Chapter 8: Tragic Backstory Not Required
Mirei froze in Jijimon's grasp, eyes growing wide. Could it really...? Two years? That short of a time? Her head spun a little She moved one hand to touch her chest, but dismissed it. "That short of a time and it's like this? I..." She rubbed her eyes, feeling cold water threatening to burst around her eyes and freeze. "W-We... we tried to carry this out as soon as possible..." She struggled to maintain her composure. "Please tell me, us," It took a moment to correct for that, because now there certainly was an us. "What's happening." Answers, yes, that would help. Answers would keep her grounded through this.
Jijimon sighed, scratching where his chin was assumed to be. "That... Could take a while. Come, let us get back into the house, where we can all sit and discuss this. Tyrone," He turned to the goblin who had been fighting Falcor not a minute before. "If you wish to sit in, you may do so. But if you should be doing something else…"
"All my chores are done for the day." He replied, giving Falcor a sour look. "Unlike a certain bum's."
Falcor didn't even bother to look offended. He just flicked his tail and went to with a yawn. Yuugo offered him a worried head scratch. Falcor nosed his fingers affectionately, leading them back in.
Mirei, reluctant to leave a hug from a person who she hadn't seen for so long, moved to set herself down on the ground. She had no idea what was coming, but it all filled her with a low sense of dread. She imagined that moment, magnified, the slashing of flesh and the bullet so-
She squeezed her eyes shut and shook the images away. It wasn't her fault. It wasn't. They had decided to go after them. They had decided to do all of this. It wasn't her fault that they were dead…
Jijimon held her hand gently when she finally let go, unwilling as well to let the girl go. He led them both in, Tyrone and her pups following after her. He almost wanted to chuckle at the looks on their faces. While Ivy was more overt about it, even Rue looked a little put out that Mirei wasn't paying attention to them and instead to him. He looked up at the kids, who all stared back at him, their faces waiting.
Jijimon said nothing while he walked Mirei over to his bed and let her sit first. Mirei blinked as her pups needily plopped into her lap, nuzzling and nipping at her fingers. She flushed a little. She hadn't meant to ignore them like that. She stroked their fur, letting them curl up where they felt they -where they did- belong. He joined her after, before giving all the children a look. Then he gestured at the peacefully snoring Rina. How she could sleep through such a ruckus was almost disturbing in its own way."Wake her up, then sit down, the lot of you. It's about time I told you why you were first chosen and what our current situation is."
Rina continued to doze without noticing his stare, arms around her V.V. Sayo watched her in puzzlement, wondering just how they would wake her up. Considering her jumping around, no wonder she was still sleeping. Maybe it was best to let her rest for the time being and just explain it all later. Artemis raised an eyebrow and shot a set of bubbles at Rina's face. The girl woke with a sputter and a pout.
"Good. Now, all of you, sit down." Jijimon stated. Niko and Taiga, who had remained standing, found places to sit down. Fergus plopped himself in Taiga's lap like Mirei's pups had done with her. Sashenka instead sat down primly next to his partner, though his tail wagged a little when Niko hesitantly began to scratch him behind an ear.
Jijimon sighed, looking between all of their waiting faces -and Rina sure looked like she was about to sleep again- before he began to speak.
"I suppose I should start from the beginning. Several years ago, our world was being damaged by spatial distortions." He finally spoke. "We didn't know where they came from at first, but they were tearing this world apart at the seams. They made time in some areas so slow a day barely passed, while in others it would be so fast that years go by in the blink of an eye. We didn't know why this happened. All we knew was that suddenly, things were happening and our world was subjected to such forces that for so long, all there was to life was abject misery." He paused for a moment. "All we knew was the cause was an outside force. Something not native to this world. Something had come through the Wall of Fire - the natural defense of this world - and was molding our world like its plaything to try and cause as much destruction as possible. It only wasn't until three years ago that we ever found out what the cause was."
Something in the air grew thick and weighted. Even talking about them made Jijimon hunch over a little in his seat.
"It was a Digimon. A Digimon both not of our world and yet originating from it at the same time." He continued. "A creature made up of a fusion of the being who came from beyond the Wall of Fire and the remains of Digimon who died or refused evolution and had given in to despair. A Digimon we came to know as Apocalymon."
"Oh that's a cheery as hell name." Niko muttered under his breath. Rina's eyes were wide open now, intent on the old Digimon. She didn't speak, hand going into her pocket. The other stroked V.V.'s tummy, letting him sleep.
Sayo shifted, rubbing her temples. There was a story like this once... a story, in her head. Except... she didn't remember how it ended. "Those Digimon... committed suicide... to become another Digimon? And they could distort time and space... like the weather too?"
Mirei looked down and away, eyes suddenly very intent on her Plotmon. Ivy licked at the bite she had left on her partner's hands, bringing a faint smile to the girl's face.
"We don't know what it was when it first came. What I am telling you now is what it told all of us when we poked where it didn't want us to." Jijimon shivered for a moment. "But yes. It is a being of terrible power. It was able to affect both this world and your world, whereas it could warp time in ours it could cause abnormal weather in yours, at the least. We saw the damage it was doing in both our worlds and thus we started working on ways to destroy this being, who had communicated its desire to destroy us all." He paused for a moment. "We had many plans, but only two bore fruit. Our first was to create the Digivices, the tools you all wield." He pointed to the odd, tamagotchi-looking devices the children all had clipped somewhere on their person. Niko looked down at his with a frown, gently running his fingers on the silvery blue rectangular device. It was still a little warm there.
"After making them and our other items of power, we had to find the ones who would wield them. As we were doing this, we put our next plan into action." Another pause, then his words slowed. "With great personal sacrifice, we managed to get into the space between worlds that Apocalymon had created with its very presence and send it back through the Wall of Fire from whence it came, using one of the items of power to seal it away. However..." He sighed. "It had the last laugh."
Mirei visibly started to shake. The words formed at her lips, ready to be spoken, but opening her mouth revealed only frantic puffs of air. The air around her started to cool, the salt water freezing at her eyelashes. She opened her mouth to speak once again. She knew this part, knew it better than her uncle even. She had seen it after all, but-
Rina set V.V. to the side and moved over, pulling Mirei off of the bed and into a hug. The temperature returned to normal immediately. The little girl blinked puzzled, pain-filled eyes at her. Rina just shook her head, a tiny smile on her face.
"Be careful, yeah?" she said in a low but still cheerful voice. "Still hurts, right?"
"... What happened?" Niko asked, since he seemed to be the only one that wanted to say anything. Taiga had gone over to gently pat Mirei on her shoulder, even as he stared at Jijimon with this strange, unblinking look.
"Before we sealed it away for good, it created a number of Digieggs - the things all Digimon are born from - and sent them into the Digital World." Jijimon answered. He bowed his head for a moment. "We had assumed it would take a long time for its 'children,' for lack of a better word, to become dangerous. We knew something had to be done about them, they'd become dangerous with time, yes. Our Digivices and items of power weren't created without a purpose now, but we assumed we had all the time in the world to find Digimon volunteers and children to tie them all too." He took a breath. "We were wrong. They had managed to hatch, to evolve at a fast pace, to gain legions of followers somehow and... Long story short, we had to eventually send our Mirei away into your world at great personal cost. We lost her father, her mother, all of her friends... These beasts, who called themselves the 'Dark Masters' took almost everyone we loved and cared about before we were able to put them down." He patted Mirei's hand gently. "Mirei is the only survivor of her clan that we know of, besides her uncles who went ahead into your world to set up a place for all of them to live."
Mirei rubbed at her face, wiping away the tears. She was too exhausted for them to become ice, but still. Crying like this... even with Jijimon around, even with good reason, it still didn't feel right. Her father rarely cried. She needed his strength, especially now. If she lost her light... She felt Rina's fingers gently touch her hair, questioning. She didn't resist the hand carding through, merely shut her eyes to everything else, leaning towards Taiga without realizing it.
"He's alive," she finally managed to say. All of the room looking at her made her feel suddenly, violently ill, but she kept her voice steady as she spoke. "He's not the same, but Papa and a couple others were able to make it through."
Jijimon stared at her a moment. It was a long moment, and they could tell by his only visible eye fixating on her. Then he took her hand in his and gently squeezed it. "I'm sorry, little miss. It must have been tough, regardless, and you have all my apologies."
Taiga moved to gently pat her back instead, wrapping her in a gentle hug which he hoped was comforting. That strange look never left his eyes. It only seemed to intensify even.
Mirei managed a little smile after a second or so. "I'm strong," she finally said, but the words lacked the conviction they would have in other circumstances.
Rina looked thoughtfully at the small girl she was holding, before she let her go to Taiga. Grief that hadn't processed, pain that was without measure... and so small at that. Hah. Such a peaceful, painful world. The words were bitter now. She lifted her head, red eyes fixed on Jijimon without wavering. "Is there anything left at the places those people once lived?" Her voice gave nothing either. She felt Nikolai and Taiga's eyes on her, looking at her with a familiar emotion, from the first days they met. Like back then, she ignored it. "Something that the current enemy could use. You all gave everything and more to stop that threat from taking over, right? But from how this looks, there was another one. And they could have found something useful to them?"
Jijimon chuckled mirthlessly. "Oh, if only. They had access to our technology for a long time before we finally managed to destroy them, so there's no clue what they might have left behind. But now? Heh... Now, our threat is homegrown. It may not be the original reason why you were called here, but there is a force out there, one who seeks to do things in the normal measure of conquerors. Not to destroy everything, but to 'unify' it, the whole world, under one banner and ideology. And they might have access to old technology, too! Who knows. Either way." He cycled looking between everyone's faces for a moment, before landing back on Rina. "What you fought was a beast of the Bagra Empire, nothing more, nothing less."
"Wasn't." Mirei's voice was muffled by the hug she was trapped in but she didn't seem inclined to leave so Taiga didn't stop her.
"That was Regulumon," Rue reported, placing a paw over Ivy's mouth before she could say something completely stupid. "For him to have been reduced to such a state…"
Rina turned the words over. So, they would have to beat them anyway in order to get some answers. Sounded about right. "Unify... huh?" She let out a quiet snort. "People always say that sort of thing." Her normally loud voice got even quieter, almost talking to herself. "So... an Emperor huh? Who should we be pointed at first?" She grinned a little at the last words, but it wasn't much of a happy expression. In fact, it was almost tired.
Jijimon looked at Mirei sadly. "He is Mad Leomon now, little miss. No matter what you saw, no matter what you knew, he has become naught but a raging monster on the leash of the empire now. He destroys now what he once wanted to protect." He told her, not unkindly. He looked to the others. "The Dark Master, Piemon, did something to him. We don't know what, his wife took him with her before we could find out what was done to him. But now... Now he has killed and feasted upon too many of my townsmen, little miss. Even if a part of his old self still survived, that only makes it worse. I'm sorry, but I cannot forgive him for his actions."
Mirei shook her head a little. She didn't know why she disagreed with that as much as she did. He had tried to kill her teammates so she didn't just expect him to be forgiven. He would have killed her if he hadn't recognized her. Even so, she didn't think it was enough to just denounce him and dispatch him. Hadn't... hadn't they done that enough?
Mama and so many of Papa's friends are still dead… isn't this enough?
"So, wait." Fergus began, looking at the old man questioningly. "You mean you knew the guy who killed Snimon?"
"And so many others, yes." Jijimon nodded slightly. "I would have been proud to call him my friend what only seems yesterday, too."
"Everything is connected." Sayo put a hand to her head and leaned against Yuugo. Artemis gave her a wary look, but Sayo continued, voice hard to hear. "If he is like that, they must have made him that way, and others as well... wouldn't it help to keep him alive to figure out what caused this? To prevent it?"
"The only way to prevent anything anymore is destroying them before they can destroy any more of us." Jijimon obviously didn't want to sound so negative, but it was obvious the old man carried a great weight upon his shoulders. He patted Mirei on the head for a moment, trying to comfort the upset girl, before he turned to address Rina. "As for your question... The current 'governors' currently reside up in Binary Castle. They will eventually be our targets. For right now, we have to get everyone who has left File CITY out of hopelessness to come back. I think you children being here will help bring everyone's morale up once again."
Mirei didn't move away, despite the childish desire to do so. She still didn't agree with him, no matter how right he may have been. But that was likely because she was a child, and the pain all seemed like just enough not to buckle down against.
Rina nodded. "Storming the walls would be fun but tough right now," she said. Though honestly, ramming a castle door always sounded like a good time for all. The heroes had a lot less trouble when they didn't try to go in with as little ability as possible. All the shonen tropes in the world wouldn't help. "Where do we start then?"
"As I said. First, we need to rebuild the town, or at least get our old citizens who left back." Jijimon stated. "I'll work that out with the others. As for you... You kids look like you have been having a bad time so far. Eat, rest. recover. When we need you, we'll call for you."
"But Jijimon, that'll make them a bunch'a bums like Falcor is! And he don't need no more encouragement!" Tyrone protested. Falcor whined in mock-irritation at the insult.
"Exactly why I'll assign them to you to make sure they all get some training in." Jijimon explained to him by way of supplication. The goblin balked for a moment.
"Me?" He squeaked.
"Him?" Just about every Digimon protested. V.V. snored. Ivy and Rue just stared at each other.
"Yes." Jijimon nodded. "He is one of the old lion's two disciples, just as Falcor is. I know some of you haven't worked as hard either him or Tyrone to be as strong as you can be, thinking your natural strengths would be enough. I don't want you or your children to pay for those mistaken thoughts, however. Tyrone, and Falcor if he'll stop trying to nap all the time, will make sure all of you are up to snuff.
"Sir, if I may," Shashenka began. "But, well…"
"You're being kind of unfair!" Fergus protested. "I've had a job! I couldn't exactly balance training as hard as those two with it!"
"Same." Dolce spoke up. "I was helping Swanmon take care of the little one in the Village of Beginnings. They eat up an extraordinary amount of time…"
"Indeed. And now your job is to take care of your partners." Jijimon stated. "Your protests don't make sense. Don't you want to make sure you are strong enough, fast enough and smart enough to take care of the children you are now tasked with protecting?"
V.V. just gave a heavy, coughing exhale in his sleep. Rina scratched him and shrugged. It was fine with her.
Artemis scowled. "There's also that whole 'he breaks our eardrums' issue to consider," she said dryly.
Sayo thought it over as she watched the goblin wilt a little; something either no one else noticed or ignored. It seemed to her, well, Artemis had just confirmed it really, that they just plain ol' didn't like the guy. She could admit, he made her ears ring, but he was a better fighter than any of them right now according to their guide, except maybe that sleeping dragon. And depending on a trump card for everything was dangerous. She rubbed her wrists.
"We should work with him," Sayo finally said. She avoided looking at Artemis as she spoke, feeling red eyes burn into the side of her head. "He c-clearly knows what he's talking about, and considering we all couldn't do anything back there... we need all the help we can get. Besides." She smiled a little. "I-I have a high pain tolerance, but that doesn't mean anything if I get hit by one of those attacks, right? If we can't dodge or you can't fire it back, we're dead. And judging by the looks on your faces back there, I don't think any of you want to lose anyone else, right?"
The Digimon, except V.V., Rue and Ivy all had the right mind to look guilty, at least by a little bit. There was some mumbles of assent to this. Tyrone, meanwhile, looked at Sayo with a mix of both surprise and gratitude. He looked like he was about to say something when Jijimon got off of his bed and waddled over to her.
"Good." Jijimon patted her on the head. "Good. That would have taken a day normally to get them to agree, and they would do so grudgingly from me and then shirk it later. You will do well."
Sayo blushed at the compliment and hid her face in Yuugo's shoulder. Yuugo laughed, planting her hat back over her head.
"Do well with what?" Niko asked, raising an eyebrow at the old man.
"She will see with time." Jijimon cleared his throat, walking to stand in the middle of the room. "Well then. Falcor. Tyrone. I will leave their training to you. Do your master and me proud."
"'Ey, you ain't got no need to worry about me teachin' 'em." Tyrone scoffed, glancing over at the little lion. "It's this bum who'll cut corners."
Falcor yawned. "Kay..." His eyes drooped. "Ty, you probably need to do the actual combat stuff for now. You're more bipedal than me and you hit harder... I can focus on gettin' their bodies up. Then V.V. can work on the humans separately." He was a lazy cat, and he knew it, but if he had to do things, he would. And it'd be tough to not protect his squishy, er, human, if he didn't do things. It just got boring when Tyrone described it. He had to work on his story telling.
"I can do what now?" V.V. reluctantly sat up at the sound of his name, and stared at Rina's mile wide smile. "Oh, am I goin' to beat up children? That's not fun... but whatever." He rubbed his head. "Lemme just get some energy back, I'm still kinda tired." He bit his tongue before he could continue on with that sentence.
"Yeah, yeah. You jus' wanna have less of a work load, ya lazy bum." Tyrone glared at Falcor. After a moment he shrugged. "But if that's how it's gonna be, fine. I'm gonna get all of ya limp noodles to be tough, manly women."
"What." Niko stared at him.
"Hey, the women of the CITY are damn scary." The goblin explained. "Lotta the time more manly than most of the men. Even if they didn't leave, most of the men're still cowards waiting in their homes for the end of all things. At least the women'll go out and make sure the town and its people're safe. They gotta be scary to do that. So. Tough, manly women."
"Well. At least he has a reason behind his weird catchphrase thing?" Taiga tried to joke, but to Niko's concern it seemed kind of forced. At least to him, at any rate.
Falcor shrugged his front shoulders. "However you want to put it... there's no point in both of us doin' the same thing, right? I can do my chores while you're with them and you can do yours when I'm helping them. Good way to do things, right?"
Yuugo flicked his partner's nose and looked them all over. "We should probably figure out... who is better suited to harder training than others. For the most part, we're not suited to fighting, right?"
"I still don't see why this is a Goddess screwed big deal," Ivy muttered.
Rue bopped her head. "Because teams don't let one person do all of the work."
Rina looked over at Taiga. "You all right?" V.V. elbowed her knee. She had to bring attention to him, didn't she?
"Um." Taiga blinked, glancing around at all of the faces that were now on him, including the big purple eyes of the tiny child close to him. Good going Rina, thanks for putting me on the spot, I really needed this. He sighed and shrugged, shaking his head in a somewhat dramatic fashion. "Think I'm still having trouble processing, is all." He said. "I'm on an emotional roller coaster. Think I might become weepy next, so I'd appreciate it if you would hug me to your bosom and let me cry my river of tears."
Rina raised an eyebrow, smirking. "I'm cool with that, but what if it offends Niko's delicate sensibilities?" She didn't have that much of a chest yet, anyhow.
V.V. groaned. "Rina, I'm trying to plot death over here…" She tweaked his nose.
Yuugo tilted his head. "And you called Sayo my girlfriend... right."
Mirei tilted her head, looking at them both. Maybe this was just another one of those social games she didn't understand. Hugs helped emotions... to a point, which would explain a lot about her and her cats. She reached out and patted Taiga's hand. They didn't know each other well enough for her hugs to work out, she figured, but it may give incentive?
"He can get over himself, you're helping a friend in need." Taiga grinned right back at her, before looking down at Mirei's hand. He gave her a far more gentle smile and patted her hand back.
"Hey man, screw you." Niko's scowling made Taiga smirk at him.
"Love you too, man." He snickered.
"Y-you mean... Sayo's not your girlfriend?" Keren's soft voice stopped conversation for a moment as everyone looked at her now. She stared right back owlishly, a flush starting to come to her cheek. Then Taiga began to laugh again. Niko snorted and shook his head.
"See, Yuugo? Even she thought so!" Taiga cackled.
Yuugo scratched his head, smiling sheepishly. "I suppose I'm not surprised by that. But, well, not really. Not right now anyway. It's complicated." He glanced at Sayo for confirmation, then smiled a little. She had fallen asleep on him. Looks like that one order took it out of her. He slipped her hat over her eyes before continuing. "Age aside, it's not a good time." He smiled innocently at Keren. "Do you want a hug too?"
"N-not right now..." The girl blushed and hid her face behind Dolce. The hamster was trying not to laugh at all of this, though her amusement could be easily seen on her face.
Yuugo smiled and shrugged. "If you say so. I don't think your partner will stop us if we try."
"I won't." Dolce affirmed. "I would probably join in, too."
Rina snorted and stood up. Well, he had asked. She would, of course, oblige. She strode over and hugged Taiga.
"Hey!" Taiga began to vocally protest, though he really didn't pull away at all. "Whoa now, Rina! Come on! I said when I'm ready to cry rivers of tears! Jeez, bad timing, man." Niko was rolling his eyes at all of them now.
Rina grinned and patted his head. "Well, you aren't stoppin' me! And it's better to be close to catch ya right?" At least that was how she saw it.
"Well, fine. If that's the game you want to play." Taiga pouted before wrapping his arms around Rina and squeezing her. He didn't mind his friend's hugs. She was a very huggy person, a lot more than most people he knew. Even more than Mrs. Daimon, and she'd hug everyone if she could get away with never letting them go.
Mirei managed a faint smile of her own. She still had no idea of what was going on. This probably had to do with things she hadn't taken any interest in when she had gone to Earth. Something to do with adults and parenting probably. Ew.
Jijimon looked like he wanted to roll with laughter. It had been so long since he'd seen innocence like this.
It was a shame this peace and innocence was shattered by the sound of an explosion from the other side of town. Everyone paused and then stumbled when the shockwaves hit Jijimon's hut.
"Oh no..." Jijimon muttered, racing out of the house. "Stay in here!" He barked after pausing in the doorway. "Don't let anyone in unless they say they know me!"
Rina went still, then gently extracted herself from Taiga. She liked the hug, but they needed to be ready. "V.V.?" The dragon got to his feet with a nod, and moved to stand to the side of the doorway.
Sayo made a noise and opened her eyes. "What is it?"
"Attack, I think." Yuugo helped her stand. "Get ready." Falcor stretched, pawing up with a yawn.
Artemis examined the room, then moved to a corner, gesturing for Fergus. They shouldn't all attack from the same direction if they had to, after all.
Fergus nodded in return at the silent order, going to hide under another something to the side. Sashenka joined V.V. at the door, patting his boxing gloves anxiously. Dolce had to leave Keren, patting her face gently, to fly up into the rafters and wait. Tyrone hid in another corner of the room, looking eager to prove himself in a true fight.
The children all hid themselves, awaiting the chance to bolt from the building and find a better place to hide of need be.
After a minute of tense waiting, the door was kicked in. "Alright, old man! Come with us now or-"
The Digimon all pounced.
