours scouring digital space of any Digimon evidence to avoid that exact scenario. The identities of the Digi-Destined and Legendary Warriors were priority one, however, if a human could create a Digimon franchise out of limited resources, then he would know their names as well.
"And the Digi-Destined and Legendary Warriors are wrapped up in your schemes?" Gennai asked, glancing around at all the familiar faces plastered on the walls.
"Wrapped up? More like the Destined latched on for their short, little lives." Gregor replied, keeping the hint of amusement. Another pause, more wet chewing and mouthful commentary. "Their parents put me through the ringer, though. The Tachikawa's wanted to move to America, the Ishida's wanted to remarry in the Palace of Versailles, the Kido's wanted their sons' medical schooling paid in full, and I've apparently doled out for an archeological dig somewhere at the ass-end of nowhere. Clearly, they've succumbed to my spell of being their personal ATM."
"And the Warriors?"
"Kids turning into digimon are kind of boring. I passed on them." Gregor scoffed. "Besides, the fat kid wears a onesie as an outfit. Don't get me wrong, goggles and helmets are usually accompanied by spittle bibs and gold stars, but who wants a onesie-wearing, fat superhero?" He made a gagging noise. "Hm. Almost choked on my cracker there. As far as I know, everyone left them in total darkness."
For the first time since their conversation, Gennai allowed his eyes to drop from the ceiling at the displays crowding the lab floor. The nearest contained a mock-up of a familiar device; it was a flatter rectangle than his design, and had a full screen display in a ruggedly thick plastic casing. Beneath that was the blue print for it. The D-Shutter, judging by the watermark in one corner.
"Looks awesome, doesn't it?" Gregor continued. "That's Emerald's crowning achievement. It's like a super Digivice and four D-Terminals tied together. I'm just responsible for the stellar case design and the color." Gennai read the schematics and tempered his amazement at the author's intense detail, even writing down the exact dimensions for what appeared to be an engine of some sort. "Imperial red gives it that 'serious business' feeling and the white trim is just adds to the 'killing you is morally good' vibe."
Gennai remained silent. The amount of digital evidence on display felt overwhelming. He knew Azulongmon and his brothers were delaying the inevitable, but it the speed at which humanity advanced humbled him. On another table, Gennai spied a picture of a Wanyamon-X in the arms of an unknown child in a school uniform, climbing out of what seemed like a drainage canal. He picked it up, rubbing a thoughtful finger over the child's face.
Gregor crammed more crackers in his mouth and muffled crunching displaced the quiet. "If it's any consolation, which judging from your expression it probably isn't," He swallowed. "There's only one D-Shutter so far, and that kid's our best candidate since he's been stowing away a Digimon for the past five-ish years. Emerald's probably fishing him out of the Self-Defense Force right now." Gennai's expression narrowed. "He'll be a bit hands off at first, but hopefully the younger kids will show him the ropes."
"There's more to the digital world than firing ordnance at its denizens."
"True, true." Gregor remarked, sucking his teeth. "Step on my dreams of shooting rockets at Black Wargreymon, but believe it or not, we know the Digital World is more than just target practice." He took a drag of something out of a crinkling, plastic bottle. "Surgeons are tinkering with digital fields, engineers are building recyclers and fabricators, and 3D printers are cranking out toys faster than the sweatshops."
Gennai frowned. Good intentions casted long, dark shadows. The Digital World could propel humanity into the next age, whether in light or in darkness depended on the force driving it. From his demeanor so far, Gregor Spinel would gleefully plunge both worlds into ruin. Digimon would be resort lures or servants or common circus animals. Sentient creatures would be nothing more than merchandize.
"Look, this is happening." He continued. "The impact of the D-Shutter and its operator are more Emerald's thing, but I'm not lying to my animators and manga authors about paying what they're entitled to for nothing. Digimon are going to dominate the public eye for the immediate future." He announced, letting the declaration hang in the quiet. "Instead of shrieking in abject terror, people will be flocking to see what the majesty Digimon can offer."
Gennai glowered at the ceiling. Though Gregor spent most of the conversation whining and patting himself on the back, there was a glimmer of truth. Destroying video and audio files, pictures, and erasing entire news articles had been something akin to scorched earth. The absence of Digimon meant panic would subside, but returned stronger when Digimon re-emerged. Introducing Digimon as a form of entertainment exposed interest in small, manageable doses, so panic would diminish overtime.
"Feel free to vent and destroy everything in the lab." Gregor said. "I'm going to try and steer what's left into Izzy's hard drive. I don't know what's going to happen when data collides in the vacuum of whatever this place is, but fingers crossed it's an explosion. And if he asks, tell him I did it. He'll love that. Kay, bye!"
Gennai waited another minute in silence. Once he was sure that Gregor Spinel wandered somewhere else to chase his boredom, Gennai pulled out his e-mailer from his robe pocket. Tapping up a quick message for Izzy—Tai, Gennai corrected, sending a brief message that the older Destined should meet at his house sometime in the future.
Perhaps there was still time to prepare for unforeseen consequences.
Author's Note: Digimon and its characters are owned by Bandai and Toei respectively. I do own fan-made characters and digimon. Thank you for taking the time to read my work. Please read and review!