DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the OCs introduced in this story and later stories (except where stated).
After the exceedingly long previous chapter (okay, it was in three parts) with plenty of twists and surprises, it's time to pick up the pieces of what remains.
This story is not even half way through the plot yet by the looks of it, so this is likely to be at least 20 chapters long. Enjoy!
CHAPTER 10
The Morning After
REAL WORLD
53rd and 3rd, New York City
03:03 EST
25th March 2010
'Angels…'
'The power of the Gods, embodied in human form…'
'The final defence against the end…'
'The war…'
'The Demons…'
'Consciousness…'
'Time…'
'Control…'
'Knowledge…'
'Light…'
'Courage…'
'Spirit…'
'Miracles…'
'Love…'
'Hope…'
'The Nine Angels, created with the world…'
'Powers embodied in body, soul and digital…'
'Awake…'
'Awake…'
'Awake!'
The words wandered through Ryder's head, each with a different voice, all ghostly and haunting, and all seeming to be from long ago. They ranged from male, to female, to unidentifiable. He woke with a start, sitting up, looking around the dark room. Donmon slept on the floor, and the room was empty besides that. Sweat ran down his face from the odd voices.
'What was that…?' he questioned, looking around the room. He settled his head back down on the pillow. "I'm going insane…" he muttered.
08:03 EST
The morning light shone through the windows of the hotel, awaking its many occupants, both human and digital. DarkRenamon awoke from her slumber on the building opposite, quickly getting her bearings. She was determined to succeed in her quest this day, and she would take the first chance she got. She peered down through the windows, seeing her prey awake and wandering around the room, slightly dumbly and nervously. She was unsure what events had transpired last night, but she knew she had missed them all in her attempts to flee. She had spoken to Yggdrasil, and swore that she would succeed this day.
"Get a grip Takato…" Rika told Takato as he changed into his normal clothes. He held up the soup-stained jumper.
"And a new top too, I presume…"
Rika smiled. Renamon stood silently nearby, slightly concerned but knowing that what was done had been done. Guilmon slept, well, until Renamon nudged him with her foot. Guilmon awoke groggily.
"Morning Renamon…" he said, yawning as Rika changed into her usual attire. Takato still lacked his jumper, instead wearing a plain blue shirt, in a similar colour.
"What do we do about the jumper?" Takato asked.
"Meh, it'll have to wait until we get home I guess…I'm not washing it, I wouldn't know where to start…"
"Good thing it's not cold out, eh?"
08:27 EST
Mari walked up to the door of Ryder's room, and, recalling the previous day, knocked on the door. "Ryder, are you decent?" she called through the door.
"Yeah…" replied a somewhat glum voice. Mari opened the door, and saw Ryder, sitting on the edge of his bed, looking tired and worse for wear.
"What's up?" Mari asked.
"Bad night…"
"Why?"
"Hearing voices…"
"Like what?"
"Something about Angels, and wars, and the end, and time, and awaking…bit confusing really…"
"Odd…what's an Angel?"
"Hmm…I have no idea…" 'And yet I know far more than I did yesterday…what the hell is going on? Yesterday I knew bugger all, now I seem to know everything…'
Mari decided that the topic of conversation was going nowhere. "Looking forward to today?" she asked.
"Um…yeah…what are we doing today?"
"Going to the UN, and then shopping…"
"Great…" Ryder replied sarcastically, falling back on the bed. Mari chuckled at his reaction. Ryder's eyebrow rose as he noticed something, and he sat up. "Not wearing the SDCO clothes today?" he asked, noticing her lack of the black official wear she had worn on the past few days.
Mari shook her head. She was now wearing a black shirt, blue jeans and a green jacket. Her hair was the same as ever, and she wore a pair of black trainers with blue lines along each side. "Meh, officialdom doesn't matter when everyone else is wearing whatever they please," she replied. Ryder nodded and smiled. He noticed the sunlight streaming through the window, Donmon now peering out of it, and, standing up, walked over to it.
"Does it ever do anything other than be sunny here?"
Mari nodded and grinned. "You betcha, New York has extremes of weather, in one year we had a heat wave and a snowstorm. The snowstorms are the worst, it's easy to get snowed in and it gets freezing."
Ryder nodded. "England has the same, just not so extreme."
"Do you ever plan to go back there?"
Ryder glazed over, considering the idea. "Maybe…probably too many bad memories…" he replied, frowning. Mari smiled, despite her sadness at seeing Ryder's sorrow, leading to it being a weak smile. She put out her hand.
"Come on, now for breakfast…"
Ryder smiled and nodded, before following her out of the room, Donmon promptly following after.
08:30 EST
Henry walked along the hallway, Jeri having already gone down to breakfast, with a starving Elecmon, leaving Terriermon peeved he couldn't go with. Terriermon giggled and held himself upside down over Henry's eyes.
"What are you doing?" Henry asked, his vision now blocked by Terriermon's face.
"You scored!" Terriermon joked.
"Huh?"
"You went out with Jeri; finally you got your dream!"
"Right…were you really going to explode if I didn't ask?"
"No, but a tree would have when I attacked it…"
Terriermon flipped himself back up onto Henry's head. Henry reached the elevator, and pressed the call button. He noticed a noise coming from somewhere nearby, and turned to see a black version of Renamon turn a corner in the corridor and come into sight. She saw them, and looked surprised.
"Renamon?" Terriermon asked.
DarkRenamon, getting her bearings, strode forward, red-gloved arms crossed.
"Um…Henry…black foxy is acting all strange, should we run?" Terriermon asked.
"BLACK SHARDS!" she yelled, leaping into the air and black crystals appearing in front of her, eerily reminiscent of her counterpart's Diamond Storm attack. The shard shot forward.
"TERRIER TORNADO!" Terriermon recoursed, spinning and deflecting the shards, which hit walls and ceilings nearby before exploding. DarkRenamon landed. "What is your problem?!" Terriermon asked alarmed.
"I have a mission to complete…" she replied. "DEMON PAW!" she yelled, sweeping her black-glowing paw across at Terriermon, who flipped backwards. "BUNNY BLASTER!" he shouted, firing green balls of energy that hit the ceiling, exploding.
"Terriermon, stop it! You're damaging the hotel!" Henry complained.
"But Henry, she's attacking us! You know the drill!" Terriermon complained back.
"Hold back…" Henry ordered, Terriermon groaning in response. "Why are you attacking us, what is your mission?" Henry asked the black Kitsune. She shook her head.
"I must not fail Yggdrasil…"
"Egg timer whatta?" Terriermon asked.
"No one insults Yggdrasil!" DarkRenamon replied, leaping forward and knocking Terriermon against the wall.
"Hey, no fair, we were talking!" Terriermon complained. DarkRenamon crossed her arms, diamonds appearing.
"Arms uncrossed!" yelled another voice. Henry turned to see Mari, holding a pistol, aiming at DarkRenamon. Ryder had a look of surprise on his face.
"You have a gun?!" he asked in surprise.
"Dual Standard Projectile-EMP Bullets, developed by SDCO for dealing with both digital and human threats, can subdue an R-level for several days…" she told him, without looking back. DarkRenamon looked to Mari with a look of anger, which slowly turned to bewilderment. "Back off!" Mari ordered. DarkRenamon sighed, before suddenly vanishing into thin air. Mari's confident expression turned to surprise. "Where did she go?" she asked concerned, as she clicked the safety on, lifted up the left leg of her jeans, and re-holstered the gun underneath.
"She's just like Renamon; she can vanish into thin air…" Henry commented.
"She didn't vanish…" Ryder stated, prompting odd looks from those standing around him. "That's a high level perception filter, even those looking for her can't see her now, but I bet that it'll use up all her energy in doing so unless she switches to a lower one soon afterwards."
"If you have a gun, why didn't it set off the security scanners?" Donmon asked.
"It's made of false proteins, like the Digimon." Mari explained. "It isn't real metal at all…"
"So what did she say?" Donmon asked Henry and Terriermon.
"She mentioned that she had a mission to complete and that she can't fail Yggdrasil…" Henry told them.
"Yggdrasil…that is familiar, now that you pronounce it correctly…" Terriermon noted.
"Wikipedia?" Donmon asked. Terriermon nodded.
"The Nordic World Tree at the centre of the universe…" he added.
"Yggdrasil…I know who that is…" Ryder noted, he stepped into the lift, followed by the others, and it headed down to the buffet.
"Care to tell us?" Terriermon asked, now slightly peeved.
"I think this could be something major, I need to tell all of you guys at the same time…" Ryder replied, stepping out of the lift, and into the buffet. He walked over to the table, around which Takato, Rika, Kristy, Davis, Kari, Tai and Sora sat, with partners, and looked at them oddly regarding Ryder's quick entrance, which was also rather dramatic. "We have a problem…" he proclaimed.
DIGITAL WORLD
Apex
13:05 UTC
Magnamon stood in the Apex, awaiting orders from 'Lord Yggdrasil'. The shadowed figure looked around, facing the Royal Knights who gathered around him.
"Greetings my Knights…"
"I bring news of an uprising in the Western area…" Dynasmon explained.
"Do not worry about it…"
"Surely it should be dealt with?"
"It is meaningless…"
"Why?"
"I have formulated a plan to remove these problems…"
"Then what shall we do?" Duftmon asked.
"You shall wait here in the Apex for the time being, until I require us to strike. The order may not be needed if my current plan works, and I still have a contingency plan in-between."
Magnamon bowed. "As you wish my lord…"
REAL WORLD
53rd and 3rd
08:08 EST
"It was in the fifth season of Digimon. There was this enemy, Yggdrasil, who seemed like a force for good at first. The universes were collapsing, and he, being like a God, decided to sacrifice the human world, with the assistance of the Royal Knights, and the Data Squad fought back against it."
"So what does this have to do with us?" Davis asked, confused.
"A DarkRenamon attacked us in the hotel corridor upstairs. She escaped, but she mentioned Yggdrasil, and a mission she had to complete." Mari explained.
"Dark…Renamon?" Takato asked, confused. Rika put her hand on his, smiling.
"Renamon mentioned her; she appeared last night when Renamon and Guilmon were in the corridor."
"Where were you?" Kristy asked her sister. Rika and Takato blushed lightly.
"Yeah, she attacked me and then escaped…" Renamon replied, giving Rika a chance to dodge the question from Kristy, who pouted.
"So who are the Royal Knights?" Kari asked.
"I know that Gallantmon is one…" Jeri noted.
"The Royal Knights are…" Ryder began, recalling what he remembered from various sources. "Alphamon, Craniummon, Crusadermon, Duftmon, Dynasmon, Gallantmon, Magnamon, Omnimon, Sleipmon and UlforceVeedramon…" he explained. "Alphamon never appears, he's normally dormant. Their leader is Omnimon, and they were founded by Imperialdramon Paladin Mode."
"But…Omnimon…is mine and Gabumon's DNA digivolution…" Agumon said shocked.
"And Sleipmon is the mega form of Kudamon…" Kristy added, holding up the card.
"Magnamon is one of my armour forms…" Veemon added.
"And Imperialdramon is Veemon's mega form…" Gatomon noted.
"Not to mention the whole Gallantmon thing…" Terriermon added.
"So what have they got to do with us?" Davis asked.
"The Royal Knights follow Yggdrasil, their God-like leader, in all of his orders…" Renamon explained, stressing the last clause.
"So? Aren't Gods supposed to be good?" Kristy asked.
"Okay, case in point, Chaos…" Rika said, turning to Takato, and eliciting some odd stares from Mari. Ryder recalled that she didn't know of the incarnates, and made a mental note to tell her later.
"That's the name, don't wear it out…" Takato replied, in Chaos' altered voice, prompting further confusion from Mari, who was about to ask about the odd voice, before Ryder put his hand on her shoulder.
"I'll explain later…" he whispered in her ear.
"Chaos, are you all loving, omnibenevolent, at all?"
"Not at all, I'd kill you all and destroy the world if it weren't for my alter-egos ridiculous attraction to you and the fact that it would destroy my most precious creation, the pebble…"
"As you can see, Gods are not necessarily good…" Rika added, her point proven. "So, even if Yggdrasil is good or not, he still has a series of loyal followers, the Royal Knights, who do anything he says. If Yggdrasil were to be less than good…" she suggested.
"I see…" Kari replied. "But what could he possibly want?"
"No idea…" Rika replied.
"What is Yggdrasil for anyway?" Sora asked.
"Yggdrasil maintains the balance of the Digital World. Almost all Digimon are spawned by him, to balance out the levels of Data, Vaccine and Virus type Digimon. There are few exceptions." Renamon explained calmly.
"So what do we do?" Kristy asked.
"We do nothing…" Ryder replied.
"Huh?" Mari asked, confused.
"Look, clearly there must be an explanation beyond what is obvious, and lashing out unprovoked is going to get us nowhere" he replied. "Now, we have a UN meeting to attend to."
"Right…" Takato replied, standing up.
"But I'm hungry!" Terriermon complained, as they all left the table. Mari spoke quietly to Ryder as they walked to the lift.
"So what is the whole Chaos thing about?"
"Oh, Rika and Takato are two Gods in human form…" Ryder replied. "…called Chaos and Harmony…"
"You're joking, right?"
"Nope".
"This group is strange".
"You'll get used to it".
United Nations Headquarters
10:05 EST
Ryder sighed as they prepared to answer the questions. As Mari had mentioned, the gun failed to set off any security systems at all, which was also slightly concerning, since it meant that DarkRenamon, if she were to return, would also be immune.
"What exactly are Digimon?" one representative asked.
"Digimon are Digital Monsters. They are from a world called the Digital World, created unintentionally as part of the internet. They can appear in this world by Digital Fields, which create false proteins which they use to exist." Henry explained.
"Are they dangerous?"
"Some of them are…" Takato replied. "But they have all been dealt with successfully, and the rest are harmless, such as our partners."
"Surely there is a risk of their continued existence?"
"Attempts at destruction of the Digital World in the past simply lead to chaos…" Rika explained. "It is a living world, as real as this one, and should not be interpreted as a sub-world on top of our one."
"What would happen if the Tamers were to fail?"
"That is extremely unlikely; we have proven ourselves to be extremely resourceful, well beyond the ability of any government department or organisation" Tai answered.
"What sort of abilities do the Digimon have?"
"They have a variety of offensive and defensive moves, and can digivolve to higher and dedigivolved to lower levels, all varying in size" Sora explained.
"Yeah, but it requires a lot of energy to reach high forms, only available normally through being partnered with humans…" Kari added.
"So can anyone be a Tamer?"
"It is not that simple. I'm not even sure myself, to be honest, it is an odd occurrence." Davis replied.
"What organisations are in place to regulate the Digimon?"
"There are various organisations throughout the world, each having varying levels of success." Mari replied.
"So what role can the UN play in this?"
"We hope that the UN will officially recognise the Digital World and the Digimon's right to exist." Ryder stated. The speaker nodded.
"I hope that all the questions have been answered?" he asked the now talking assembly. "Quiet now, we need to discuss this…"
"BLACK SHARDS!" yelled a voice, as a black Kitsune materialised in the room, in mid air in front of the seats at the front. The shards shot forward, the Tamers dodging and the representatives surprised as the front of the room filled with small explosions.
"What the hell?" Rika asked out loud, coughing at the dust kicked up. She tried to peer through the thick wall, but failed. When it finally subsided, something was missing. "Takato?" Rika asked, noticing the empty chair. "Takato!" she called out alarmed.
"I order to know what is going on!" said a representative. Rika ran out of the room, and along a corridor. Renamon quickly caught up, running alongside her.
"Rika, DarkRenamon went this way…" she told her partner, who nodded, as they turned down another corridor. The corridor was a dead end, and DarkRenamon stood at the end, holding an unconscious Takato by the shirt in her paw.
"Stop!" Rika called. DarkRenamon, alarmed, turned and put down Takato, crossing her arms. Renamon prepared to block, moving in front of Rika.
DarkRenamon, however, turned suddenly and launched the shards at the wall behind her. "BLACK SHARDS!" she yelled, the wall exploding when impacted. DarkRenamon grabbed Takato and leapt out of the building.
Rika quickly followed, wings activating as she leapt out of the hole, Renamon following her gracefully to the ground several storeys below. DarkRenamon recovered from the high fall.
"Wait!" Renamon called, noticing her own pain in her legs as Rika landed next to her. DarkRenamon looked back, and began to run again, running through a small park area and out into the city. She leapt onto a car, and used them to run down the road avoiding traffic, as her pursuers followed promptly.
'They're catching up…I cannot fail Yggdrasil…' DarkRenamon thought. The boy held in her arms fidgeted slightly. She looked down in concern. 'He's waking up; I have got to reach the park…'
Central Park burst into view as DarkRenamon resorted to the cover of the trees. Her legs ached, and she felt weak, the result of the boy's weight and her lack of energy. She silently cursed herself as she saw Bethesda Terrace in front of her. A large fountain dominated the area, surrounded by a large circle in the floor. One side of it, there was a lake, and the other featured a higher level linked by a pair of stairways on either side of a series of arches, DarkRenamon's destination.
Her plan was foiled when Renamon leapt down from the raised part, and blocked any method of her reaching the arches. Rika arrived behind her, sword in hand.
"Put him down!" Rika ordered. DarkRenamon made a plan. She would back flip over Renamon, landing behind her back and blocking any way of Harmony hitting her with a long range shot, and letting her reach the arches, the portal, and Yggdrasil, with her catch.
Something clicked, however, as she stared into the girls eyes. The girl was determined, angered, and yet…fearful. Innocent even.
'No…I must serve Yggdrasil!' DarkRenamon thought.
"Put him down!" Rika ordered, even more angered.
'But…she is a child…how could she be a threat?'
"Now!" Renamon ordered, advancing on her stationary foe.
'I need more time to think…' DarkRenamon thought, placing Takato's unconscious form down. "I apologise…" she told her foes, before backflipping over Renamon's back. "My master has no time for fake Gods…"
Before onlookers could question, DarkRenamon disappeared into thin air via her perception filter.
"She got away!" Rika complained. She bent down to her lover, who was slowly regaining consciousness. "Are you okay?" she asked, concern in her voice.
"What happened? Last thing I remember is being hit hard in the back of the head…" he replied groggily. Rika smiled; glad to see he was okay.
'Fake Gods?' she thought, looking to where DarkRenamon had previously stood, concerned.
TO BE CONTINUED…
And so the plot develops further, and DarkRenamon begins to have second thoughts. Please review.
Next time…
Will DarkRenamon come to her senses? What is wrong with Yggdrasil? What does DarkRenamon mean by Fake Gods? And what is up with the voices Ryder heard?
Find out in 'Plight of the Dark Kitsune', Chapter Eleven of Dimensions Book Four: Gods.