DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the OCs in this story and my other stories (except where stated otherwise). Zach Strafer is the property of Fireblast123.
Thanks to Crazyeight for beta reading this chapter.
DIMENSIONS
Stratagems
By Blazing Chaos
CHAPTER 3
Haru Kaede
"Um…please don't kill us," Zach said nervously, staring into the barrels of the guns.
"My Tamer is pleading for his life," Candlemon pointed out.
"Can it, Obviousmon!" Asuka complained.
"I am Squad Commander Haru Kaede. Are you kids okay?" asked the commanding voice from before, one of the soldiers raising his visor to talk clearly and to reassure them. While Asuka nodded, Zach noticed how heavily armoured the solider was. Indeed, they all seemed to be wearing far more armour than most soldiers did. And he was pretty sure that most soldiers didn't have the word SLEGNA printed across their uniform in large white letters.
"Hold on, SLEGNA? That means…" "I know you guys, you're SLEGNA!"
The commander sighed. "A Digital Watch member, are you?" he asked, an exasperated tone joining his voice. Zach grinned, nodding. "Forever our bane, aren't you? And to think, SLEGNA was started up as a secret organisation."
"Well duh, everyone on Digital Watch has heard of you! You're hardly a secret organisation! I mean, you guys are kinda to blame for being noticed, given the high profile identity of your leader!"
The man frowned as he recalled the frantic past few hours of his work. Zach's grin narrowed as he noticed the man's expression change, before Haru spoke in a dour tone. "I'm afraid he has been lost, and our organisation is now wiped out. SLEGNA is no more."
"No way!" Zach exclaimed, standing up. "Lost?!" he asked, amazed that such a thing could happen, particularly considering who they were talking about.
"I'm afraid so, yes," Haru replied, frowning and nodding as a questioning glance passed between himself and the teenager.
Zach frowned, the reality of the situation becoming clear, something which had become a familiar feeling in the last ten minutes. Their reality was in flux, and people were dying all over the show. "This is getting pretty depressing," he thought, his glanced falling to the ground.
"Come, we're trying to find survivors, they've attacked most people in Shinjuku. I don't think this guy wants anyone near the base," Haru suggested, putting out a hand to suggest these teenagers and their Digimon come with.
"Where are you going to take us?" Asuka asked, eyebrows rising. She had a nagging curiosity about where on earth they would be safe in a situation like the one they had found themselves in. "Those Artmon things could find us anywhere…nowhere is safe!"
"We will find a place for you to shelter before we can get you clear of the city," Haru replied, Asuka pondering whether there really would be anywhere safe. Even if they found a place, how long would it be until they were found, and promptly eliminated? For all their time-wasting with their true enemies, evil guys did seem to have no problem efficiently taking out the huddled masses.
Or at least, that was the impression that Asuka had gotten from practically every TV show ever made.
"Please, what are your names?" he requested, as Asuka stood up, showing her deep blue top, broken only for a line of midriff, and pale grey skirt, a now permanently-disabled D-Arc tucked into it.
"Asuka Kumiko," she stated.
"Zach Strafer," he stated.
"Candlemon…uh…Candlemon," the digimon concluded, a dumb grin on his face.
Haru gestured for them to follow, as his squad of seven, plus himself, turned, prepared to move out, guns cocked once again in readiness for dealing with whatever would attack them. As they began to follow the soldiers, Asuka whispered to the boy with her.
"Do they really think bullets will take those Artmon down?" she asked, concern lodged in her voice. Without a partner, she'd become useless, and, thanks to the most powerful form of Zach's partner being a sadistic idiot, it was clear they would be pretty much defenceless should they be attacked.
"I think they'll be prepared for that, this is kind of their job," Zach noted. "Special Legislative Executive Guard of Normals and Angels," he elaborated. "Equipped for the task, right down to their guns," he concluded.
"I sure hope so," she replied. "Oh, by the way, I never asked, how old are you?" she added, looking to him curiously.
"Sixteen," he answered.
"And how many months?" she pressed.
"Two," he answered again.
"Good, so I'm eight months older than you, kid," she summarized. Zach began to feel this situation was rather familiar to something from one of T&M Productions' Digimon TV series he had watched as a kid.
"Hey, that's no fair!" he complained, ignoring his nagging familiarity. "I'm not a kid!"
"You look pretty childish to me."
"Hello?! You were crying ten minutes ago at Aquilamon's death, whatever happened to…"
Asuka frowned quickly, a sign for Zach to stop, as he noted her still-reddened eyes from her earlier tears.
"Sorry," he muttered uncomfortably, realizing that he had touched on a far too sensitive point.
"That's okay," she answered, her voice emotional again. "If it helps, you're a pretty good distraction from reality," she joked sadly.
"Thanks, I guess. At least I'm useful for something."
"You have got to be kidding," Zach exclaimed, seeing another feature of hundreds of photographs. An ornate gate stood in front of them, part of a long wall, keeping out intruders from the well-known property within.
"The residence of the Nonaka's, men, so show some respect to what was someone's hope and hopefully will be again," Haru ordered, turning to his troops.
"So, what's so special about this place? None of the Tamers have lived here for years." Asuka asked, raising an eyebrow at her companion, who was grinning wider than ever, a rather disconcerting sight.
"Yeah, but this is still where the Nonaka's live! And in the past, everything would always happen here!" he said enthusiastically. "And I mean everything!"
"Zach is being very enthusiastic," Candlemon pointed out, before being ignored by the two teenagers. Both the grinning Tamer and his irritating partner had begun to annoy Asuka already, and she'd only known them for less than an hour. Zach noticed the soldiers carefully opening the gate, trying to avoid any damage to it while still breaking into the home. Clearly, law and order were now a thing of the past.
"You see, Digital Watch always hated this place thanks to its high walls. We could never find out what was going on," Zach explained. "Think; we're going to get the rare opportunity to see the inside."
"Yeah, lucky us eh?" Asuka said sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she heard the clunking and squeaking noise of a lock being busted and a gate swinging open. Zach seemed to be one of those die-hard Digital Watch fanboys that Asuka had always considered to be just plain weird, even if most people had at least glanced at the site at one time or another. Zach was the kind of person who would have the main articles memorised, and who spent every free hour waiting for another update on life in Japan, whilst updating the fact-files and spending hours on the discussion forums. Asuka was surprised Zach hadn't descended into using short forms like A1, Mtsks and Bdnmn yet. She had pondered many a time why they needed to abbreviate even the shortest of words.
"In here," Haru ordered to his men, before gesturing to show he meant the same order to the two teenagers and the Digimon standing watching the display of military discipline, even in the worst of times. Zach nodded, breathing in deeply and savouring the moment as he stepped inside, whilst Asuka simply stepped through the door.
Zach felt a sense of anticlimax when he saw what was pretty much an ordinary house, albeit a traditionally styled one.
"Hey, what gives?" he complained. "This place was meant to be fantastic!" he added. "It almost looks ordinary now," he finished.
Asuka rolled her eyes, grinning lightly as she walked past him, stepping past the now-opened front door into the inside of the house, pausing to grasp the sheer size of the main room she entered into.
"Wow, I never had a place this big when I was a kid," she gasped.
"Yeah, Rumiko Nonaka is a rather wealthy woman. She was even before she entered the spotlight as the mother of Rika," Zach noted.
Asuka nodded, as the door was closed by a solider behind them. "Yeah, I know. Makino, as she was known, was a regular in the magazines I read as a kid, until she stopped modelling, that is."
Haru coughed, commanding the attention of all in the main room of the house, all the soldiers standing to attention while the teenagers laxly cast their eyes to face their senior.
"Operatives 2945, 2456, 4293 and 5638 will move out to search for more people sheltering, stay as a group. 2397, 6482 and 7694 will stay here with me to safeguard this place and promote it to anyone nearby needing help. Good luck men."
"Roger that," came the various replies, as four soldiers proceeded to leave, whilst the remaining three others headed away into the grounds of the house. Haru, seeing his commands were being carried out, turned to the teenagers now in his care.
"This isn't my normal squad," he noted, frowning as he fully removed his black, heavily armored helmet, placing it on a table nearby. "I have been forced to become their leader after our base was lost, I am the most senior of us all," he added.
"Right," Zach answered. "So what do we do?"
"I'm afraid you'll have to find ways to occupy yourselves. Please refrain from eating everything in the kitchen, we may need those supplies for a while," Haru answered. Zach and Candlemon frowned, moaning.
"Oh, that's my plans gone," Candlemon complained, Haru chuckling at the sight.
Asuka frowned, looking sadly over the other three beings in the room with her. "How did we get here?" she pondered. "Poor Aquilamon," she added, remembering her partner.
She sighed, turning and heading away down a nearby hallway, the others watching her with concern.
"Is she going to be alright?" Haru asked Zach, who grinned, although it was a sour grin, thanks to the circumstances.
"Yeah, she just lost her partner earlier, that's all," Zach answered.
"Oh," Haru answered, not sure how to react to such a thing. He had seen people with Digimon, of course, since most of the top members of their organization were Tamers, but he had never been able to properly meet one before. He had heard of the bond between a Digimon and their Tamer, but he had never considered what would happen if a Digimon partner were to die. Nonetheless, it wasn't his place to pry; he had far more important affairs to attend to at the present moment.
Asuka gently pushed the sliding door to one side, stepping out into the unfitting sunlight outside, taking a careful glance to the sky first to ensure she wasn't about to become the victim of an Artmon attack. She didn't want to go the same way as her partner had, indeed, she didn't want to die at all. It wasn't what Hawkmon would have wanted.
Hawkmon had sworn he'd protect her to the death. Those words seemed to mean far less now that promise had become a reality.
Asuka frowned, falling softly onto the grass of the garden, near the pond, before rolling over onto her back, staring up at the bright blue sky.
"Stupid reality," she complained, sighing and closing her eyes.
The image of a laser blast going straight through Aquilamon's neck forced her to reopen them sadly.
"No," she muttered, affirming that she wasn't going to keep visualizing the tragedy again and again. It was worse enough the first time round, yet alone remembering it. Her eyes gently slipped closed again, aided by the wind.
Laser slicing through data, ripping through Aquilamon's…
Her eyes snapped open again, as she screamed quietly in annoyance, feeling intense emotions flood to her again. But she knew she couldn't scream, that'd get Zach to come see what was going on, or something worse than Zach that would very likely kill her mercilessly and emotionlessly. She felt her eyes water, tears welling up in them before they began to trickle down her reddened cheeks, the pace increasing to be faster and faster, before they practically poured out.
Her partner, dead. Her parents, probably dead. And she knew she'd be next. It was inevitable.
It was how the sick twisted joke that was life worked.
Today had only reaffirmed her suspicions that the world was controlled by some sadistic bastard in the sky somewhere, or some moronic kid with a magnifying glass and a bright day.
She reached down to her skirt, pulling from it a clip that held her D-Arc, which she outstretched in her hand, staring at the static screen. More tears continued to fall, gently splashing onto the grass and soil beneath her. She, in a desperate hope that all was not as it seemed, summoned up the holographic screen on the device, but to no avail. Nothing changed. Still static.
Forever static.
Angered, she tossed the device to the ground nearby, pausing only to wonder whether she'd retrieve it later. If she did, it'd be only out of sentiment: the device was now irrelevant to her. That part of her life was over, and would never return. She was no longer a Tamer; she had joined the exclusive club of ex-Tamers, a club that no-one ever wanted to join. And she knew that from this hour alone, that club would've gained several dozen members if not more.
What was worst of all was how useless she felt. Even if Zach's partner, at his most powerful form he seemed to be able to access at present, was a sadistic bastard, at least he had a partner. But she was helpless, being forced to rely on others for her own protection. She had lost her independence, she had lost her confidence…she had lost her reason to live. But worst of all, she had lost her best friend.
She closed her eyes again, knowing that the visions would return but not wanting to gaze out on the cruel world for any longer than she had to.
She longed to wake up and see it was all just a nightmare. But no awakening came. This was reality. This was hell.
Zach wandered through the corridors of the house with Candlemon, briefly pausing at a window, looking outside to see Asuka lying on the grass, evidently crying, her D-Arc lying nearby, and her eyes closed. Part of him wanted to go help and comfort a fellow Tamer, even if that name was now a historical remnant for her. But he also knew he'd be little help. Other than distracting her from reality, he'd been very little help earlier, and he had a partner, so he'd probably wind up making things worse by reminding her of what she had lost. He also knew that, if he was in the same position, he'd want to be alone, and he knew that this girl would definitely want the same. She certainly hadn't fallen into anyone's arms to cry yet, and it seemed unlikely she would be doing so anytime soon.
Zach sighed, his partner looking at him with a mix of curiosity and sadness. Zach was expecting a holiday, and this just…wasn't. It wasn't anything like that, a fact Candlemon would've stated if he didn't know that this was not the time to be speaking. Candlemon frowned for his Tamer, hoping that things would look up for all of them sometime soon, but knowing in his fiery heart (literally) that that was very unlikely. Even if the Artmon were to vanish that second, their lives would be changed forever, and there was little they could do to stop that. This really did seem like the end of the world as they knew it, and they certainly didn't feel fine.
Zach turned, deciding to continue his look around to take his mind off things. He wandered along the corridor, past a still open sliding door and being given another glance of the girl crying outside, albeit a far briefer one this time round. He frowned, continuing his walk, stopping at a room with its sliding door open.
"Hmm," he pondered, stepping inside, and glancing around at the large room. It had a Spartan interior, as if it had been vacated, albeit with a few things left in place. The large empty floor was typical of most traditional Japanese homes, furniture like futons and tables brought out only as required from the various wardrobes around the walls. He noted a table left in the corner, a lamp, picture frame and pen resting on it. He walked over, carefully reaching down to the picture frame, and lifting it to his face, curious about what it could be of.
The photo in the simple wood-effect frame was at the now-familiar hideout, and was of four people and four digimon, two children, one a boy, one a girl, and two adults, one a man, one a woman.
The man had a mop of goggle-less brown hair, although it was far more tamed than it was back when he was a child. He wore a blue shirt, along with a black and red device on his arm. He had a pair of grey-greenish pants, and had his arm around the woman who sat on the step next to him, a smile on his face and happiness in his hazel eyes.
Her hair, an orangey-red colour, was untied and ran down to her mid-back. She had a pair of small silver earrings, sapphires embedded into them. Her smiling face was complimented by a pair of strands of hair running down either side, stopping at her neck. She wore a cerulean neck-less top, long sleeves loose near her hands (a small device peeking out like the one on the man next to her), and a pair of gray pants. She looked to the camera, her eye line loosening slightly to keep an eye on the two children sitting on the step below.
A girl wearing a red top, with the Digimon symbol on it, and blue jeans, smiled to the camera from where she sat. She, like the other two, had a black device on her arm, with bright blue and red screen lining. Her bright red hair ran down to her shoulders. Her other arm was playfully around the boy next to her, who seemed reluctant, trying to push it off, but she was having nothing of it, as she smiled to the camera.
The other child, younger than the girl next to her, wore a black shirt, and grey three-quarter length pants. On his arm was a black device, similar to the one on the girl next to him in that it was black with red and blue, but the red and blue had switched places, and darkened. He had dark brown hair, very dark in fact, when contrasted with his red patch of dyed hair on the top of his head running from the front to the back along a raised portion of hair. He had a glum expression on his face, as if he didn't want to be in the shot.
On the younger girl's opposite shoulder to the side that the other boy was on, she had a small Kyubimon-like creature, holding her tails down so as not to obscure the older woman's face from the picture. Standing behind the older woman, gracefully looking to the picture in a pose that was all measure of calm contentedness, and yet readiness at the same time, was a tall fox that was all-too familiar to the viewers, and gave a clue as to the identities of those in the picture.
On the other side, sitting next to the older man and smiling widely to the camera, was a large red dinosaur, black stripes crossing his skin everywhere but on his white stomach, which was instead covered in a large symbol.
Below him, next to the younger boy was a similarly sized Digimon, but this one was a dragon. His wings were placed together behind him, only peeking out slightly. His face held some concern as he looked at his glum Tamer. His skin was mostly black, apart from some light grey portions on his stomach, lines down either side of his head and across his limbs and tail.
"What is it Boss?" Candlemon asked, peering up to his Tamer curiously.
"Takato, Guilmon, Rika, Renamon, Rey, Realmon, Dai and Damon," he explained, pointing to each of them as he spoke the names. He smiled grimly, knowing the happiness in the image was probably by now long gone. He wondered where they were all now, hoping that, wherever they were, and whatever they were doing right now, they were together as a family. "The family Matsuki," he said, his voice cheery as he pondered about one of the most known about families on Earth, even if they themselves would rather not be so.
The sound of a muffled laser nearby made him turn nervously and rapidly, followed by a crashing sound as the wall shook. Subsequently, an alarmed figure raced into the room, quickly sliding the door closed behind him and holding it shut in lieu of a lock.
"Haru?" Zach asked, recognising the commander. Zach's eyes widened, feeling a foreboding terror. Something bad was definitely going on, and he had a nagging hunch what it was.
"Zach!" the commander replied, his voice panicky as he recognised the boy near the wall on the other side of the room.
"What's going on?" Zach asked again, seriously hoping that this wasn't what it seemed.
The commander didn't get a chance to respond. A shot cleared straight through his chest, rupturing his skin and his armour in turn, a beam of red light continuing through before it faded into nothing. The commander's eyes widened, clutching his chest in disbelief, lifting the armour padding to look underneath, a clean hole in the front of the material.
Zach stared on in horror at a fleshy hole, on the man's chest. Worst still, it was a clean, precisely aimed, small and, most disturbing of all, perfectly circular shot. Indeed, the only mess was the blood that had begun to pour from it.
The commander's gaze weakened, his eyes beginning to glaze over as he collapsed to the ground rapidly, sliding down the doorframe frailly. Zach stared on in shock, a circular hole in the paper-thin door behind the commander. Zach felt like he was about to be sick, a nauseous feeling welling at the pit of his throat.
Unfortunately for Zach, he didn't have much time to reel in horror at what had just happened, to ponder the significance of the hole, or even to simply be sick. He didn't even have enough time to consider how he could help the man he had only met less than an hour ago. And Candlemon certainly didn't have a chance to point out what had just happened.
The paper was ripped easily through, the thin substance ripping roughly across its surface as a rounded cube burst into the room, the shadows of the room creating an eerie horror. Zach was stuck, with no way out and with an enemy in front of him, which had demonstrated before that it could attack faster than he could get Candlemon to digivolve or simply to attack, particularly given that Candlemon was still in shock himself from what was going on. This looked like a bad situation.
"Run," Haru said weakly, his eyes closing as he went limp, his body left to lean against the door. Zach quickly pondered the idea that the dying man had suggested, but quickly dismissed it upon a quick glance around the room.
"There's no way out!" Zach panicked. Candlemon looked similarly horrified to his Tamer as two further Artmon joined the first, making the situation even more grave than it was. Zach glanced rapidly from sight to sight: to the Artmon; to the unmoving commander against the door; to his partner; back to their foes..
The commander was dead. And they were next.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Yeah, things are about to get a whole lot grimmer. I'd like to hear what you thought of this chapter, so please review.
Next time, there's the return of a familiar character, and she is about to leave you very confused indeed. And you all probably thought I was simply forgetting her…
Until next time…