Chapter Ten: Heavy Metal Fissure
"Only one guard." Tai told the others and handed the scope to Takato.
"I don't think he's going to be much of problem alone against seven champions." Takato whispered as he peeked from behind a dune, looking over the glass-scape towards Full Metal City.
"Seven!?" Gomamon yelled. "I can take him alone!"
"We might not even need to digi-volve." Yolei offered. "Remember how destroying those black rings shut down the Gardromon?"
"One well aimed shot and he'll shut down." Zoe finished.
"Sniper rifle?" Matt asked Blake who just shock his head.
"Gravity's intensified. And I don't have the equipment to calculate the altered constants because of it. And I doubt Rika has the time for me to do it by hand." Blake explained. "I can't compensate at this distance. And you were basically joking."
"Please tell me you were." The response Matt got was a sheepish look as the brown haired boy tightened his grip on his bag.
"And there doesn't look to be any suitable cover closer to the gate." Tai added before a thought stuck him. "How much more intense? I can't feel anything."
"You wouldn't until it's three times more intense then that of Earth. This is just over twice the intensity."
"This is caused by the Time Fissure?" Takato asked. "This is turning the digital world into something really alien."
"Just be lucky it's not altering the atmosphere. I've seen it do strange and lethal things to the nitrogen."
"What's stopping it?" Joe asked worried.
"I'm guessing… the same thing that's keeping us from suffocating." Blake answered. "Data that's programmed to mimic a Terran Standard Atmosphere. The water. The food. It's all reprogrammed to support carbon based life."
"Err… Guys. This isn't your standard Gradromon guarding the gate." Takato mentioned.
"It's Andromon." Agumon announced. "I think. He looks different."
"Different? How?" Joe asked.
"He's got this orange finish." Takato noted.
"Orange?"
Hiroaki could do nothing but watch. Before him, he saw his son run up to him with a white haired foreign teenager, and a brown haired girl his age. It was the forigen girl who checked his vitals. In the corner of his vision, he saw two wild ones rushing the large silver one.
"Lightning Blade!"
"Pepper Breath!"
"Boom bubble!"
"Concussion." She concluded, grabbing something from inside her bag. "You guys go. I can handle this."
"There might be people inside that building." Takuya told the girl. "We have to get them out of there. Quickly." The girl nodded. Hiroaki tried to protest, but the teenager was quick to stop him. She injected something into his shoulder.
All he could do was watch as Takuya ran into the burning building, dodging the attacks from the wild ones.
"Boss! Think you could lead a hand?!" One of the wild ones called out.
"How about a couple of fists! It's Fighting Time!" Returned another teenager, a brown haired boy, rushing the machine, fist slamming into the metal.
A ring of fractal code appeared around the boy's fist. The teenager over him said something in warped Japanese. So warped, he couldn't understand what she was saying until she said "There is no end to it. Humans transferring mana though a quantum link. That's what the digi-vices do. Connect humans to their digimon partners." She started laughing manically.
"Marcus!" Hiroaki heard his son call out. "Swipe the fractal code with the digi-vice! Use it to evolve Agumon!"
Even Hiroaki could see an orange and grey device appear in the boy's hand as he used the scanner to swipe the code. In turn, the orange wild one was incased in the same fractal code, the cocoon began to swell and grow until it vanished and left a tall dinosaur in the smaller wild one's place.
While she was districted, Hiroaki managed to get away from his carer and run after his son.
She called after him but didn't run after him. A hysterical girl wearing overalls forced her to stay and calm the girl down. Kanbara, ignoring the throbbing headache, followed his son into the shop front. He ran upstairs, coughing and stumbling though the smoke and flame. He needed to get Takuya out of here.
He heard a creak. Then a scream. Hiroaki turned towards the door where the scream came from. It was open, and he could see a figure, tall and board with a long mane of blonde hair, wearing red and silver armour, crouching and holding burning wooden beam over his head. He stood up and threw the beam away and Hiroaki could see a young boy, not even Shinya's age, huddled in the middle of the room, and the flames. The figure had saved the little boy from being crushed.
"It's okay." The figure told the boy. "I'm going to get you out of here. Come on little buddy." The figure proceeded to pick up the boy and carried him out of the room. Hiroaki began to black out from breathing in the smoke. He swore that he heard his son call out to him as the world turned to black and the last thing he saw was a helmet with three horns and dark brown eyes underneath with a familiar determination.
"It's rust alright." Joe noted, looking at the immobile digimon. If he didn't know better, he'd say the cyborg digimon rusted up on the spot, but he didn't rule it out. Koichi slammed Loweemon's spear into the gate's lock. When it opened, Joe thought it was now much more likely.
Matt tired to take the altered scene in. Last time he was here, the city was all shiny and new and packed full of Guardromon. Now, instead of the theme colour of shiny chrome, it was replaced by rust orange. The Guardromon who had digi-volved to the next stage into Andromon were rusted into immobile statues.
"This is…" Tai started.
"Surreal?" Koichi asked.
"Everything looks like it aged a thousand years." Takato pointed out.
"But we were just here." Gabumon stated. "How can it age a thousand years?"
"Time is like a river." Blake stated simply. "Sometimes the currents can speed up, especially in the middle of a storm."
"What does that have to do with anything?" Yolei demanded. The only response she got was a chuckle, and something spoken in chinese. "Something funny?"
"We have to find the girl." Tai pointed out, interrupting Yolei. "Where's the control spire?"
"In the city square." Takato answered, he pointed down one of the roads.
"Okay. Lets spit up, see if we can't find this Rika girl in the process." Tai instructed. "If we don't all meet up in the city square in half an hour, call for back up."
Nods of agreement came from humans, digimon and hybrids alike as they split into four groups, only Koichi noticing the shadow going after one of the groups.
"Koichi?" Joe called out to the warrior or darkness. Koichi dismissed it as a trick of the light.
"Meteor Wing!"
"Hand of Fate!"
"Thunder Fist!"
"Mega Flame!"
Henry watched as the champion level digimon kept the Andromon's attention on them, keeping the attacks from injuring anymore citizens. Setting up a laptop, he had an idea to lure Andromon back into the digital world, with little faith four champions could take down an ultimate without any modify cards or advantages.
"I don't think we can do this." He moaned to himself as one of JP's fist hit Andromon… What happened caught Henry's and Marcus' attention.
"Nice. Shattered metalhead's armour." Marcus cheered as the metal cracked and spiderwebed.
"But metal is malleable. Not brutal." Henry pointed out as Clair walked up behind him.
"Come again?"
"Metal isn't like pottery." Clair explains. "Metal is malleable, meaning it can be bent into a new shape with enough force. Pottery brakes. Meaning someone turned metal into pottery. No. Chocolate."
"Chocolate?"
"Look. The metal is melting and it's not even close to the fire."
"That's not right." Henry observed. "And Andromon is moving kinda slow."
"Old Andromon there is a bit rusty." Terrormon commented. The was a powerful gust of wind as something landed behind the group, Gatomon's armour digi-volved form with Kari and two others on her back, a ten year old kid and Takuya's father. Clair ran up and helped Kari lower the man to the ground while the boy ran off.
Something fell out of the man's pocket that caught Clair's eye… a government ID badge. She took it before anyone else noticed it's existence. Nefertimon devolving helped.
"Mr. Kanbara! Can you hear me!?" Kari asked while shaking the man gently. The man opened his eyes and tried to say something. He pointed to something behind them, a tall, blonde haired figure in red and silver armour with the fire and burning building behind him. He watched as the figure was cocooned and emerging from the code was his son.
"Dad!" Takuya ran up to the man.
"He's fine." Clair assured the boy. "Nanite shot is regulating his CO2 levels. He's just hibernating so they can expel the excess car…" She stopped herself, reminding herself that this was a twelve year old she was explaining it to. "So he doesn't die from smoke inhalation, tiny robots in his blood are collecting the carbon, storing it safely until it can be exhaled. Does that help?"
"A little." Takuya admitted. "I don't pay much attention is science." Kari chuckled at the boy.
Clair quickly looked at the ID badge. Most of it was in Kanji and Hiragana, except for what was written on the top in Latin alphabet. The mechanics of the translator allowed her to see the six letters stand out from the rest, above the photo of Hiroaki Kanbara. HYPNOS.
"Alright!" She heard Marcus yell as the Andromon disintegrated. Clair looked up to see the ribbon of fractal code spiral around a sphere of light.
"Something's wrong!" Henry called out as the ribbon began to disintegrate, and the sphere dimmed into an egg, which then disintegrated, like the Andromon.
"What happened?" Kari asked.
"I think it was deleted." Clair observed. She didn't have time to gage everyone's reactions as the fog barrier began to lift.
From her hotel balcony, Nene watched as the battle unfolded, her hair caught in the wind.
"Impressive." She noted. "I'm going to have to keep a close eye on them." She then looked at a google wearing boy trying to clam a hysterical girl in overalls down. "And him. I wonder…"
She also noticed a distorted figure beginning to take shape in the river. She couldn't help but frown and turn to the woman in the cloak. She was more preoccupied by the Mikemon in her lap then with the battles raging just a mile from them.
"What should we do about Machinedramon?" She asked.
"Let Yamaki handle that." She answered. "He's too weak from crossing the time distortion to do anything yet."
"That doesn't sound like a good idea."
"I know Nene. But trust me for now."
She nodded, unsure of what else to do.
"…and I reminded her that nobody suffers form insanity in my family. We all enjoy every moment of it."
Tai chuckled, contrasting the concerned look Agumon was giving the dimension jumper. "You okay Agumon?" Tai asked. "It was a good joke."
"It does make you think." Agumon answered.
"You don't look thoughtful." Blake pointed out. "Sigmond Freud established that no mortal can keep a secret. I don't think he ever studied digimon psychology."
"Something's bothering you." Agumon accused. "This morning, you seem more distant, and taller and uncomfortable."
"Betrayed by Freudian Science." Blake laughed. "It's nothing big. Just a lot of little things so far."
"Then talk to us." Tai offered. "Or is this about setting up my sister with Takuya."
"That…" He stopped.
"So it is about my sister?"
"Sort of." He answered. "Seeing Takuya and Kari together. It's like seeing sparks fly between them. Basically, Destiny is malleable by our will, but also by events that need to occur."
"Then why does my sister need to be with Takuya?" Tai asked. "You making sound like the universe wants it."
"Not the universe. And then there's that smartphone of yours." Blake said changing the subject.
"Yeah. What about it?" Tai asked, pulling his D-Terminal out of his jacket pocket.
"What year is it?" He asked. "2002?"
"Yeah."
"And you've got gigabit wi-fi, facebook, smartphones…"
"You've lost me." Tai interrupted. "Facebook?"
"There's an average standard of technology across earths. Some are head. Some are behind." Blake explained. "But, on average, smartphones shouldn't be appearing for another five years. Social networking doesn't become mainstream for few years. And wifi of this standard… eleven years away."
"But your world has to be way ahead of ours." Tai protested.
"Because of an ancient space ship." Blake returned. "There's a reason. Joey highlighted the question to me this morning, and I've been meditating over it for some time now. Does your world's connection to the digital world account for the acceleration in technological advancement?"
"Did you ask Izzy?"
"Joey already did."
"Tai. Blake." Agumon called. "I think I hear something." Tai looked up, and saw something disappear behind a corner.
"Hey!" He called out and ran towards corner. There was a flash of blue light, so it came to no surprise to him that when he made it to the corner, there was no one to be found, just more frozen Andromon. Blake and Agumon caught up with him.
"You saw something?" Blake asked.
"Someone. I think." Tai stepped forward. There was a crunch. They looked down. Tai had stepped on something metal. It was strangely newer then the rest of the city, silver and shiny.
"Oh no." Blake gasped. "Not them. Not here."
"What?" Agumon asked.
"The most efficient killing machine creation has ever seen." Blake answered. "Archon Reapers."
"If it's a machine, then won't it rust like everything else here?"
"The alloy it's made out of won't oxidise for another billion years." Blake told the small reptile. "I should know, it's the same alloy my phone's casing is made from and it's…" He rubbed something between his fingers. "It's wet?"
"Over here!" Agumon called out. While Blake had been talking, the orange dinosaur had wondered further up the ally. When they caught up to him, there was a startled gasp.
Rika lied aginst the wall, eyes wild, breath shaky, and with a hand over a gushing wound over her arm. When she registered the two teenage boys, she became certain that she was safe.
"You need to get out of here now!" She yelled. "There are these things…"
"I know." Blake knelled by her side. "We're going to get you out of here."
"I'm not leaving without Renamon!" She argued. "It's my fault she's here! I wanted to make her digivolve! I wanted to prove I could make her digivolve!"
"You seem really concerned for a pile of data." Tai pointed out.
"She…" She started but then became silent. She turned her head towards Agumon, then back to the brown haired boy. Their faces held expressions of worry, but their eyes betrayed their bitterness towards her. "Renamon told me to run and I didn't." She moaned. "She's probably absorbed by those Guardromon now."
"Maybe not." Agumon tried to assure her. "She could just be waiting."
"Come on. One of our friends has some medical supplies. He'll fix you up quick, and there's safety in numbers." Tai reminded her.
Rika nodded, not in any position to argue. And when she heard someone scream, she doubled her efforts to get upright.
It was quite, despite the conversation Takato had managed to start with Gabumon and the enquires for food from Guilmon, Matt couldn't help but notice the body language the brunette was displaying. He knew that time fissure did strange things, making his brother nearly relive the worst moment of his journey. Sure. It made him uncomfortable, but compared to the anxiety that Takato displayed. He wasn't the only one.
"You okay Gabumon?" Matt asked.
"There's something here." Gabumon answered.
"Organic matter detected." The four turned to see a thin silver skeletal figure behind them aiming a canon at the blonde rockstar. And before they could react, it exploded in a shower of sparks, giving a shriek of electrical pain before collapsing into a heap.
Behind it, at first reminded Takato, Matt and Gabumon of WereGarurumon, but the rookie digimon noticed that there was a human smell to it.. him. And Matt could see some sort of chrome rifle in the creature's claws. They all had the idea in the back of their heads that this creature wasn't a digimon.
And it talked…
"You alright mates?"
"They won't be soon." Came a voice. "You're just in time for the show boys."
"Hurricane Wave!"
Her attacks did little but knock back the silver skeleton like figure as it advanced on the three of them. Thankfully, it was enough but it was wearing here out quickly as they doubled back.
"In here!" Yolei yelled as she held open a metal door. Both Halsemon and Kazumon dived for the open door before Yolei slammed it shut and locked it. She stepped back from the door, just before a loud bang shock the room. And another. It was trying to ram down the door. Not surprising since Yolei noticed that the machine's design didn't leave much for dexterity. A canon mounted to one arm, a sickle like blade on the other, and no hands to speak of. The blade was extremely sharp too. Had to be when it sliced though the door like it was made from butter, rather then rusted steel. The blade made a long slice though the door. On the other side, Yolei could see a single LED light that represented an eye.
Halsemon and Kazumon prepared their attacks.
"Electro Shocker!" They heard a digimon call out an attack.
Two arcs of electricity hit the skeleton of silver and a shower of spark shot out of each of it's joints. It fell backwards, limp and rigged. Yolei let out a breath she didn't release she was holding.
"Well, that'll be a useful technique." Zoe and Yolei heard Tai say.
"That'll certainly cover a few weaknesses." Another voice said. Blake's.
"Just be careful, you don't want to over do it." A third voice said. It sounded like… "Rookies like Agumon don't have much in the way of energy. Modify cards will just over tax him."
Zoe opened the door to see Agumon standing over the fallen metal figure. Behind him was Tai, Blake… and Rika. She wasn't took happy to see her, until she spotted the blood, and bitterness turned to concern for the young girl.
Rika on the other hand was stunned to see a digimon she had never seen in the card game. A pink fairy digimon with an eye visor.
"You guys okay?" Tai asked the three concerned.
"Just short on breath." Yolei answered. "What was that thing?"
"Something you don't want to meet in a dark alleyway." Blake answered, taking out his phone and pointing it to the inanimate metal skeleton. "These things destroyed their creators, doing what they were programmed for."
"Kill?" Yolei whimpered, hoping for something else, but well aware that her hopes would be dashed by his next answer. What she didn't expect was the cold and direct answer to come from the older boy.
"Pest control."
Tai was about to ask him to elaborate when he heard Joe's voice resonate from his Digivice, the crest of honesty lit up on the small LED screen.
"Tai. Tai. Where are you guys?"
"Zoe? You guys okay?" Koichi's voice spoke from her digivice, the warrior symbol of darkness appearing in jet black on the pick digivice screen.
"We're fine Koichi." Zoe answered over the device. "Just ran into some trouble."
Rika was puzzled by the different shape but still recognised the device. Then the voice referring to the unidentified digimon as Zoe. And she didn't mistake the glare she got from the digimon when she said trouble.
"Guys! Zoe!" She remembered that boy, Koji calling out. Now that she thought about it, the voice sounded similar to that girl…
Wait.
"We found her Joe. You might want to get some bandages ready." Tai told his medical student friend over the device as the girl he was carrying suddenly gasped, stumbled back, and yelped in pain before collapsing to the ground. Humans, digimon and hybrids gathered around to help the girl up, while Joe yelled for answers.
Rika just pointed at the hybrid, her mouth moving, but unable to make anymore then stutters. Had Zoe not been concerned about the girl's well being, she might have found it amusing to see the 'Digimon Queen' reduced to this state.
The one word she did manage to say was "How…"
Blake chuckled, well aware of what the red head was asking. Tai bit his lip, next to understand the girl's question. Then Zoe, wondering if the girl would now think that her friends would be targets for her fox…
Now that she thought about it, where is Renamon?
Either way, it would take some time to explain to her.
When he began to regain conciseness, Hiroaki began to stir, only to spring upright when he recalled the memory of Takuya running into a burning building. Then came a painful headache.
"You shouldn't get up too quickly." Said a voice. Hiroaki twisted his head, seeing the voice's owner, offering a bottle of water in his gloved hand, opened with a thin layer of water dripping off the plastic container. The familiar face of his son smiled at him, a nervous, cautious smile, unsure wether to smile or not. The older Kanbara looked around, the charred building now dripping wet after firefighters let the fire burn out, staved of fuel and nowhere else to go without getting assaulted by water. Around him were the creators and burns of an intense battle, solders running around, providing what ever assistance was needed. Amazingly, no one looked hurt.
"What happened?" Hiroaki asked.
"A microstorm." Takuya offered. "I heard some of the other say. They seemed to appear out of nowhere."
Like Clair said, Hiroaki accepted the excuse, not because he believed it, but because Takuya looked to believe it himself.
"What are you doing here?" Hiroaki asked. Takuya composed himself, having already prepared the excuse. "I thought you said you were visiting Tommy."
"I did. But Yukata needed to go to an AA meeting. I wanted to make sure he got here safe." Takuya then went on the offensive. "What are you doing here? Mum called and told me you were going to be late home."
"Mr. Kanbara!" One of the solders called.
"We'll talk about this later when we get home." Hiroaki said as he got up to address the solder, only to run into someone.
"Sorry." The girl said, looking at the man. "Mr. Kanbara. You're up. I bought you some coffee. Takuya said you liked it strong." The girl held out a paper cup with a coffee shop logo on the side, steam still rising from the hole in the top. Hiroaki regard the girl with a quick look as she offered one of the four cups she had in a cardboard tray, and a paper bag of something. He took the coffee and muttered his thanks, still confused about the situation and made a note to ask his son about it later.
Kari reached the bench she left Takuya and Gatomon. Gatomon came out from under the bench receive a cake in the shape of a fish. She didn't much care for the shape, but munched on the food regardless. A boy, Mikey Kudo had suggested the cafe once his friend had calm down. Well, more districted from seeing Gatomon.
The two sat together, the sunset bathing the ruined park in orange light. Kari would glance at the brown eyed twelve year old, who had his hat and googles off, and the wind playing with his messy brown hair. She couldn't help but notice that his mind was on something, likely his brother's hardship since becoming a hybrid like himself, only with an uncooperative sprit. Absentmindedly, her hand brushed by Takuya's. He noticed, turning to Kari, who looked away, a reddening blush blossoming across her face.
They heard something, leaves rustling. Gatomon dropped her treat to investigate, running up the tree. An orange streak leapt out in a panic and ended up on the ground. It was a digimon, the Flamemon that attacked Renamon in Shinjuku Park. Kari gasped, because of what he didn't notice before. Among the tribal markings, were long healed scars, littered all over his body. How he didn't notice them before was beyond him. And around his wrist was a whistle.
Gatomon landed in front of him. She didn't understand why, but there was something familiar about this digimon. Almost…
"Hey!" Kari called out as the digimon fled, escaping up a building. Takuya charred him as far as the wall before one of the firefighters turned to see what was going on. He couldn't change into Agunimon with the chance of people noticing. And somehow, he didn't think it would be the last time he would see that Flamemon.
It was a lot to take in. Real digimon were one thing, but hybrids were something else. And then there was the trying to get the non-liner history of the digi-destine straight in her head. Right now, she figured that Tai's group saved the digital world four years ago, while Zoe's group traveled back to it's distant past and saved it thousands of years ago. Then there was Blake, who was something else entirely. She couldn't find his partner digimon, nor did he seem to miss one. He didn't look like a hybrid, but she wasn't sure how to tell the difference, she assumed it wasn't obvious. And the way he seemed to distance himself from the other digi-destine. He wasn't a local, that was obvious, but his grasp of Japanese could pass for a teenager who's lived in Tokyo since birth. But he never used first person ownership when referring to the real world. It was only ever 'the Human world' or 'Your world' or just plain Earth. And the tech she caught a glimpse of. His watch, his phone, they didn't seem to belong on her world. And then there was the gun, the silver handgun that was strapped to his leg. She had seen it once when they heard something behind them. Digimon and Hybrids took positions to attack and defend their human friends and partners, she was surprised to see the thing appear in his hand, aimed steady down the way they came. And the semi-google head who laughed about some obscure soccer reference Tai had made vanished as his stance change to something familiar that reminded her of Renamon. Combat ready and merciless. It wasn't until the weapon despaired and the children's fears unrealised that the battle hardened and ready warrior disappeared, and the care free teenager returned.
When Rika asked Tai who he was, all he said what "You wouldn't believe me."
Even with all the evidence in front of him, and having been aware of the Digital World before hand, Tai still had trouble believing it himself.
"Rika!"
The sudden yell caught the girl off guard. "Renamon!" Everyone turned in the direction of the voice. They saw the digital fox standing down an ally, fur singed and dirty. "Because you're my partner Rika."
"Rena…"
"Please Rika. Run. Get away from here, while you can." Her voice was weak, barley above a whisper.
"No." They heard Rika's voice, but it was from behind the group. "You can't."
"What's going on?" Yolei demanded.
"Temporal echo. Imprint of the past, and the future." Blake explained. "Time literally collapse in a time fissure. History and destiny is present."
"I must destroy the enemies of the emperor." Came a computerised voice.
"Andromon?" Tai questioned outloud, turning down the road they just came.
"Lightning Blade!"
"Look out!" A gust of wind pushed everyone forward as a shock wave of Andromon's attack narrowly missed them. Tai looked up to see a black ring around Andromon's arm.
"Is that the best you got Tin Can!?" Came another voice, noticeably human, but it wasn't one Tai recognised. A pair of large, clawed feet landing an inch away from his nose. Looking up, he found that those feet belonged to a tall and imposing wolf man, covered in black fur, wearing a blue sleeveless top and a pair of loose jeans, welding a pair of handguns.
"Wolf-boy?!" Blake questioned as the humanoid wolf fired shots in rapid bursts, ice blue laser bursts hit Andromon with enough force to knock him back and leave burns on his armour.
"You know that thing?!" Zoe demanded.
"First soul I ever saved." Blake answered cryptically.
"What's that suppose to mean?" Tai questioned.
"You tell me."
"Fox Tail Inferno!" Another Digimon ran over them, it's paws phased though their bodies, like it wasn't even there, but it's attack pelted white fire over the android digimon, grabbing it's attention.
"We need to keep going." Agumon argued.
"Agreed." Tai seconded, getting up with everyone else. He and Blake had to help Rika up, and they moved hastily towards the city square.
"I see what the problem is." Datamon informed the three. "I'll have it fixed in no time."
Joe for reasons he kept from Koichi has uncomfortable around this Datamon, and he was sure that the warrior of Darkness was aware of his unease, as he made a couple attempts to assure him that he was a decent guy, just a little anti-social. Considering he was playing with the added digi-script on the control spire, he was unease by it, along with the hundreds of frozen Guardromon standing around them, expecting one of them to attack at any moment.
And Gomamon flinging insults to one of the still machines wasn't helping his nerves either. And worse, he couldn't reach Matt or Takato. Something was wrong. Very wrong.
"Hey! Joe! Koichi!" They heard Tai call out. The trio turned to see group coming towards them, standing out was a bleeding and tired Rika. Without wasting anytime, Joe opened his doctor's bag, and had Tai lie the girl down where he examined the girl, cleaned her wounds and dressed the serious ones.
"What happened to her?" Koichi ventured to ask.
"You don't want to know." Zoe answered. "Trust me on that." Once he was done, Rika sat up, but standing on her own weight made her dizzy, Tai and Koichi had to help her stay upright.
"I still can't get though to Matt and Takato." Yolei announced.
"It doesn't matter. They'll just end up in the eye of the fissure before it closes since we entered the fissure." Blake assured her. "We just need to close it."
"Can't you just do what you did last time?" Tai asked. Blake shock his head.
"The cause was outside the fissure. Reversing time outside the fissure is easy because cause and effect is still absolute. This time, the cause is with us. This time, the control spire is trying to amplify energy from Rika to make Renamon evolve to her champion stage. Only problem is, the spire is still preventing digimon from evolving."
"Then why would it do both?" Gomamon asked.
"Because it's been programmed to do both." Datamon explained. "But the Emperor must have used a programming language that doesn't accept conflicting commands. And instead of crashing, it keeps running until it eventually tears itself apart." He turned to the assembled group with a length of chalk in hand. "It should be good now."
"With Rika inside the fissure, where cause and effect is broken, we need to restart the events Rika set in motion." Blake turned to the red head. "There was a moment where the bond between you and Renamon became so powerful that you provided the energy needed for her to reach her next stage. Your sincerity that you wouldn't leave your partner's side, no matter the cost to yourself. You felt it once, now I'm asking you to look into your heart again, find that moment, hold on to it tight, let it hurt, let it burn, let it consume you again."
"Forget everything you think you know about digimon." Zoe added. "Forget the idea that they're just data. Forget the idea that they're just built for fighting. Don't just look in your heart, look in Renamon's."
"Everything you do for your digimon brings you two closer." Yolei pressed. "And everything she's done for you was to make you happy. Everything she's done was to prove you're the best. Everything she's done was to protect you. Now do something for her. Prove you're the best. Prove you can make her digivolve."
She dug deep. Tears began to sting her eyes, but she let them flow. She let them run. "Don't leave me." She whispered.
"Rika." She couldn't tell which of the girls called her name. It began to build again, and there was one way to let it out. She took a deep breath, and at the top of her lungs, she yelled.
"Renamon!"
In response, her D-arc lit up and beeped repeatidly as the control spire took on a white glow. A purple flash filled the area…
Matt wasn't sure what happened. First that laugh, that awful laugh, then his vision filled with white, and finally, a flash of purple and he was in the middle of a battle field.
"Nova blast!"
"Shadow Meteor!"
"Fox Tail Inferno!"
"Lightning Blade!"
Most of the Guadromon remained frozen but one Andromon had a dark ring that refused to shatter, and kept attacking. An unfamiliar digimon seemed to take the battle against the controlled digimon, and with it, the Digimon Queen, who seemed barking orders to defend rather then destroy.
"Is that all you've got Tin Can!?" The werewolf that he meet a moment ago yelled as he charged in. The fox digimon followed along with Blake and Zoe who had a length of cable. They charged at either side of Andromon, the cable hit the charging Andromon. Zoe flew over Blake as the two ran behind him. It didn't take much more then gravity to force Andromon to the ground.
"Now! Renamon!" Rika yelled.
"Dragon Wheel!"
The attack was launched before Andromon had a chance to counter it. He shielded himself, one arm over the other. Rika smiled when she realised in that moment, they'd won. The attack had shattered the ring. Andromon had been freed. A loud cheer sounded from humans and digimon as Matt approached the group while Zoe and Joe helped Andromon up, with Datamon following.
"What's going on?" Matt demanded.
"Well, we got the girl and saved the day." Koichi answered. "All in a days work."
"Hey! I was doing just fine until you guys showed up!" Rika protested.
"Oh yeah, because you weren't bleeding out in an ally." Tai reminded her. He glanced in the direction of the… werewolf for lack of any other word to describe him, weary and curiously.
"That's the problem with these rings when they attach themselves to machine digimon." Datamon explained as he plugged a device into Andromon. A device no one else noticed he had. "Most of these guys have a hole in their operating system. But, a quick reprogram and he'll be his old self again."
Tai walked up to the immobile digimon, wondering why the control ring didn't shatter immediately after the control spire was reconfigured. Most of the Guardromon's rings shattered once it happened, but why not Andromon's.
"Here we go." Datamon told them as Andromon's eyes began to shine with life again. He tired to speak but he couldn't form much more then basic sounds and static.
"What did you do to him!?" Tai demanded, only to be retained by Blake and Agumon in order to keep from hitting the little machine digimon.
"It's not my fault." Datamon protested. "It sounds like his hard drive's fragmented.
"Where…." Andromon started. "Who… Who are…" What he tried to say after that was lost in slurs and static.
"Andromon! It's me. Tai!"
"Tai… You're… Selling… Ties?" Andromon asked as his speeches turned to static for a moment. "Jigsaw… Faces…" Then after a moment, the static cut out. "Digidestine. It has been a while."
"Yes it has Andromon." Joe agreed turning to the little digimon. "Thanks for helping him."
"No problem. I needed the help to reprogram all these Gradromon." Datamon said. "It'll be quicker with a second pair of hands. Right."
"Correct." As to demonstrate, Andromon walked up to a nearby Gardromon. Cabled extended from his arm and attached themselves to the boiler shaded robot. "Though it will take some time to reprogram them all."
"You kids have done enough already. We can take it from here." Datamon assured them. "But let me repair that television set Koichi said was destroyed. It'll save you the track across the desert and you can rest a bit before going on your way."
"Hold on!" Matt chose that moment to speak up. "Where did her come from?" He pointed to Datamon. "Who's he?" He pointed to the werewolf. "And where's Takato? And Gabu…"
"Guilmon!" They heard Takato call out. "Guilmon!"
"That answers one question." Yolei pointed out as the google headed elementary student ran up to the group. He stopped and caught his breath. "What's wrong Takato?"
"Guilmon…" He huffed. "Can't… find… him… anywhere."
"What's in your hand?" Koichi asked, reaching out for the boy's fist. When he opened it, Matt's heart fell. It was a Guilmon Keychain.
He then released that he was holding something too. He didn't need to open it to figure out what it was, he already knew. Memories of the werewolf shooting a vicious looking machine, and a white square of cloth appearing out of nowhere came flooding back. All he said was one word "Piedmon."
Rika, who was now by Kyubimon's side, didn't miss Matt's nearly silent whisper. In her head, connections were made. The keyring, and one of the most dreaded cards in the game meant that Takato's partner was right in his hand. She pulled the deck out of the holder on her belt and shuffled though the cards. She recalled an upgrade card that saved a player from a certain loss when a Piedmon card showed up. What was it…
She found it.
"Here. Put the keychain on the ground and swipe this though your digivice." She ordered, offering the card. She couldn't walk far from her partner, but Yolei took the card from her and passed it to the younger google head. He looked at the card. Rollback. He did what he was told to do, the card swiped though his digivice. The keychain glowed and expanded until it was Guilmon's proper size. The red dinosaur blinked.
"Takato. I'm hungry." This earned a chuckle from most of the assembled, but Takato hugged the digimon regardless. Then he passed the card to Matt, who did the same. Gabumon keychain on the ground, swipe the card, and the keychain expanded until Gabumon was himself again.
"Feeling better Gabumon?" Matt asked his partner.
"Still a little stiff but fine." He assured him before turning to the werewolf. "Thanks for the help back there."
The werewolf raised an eyebrow but didn't question the hand offered. He took it and shook it. "Happy to help. Just didn't release you were in good hands already." He turned to Blake, nodded and asked "Aren't you going to introduce them?"
"Just them? Or the whole group?" Blake asked. "Guys. Ladies." Blake turned to Zoe and Yolei before addressing everyone. "Meet Wolf Boy, or as it says on his Ident card, Glenn Kame. Aspiring star cruiser pilot, alpha wolf, guitarist in his spare time, and fantastic rugby player. Not a half bad soccer player either." He muttered the last sentence to Tai.
"Says Peter Pan who missed the goal completely." The werewolf muttered.
"That was one time. And Zorath gives me enough grief over that incident. I don't need you to add to it." Blake protested. "And you weren't being chased around the distortion world by an angry Blaziken. Getting back on topic. Soccer fanatic, boy band, medical student, forward and cleaver girl, daydreamer, spoilt tomboy, short fuse, former prince of darkness, Agumon, Gabumon, Gomamon, Guilmon, and I think Renamon." He pointed to Tai, Matt, Joe, Takato, Rika, Zoe and Koichi in rapid secession before pointing out the digimon, who all but Kyubimon had returned to their rookie forms.
"Did you just call me spoilt?" Rika demanded.
"Short fuse?" Zoe questioned.
"What is wrong with you?" Matt whispered to Blake who just chuckled. "Are you trying to get yourself killed?"
"It's his hobby." Glenn assured the blonde. "Boy band?"
"I'm the lead singer of a band." Matt clarified. "And there are a few crazy fans."
"A few?!" Tai said, feigning shock. "Really."
"Joining us back, or are you trying to keep everything together back as basecamp?" Blake asked, before Matt could remark.
"Nah. I kinda parked illegally outside the city." Glenn answered. "You guys go ahead."
"Got it!" Datamon called out, carrying the television set into the open. It looked fixed, held together by two lengths of duck tape. "It works. But I should have it really fixed next time you guys need it."
"Well it was nice to meet you Mr. Kame." Yolei said politely.
"Please. Mr. Kame is what people call my father when he isn't on duty." Glenn protested. "Everyone just calls me Glenn. Almost." He pointed a sharp look as Blake. "Right Peter."
"Right Wolf Boy."
"One more thing." Tai called out. "Blake said you where the first soul he ever saved. What does that mean?"
It became obvious that it was an inside joke between the two of them, when Glenn chuckled. "You'll figure it out funny boy."
"Come on. It's getting late." Takato pointed out, as digivices appeared in hands, and were aimed at the television set. "Digiport open!"
Beep beep.
Izzy's laptop began to beep, just as he and Yoshi got to the Damon house, running into Cody and Tommy along the way, both of them became aware of Rita's entry into the digital world. He opened it just in time for seven humans to end up in a tangle on the lawn, two humans managed to avoid the pile up, along with five digimon. Renamon took Rika from Blake to keep her up.
"Ow. How'd you do that?' Takato asked as he got out from under the pile.
"I get better with age." Blake answered. "Yoshi. Could you convoy Rika home. And make up a story about an attempted mugging or something."
"Sure." She said, slightly disgruntled, but with the girl's injuries, it would be a bad idea to have her walk though the front door alone, not to mention walking at all, it looks like she's sprained her ankle.
"I also got a call from Clair." Izzy told Tai. "She said that the digimon was deleted when they destroyed it. But she also said that the digimon's data might have been compromised by the time fissure."
"That's harsh." Tai muttered.
"Are they okay?" Zoe asked.
"They're fine." Izzy assured the girl. "But Takuya needs someone to take Shinya home. He was going to do it himself but his father got involved."
"I'll take him." Zoe volunteered. Save Koji, Zoe lived closet to the Kanbaras. Though it was out of the way. Since Koji was staying with his Mom and brother tonight, she would be he next chose logically speaking.
Besides, she wasn't going to leave the boy alone. Not with Grumblemon in his head anyway.
"Let meet up outside my school tomorrow." Takato put forward. "Chikao said he wasn't feeling well but he needs to feed the animals over the weekend."
"Fine." Tai nodded before turning to Koichi, who seemed to be shaking. "What's up Koichi?"
"It…" Koichi stammered. "It's Koji."