Chapter 12: Just Data
"Here we are: File Forest," Akira told his newly found friends. In the fall of night, the group had finally wandered into territory that wasn't completely engulfed in mud. Great news for the barefooted Veemon, who sighed in relief.
File Forest was filled with lush trees that weren't as damp looking as the ones back in the jungle. There was also a dirt forest trail beneath their feet now which made things much easier.
"It's not quite as humid here," Akira noted, "an admirable quality of an area when you're wearing a warm jacket."
"Why don't you just take it off?" Jen asked the boy, but he gave her a silent refusal to answer that. The whole group was still distraught over what had happened back at File City, and Jen knew in the back of her mind that she'd have to explain it to them eventually.
The group came upon a circular camp area. A fire pit lay in the center of the grounds, and several tree stump seats stood in a circle around it. Starmon explained how he and Akira had created that campsite long ago for their own use. They were surprised it had gone relatively unscathed for a long time before they each sat down on one of the ten stumps.
"How old are you, kid?" Max asked Akira abruptly.
"I'm nearing thirty years old by now," Akira laughed, "and I'm sure you don't believe it."
Alexis giggled, "You're silly. You look like you're as old as me!"
"The Digital World hasn't done much to age my body," Akira explained. "I've been here for twenty years in Earth time."
"I thought that was funny too," Jen said, remembering another question. "Hey, the Commander told us he made the D-Cell design… how did you get one so early?"
"Is that was he says? Hmm… I'm stumped, unless he designed it a long time ago." Akira gazed back at Jen, "Anything else you would like to talk about?"
Jen knew he was referring to the DigiCore incident, but she choked up. Akira hesitantly nodded and declared, "Well, it's getting late… we should all head to sleep."
Max looked around and came to a rather obvious conclusion, "There's no sleeping bags or anything, Akira."
He didn't answer, instead Akira walked over to the side of the campsite near a few trees and fished out a large bunch of furs. They came in a variety of colors; a pair were snow blue and teal, another three or so were purple, and there were even a few red ones.
"Skinned a bunch of these myself during the Crisis," Akira informed. "Corrupted data from Millenniummon's exploits made it so that their reformatting was slightly delayed. So I didn't destroy the monster when I skinned it."
Max asked him, "Millenniummon? Crisis?"
Akira chuckled at his own stupidity. "I didn't tell you the story… a long time ago, a Digimon named Millenniummon tried to bring the Real World past the Digital World's dimensional boundaries. Basically, it caused a system crash and the whole world rebooted. While Digimon turn back into Digitama, I, being… well, not a Digimon, simply phased off and on within a second. Like I was a computer on restart. Along with many of my memories, I lost Starmon. In the oodles of Digitama that materialized in Primary Village, there was no telling which one he was."
"Digimon keep their memories upon reformatting," Starmon explained, "so I retained my knowledge of Akira for a long time. When I found out he'd been hiding out at Wizardmon's Inn for a while, I figured the time would come where I'd have to do something. After all, Wizardmon was never on the sane side, being a slave of Kimeramon and all. But when Kimeramon flew over the city to get the DigiCore from Jen, something broke his hold over Wizardmon."
Akira butted it, "Speaking of the corrupted DigiCore… Jen, is there something you wanted to tell us?"
Jen fiddled with her thumbs for a moment, but then confessed, "I'm… sort of the one who caused Kimeramon to destroy File City. I knew that by giving him the marble thing that he'd leave us alone… but I didn't because I knew it would make him more powerful." The group stayed silent until she added, "What? It's not like it's a big deal or anything. You said it yourself, Akira, this isn't the first time Kimeramon tore away at the city."
Akira shook his head, disgusted by Jen's words. "You had the chance to help those poor Digimon and you failed."
"It's not like they're real, though!" Jen shouted rashly. "They're just data! They can be reborn!"
The entire group, even the Digimon, was not fixing their gaze on Jen in disbelief. Shaken, each of the kids and the monsters picked up a fur skin to wrap themselves in for the night. Beforehand, Candlemon lit a nice fire in the pit to keep them warm.
I didn't mean to…
- - -
The night sky loomed over the forest while the majority of the group slept. Jen was the exception, wide awake while staring into the distance at the many trees. She wasn't alone. Alexis could be seen sitting by the campfire and poking it with a twig about two feet from Jen.
"Can't sleep?" Jen whispered from her sleeping area.
Alexis turned around surprised, "Oh… hi, Jen."
"Listen… what I did in File City isn't exactly how I described it… I was afraid. I knew Digimon were being killed, but I didn't want to help make Kimeramon any stronger. Pressure got to me head and I reacted at the worst second."
"It's okay, Jen…" Alexis forgave. "I know you meant the best. I know if my brother, or even Jared or I were in the same position, we'd be no different."
Jen smiled. "With the word skills you have I wouldn't doubt you being a genius."
"Thanks," Alexis giggled to herself, and there was a long silence. "Want to go for a walk?"
Jen responded with a bob of her head. "That sounds cool." She peered at the waking Penguinmon, who looked over at Jen as she got up from her bed. "Although… I think Penguinmon would like to come too!"
Penguinmon waddled over to Alexis and spread her wings for a hug. "Me want love!"
"Aww," Alexis smiled and lifted the Penguinmon, giving her an Eskimo kiss between her nose and the Digimon's beak. "Jen and I are gonna take a hike. Wanna come?"
Penguinmon nodded with an assuring hum. Alexis put her down and the three made their way to the trail that moved east.
- - -
Alexis and Jen stayed pretty silent for much of the walk. Penguinmon, however, made a squawking noise every so often.
"Did you really mean what you said?" Alexis finally asked. "That Digimon are just data?"
Jen looked up at Alexis and cringed. "I… I'm not interested in talking about that right now."
"Why not?" Alexis said, saddened.
Jen looked over at Penguinmon with a sentimental expression and sighed, explaining, "Because… why bring it up? It's not worth debating about. This whole dimension is just a bunch of data, aren't I right? Any geek sitting at a computer right now could be watching us, plotting the perfect moment for him to press 'delete.' And we wouldn't know a thing about it because we don't have a damn clue how to get home."
"That's… a mean thought," Alexis said, bobbing her head down and shifting her eyes to Penguinmon, who had a concerned look. "If we're here, doesn't that mean we're data too?"
Jen disregarded this question and said, "Something else Akira mentioned bothered me."
"What's that?"
"You know that boy Uyeda? The one who's friends with your brother?"
"Yeah, I do. He's pretty cute if you ask me."
Jen smiled. "Well, Akira said he used to have a friend in the Digital World with the same name… but he doesn't remember much else. I don't know if I should ask if he remembers what he looked like."
"It wouldn't hurt, would it?"
"I'd hate to annoy him."
"I'm sure he'd be fine with it. Ask him in the morn-"
As the two passed a small lake to their right, Alexis interrupted herself and turned around in shock. She stayed this way for several seconds until Jen asked, "What's wrong?"
"I heard something…" Both Jen and Alexis had their eyes on the lake now, and Alexis' suspicions may have been right: a large ripple formed in the water for no apparent reason. "Penguinmon, stay away from the lake," Alexis told her partner, who intently listened and backed up to the other side of the trail.
The ripples became much larger and more constant, becoming small waves. Before Jen, Alexis, and Penguinmon could go any further, a creature had already risen from the lake's waters. He looked like a squid with two large, flailing white tentacles. Instead of eyes, he had tubes running from his face to his back. He had a gaping mouth and a large, strange insignia on his forehead.
"Gesomon!" Penguinmon gasped. "Bad Digimon! Hurt us!"
Without notice, the monster threw one of his hands at Penguinmon and grabbed her. He simply held her by the head above the water, probably threatening to harm her.
"Penguinmon…" Jen exasperatedly sighed.
"PENGUINMON!" Alexis cried out. "DON'T LET HIM HURT YOU!" She leaped into the lake thoughtlessly and attempting to swim and save Penguinmon, but her efforts were fruitless. She struggled to keep her head above water.
"Alexis!" Jen called. "He'll kill you! Come back here!" Alexis was unresponsive as she splashed and gargled water.
"NO!" Penguinmon shouted. Her mouth wound up agape when she noted a shining light underwater from Alexis' direction. In response, Penguinmon began to glow as well.
"Initiate Digivolution Matrix."
Penguinmon plunged into the water, still glowing. "Penguinmon digivolve to…" She remained underwater for a time, and then appeared underneath Alexis in a new form.
"…Dolphmon!"
Dolphmon resembled a blue and aquatic mammal, much like a dolphin. She had green eyes and her body seemed ancient at first glance.
"Don't worry, Alexis," Dolphmon assured the girl in a relaxed, feminine voice, "I've got you." With Alexis on her back, the dolphin Digimon swam to shore and allowed her to get off. Afterwards, Dolphmon swam herself over to Gesomon and charged herself up, yelling, "Pulse Blast!" as a shot of sonic waves spewed from her mouth. Gesomon groaned in anguish; the attack had obviously gotten to whatever mind he may have had.
"Is that… Penguinmon…?" Alexis said slowly, gasping for air.
"Either that," Jen replied, "or… no, that's definitely Penguinmon."
Dolphmon hovered in the air a moment, powerfully whipping her tail fin at Gesomon's head. She did the same thing three more times, each subsequent attack causing more damage than the previous. With that, she plopped back down into the water heroically as Gesomon slowly degenerated into pixels and floated away into the air.
The dolphin swam back to shore and reversed back to Penguinmon, shaking the water off her feathers. Jen noticed, "Hey, he didn't leave a DigiCore! What gives?"
"What's to complain about?" Alexis laughed, "At least Kimeramon won't be on our tail now."
"JEN!" Veemon's voice cried as his feet smacked on the paved trail. "I'll save you guys!"
Jen turned to her right and saw her partner panting while he ran to their rescue. His disappointed look on his face upon arrival gave Jen, Alexis and Penguinmon a good laugh.
