Disclaimer: Must I write this 'till my fingers bleed and my brain explodes? Fine! I do not own Digimon! You happy?

The Wages of Fans is Fiction: Chapter 12

The world was dark at first, but slowly, ever so slowly, it came back to view. Images swam and sparkled, and nothing seemed to make sense until finally things snapped into crystal clarity. With a groan, Koji got up from where he lay and looked about him in confusion. He was sitting on a bed in what looked like an apartment. Wondering just where he was, he checked about his person, and made a disgusted sound when he learned that both his bandana and his D-Tector were missing. The bandana wasn't a problem though (especially since he found it lying on the nightstand next to him) but the D-Tector? That was a completely different story. Getting up and grabbing his bandana Koji went towards the door, putting his ear to it first to listen before he slowly opened it. Cautiously Koji slipped out of the bedroom and made his way around the corner of the hall and into the living room where he stopped, his mouth falling open in shock. Before Koji's eyes stood two people, both young adults by the look of things. One was a girl with light, almost blonde hair, a pink t-shirt, and a mini-skirt. The other was a boy wearing a red T-shirt with thin black stripes and a green jacket. His hair was slightly spiky and a deep, dark red that was almost a brown. They looked familiar to Koji, but he couldn't really tell from this angle, as they were both embraced in a passionate kiss. They soon broke apart, giving Koji a clear field of vision of the female, and a memory sparked.

"Mimi!"

The couple turned in Koji's direction, startled by the sound of his voice, and they soon set their eyes on him. Both Mimi and Izzy raised an eyebrow.

"Oh, you're awake," said Izzy, while Mimi frowned at the boy. "Good, we have some questions that we need to ask you."

"Yeah," said Mimi. "Like how you happen to know our names for starters."

Koji blinked, and then narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean by know your names? What kind of question is that? Of course I'm supposed to know your names, we've worked together before."

Izzy and Mimi were exchanging glances when Davis and Kari entered the room.

"Okay, Izzy," said Davis. "TP says that the others are on their way so…hey! That kid's awake!"

Koji looked at them. "Kari?" He asked the bearer of the crest of light. "What's going on here? Izzy and Mimi act as if they didn't know me…"

"We don't know you," said Mimi a little loudly. "Though how you know us is certainly something that I would like to know."

"Maybe he's from the future," said Davis.

"That's ridiculous," said Mimi.

"Hang on," said Izzy. "Let's not be to hasty here. He does obviously know us, even though we've never seen him before…"

"Hang on," said Koji. "First of all, you guys do know me. We've known each other for years, and you guys look exactly the way you did when I got attacked. All I know is, I heard that there was some trouble in Odaiba while I was working with an author on a piece of fan fiction so I came to investigate…"

"Fan fiction?" Laughed Mimi. "Just what are you talking about?"

Koji looked confused. "What am I talking about? I'm talking about the lives that we've been leading ever since each of our series has ended…"

"Series?" Asked Davis, confused at first before his face broke into a grin. "You mean like on TV?"

"Davis…" began Kari.

"What? I'm serious. Hey! Do you think that I look good on TV?"

"Davis, I think you look good on anything, but I don't think that's the point right now…"

Koji clutched the sides of his head before looking at Davis and Kari. "What's going on here, Kamiya? I thought you were with TK?"

The Digi-destined of light looked at Koji with a confused look. "TK? Me with TK? What are you talking about? Why would I be with TK?"

Koji just looked at the girl as though she had just slapped him.

Izzy, who had been watching and listening carefully, suddenly had a thought occur to him. "Uh…Davis? Kari? Why don't you go make sure that we have some snacks ready for when the others come? Mimi, why don't you help them? I need to ask…what's your name?"

Koji frowned. "I don't know what your game is, Izzy…"

"Just humor me okay?"

"Fine. I'm Koji."

"Good to meet you Koji…again, I guess. Now, there are some things that I need to ask you in private…"

"Izzy?" Asked Mimi. "Why do you need to ask him in private? I'm sure that Davis and Kari can handle the…"

"I'm sorry Mimi, but it involves a lot of technical stuff that you might not understand. I'll tell you later, okay?"

Mimi narrowed her eyes. There was something that Izzy was keeping from her, she was sure of it. "Promise?" She asked.

Izzy's eyes softened as he looked at his love. "Yeah, I promise." He meant it to, but he worried about how she might take…whatever it was that he found out. He wasn't to sure himself what he was looking for, but something that Koji said about fan fiction had sparked something deep inside of him that was almost like a memory. He needed to do some deep digging in order to find out what it was.

Grabbing Koji by the shoulders, Izzy steered him in the direction of his computer room, while Mimi watched with her mind full of confusion and worry.

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He was worried as he finished typing that last sentence. He wasn't sure what it was that Izzy had discovered (having focused so much on Tai for the majority of this story), but by the sounds of the conversation that Tai had with Mimi, one of the Frontier children had made their way to Odaiba. If that was so, than it was imperative that he step up his conquest of the series so that everyone's memories were altered. 01 and 02 were easy because they were the one's that he was most familiar with. He knew the personalities of the characters inside and out, but as for the other seasons he did not know them that well at all. Oh, sure, he had watched them, but he had never developed an interest in them, especially since not much else was done with them beyond just their one season with the exception of movies.

And that was where the difficulty lay, his lack of interest, his unfamiliarity with the respective seasons, and the fact that their fate concerning the future was undecided. He could do it, but it would take time, more than he could spare, especially with those OC's out there mucking up the works. He wasn't sure how, but apparently their very presence was what was causing the disruptions in his story, causing the characters to revert or show signs of remembering their previous lives, and as a result he was starting to lose control. The boy had hoped that by employing the other authors that were sympathetic to his cause he could eliminate the OC's and continue with his own version of Digimon, regardless of the promises that he made to his allies, but other authors had shown up also, and an all out war was brewing amongst them. Nothing too grand had happened yet, or else the characters would have noticed, but it was brewing. It was only a matter of time before things exploded.

He had to find the OC's. Not just the three that he had encountered, but all of them and destroy them one by one. Once they were gone, no one would be able to change what he had made for himself and things could finally be how he wanted them to be. The way they should be. But where to start?

His attention suddenly fixated on the Black Wargreymon that he had conjured up to fight those first three OC's. The mega was on the move, and was doing so at a rapid pace towards the area of Shinjuku. He must have found something. Those OC's? If so, all for the better then, except that if Black Wargreymon went to Shinjuku, the home of the third season of Digimon, then he might not be able to help him. His powers were weakened outside his preferred seasons, but if those OC's that had eluded him earlier had escaped him to there, then he must destroy them whatever the cost!

Focusing all his attention on Black Wargreymon, the boy began typing.

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Matt and Gabumon had just turned the corner when they spied Tai, Sora, Biyomon, and Agumon. Calling out to them Matt sped up his pace so as to join them. Sora offered Matt a small, friendly smile, but there was something about Tai in his facial expression that made him seem…distant. This made Matt a little nervous.

"Hey guys," Matt said. "Are you off to Izzy's little get-together too?"

"Yeah," said Sora. "According to Tai here, he and Mimi found a boy who could turn into a digimon."

"What?" Exclaimed Matt.

"Are you serious?" Asked Gabumon.

Tai frowned. "Well, that's what Mimi said over the phone," Tai said a little coldly. "She could have been mistaken. You know how she is."

Matt nodded. "Maybe she just got a little confused or something."

"I don't know guys," said Sora. "The digital world is capable of doing a lot of strange things. We can't just disregard it just because a friend of ours acts a little strange from time to time."

"You're right, Sora," said Matt. Tai looked at him with a strange look on his face that was almost…anger? Matt didn't notice. "We should hear what Izzy has to say about it first before jumping to conclusions."

"All right. Let's hurry along guys."

"Hang on Sora," said Tai. "Why don't you take Biyomon, Gabumon, and Agumon ahead. I've got to ask Matt something. Don't worry, we'll catch up."

Sora looked at Tai a little funny, but she decided not to question her fiancés motives. After all, it was probably guy talk, and Tai probably wanted to be the one to break the news to Matt about their engagement.

"All right," she said, grinning. "Just don't take forever."

'We won't." They waited until she was a fair distance away before saying anything.

"So, what'd you want to talk to me about?" Asked Matt.

"I have a question. Did you meet any kids with digimon recently? Especially kids by the names of Ryan, Chris, and…" Tai stopped, and thought about it for a second. "William?"

Matt cocked an eyebrow at this. "No, I haven't met any kids by those names. You said that they had digimon? What'd they look like?"

Tai shook his head. "It's not important."

"What's this about Tai?"

"Never mind. I'm sorry for bothering you about this," said Tai, feeling foolish for even asking. He had seen the honest puzzlement in his friend's eyes. Now he felt more than a little bit stupid for all those jealous feelings that he had earlier.

"Uh, sure, no problem," said Matt. "Look, if you want to talk about it…?"

"No, never mind. It's not important. They just seemed to know who you were and I thought that maybe they were fans of yours or something." Even though they did say some pretty strange things, thought Tai.

"Oh. Okay. Anything else?"

Tai grinned. "Yeah. I also wanted to tell you that Sora and I are getting married. Isn't that awesome?"

"Yeah. Sure," said Matt as he forced a smile on his face, not really understanding why he felt saddened by this news.

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At the edge of Odaiba, a strange, dark figure with the appearance of a lion's mane and a staff and shield in his hands leapt onto a rooftop. Koji where are you? It thought before it leapt back into the air again.

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Black Wargreymon soared through the air, intent on fulfilling his master's wishes. They were close, so very close now. He could almost smell them; hear the pounding of their hearts. Soon the blood that those hearts pounded would stain the ground and he…Black Wargreymon halted in the air as he felt a sudden surge of energy race into his body. His mind became blank and he knew no more.

The author had decided that this was the time to take a personal hand in things when he felt the appearance of a Log In gate. If an author was in town, especially an author in an area that he had not yet taken an official stance on yet, than he needed to be ready for anything. Using Black Wargreymon's enhanced senses and vision he spied the portal and gasped as a figure made its appearance. No, two figures! Narrowing his eyes he saw a Tapirmon with what looked like a human. This can't be, he though. I sense the aura of an author around this one so why…? It hit him. This one was both an author and a character. Self-Insertion! Ooooh…how this one despised that sort of thing. This was even worse than the effect that OC's caused. Where OC's were like a minor distortion in the fabric of the FanFic Domain's space-time continuum, Self-inserted authors/characters were like Black Holes by comparison. If he didn't get rid of this one, and fast this season and perhaps all others could be beyond his reach! If he could identify this character, he could lock him out of his account, thus denying him his author abilities and negating the affect of his presence. But first things first; he had to try and eliminate the author. And if the battle drew in the OC's that he was pursuing? So much the better.

Gathering negative energy between his hands, Black Wargreymon raised it above his head and hurled it towards his soon-to-be-adversary.

"TERRA DESTROYER!" He shouted.

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