DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the OCs introduced in this story and later stories (except where stated).
CHAPTER 12
Her Sorrow
REAL WORLD
53rd and 3rd, New York City
08:09 EST
26th May 2010
Takato slowly awake from his long slumber, finding a sleeping Rika in his arms. Blushing slightly, and noticing that Guilmon was once again snoring (a problem that would inevitably be solved in a painful way by Terriermon), he stood up, putting her down gently on the pillow in the process. The light basked through the room and the sounds of the city resounded, with no evidence remaining of DarkRenamon's existence in the room the day before. Takato changed into his day clothes, still lacking any form of pullover, although at the same time knowing that the weather meant that any form of jumper was wholly inappropriate anyway.
Considering where Rika's partner was, he suddenly became aware of her 'sleeping' against the wall nearby, and realised that the low-level perception filter was possible to see through once one was looking specifically for her.
Takato glanced back towards Rika, sleeping soundly in the bed. He was actually pleasantly surprised she hadn't woken up yet, experience teaching him that she tended to be an early riser. Even when, or particularly when, sleeping, she seemed ever-beautiful, her red hair out of its normal hairband and left loose.
"You're up early…" Renamon commented, Takato realising that she was now awake. Takato nodded, and yawned.
"Surprised me too…" he replied. It looked as if Renamon was smiling, but he couldn't be sure. It seemed that only Rika, and possibly also Guilmon, could tell without specifically looking to her mouth (and making an embarrassment of oneself in the process). "Have you seen any sign of DarkRenamon?"
Renamon shook her head. "Nothing at all…" she replied. Takato sighed, and looked to his gold D-Arc, left on the bedstand next to Rika's. It seemed odd that, a few days ago, the D-Arc had seemed to be the height of technology, but now, Ryder's (and Rey's) D-Vices eclipsed them by far. Then again, Takato had already been through one D-Arc, wishing for a newer Digivice could only bring ill, as he had seen in the past.
He noticed Rika stirring from her deep sleep, turning over and eyes moving under her eyelids. Takato smiled at how innocent she looked while sleeping, as he walked over to the window to look out at the city. The cool air blew past the slightly open window, carrying the sounds of the city below with it. Despite the bustle and noise of the city, it was surprisingly calm, serene even, even Guilmon's snores fitting into the random yet ordered melody.
Rika yawned, finally pulling herself out of her long sleep. "Morning Honey…" she greeted. Takato nodded, and smiled to her.
"Morning…" he replied. She moved to step out of bed, and quickly changed into her usual attire of five years (although the clothes themselves had been replaced like-for-like several times with no-one really noticing), as Takato switched on the small typical hotel television in the room. The news was the same as the previous night, all talking about his 'kidnapping' but with the addition of the UN meeting later that morning.
"All eyes are going to be on us at the meeting today…" Rika commented. Takato nodded, he knew in particular that Digital Watch would be on the lookout for any further strange events.
"I will keep a lookout, but I cannot promise anything…" Renamon told Takato, who nodded.
Guilmon was now stirring from his sleep. "Morning boy…" Takato told him.
"Morning Takato…" the dinosaur replied back, whilst yawning. Renamon chuckled at how he looked when yawning, and his attempts to speak while doing so.
'It's going to be a long day…' Takato thought.
08:19 EST
"Morning Ryder…" Mari greeted, entering the room. Ryder nodded, already fully clothed and currently staring at his expanded D-Vice on his wrist. He seemed deep in thought, and distracted by something. Mari sat next to him on the bed, MiniDonmon quickly taking the chance to leap onto her head, ruffling her hair slightly which she promptly sorted out. Afterwards, she looked over Ryder's shoulder at the D-Vice. "What are you doing?"
"Not sure…looking for something to explain what's been going on the past few days…" Ryder replied.
"What do you mean?"
"The whole Angels thing, and the Babel Fish problem…"
"I see…how are you trying to solve it?"
"Not sure, looking on my D-Vice to see if there is any information about it,"
"And?"
"Nothing, I really can't get to the bottom of this mystery," Ryder replied, shrinking his D-Vice back to a watch and falling back on the bed, groaning and massaging his temples.
"This is really getting to you eh?" MiniDonmon asked. Ryder nodded.
"It's driving me mental…"
"Why exactly?" Mari asked.
"I keep hearing voices…no, that's not it…I suddenly am able to recall things that I never knew…never learnt…and it's worrying…"
"I see. Maybe you should ask Rika or Takato, you said they were Gods, maybe they can help?"
"Hmm…perhaps…"
"Maybe that'll solve my whole Babel Fish thing as well…"
"Maybe…we do seem to both have the same problem…"
08:43 EST
Ryder and Mari noticed that they were alone with Takato and Rika at the table, and decided it was worth asking.
"Hey, Takato, Rika, can we have a talk?" Mari asked.
"Sure…" Rika replied. "What about?"
"I'm not sure how to describe it, but over the past few days, I've heard voices at night, and I can suddenly remember things I've never learnt. Furthermore, I hear all languages as English, and seem to be able to speak, read and write perfect Japanese, and for that matter any other language, without even consciously knowing that I'm doing so. For that matter, so does Mari." Ryder explained.
"Huh? That's odd…" Takato pondered.
"Any ideas?" Mari asked.
"No, sorry…" Rika replied. Ryder sighed, and he and Mari headed to the buffet. Rika looked to Takato.
"Well, I think that proves it…" she stated, sighing.
Takato nodded. "But Mari…that is more of a surprise…" he pondered.
"Pawns in Destiny's game…"
"Rey…" Takato muttered.
"What?" Rika asked, not sure what she had heard.
"You said that Rey was the Tenth Angel of Destiny…"
"Hmm…I don't think it's that simple, but I do see your point. Who is she anyway?" Rika asked.
"I wish I knew…" Takato replied, sighing and eating his cereal. "Hold on, does he have that 1 symbol on his shirt?"
"That's new..." Rika noted. "Far too many coincidences here, I think that we've come to a conclusion."
"So what do we do then?" Takato asked.
"No idea..." Rika replied glumly.
United Nations
11:29 EST
The Tamers stood outside the main hall, preparing to enter. An emergency decision on an unspecified pressing matter in the Middle East had meant their meeting had been delayed somewhat, and they would speak to the assembly after they had discussed it. Rika sighed, it seemed that every time they went into this hall, something bad happened, be it her seeing Rey, or DarkRenamon kidnapping Takato. She hoped silently that nothing bad would happen this time around. Takato smiled to her, noticing her nervousness. She noticed nervousness in his eyes as well.
Apart from them, Davis and Kari seemed rather confident, although Davis was complaining of boredom, something that was suppressed partly by him and Kari kissing, which was attracting the attention of various officials around them, not in a negative way though.
Tai had his arms round Sora's waist, standing behind her and peering over her shoulder. Agumon was eating food that he had got from nowhere in particular, joined by Veemon and Guilmon, and being stared at gallingly by Gatomon. Biyomon was watching the various government agents walk around, one of whom Kristy had been attempting to make conversation with, her innocence causing her to ignore the fact that the agent wasn't meant to make conversation with her, despite Kudamon's attempts at telling her.
Henry had his arm round Jeri, the pair still in the first stages of being a couple. They were both largely quiet, and both looked bored, although Terriermon's attempts to fly off of Henry's head created some amusement, particularly when he regularly collided with Elecmon in mid air, which was Elecmon's specific intent so as to annoy him, or, on one occasion, crashing into Renamon, who was standing quietly (and largely invisibly) against the wall. After expressing her annoyance at the dog-bunny, she returned to her pose, appearing to be trying to sense any sign of DarkRenamon approaching, her ears twitching occasionally.
The doors swung open all of a sudden.
"Finally!" came the voices of Davis and Terriermon. Rika smiled, not at their idiocy, but at the fact the tedium would finally be lifted. She turned and smiled to Takato.
It took a few seconds for her to realise that he had vanished into thin air.
"Takato?!" she panicked. Renamon opened her eyes in surprise. Everyone nearby looked around, noticing the absence of the Gogglehead, or at least one of them. Guilmon looked particularly surprised, before he began to sniff the air. He turned feral and ran down a corridor, the disturbance surprising the agents who didn't expect it. Rika and Renamon quickly followed after.
"What do we do?" Sora asked. Tai considered their options. If they weren't to turn up to the meeting, it would create even larger problems for the group's PR. On the other hand, so would losing one of their members, or even worse, risking an attack on the city. He ended up not having to make a decision, the rest of the group quickly followed after Guilmon, and Sora put out her hand.
"The UN will have to wait…" he noted, taking her hand.
Streets of New York
11:41 EST
The taxi driver sighed. Despite the light on the top of his cab being on, it was clear he wasn't going to get any passengers, he was stuck in a jam.
Red.
The thought bounced around his mind without much success. The radio was boring him and nothing remotely interesting seemed to be going on. He coughed, his breath smelling of cigarettes, a habit he had tried to kick, without much success. He was dying for one now, but the fact he was in a taxi prevented him from doing so. All was tedious, all was mundane, all was boring.
Yellow.
'Another taxi I presume' the taxi driver mooted, before putting his hand to the radio dial. As he did so, something caught his eye.
Blue and white.
The driver dismissed it as the sky. Brake lights turned on for all moving cars, and the driver glanced up. A black and blue shape crossed his vision.
"I'm going insane…" the man thought.
His mouth went agape as a flying horse with a sphinx-like face, a huge orange bird, a blue dragon with flame armour, a brown jackal with a sharp blade-like tail, a bipedal lion, a quick moving green mechanoid and a red flying dragon flew across his vision.
Guilmon continued to run, his eyes feral, his movement focused on chasing after the scent of his Tamer and the dark form of his lover. He was unaware of those following; his mind was completely concentrated on one target. The park beckoned, and the cavalcade raced into it. Passing startled adults, their cheering and ecstatic children, and static trees, the group nevertheless attracted attention, regardless on any attempts at subtlety.
Guilmon turned a corner, and saw his target…standing still near the Bethesda Terrace, holding Takato's unconscious form by the scruff of his neck. Flames licked his throat.
"PYRO SPHERE!" he roared, the blast of concentrated energy striking his foe.
DarkRenamon, unemotionally, swatted the blast aside, data swirling round her arm as she did so. Guilmon's mouth went agape, as DarkRenamon looked at him coldly.
"The fake Gods shall be eliminated" she declared, leaping forward at Guilmon. Guilmon looked on, unable to block.
A yellow blur swept across, knocking DarkRenamon off course. She recovered quickly, backflipped into the air. She summoned diamonds. Hundreds of them, far more than the two dozen or so that she would normally summon.
"BLACK SHARDS!"
Data swirled around the crystals, which shone brightly, before shooting forward and colliding with everything in front, Guilmon, Renamon, Rika and the fountain, Rika only surviving significant harm by her shield. The rest of the Tamers, arriving, peered on in shock at what was occurring. Mari looked on with a look of shock, with tinges of betrayal and sorrow.
"I thought you were going to think about it!" Mari asked, almost personally insulted. DarkRenamon smirked coldly, diamonds being summoned to her front.
"MARI, MOVE!" Ryder yelled, running to her aid. He knew that he would be too late, but he had to do something.
"No…I won't let you!" said DarkRenamon weakly, as the diamond's stopped forming in their tracks. A scream of pain, which suddenly stopped, signalled the continuation of the attack. "BLACK SHARDS!"
The diamonds shot forward, colliding with both Mari and Ryder, who crouched just before impact.
"Ryder!" Donnermon yelled, fearful for his partner and his partner's girlfriend's fates.
The blasts piled up over the pair, exploding suddenly and looking painful.
"NO!" yelled Donnermon.
Suddenly, the strangest thing happened. Time seemed to reverse, as the diamonds shot back out, and headed back towards their creator.
"What?!" DarkRenamon questioned in surprise, as her own crystals impacted her, throwing her back to the ground. Mari stood up, and gawped at the fact she was unharmed. Ryder stayed crouched, and speechlessly stared at his hands, which had been glowing until moments ago. He stood up.
"I'm not sure what just happened…" he said. "But something wrong is going on here…"
DarkRenamon stood up once again, and smirked. "Now it ends…" she stated, crystals appearing focused on her hands. She looked down to Takato, and aimed.
"No!" Rika yelled, fearful for the survival of her lover.
"Takatomon!" Guilmon yelled, running towards DarkRenamon.
"I won't let you…do…this!" DarkRenamon said in pain. Suddenly, the pain vanished. "You won't have a choice…" she continued, before a beam of blue, red and transparent swirling energy shot out of her, and impacted Takato, who jolted awake.
"What's going on?" he asked, looking groggy and dizzy.
"Your death!" DarkRenamon proclaimed. Suddenly, Guilmon pounced on her and pushed her to the ground, the crystals hitting and destroying the fountain, water slashing over them. Takato, with Rika's help, stood up.
"Are you okay?" Rika asked.
"I feel dizzy…"
'Where am I?' Takato heard from somewhere. He looked around, looking for the source of the voice. It was DarkRenamon's.
DarkRenamon stood up. "You leave me no choice…" she proclaimed. She spread her arms wide, data gathering across her.
Suddenly, the ground began to shake. The shaking increased in magnitude, more and more, and the sound of D-Arcs and D-Vices ringing resounded through the air, louder than ever before. A thick, almost white, digital field shrouded the area and impaired their vision, far greater than any field before. Nine spots on the ground pulsed, as they suddenly erupted like geysers.
"This human world has grown to disgust me. You dishearten my most loyal of slaves, you corrupt my plans, and you potentially destroy me. It shall be eliminated, starting with the world's only effective resistance." DarkRenamon said confidently, in a proclaiming stance last seen on Kazuya.
"You betrayed me!" Takato shouted, fists held in anger. DarkRenamon smirked.
"Who are you?" Mari asked.
"Takato, what do you mean?" Rika asked.
"Takato?" Takato asked. He looked at his hands. "What the hell is going on?" he asked. Rika noticed his voice, now more feminine, confused, almost like…
DarkRenamon smiled. "I am Yggdrasil and these are my most loyal of followers, my Royal Knights. They shall be your executioners" he proclaimed.
The Tamers could now see the beings standing around DarkRenamon.
The first was a large humanoid Digimon with a skull-like helmet, dull grey armour and a bulky form. He held a dual ended spear, and a shield.
The second was a smaller form, with pink armour, a hand mounted shield and a rose in one hand.
The third was a black and white armoured knight with a helm shaped like a leopard, wings, and a rapier in hand.
The fourth was a white armoured Digimon with purple wings, gold crisscrossing his armour and an armoured dragon-like face.
The fifth was a very familiar form, a steel armoured knight with a large shield with a hazard symbol, and a red dragon-like helm.
The sixth was similarly familiar, a blue dragon with gold armour.
The seventh was a large knight with a cape that was red on the inside, an orange WarGreymon-like head on his left hand, and a blue MetalGarurumon-like head on his right hand, and large orange and blue shoulder blades, which was also a familiar form.
The eighth was a red six-legged centaur with two arms, a crossbow and a shield, with a pair of golden wings on its back.
The ninth was a blue, gold and steel armoured knight with a pair of wings that were purple on the inside.
D-Arcs and D-Vices raised. "Craniummon, Vaccine Type, Mega Level, attacks End Waltz and God Breath." Kristy quoted.
"Crusadermon, Virus Type, Mega Level, attacks Fist of Athena, Spiral Masquerade, Laser Lattice and Scarlet Tempest" Tai read.
"Duftmon, Data Type, Mega Level, attacks Aussterben and Ernste Wehr" Sora commented.
"Dynasmon, Data Type, Mega Level, attacks Breath of Wyvern and DNA Disintegrator" Davis read.
"Gallantmon, Virus Type, Mega Level, attacks Lightning Joust and Shield of the Just" Kari quoted.
"Magnamon, Vaccine Type, Armour Level, attacks Magna Blast, Magna Explosion, Magna Punch and Magna Kick" Henry read.
"Omnimon, Vaccine Type, Mega Level, attacks Transcendent Sword and Supreme Cannon" Jeri quoted.
"Sleipmon, Vaccine Type, Mega Level, attacks Bifrost and Odin's Breath" Rika read.
"UlforceVeedramon, Vaccine Type, Mega Level, attacks Ray of Victory, Victory Sword, Tense Great Shield" Takato finished.
"DarkRenamon, what's going on?" Mari asked, now panicking.
"THAT IS NOT MY NAME!" DarkRenamon proclaimed. "I am Yggdrasil!" she added.
"But Yggdrasil is a tree…" Davis stated.
DarkRenamon looked angry. "BLACK SHARDS!" she yelled.
"FIRE ROCKET!" Flamedramon yelled, intersecting the blast.
"Thanks buddy…" Davis told his partner.
"Don't mention it…" Flamedramon replied.
"So what happened to DarkRenamon?" Mari asked, now very worried.
"I'm…here…" Takato said. Rika's mouth went agape when the realisation hit her like a truck.
DarkRenamon chuckled. "I planned to eliminate both Takato and that pestering bitch by pushing them both into the same body and killing them together, a plan foiled by that red dino. Regardless, my Royal Knights. Your target, Chaos and Harmony. Your task, destroy!" she proclaimed. The various knights prepared their multitude of attacks.
"Run!" Rika yelled, grabbing Takato's hand and being quickly followed by Guilmon and Renamon. Rika mentally kicked herself when they reached the arches; there was no way of escaping now.
Takato, however, noticed something move out of the corner of his eye. Turning away from the Royal Knights, he pushed open a door underneath the arches, which was already ajar. Movement attracted his senses, as he pushed the door further open.
"Rika, this way!" he told the girl near him, as he recognised what was beneath the arches. He grabbed Rika's hand, and pulled her over to it.
"Stop them, they're escaping!" DarkRenamon ordered, alarmed as to what was happening.
"A portal?" Rika said in alarm.
"Yggdrasil created it so I could move to and from the Digital World with ease." Takato said, in the feminine voice that had now been established as DarkRenamon's soul.
The sound of air ripping, and gasps and yells from the other Tamers signalled that they had to make a choice.
Rika stared at the portal, as she took in everything that was happening. She took Takato's hand in hers.
"Whatever happens…" she told him, as they smiled to each other. They stepped forward, and two humans (or close enough), and two digimon disappeared in a white flash.
DarkRenamon groaned in anger, as she watched the Royal Knight's attacks hit the terrace. The arches crumbled as the ground was ripped through, and the portal faded from existence. DarkRenamon paused, eyes closed and collecting thoughts. She turned to her knights, and held out her arm.
"Omnimon, Magnamon, Dynasmon, follow them into the Digital World…" she ordered. The three knights nodded, and vanished into thin air.
"Leave them alone!" Henry ordered.
"Gallantmon, Duftmon, Crusadermon, to Tokyo, wipe out all of the Tamers there" DarkRenamon continued. The next three knights nodded, before themselves vanishing.
"Leave our friends alone!" Kari shouted, worried.
DarkRenamon turned to the remaining Knights, and gestured to the Tamers remaining in the park with a simple tilt of the head.
"Eliminate them…" she ordered, before vanishing into thin air in a similar way to the first three Knights she ordered.
Craniummon, UlforceVeedramon and Sleipmon faced their prey, and prepared their attacks.
'This is the worst…' Kristy thought.
TO BE CONTINUED…
And so, the second arc of this story begins. Now the plot is in full swing, and the Royal Knights have arrived. Please review.
Next time…
What will Takato do now with DarkRenamon's soul in him? What will happen to those in Tokyo when the Royal Knights arrive? How did Mari and Ryder survive fatal attacks, and will it protect them in their battle?
Find out in 'Sleep, Run or Fight', Chapter Thirteen of Dimensions Book Four: Gods.
