Summary: The Demon Lords have received their 7th member--as an egg. They must now contend with raising him into the Demon Lord of Gluttony, Beezlemon.... Canon-compliant AU, Impmon-origin prequel to season 3 Tamers. (With some elements from the Adventure seasons.)
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon or anything related to it.
ETA: Expanded notes at the bottom, and details tweaked within the narrative.
ETA Notes: Credit to Azure Neko's comment on ch. 7 for this new story detail: "He's learning to read English or binary code, not Japanese characters. Binary code was invented in the US and is based on the English alphabet. After all, binary code appeared in the series when the Devas hacked Hypnos in a couple of episodes. It makes sense to think that it is the common written language for Digimon."
Ch. 9
Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon had left the fortress with Lilymon's team for the Floramons' ruined village days ago, but Yaamon still felt frustrated and angry with them, and plagued by an awful guilt and anxiety at the thought of the soup makers. In his room, he stacked up the blocks Gotsumon and Pumpkinmon had given him, and angrily spat out rolling balls of darkness at the block pillars, knocking them down one by one. Eventually Yaamon began to lighten up as the thought occurred to him, that maybe enough time had passed and Lilith had cooled down, maybe she would say 'yes' and play with him this time.
"Will you please play with me before we train today?"
"I don't have time for such infantile behavior."
"It's not 'infantile,' it's—"
"I said 'no,' Yaamon."
The infant looked up at her with hurt eyes, into her hard glare—which he soon returned with a glare of his own and a clenched jaw, then he quickly turned his back on her and hopped out of the lab as fast as he could, leaving her with her dumb ol' computers and all the other stupid equipment, he didn't care if she never played with him ever.
Belph was another disappointment.
"You said you were more attentive!"
No matter how much Yaamon shouted at him, Belphemon continued to snore. When the infant rammed into his side and the Demon Lord of Sloth still didn't reply, Yaamon whirled around to leave, cursing under his breath. Before his departure, the infant Digimon paused before Belphemon's shelves of fragile art, considered shoving them down 'cause he was so mad, to finally get Belph's attention....
Instead Yaamon hurried out of the room.
Barbamon was too busy with his books and his telescope and his research, and his assistants Bokomon and Neemon were too busy helping him with all of that. Leviamon was out with Lucemon somewhere. Daemon was gone too. Yaamon couldn't even get to know more of the servants; they all seemed just as overwhelmed with pressing business to conduct.
Eventually, Yaamon settled on a game he didn't need anyone else for, they'd just slow him down anyway: he pretended that he was like Lilith when she was Gatomon and busy tracking down bandits, just like in the bedtime story she told him about, though he wasn't about to deliver his quarry over to lords who'd make an 'example' of them. The game took him all over the fortress, high and low, then back to high as he ventured up another tower, doing his best to sneak around with an observant eye and a slow, cautious hop.
He stilled when he heard Lilith's Gatomon voice. Yaamon's eyes had widened—no way, it wasn't time yet, he kept track this time!
With some trepidation, the infant followed her voice. His worry was replaced with curiosity as it led him to a door that was cracked open to let out some illumination. Yaamon crept toward the door, and did his best to quietly open it up just a little bit wider to let him in—the infant flinched when it creaked loudly.
He froze when Daemon immediately turned around, his wings flaring, with a lighted screen behind him casting weird shadows and turning his whole taller figure into a very odd silhouette.
"…I thought you were out," was the first thing Yaamon said.
Daemon shrugged: "I returned late last night."
"Oh." Yaamon hopped further into the room. "Where were you anyway?"
"At the canyons, observing—well, what seems to be volcanic material...."
"The pink bubbles."
Daemon rolled his eyes. "I see you've been keeping up with the gossip around here."
"Pumpkinmon and Gotsumon told me—" Then the infant stopped, wondering if he should've said that, would it get his friends in trouble? He quickly switched the topic, to his earlier and still pressing curiosity: "I heard Lilith's voice coming from here, but she was Gatomon, and it's not time for us to train yet and—"
The infant paused as he saw his procreator in her Champion form on the screen behind the Demon Lord of Wrath.
"Okay, you're just watching a recording of her…why are you watching a recording of Lilith?" The infant asked, looking up at Daemon.
The older Digimon regarded him quietly, before giving another shrug and muttering, "Why not? You're not getting any younger. Or older." He shook his head. "I never understood how that human phrase went...."
Instead he offered a claw to Yaamon, and he hopped onto it, letting Daemon set him down on a table.
"What are you talking about?"
"About letting you watch something."
Daemon turned to a computer, clicking a button that made the action stop on the screen—Yaamon's eyes widened at the illustration it froze on. The image looked just like what his procreator described her lost and best friend as—
"Wizardmon?..."
The older Demon Lord chuckled: "Knew you'd appreciate that."
With another push of a key the screen changed into a different setting, and Yaamon terrified himself with how he had jumped toward it and wailed in a very desperate voice, "Wait!"
Daemon shook his head, "Relax Pipsqueak, you'll see him again real soon...."
The infant was feeling too overwhelmed to snap at the hated nickname, instead settling back slowly on the table.
"This is uncut footage...."
An odd song played and there was a rapid fire of images of Digimon and humans (like in the picture books)—there was Daemon on the screen. Yaamon's eyes widened; it wasn't exactly him, it was just his Rookie level as Patamon, but still.... His eyes positively widened when Daemon's Rookie form turned into this really white human-looking Digimon with feathery wings, instead of the Demon Lord of Wrath's darker, cloaked form with webbed wings. He shot a look at Dae, who watched the screen with a very contemplative gaze.
Yaamon slowly turned back to the screen too, where letters crossed it, and he recognized them with a jolt—they were Japanese characters Barbamon had shown him before, promising to teach him how to read it after he had learned their native Basic writing system, though he mentioned that for whatever reason (probably because they originated in Japan) all Digimon could at least speak the language well enough. The other word didn't last long enough for him to sound out though. Then a disembodied voice narrated a lot of confusing stuff like the Eighth Child and Myotismon's familiar name—Yaamon was completely lost.
"I know at this point, you've no idea what's going on—"
"Yup," agreed the infant in a quiet mutter.
"But that's not the point right now—I don't think you're particularly interested in all the details anyway—just watch."
Now thoroughly confused, Yaamon tried to obey. More words flashed across the screen above a shadow of his procreator's feline Champion form, and they flashed away just as quickly, leaving no time to sound them all out.
"Some of this never happened, some might've--Barb has this rather convoluted theory about it all coming true in an alternate dimension...."
"I--wha--I thought you weren't gonna go into details yet--?"
"Barb told you how humans created Digimon, yes?"
Yaamon stiffened and stared at the older Demon Lord. "Yeah," he began, "he said they did, but he didn't say how or why--"
"This recording is one of many chapters out of what we call the Prognosticus--a rather ostentatious name for human entertainment, isn't it?"
"Daemon!" The infant snapped at him, completely turning away from the screen of humans and an orange dinosaur Digimon that made no sense to him. "Just stop the show and keep explainin', I can't watch and listen at the same time--"
"Yes...a 'show' indeed," muttered the Demon Lord thoughtfully. Yaamon belatedly counted himself lucky the older Digimon didn't react badly to what Lilith would've certainly considered 'blatant disrespect' on the infant's part. Daemon acquiesced and clicked a key, and the screen paused once more.
"Okay, okay, so what's this Pr--"
"This recording was made by humans as some sort of theatrical play for them to watch."
"Um, theatr--?"
"A theatrical play is like acting out one of the stories Lilith tells you, like your games of pretend."
"Oh, okay--" Yaamon's brow burrowed. "Wait, is that what you meant before--?" The infant shook his head. "The--this recording here's a fake? Just a made-up story?" The infant blinked, flushing, embarrassed when he said, "Guess them being just moving colored pictures would be the first clue that it's fake...."
"It's a type of theatrical style humans employ, where they make their drawings move, and give them voices, music, and other sound effects, to tell a story. Now, regarding the whole issue of truth--as I admittedly rambled about earlier: some of it is factual. They are accurate with their visual representations of all the different types of Digimon they show. The play gets a fair amount of their history right with Lord Myotismon. But the way they depict the geography of our world isn't quite accurate, and they seem to leave out glaring parts of our current culture. And as for the humans, the rest of the Lords and I are fairly certain the ones the play focuses on don't exist. It's the same with the crests they possess, and their Digivices—basically the same thing as D-Arcs."
"They have crests too?"
"They are 'made up,' as you put it. The only crests we know that truly exist are our own."
Yaamon almost asked what the hell a Digivice was, and more about D-Arcs—Barb had only given him a brief and confusing explanation about the small gadgets—but he just turned back to the screen, giving it a hard stare.
"The plot of the humans' play just involves a lot of questing among these young Digimon and human children 'destined' to work together to protect both the Digital and Human worlds."
The infant chewed his lip, then turned back to Daemon: "The way you talk about it—why's it so important to you?..."
"I should think it obvious. A world away, home to the different race that created us, also makes a show that has some eerie similarities to real life here? How can it not escape our attention once we notice it?"
Daemon then leaned down, resting his elbows on the table and on both sides of Yaamon, making the infant Digimon feel strangely claustrophobic and penned in.
"Or were you expecting more than that?"
Yaamon bit his lip, then sucked in a breath and said, "Lilith was in it, and so was Wizardmon, and you said they got a lot of Myotismon's--what, history?--right...."
"When I said his history, I referred to how he organized his forces, who served him…and how he treated them, what his personality was like. All rather accurate, yes."
"Then…are my…were they like that—whatever they were—in this?..."
Still bent over the infant, Daemon regarded him silently. Then he stood up to his full height and replied, "Only your procreator knows for sure. Yet I have a pretty good guess that the humans' play is accurate in that regard too…has a grain of truth about their relationship...."
The Demon Lord left the infant and went back to the computer, moving a claw toward the keyboard. "The overblown name we--well, Barbamon mostly--gave it, 'Prognosticus,' is related to prophecy…but it seems to me that the play has more to do with the past, rather than the future--Barb disagrees to an extent, thinks there could be a bit of prophecy in it—regardless, it seems more useful for looking into a Digimon's heart, their past, how it affects them now…such insight can be useful…yes, perhaps even that could be used to predict the future...."
The screen moved again, and Yaamon watched.
&&&
It was time for Yaamon to meet his procreator for training, so he didn't have any time at all to ask Daemon more questions after the human play's chapter ended. He just rushed out with a very quick and mumbled 'thanks' out the door and down the tower.
Still fresh from the play, Yaamon thought about it too much when he started sparring, making a lot of stupid mistakes that his procreator scolded him over, and that left him with more cuts and bruises than he should've had.
Later that night, the infant had more time to puzzle over what he saw, no longer having to focus on defense and offense and evasion. He rolled over and over in his blankets--his procreator seemed the same to him in some ways, yet at the same time very different in the Prognosticus. She had been bossy, tough…but nicer somehow. He had seen Lilith as a baby too, as a child--Yaamon shivered at the sight and sound of Myotismon hurting her, he hated that, feeling sick and helpless as he watched, wishing he could've helped her. The infant thought he understood his procreator better, when she had spoken to him harshly about loneliness and when she pushed him to exhaustion so many times when they trained.
It was very different to somehow see Wizardmon, instead of hearing stories about him. Yaamon thought he rather liked his dead procreator: he was very loyal to Lilith, she acted nicer around him, and he seemed real smart and powerful…but not enough for Myotismon. The infant shuddered again. Was that what happened? He knew Lilith had killed her former Master and took over his forces—was that because Myotismon had killed Wizardmon? Seeing the long dead Digimon thrown into the water and especially Lilith crying out for him had horrified the infant—was that why Lilith hated tears so much? They hadn't done anything for Wizardmon....
Yaamon rolled over again, blinking wearily. He was sleepy, but his mind was racing, despite it being all muddled after learning so much today. The infant felt he had to decide now, whether he would ask his living procreator about all this. He was scared she would be furious--how could she not? Several times Yaamon felt he was intruding on something very private as he watched both his procreators together, especially in that--yeesh, was it a flashback within a flashback, when the play showed what they said was their first meeting? Wizardmon and Lilith around that campfire…they had both seemed so sad....
Still, regardless of their privacy, no matter how much the infant himself tried to shove it back, Yaamon had continued to instinctively feel a small thrill at any possible scrap of info on them. He couldn't pull his eyes away from the image of them, he wanted more…it's not like he would ever have a chance like this, everyone said Wizardmon was gone forever, and Lilithmon had been so different back then when he was around....
On the other hand, it felt just as wrong to hide the fact he had seen the play show something so intimate of Lilith and her friend, how could he let her think him ignorant of that? That could be even worse.... And surely, Lilith would clarify, and maybe he could make her feel better, happier, with this frail new understanding, if he really did understand…was any of that really true?...why had Daemon thought the parts about his procreators were?...he'd have to ask him next time....
Yaamon sighed, and rolled over flat on his face. It's no use, I'll just make up my mind tomorrow....
The next time he rolled over, it was just an instinctive movement as he slept, mumbling nonsense in a soft voice.
&&&
"What are you watching?" Lilithmon asked very coldly as she moved in behind Daemon.
Without even glancing at her, the Demon Lord of Wrath replied, "Just the chapter where you and that small sickly Tamer meet for the first time. Been watching it on repeat."
The other Demon Lord said nothing, just quietly leaning against the table and looking at her younger self on the screen with blank eyes. The Prognosticus had always disturbed her, with its eerie accuracy, its mere glimpses at the reality. It had also served as her guilty, desperate pleasure at times--it was the only place she could hear Wizardmon's voice from somewhere other than her own head.
She knew it disturbed Daemon too, as he was also unwillingly depicted. The rest--well, they had shown nothing but curiosity in the humans' play. Lilithmon had no idea what their lower forms were, so she did not know if they appeared in the Prognosticus at all and were just better at hiding their reactions--or if it truly was just her and Daemon who got their own freakish mirror images.
Lilith's jaw began to clench slightly at her infant self looking so forlorn and lost on the screen. For the Demon Lord of Lust, having ever been that small wasn't impossible, but rather a bitter fact of life. She remembered well being that weak, that helpless, so worthless…she just had to get her hybrid to at least the Rookie level, to at least a full Child, he could not remain so vulnerable any longer, he had to take care of himself, he had to be strong, he had to fulfill his destiny, he had to—
Lilithmon felt something click in her mind, as she noticed how forlorn and lost and alone her infant self had been....
When a flash of guilt and protest lit across her mind, Lilithmon took it as a sign--she simply had to do it now, the opposite of her instinctive, betraying desire. It was for Yaamon's own good.
&&&
"Um, Dae, you didn't…y'know...."
"I didn't tell your procreator about our show. It'll just be our little secret for now, unless you decide to tell her in the future."
Yaamon had flashed the Demon Lord of Wrath a grateful, trusting smile, and said a very sincere 'thanks.'
Before the infant could bombard him with more questions about the play, Daemon carefully deflected: "Gotsumon and Pumpkinmon have returned."
The infant's eyes lit up; he said another, quicker though no less sincere 'thanks,' then dashed off to find the pair.
Daemon stared after him a while, then flew up, considering how he hadn't told Lilithmon about their screening--but he had planted the solution to Yaamon's evolution problem in her head all the same.
As for his Sister's sordid past and Wizardmon's place as her hybrid's procreator, Daemon figured she and Yaamon could deal with that themselves at a later time.
Notes: Writing this chapter ended up giving me a headache. I imagined Digimon reaction to the Adventure 'show' in the Tamers-verse would be rather brain-breaking. 'Prognosticus' is taken from a Paper Mario videogame. Season 1/Adventure episode featured is number 34, "The Eigth Child Revealed"/"Bonds of Destiny! Tailmon"—I felt really weirded out when I realized that the episode where Impmon/Beezlemon kills Leomon is the 34th episode in its season too. What Daemon means by 'uncut footage,' he means they're watching the original Japanese episode, but like I added in the narrative, Digimon understand verbal Japanese, even if they can't instantly read or write it.