The New Digidestined of America

By: Dwarvanman

Part VII: The Quest is A-foot

"Wait, you actually worked for this Myotismon character!?" Spencer asked in shock.

"Y-yes, in a way." Renamon replied, reluctantly. "I was a-part of his STU task force, Special Tactics Unit to be more accurate, and was tasked with the more crucial mission, attacks on human military bases primarily." She continued. "That was before I fled."

"So, you were one of his most valuable soldiers, and you just up and left? What on God's green Earth, makes you think we'd just believe that you just left?" Spencer asked, being highly skeptical. Jophery just continued to be silent. "I guess that's why you're so good at following Jophery's orders." He remarked, teasing her. She sneered back at him before continuing her story.

"It was shortly after the last raid that we did, I don't clearly remember the details of it all, though I do recall that it was different from the rest of the militarized bases we attacked. It was isolated, no settlements for miles, as you humans would say." She said.

"Was the base in the middle of a desert?" Jophery asked.

"Yes, do you know the place, Tamer." Renamon answered.

"It didn't happen to look like this?" Jophery asked, reaching into a once locked drawer, and pulling out about five polaroid photographs. Two of the base before it was attacked, and three showing the aftermath of the attack five hours after radio silence. Renamon nodded her head in silence. "That was a recon station. Recon Station: Bravo, to be exact. That was the same station my dad was posted at before he disappeared." He added. Renamon was in shock, she hadn't expected her tamer to know about this specific location. She looked over in Jophery's direction, he seemed pissed. Slumped down in his chair, with his eyebrows furrowed, and a menacing scowl plastered across his face. His silence, causing the small group to just sit and stare, not daring to utter a single word. "So, what made this mission so different?" He eventually asked, attempting to mask his distain and anger.

"Instead of destroying everything and everyone, we were ordered to retrieve a select few humans and take them back for questioning." Renamon admitted, sheepishly.

"Prisoners?" Jophery asked, eyes widening.

"Y-yes tamer, that is what I said." She stated.

"Then that means that he could still be alive." Jophery speculated, sitting forward in his chair.

"Jophery, even if your dad's still alive, how're we even supposed to get to him?" Spencer asked.

"I don't know, yet. I need some time to think about it." he answered, looking down at the pictures lying on the desk. He looked over at same computerized clock on his desktop monitor, reading the time: 6:16 in the evening. "I think we might need to come back to this tomorrow." With the newly founded team's new mission declared, everyone agreed to the conclusion and parted their separate ways for the night.

A few hours passed, and the darkness of the nighttime sky once again befell the land, the light of the long-standing horizon reseeding back unto the far-off hills and distant valleys of the unknown; and the once humble homestead, now a base of operations for the newly formed team, rang out with the silence of the cold, deathly quiet hearth surrounding it. The halls of the house were empty, no life in sight, and as Renamon walked up and down the short corridors looking for her tamer, she became increasingly worried for his safety and well-being. Jophery had disappeared only thirty minutes prior, and with the passing of each and every minute, it had made his partner even more worried, only rivaled by the occasional doting mother; and with what had happened as of recently that morning, the feeling felt justified to her.

Eventually she stepped out of the house, only now did she notice him sitting up on the roof, sitting just below where it peaked, staring off into the endless starry-night sky. Jumping onto the roof, she sat next to her tamer, wishing to seek redemption for both her past actions, and her inability to keep him safe. She could barely even stand to sit next to him due to all that she had done.

There was a moment of silence between them before Jophery spoke up. "What's wrong, Ren?" He asked, looking down to meet her gaze.

"About your father…" She started, unable able to meet his gaze.

"Yeah, Ren, what about him?" He asked, intently listening.

"What was he like?" She continued, barely able to choke out the sentence. There was a short pause of silence, just long enough to hear the chirping of crickets and other nightly creatures in the distance; and an owl softly cooing in a nest behind them. "I understand if you wish not to answer m-"

"No, no, Ren, it's okay. I think you've earned my enough of my trust to know about my dad." Jophery answered, cutting off Renamon mid-sentence. "What could I possibly say about him. He taught me everything I know; taught me how to shoot, how to survive, to take care of myself. I always wanted to be like him, mom even said that I look just like him at times." He stated. "Then we got the news, that he and his entire squad had gone MIA, and was suspected to be dead. My mom didn't want to hear it, I didn't want to believe it. The only thing that they managed to recover was his service pistol, and dog tags." Jophery continued, pulling down the neck of his shirt to reveal a set of Marine Corps dog tags. "Eventually I put that pistol down, and never picked it back up again. It just sat there collecting dust, for as long as I can remember. Funny enough, this had been the first time I had used it in a long time. If anything, I'm surprised that it didn't blow up in my face, and with everything that happened today, it seems as if it were a sign."

"Sign?" Renamon asked.

"Yeah, it was weird. When that rouge smashed through that window and pinned you to the ground, it was like a switch had flipped in my head. I reached for the old gun, and when I picked it up, I didn't really feel like myself anymore."

"Jophery?" Renamon asked, growing more concerned.

"The scariest thing of all, it didn't feel like basic instinct. It felt natural, and all too familiar. When I saw you pinned to the ground, it was as if everything around me faded away. I saw you disappear into bits of data, just like the other rouges that we've fought, and the only way I could prevent it… was to pull the trigger." He said, looking down at his hands; now trembling. Renamon sat there beside him, silently listening. Her ears lying flat over the top of her head. "So, I did. I pulled trigger and killed 'em. Part of me calls myself a murderer, the other part justifies my actions. Each voice screaming at each other, and me stuck in the middle, with no right direction to follow." He fell silent, raising his gaze towards the night sky. The moon, clearly seen with its heavenly glow, now hovered above the two in its seemingly motionless splendor. Crickets and cicadas chirped around them as the cool summer breeze rolled over the homestead. "I couldn't afford to take a chance and possibly lose you." He murmured, continuing once more. Renamon's ears perked up and her eyes widened.

"You…" She wasn't able to finish her question. The rest of the of her thoughts were choked out by her sheer surprise from his last comment.

"I don't want to lose you…" He said again, now louder. "So, I've decided that it's time to give up my pacifistic lifestyle. If I'm going to have your back as much as you do mine, then I'm gonna have to pick up my rifle again, as well as to partake in some intense training." He stated with a chuckle.

"That isn't something you should concern yourself with, Jophery. You know that I will always be here to protect you, so you should just leave the fighting to me." She stated, disgruntled.

"And what if you're not there, what am I supposed to do then?" Jophery asked, challenging her statement.

"If I'm not…. But… I would never…leave" She muttered to herself

"I'm willing to do anything, if it means that we both make it out in the end, and you know that. If I'm going down, then I'm going down fighting by your side." He stated adamantly.

"He's right, he's a pretty stubborn bastard to kill!" The two faintly heard Spencer shout from a distance, all in the name for comedic relief for the slight tension emanating from the two. Renamon sheepishly laughed, looking down, eyes closed like every Japanese cartoon love interest ever.

"Fuck you, Spencer, go to bed!" Jophery shouted, trying to hold back his laughter.

"Love you too man, 'night!" Spencer yelled, faintly heard again by the two.

"Do you humans always speak to each other with such vulgarity?" Renamon asked curiously.

"Kind of, but that's only because Spence and I have a lot of history together." He answered, truthfully.

"So, you only speak to one another in such a way, because you two are good friends?" She asked.

"Yeah, now you're getting it." He stated once more.

"Human culture is very confusing." She thought aloud.

"Why do you say that? Surely you guys have something similar in the digital world, right?" Jophery asked, trying to pry more information about this brand-new frontier from his partner.

"I would not know. I spent very little time outside of the barracks and am unfamiliar of the practices of my species." She answered.

"So, you never spoke to any of the other soldiers in your platoon?" He asked.

"No, I never had to time to do, what you humans call, mingling with the others. This is the first time I have experienced being able to collaborate with my fellow allies." She answered honestly.

"Well then, changing the subject. I'll be going to Hobbs State Park Saturday morning so that I can re-adjust the sights on my old rifle." He started once again, more adamantly this time.

"If that is your decision, I shall accompany you to this Hobbs State Park." She reasoned with him. She thought she saw what looked to be a faint smile coming from Jophery, and She became flustered almost immediately. "F-For your own protection of course."

"I figured that much, Ren. Why else would you be coming with me to do a mundane chore, like sighting in rifle." He chuckled.

Jophery started making his way down the roof, with his partner following close behind him, he walked through the front door seeing the Gardevoir from before. "I have repaired the window, master. Do you require anymore assistance for tonight?" She asked"

"Wow, you already repaired the window… and I didn't even have to ask you to do it?" He said, wide-eyed.

"That is my job, master, as it has always been. Have I met your expectations?" She asked, head cocked slightly to the right.

"You just got here, and you dusted the entire house, fixed a shattered window, and took care of a scout's squad single handedly. Hell, I'd say you've more than surpassed my expectations." Jophery answered. He said, just before dismissing her to do what-ever she needed for the night. "Oh, hold up you two!" Jophery called out to both Gardevoir and his partner. They both stopped and turned to face Jophery. He leaned in closely to the two to say something important. "If either you, tell anyone what happened earlier this afternoon, it won't be just the rouges that you need to watch out for." He whispered, a murderous glare looming in his eyes. Renamon nodded and Gardevoir gulped, but both just remained silent. And with that the trio scurried off to bed, where they all slipped off to dreamland, that is except Jophery.

He sat up in bed, intently glaring at his dad's old service pistol, all the while Renamon slept soundly beside him. "Hold tight, dad. We're going to find you. I'll bring you back home, I promise…" He muttered to himself. He looked over at his partner, lying to his left, facing towards the wall. He ran his fingers through her soft fur close to the base of her ear. Almost as soon as he did, she let out soft purring sound. He pulled back his hand quickly in response to it, but then continued once again, a wry smile beginning to grow upon his face. "Heh, I didn't know that Ren was part cat. Heh, heh." Jophery quietly chuckled to himself. He looked back towards the front of his room, staring at a blank, empty wall protruding through the darkness. He let out a sigh, loosening his shoulders and resting his back against the bedroom wall stationed at the head of his bed.

"Heh, I'd almost forgot what it was like to have a true friend and ally." He started, speaking a little louder this time. "Ever since dad went missing, I shut myself away. Cheryl noted once or twice that my demeaner had changed. She stated that I had changed, and was worried about me. Each time I reassured her that I was fine, and that I was still the same person that she knew, though I don't think she believed me for a second." He chuckled, speaking to his partner as if she was still awake.

The added noise and was enough to wake Renamon up from her slumber. She kept her eyes closed, trying to go back to sleep all-the-while she could still hear her tamer continue to speak to her, thinking that she was still sleeping.

"She's stayed by my side from that day forward, even going so far as to refuse to leave me be for the first few months. At the time I thought it was annoying, but now I know that was just her way of trying to help me." He continued. "Even though I could always turn to Cheryl and tell her how I was really feeling, I could never bring myself to do it. I guess my trust in people, even to those closest to me, had receded to a point where I couldn't even be truthful to my own mother. Eventually I started focusing on my school work, probably to an unhealthy degree, and I suppose I found it as a coping mechanism. It kept me distracted from the thought that dad may never come back." He paused for moment, taking a large breath before slowly exhaling. "Once focusing solely on my studies began to bore me, I turned to the novelty of technology, and the power of computers. I spent countless hours attempting to learn anything and everything I possibly could about them. It didn't really mess with my schedule, seeing how I was already a shut-in, so I started taking them apart and putting them back together again, over, and over, and over again until I had memorized every single component. I felt comfort in the repetitiveness, for the first time in a long while I had felt as if I had some slight semblance of control over my life. Though, in the end none of it really mattered, it was just one more thing to keep me distracted from what was actually going on." Intrigued, Renamon, continued to listen, more intently, to her tamer continue to open-up, and tell her more about himself.

"After a while, everything slowly started to get better and I finally started to move on and become my old self again. I started going back outside and being social again. Needless to say, Cheryl was proud to see me finally start my path to recovery, with the final step, letting go and moving on, finally almost within my reach… That was the case, before my sophomore year that is. For some reason I decided to see if the back door I installed in one of the Gman's servers a few months back, at the time that is, was still there. Surprisingly enough it hadn't been detected and removed, so I decided to go in and see if there was any new activity, regarding Recon Outpost:Bravo. I still don't know why I did, maybe there was still a sliver hope left in me that I'd find any new information. Maybe it was a way of finally finding closure, either way what I found, erased all progress that I had made. I found a string of emails from a scientist who was looking into what happened at the outpost, being written and forwarded to his advisors. I read what was written, all the way from the beginning, to the most recent message sent. It initially hit me in waves. At first, I was shocked. I couldn't begin to believe what I was reading. By the time I had finished reading, I felt betrayed. I was lied to, and worst of all, I was led to believe that same lie. The outpost wasn't the victim of some terrorist attack gone wrong, no-where close to that, there was something else going on. Something that they weren't telling us. From then-on I was determined on finding the truth, and I would risk everything to find it too, eventually getting to the point where I risked going to a federal prison for stealing some classified documents on the subject. I never told anyone about what I did, or what I found, at least not until now. Well, I guess technically speaking there's still nobody that knows, seeing how you've been asleep this whole time, Ren, but I'm glad you were here to listen all the same, even if I was talking at you more than to you" Jophery chuckled, finally pulling his body off the wall and lying on the bed. He rubbed the top of her head once more ruffling the fur that was once nice and straight, ending the conversation saying, "G'night, Ren, let's hope tomorrow will be a better day." Almost seconds after uttering his last good night Jophery was fast asleep, with his partner quickly following suit.

Hours past and the morning come and gone, with the afternoon closely approaching while Jophery and Spencer sat in his garage, spit balling ideas on how to get actually break through to the digital world. "Oh, that reminds me I forgot to give you this before I left yesterday." Spencer said, handing Jophery his digivice. He took it, standing up to put it in his pocket. Spencer looked up, noticing that the only change to Jophery's attire was the old service pistol, now holstered to the left side of his hip. "Hey, Jophery, where'd you find that pistol?" Spencer asked.

"It's been sitting in the cabinet of my desk for as long as I can remember, after what happened yesterday, I figured it would be a good idea to have something on me at all times." Jophery answered.

"So, you just given' up on that whole pacifist stuff?" Spencer asked, leaning back in one of the wicker patio chairs.

"If that means keeping you guys safe, then yeah, I am. Besides, I've already almost died once, what could possibly go wrong now?" he answered back. Spencer just replied with a chuckle.

"I guess I was right, you really are a stubborn bastard to kill off!" Spencer exclaimed, laughing so had he could bust a gut.

From out of the corner of his eye, Jophery saw someone running up the drive-way. Turning to their position, he saw that it was Cheryl, though something seemed wrong with her. She seemed distraught, it looked as if tears were streaming down her face, but her facial expression was anything but sad. He walked out of the garage to greet his child hood, but was only met with a sucker punch to the face, only to then be welcomed to firm embrace. He had people punch him face before and even cry into his shoulder, but never both one after another. Jophery just stood there in shock, unable to properly respond to this certain predicament, all the while Cheryl cried into his chest, her sobs muffled by his white cotton shirt, with her arms locked around his body, never to let go. "Y-you, fucking i-i-idiot!" Cheryl spoke out between the muffled sobs. "Y-yo-you, me, wo-worried sick!" She blurted out, once again between her muffled sobs. "Promise me you'll be more careful next time you decide to do something so fucking reckless again… PROMISE ME!"

That much was enough to snap him out of his shocked state saying, "I promise, I promise, okay." Upon hearing his word, she let loose her grasp on him, in-turn giving him the opportunity to pry her off of his person.

"So, you saw what happened?" Jophery asked, ashamed that he made his oldest friend worry so-much about him.

Cheryl nodded, stating "I saw the whole thing, by the time you and your partner left, I found Spencer. He told everything that happened." Cheryl answered finally starting to calm down.

"Woe, woe, woe, slow your role. Did you just say that I had a partner!?" Jophery exclaimed, going from ashamed to shocked in an instant.

She nodded once again. "Yes, the yellow fox thing, that carried you away. Isn't he your partner?" Cheryl asked, wiping her eyes.

"Yeah, you're right to say that, Ren, is my partner, though I didn't expect you to know about them, though." He answered doing his best to lighten the mood.

"I have my own partner, his name's, Guilmon." Cheryl stated, sniffling her nose a couple of times. As soon as Cheryl finished speaking, Renamon appeared from the shadows, presenting herself, standing proudly beside her tamer. She stood at attention next to him, her shoulders upright, and chest puffed out, as if she was waiting for a command.

"Wow, your timing couldn't have been any more perfect, Ren. Anyway, this Cheryl, she's a tamer, too. Cheryl, this is Ren, she's my partner. Her full name's Renamon, but I just call her Ren for short." He said, introducing the two.

"It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Cheryl. Jophery has told me much about you." Renamon said, greeting Cheryl, leaning forward in a respectful manner.

"Your partner is a… girl!?" Cheryl exclaimed, her cheeks still slightly flushed from her episode.

"I apologize, does this trouble you?" Renamon asked, more taken a-back at Cheryl's sheer blatancy than her actual comment.

"N-no, no, it's perfectly fine, it's… uh… just not what I was expecting." Cheryl answered, sticking out her hand in front of her. Renamon reluctantly took it, as Cheryl continued once more, "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Renamon."

"Speakin' of partners, where's yours?" Spencer asked, turning around in his chair.

"He'll be down soon, and once he is, Spencer, I'm going to need you to finish running those tests on him." Cheryl added, turning her attention towards him.

"I guessed I missed some stuff while I was knocked out." Jophery added.