Part 2: Dead Reckoning
Date: Saturday February 20th, 2004
Time: 11:00 am
Place: Fuji TV building, Odaiba, Japan
"Dad, there'd better be good reason you brought both of us up here!" Matt complained.
"Yeah, I was expecting a nice, peaceful Saturday. No excitement, no drama!" T.K. added.
"Boys, I can assure you this requires your attention. Something's come up again, and only you seemed to be able to deal with it last time." the father wearily explained, looking back at the boys with their Digimon partners climbing the stairs behind him.
"Like what?" Matt asked.
"You'll see when you get there."
The group of Matt, T.K. and their dad, along with Gabumon and Patamon, passed through a corridor into a small, hot room filled with various audio-visual equipment. Wires snaked throughout the room, and various displays lit up with a number of colors. One person already in the room was calmly adjusting dials and flipping switches, all the while listening to a tape through a Walkman, while the other stared transfixed at a TV monitor with a frightened expression on his face.
"Oh, I'm SO glad you guys are here! I was going crazy in here without you watching too!" the frightened coworker said after noticing the entering group out of the corner of his eye.
"Cool down, will you? Tell them what the problem is." the dad responded, motioning towards Matt and T.K.
"The shadow! The shadow's back!" was all the frightened coworker could say before retreating to the outside of the room. The other coworker looked over, sighed once, and continued on what he was doing.
Matt and T.K. looked at each other. Random haunting voices near the now-destroyed memorial to Wizardmon was bad enough, but the shadow on the TV screens indicated there was a serious problem at hand. They needed to find out what the cause was, or Fuji TV's rebuilding efforts would grind to a halt.
"Why don't you take a look at the screen while I deal with him?" the dad suggested, going over to his cringing coworker and slowly leading him out of the room. Matt and T.K. had moved into the room to let them by, and now they and their Digimon partners looked intently at the test pattern on the screen, noting the amorphous figure in the lower-right corner of the image.
"This is too weird. I'm getting serious deja vu here!" T.K. noted.
"Any ideas what it is?" Matt asked.
"Nope, it doesn't look like the same shadow as before."
"Could it still be a Digimon?"
"It doesn't look like any Digimon we know about. That doesn't mean it isn't a ghost though." Gabumon stated.
"Gabumon has a point. It could be another Digimon, we were battling a whole army under Myotismon, remember? It could be any one of them." Patamon added.
Matt pondered those statements for a moment, noting that the figure in the corner seemed to be getting bigger but not more defined as they were talking. He went over to the tape-listening worker and tapped him on the shoulder; when the latter looked up, Matt asked how long the image had been there.
"It's been there all morning. We've been testing new equipment, and the image popped up again. I've been trying to get rid of it all morning, but it won't go away no matter what I do!" the worker explained in annoyance, before going back to his cassette tapes and the work at hand.
Matt returned to his thoughtful pose. "Any suggestions?" he asked; all he got back were head-shakes. No suggestions and no clues as to what to do next.
"I just don't think the situation is similar enough to what happened last summer. We can't even tell what the figure is." Gabumon quickly stated.
"That might be true, Gabumon, but it doesn't help us any. We need suggestions, ideas about what to do next!"
"Uh, Matt, I think it knows we're here!" T.K. exclaimed, pointing to the screen which the figure now spanned. The figure appeared to have arms and legs, as well as eyes that stared back at them, but no details could be made out about it.
The tape-listening worker, also noticing the figure prominent on the screen, responded with alarm, going across the room to a few switches and toggling them on and off rapidly. Nothing on the screen changed. He next tried to turn off power to the monitor, but that switch didn't respond either. Confused and a little worried, he reached down to unplug the monitor, but the eyes shifted as if the figure had seen what the worker was trying to do, and subsequently the worker got an electric shock as he reached for the plug.
Matt, T.K. and their Digimon partners watched as the thoroughly spooked coworker of their dad exited the room in a hurry, then back at the figure on the screen. "What is it you want from us? Tell us right now!" Matt challenged.
The screen behind the figure began to flash colors randomly, and what could only be described as loudly-amplified static blared from the nearby speakers, driving Matt and T.K. from the room, both with hands pressed against ears and wincing expressions. When the noise died down, they rushed back into the room to find the monitor powerless, the figure gone, and both Gabumon and Patamon on the floor with stunned expressions on their faces.
"What happened in there?" Matt exclaimed, helping Gabumon to his feet while T.K. picked up a disoriented Patamon.
"The figure came out of the screen, hit both of us, dizzy and unable to move..." Gabumon explained.
"Everything OK now?"
"Yeah, still a little dizzy, but otherwise fine."
"Matt, we've just been attacked! We need to let everyone know about this right now!" T.K. exclaimed, still cradling a recovering Patamon.
"I agree. Let's get out of here. There's no point trying to find that thing if we don't know how to fight it." Matt answered.
7:00pm...
"Hmm, very interesting. Very interesting indeed..." Izzy muttered, pacing back and forth in the Izumi apartment living room while Tai, Kari, Matt and T.K. (along with their partners) watched with glum concern from the couch.
"Izzy, stop pacing! You're going to wear a hole in the floor doing that!" Tentomon objected from his hovering position behind the couch.
"You called us all here, you'd better have answers Izzy!" Matt snapped, making the general irritation filling the room known to him.
Izzy stopped pacing and addressed his fellow DigiDestined: "Alright, let's review what we know. Two separate attacks, two different places, same figure, same outcome. Sort of..."
"But what does it all mean, Izzy?" Matt spoke up again.
"Well, the two separate attacks are probably coming from the same... being, source, whatever-it-is. And the whatever-it-is is probably not friendly."
"Yeah, tell us something we DON'T already know!" T.K. objected, rolling his eyes to make the exasperation in his tone of voice clear.
"OK then, let's talk about the 'who'. Or the 'what', as the case may be. Suggestions?" Izzy asked.
"Myotismon?" Tentomon suggested, sending a chill through the room.
"No, we would've recognized if it was him. It's not Myotismon." Kari reassured, referring to both herself and Gatomon.
"Daemon pushing from the Dark Ocean somehow?" Matt tried.
"That's a possibility." Izzy conceded.
"I would think Daemon wouldn't try this way. He would make a dramatic entrance, not try to sneak a way in." Tai countered.
"We would need to check that theory with Davis and Ken anyways. Any other suggestions?"
"Could it just be those weirdos from the Dark Ocean that tried to take Kari before?" Gabumon spoke up.
"It's not them, unless they're trying a new strategy. It doesn't feel the same way as last time." Kari countered.
"No, I wouldn't think so. They only wanted Kari, so they'd have no reason to attack Matt and T.K. without Kari around." Izzy commented.
"A revenge attack? I did help her escape the first time she ended up there." T.K. suggested.
"Would it do them any good to attack you? No, it's not them."
"It could be a leftover from Myotismon's army. There were a lot of Digimon in the army, and who knows if they all got absorbed by Myotismon before?" Patamon piped up.
"Patamon has a point. Wizardmon's spirit escaped getting absorbed, who says that others didn't get absorbed as well." Agumon added.
"Personally, I'm not sure I agree I'd agree with you Patamon, but yours is the best theory going so far. And in any case, it does explain the hostility." Izzy concurred.
"OK, now that we have an idea what we're dealing with, how exactly do we deal with it? It isn't a Digimon we can just fight off or destroy, so how do we deal with this thing before it strikes again?" Matt demanded.
"Ah-ha! Glad you asked, Matt!" Izzy instantly exclaimed. He turned around and grabbed a videotape beside the TV that had been behind him. He pushed the tape into the VCR on the shelf below the TV, turned the TV on and played the tape. On the TV, images of men in weird uniforms and with a backpack-like gadget on their backs were seen moving through the corridors of a fancy hotel, using streams of electricity fired from wands attached to the "backpacks" in an attempt to catch an impish green ghost.
"What is this?" Matt asked disparagingly.
"It's an American movie from the 1980s. The title is 'Ghostbusters', actually pretty funny movie..." Izzy trailed off, realizing that he was getting incredulous stares.
"How does a cheesy 80s American movie help us at all?" Tai mocked, and several other voices join in the dissent.
"Inspiration!" an unfazed Izzy answered, his face lighting up in a manner that usually indicated he was hatching some kind of crazy plot.
"Whadda ya mean, 'inspiration'?" T.K. asked sarcastically.
"It gave me an idea for what to do with the crystals we captured in the Digital World and at the university. We put the crystals into a portable generator strapped into a backpack frame, attach a rubber hose with wire inside ending in an arc-wielder tip and fire electricity like they do in the movie. Ken and Yolei have been helping me with the design and construction over the past few weeks."
"Both of them together at the same time?" T.K quipped with a sly smile on his face. Kari burst out in giggles, while Tai and Matt just rolled their eyes. The quip went over the heads of the Digimon, except Gatomon, who joined in the eye-rolling, and Tentomon, who gave T.K. a critical stare.
"What? What?" T.K. asked defensively, realizing everyone was staring at him.
"No, not at the same time. Would you let me finish?" Izzy stated, hands on his hips.
"Fine." T.K. answered, crossing his arms over his chest and assuming an indignant pose. When Patamon flew in front of his face to try to cheer him up, T.K. shooed his partner back in irritation and Patamon returned to his previous position, a confused look on his face.
"As I was going to say," Izzy began again, making sure to give T.K. a critical eye as he spoke, "this has been a project Yolei, Ken and I have been working on over the last month or so. We have two such devices ready for testing, and with the crystals we got at the university I can build a ghost tracker device with one crystal, and use the other as bait."
"Bait? What do we need bait for?" Kari asked.
"Like I said, I have a plan. But I need a few more days to implement it, and I'm going to need the help of everyone here as well as Ken."
"What plan are you talking about, Izzy?" Tai asked through a confused look.
"We're going to use the electricity-generating projects to destroy, or at least drive away, the shadow next time it appears at the TV station. One of the crystals will be set as bait, along with Kari and Gatomon, while you and T.K. hunt for the shadow and try to blast it with the devices. I'll monitor the ghost using the fourth crystal in a tracker device, while Matt and Ken will operate the trap mechanism when the shadow takes the bait!" Izzy enthusiastically explained.
"Why does it have to be T.K. and me lugging those things around untested? And why does Kari have to be bait?" Tai instantly objected.
"To answer the first question, because I assigned you two those roles. To answer the second question, because Kari has a knack for attracting the weird and unusual. Any more questions? No? Good, I'll bring out one of the devices to look over!" Izzy answered, rushing off and leaving no room for further objection.
"Izzy!" Tentomon called after his partner, the exasperation in his voice obvious. He too excused himself from the room and quickly went after Izzy.
Matt slumped back in the couch and blew out a large sigh. "There he goes again, on one of his crazy schemes..." he stated in a resigned tone of voice.
Matt's remark touched off indignant remarks from the other three human DigiDestined, mostly on the order of "What does Izzy take us for, saps?". The Digimon tuned out of the ranting, figuring ignoring it was easier than joining in it; the plan Izzy had would be implemented regardless of objections because doing nothing risked a crisis similar to the Dark Ocean incidents, or even worse!
Agumon suddenly started toward a corner of the room, beckoning the other Digimon to follow. The others, curious as to what he intended to say, followed him to the corner. Gabumon asked Agumon what was going on.
"Well, there was one possibility that no one mentioned, and I thought of it, but I didn't want to say it out loud before..." Agumon began circumspectly, suddenly becoming shy.
"What are you talking about, Agumon?" Patamon asked in confusion.
"Erm, well, I thought I might seem crazy if I told anyone, but I didn't..."
"Told what? Out with it!" Gatomon bluntly ordered.
Gatomon's bluntness left Agumon with no choice but to confess: "Well, I thought the shadow... might have been Wizardmon."
"You can't be serious!" Gabumon exclaimed as he, Patamon and Gatomon recoiled in surprise and abhorrence at the suggestion.
"Crazy doesn't even begin to describe that suggestion, Agumon!" Gatomon attacked, launching into a full tirade. "Wizardmon would not do what that shadow did to us! Wizardmon would not attack us, ever! Why would you even consider such a thought as that? I'm disgusted that you even thought to bring him into this!"
"I know..." Agumon meekly replied, a hurt look in his eyes. It had been a crazy idea to mention, and he had expected the response he had gotten.
"It's not Wizardmon, it cannot be him! End of story!" Gatomon scolded, abruptly closing the subject as Gabumon and Patamon did not see any reason to disagree with her. After a moment of awkward silence, the four Digimon returned to the couch around which their human partners had congregated, Gatomon flashing an irritated look at a smirking Agumon.
Moments later, Izzy came back holding a metal backpack frame in his hand. Attached to the center of the frame was a metal box with a cord emerging from its bottom, the cord ending in an arc-wielding tip currently placed in a mount on the right side of the frame.
"Izzy, none of us will stand for this! This is completely ridiculous! You can't make me wear that ridiculous thing!" Tai thundered to Izzy's broadly grinning face.
"Tai's right. This plan is totally crazy." Tentomon stated deadpan as he followed Izzy back into the room.
"Would you rather roll the dice and have something horrible happen to Kari again?" Izzy countered. Tai, realizing he couldn't say no with Kari listening to him, sighed and gave in to the plan, although the displeasure on his and T.K.'s faces remained intact.
"When are we moving with the plan?" Matt asked, also resigned to the fact that he had to go along with the crazy plan.
"As soon as possible, few days at the very latest. No mention to the others without my approval beforehand." Izzy cautioned.
"Why not?"
"We don't want to cause an unnecessary panic amongst the others, Yolei and Davis in particular. They probably will learn about the attacks soon enough, we don't need to be fanning the flames further. Ken is the only other person that needs to know about this meeting, and I'll talk to him myself."
"But it would be a bad idea to leave them out of the loop! They'll be upset with us if they found out we'd deliberately left them out!"
"I understand that they would feel that way, but there's enough of us involved in the project already. Adding more would just clutter things up, and Davis and Yolei would get too emotionally involved. I'm not questioning their competence, but whether they could avoid making knee-jerk decisions that end up ruining things. I think it's just better overall to leave them out of it."
Matt didn't reply to that statement, but uncertain looks spread throughout the group. Deliberately leaving out Davis and Yolei would surely be cause of trouble later, particularly if the plan went wrong and something happened to Kari. Hopefully, things could be settled with sitting them down and explaining the reasoning, but for now that just made a dubious plan that much more uncertain.
"Izzy, this is never gonna work out..." Tai groaned through his hand-covered face.
"If you've got a better plan, please tell me." Izzy asked, his voice strained with irritation.
In response, Tai gave Izzy an incredulous look, threw his hands up in frustration, and rapidly walked out of the room, Agumon scrambling to keep up behind him. The remainder of the group, unnerved by Tai's exit, filed out slowly after him, leaving Izzy and Tentomon alone in the room.
Izzy was in deep thought, unsettled by the resistance to the plan. "Do you think it was a mistake calling this meeting?" he asked Tentomon.
"I certainly hope not! The plan can't fail, or else your name is mud!" Tentomon replied in a tone that equaled his partner's deep concern with consternation.
"Well, you're right about that, but it's going forward, whether they have enthusiasm or no enthusiasm about it. I know the plan is totally crazy, but doing nothing is not an option we have. Not without risking a more serious incident, anyways."
"Well then, I hope for everyone's sake your crazy plan actually works."
"Agreed." Izzy answered, a very grim look on his face.
A plan is in place, but will it ever work? Is the reward worth the risks? What will the next reaction of the shadowy figure be? Find out in Part 3 - "Ghost Bustin'!"