Akiyama Ryo looked up at the sky, quickly picking out Earth, where all the
beams looking for data came from. "It's been years since I came here." he
muttered, casting a glance at Cyberdramon, now asleep. "I wonder how
everything's going up there."
-----
Digicross Tamers Episode 14
'I remember the earth'
-----
Janyu Wong relaxed for the first time that day. He had been called in as a
witness in an internal investigation of Hypnos in general, and Isao Akiyama
a.k.a. Yamaki in particular. He had described what Yamaki had told him, how he
had been detained and prevented from contacting his family, and how, in Janyu's
opinion, Yamaki was, as Babel had put it, 'skipping without a rope.'
But, all that was over now, and he was reunited with his family. Now, he was
actually over at the Nonaka house, where Rika was giving Hitomi and Jeri a few
pointers on how to use cards from the digimon game to power up their partner
monsters in a battle. He watched, fascinated, as Hitomi used one card to
create a set of wings on Eevee, while Jeri created a shield for Gabumon to
defend himself with. "They're getting pretty good." Janyu said. "I still
can't believe it, even with everything I've seen."
Beside him, his son Henry nodded. "Well, Rika did win the Digimon Card Battle
tournament last year. I can't think of anyone better to teach them how to use
their D-Arcs. Especially after what happened."
Janyu looked at Hitomi. "How is she doing?"
Henry grimaced. "She's still pretty jumpy. She still gets nervous going into
the park, even when one of us is around. And Eevee and Noctowl never let her
out of their eyesight." Henry pointed out Noctowl.
"Well, she won't have to worry much longer." Janyu adjusted his glasses.
"After all the testimony, Mr. Yamaki's going to be gone for a good long time."
"Rika! I'm home!" Rika's mother's voice floated into the back yard.
"Everyone, hide!" Rika hissed, waving her arms. Renamon, Eevee, and Gabumon
all ducked out of sight, as Rumiko Nonaka poked her head out the back door.
"Oh, Rika, you're having friends over! Why didn't you tell me?"
Rika sighed. "I just wanted to show them how to play the card game, that's
all."
"Cards? That's no way for young ladies like yourselves to act. Come on, I
bought this new dress, I know you'll just love it!"
"*Mother*," Rika grumbled, "I don't. Like. Dresses."
"Oh, come on, dear. It's you, I just know it is."
Rika looked around, realizing her mother was not about to give up.
"Ahh...Hitomi! She said she wanted to be a model! Why don't you try her
first! She's been dying to try on something fancy!" Rika grabbed Hitomi, and
dragged her over to her mother. "Please," Rika whispered to Hitomi, "it's the
only way to stop her!"
Rumiko looked at Hitomi. "Alright. You look like you'd fit in this dress.
Come on, Hitomi, we'll have so much fun!" Rumiko dragged Hitomi into the house.
"Not a word." Rika said to Henry.
==Hypnos
Yamaki leaned back, waiting for the verdict. He had been called in to explain
his actions involving the Hypnos project, the development of Yuugoth and
Juggernaut, and, more to the point, his recent actions involving one Hitomi
Motomiya. He had a good idea what the result would be. He would 'disappear',
and Hypnos, the project he had built, would be taken over by some spineless
politician. Someone who had no idea how he had suffered...
==2 years ago
"Ryo? RYO!" Isao tore at the rubble that used to be his home, looking for
any sign of his son. Beside him, Reilly looked, though it was apparent that
she was beginning to lose hope. The battle between Cyberdramon, Gorillamon,
and Impmon had destroyed the house, leaving only Isao and Reilly relatively
unharmed.
Soon, firefighters and police started to show up, and they dragged Isao away
from the wreckage, so they could conduct a search, and take care of the small
fires that had sprung up. However, before the police could come over and take
statements, Isao was confronted by a man in a black suit. "Akiyama Isao?"
Numbly, Isao nodded. "Please come with me."
Isao was led over to an unmarked van, where more men in suits waited. "I know
what you were about to tell the police, and that would have been a mistake."
one of the suits said. "They would never have believed you, and would no doubt
have locked you up, blaming you for the explosion."
Isao looked up, anger returning in a flash. "I'd never have done that! It
was those... monsters that did this! They took my son away!"
Showing no emotion, the agent stood up. "Akiyama Isao. Widower, one son,
Akiyama Ryo, currently employed as a computer consultant to the local Microsoft
development team. Degrees in computer programming, system design, and advanced
mathematics." He looked at Reilly, who had just been brought over. "Reilly
Alison, also holding degrees in computer design and programming, worked for the
SFPD as a consultant on computer crimes before you met Isao and Miaka Akiyama,
then moved to Japan, where you work with the police in a similar fashion."
"What's all this about?" Reilly demanded coldly. "Do you know what happened
here? And where's Ryo?"
The agent handed Reilly and Isao several pictures. "Did any of the monsters
you saw resemble the ones in these photographs?" The two examined the photos,
then handed them back.
"That one looks a bit like the one...Monodramon, that was it." Reilly replied.
Isao held onto one photo, face unreadable.
"Those creatures we call 'digimon', as they all resemble creatures that can be
found in a card game that's been popular." The agent explained. "However, we
have been tracking the appearances of several such creatures over the last few
months here, in the real world. Someone or something has created actual
digimon and they are sending them here, for some unknown reason."
"Why tell us this?" Isao asked, voice barely audible. Reilly looked at Isao,
wondering at the emptiness in his voice.
"We were going to approach you two in a few days, but this has sped things up.
We're taking this...attack as an escalation. We want you to join a special
government project to track down and figure out why these...things are
appearing in this world."
"To destroy them?" Isao asked.
"Preferably, track and control them," the agent replied, "but that possibility
must be considered too. At the very least, we could make it so nothing like
this could happen again."
Reilly glanced at Isao, all this information nearly overwhelming her. Then
she stepped back, as Isao stood up.
"I'll do it." he said coldly.
==Digital world, about that time.
Akiyama Ryo came to, rubbing his head. "What happened to me...Dad? Ms.
Reilly? DAD!" Ryo sat up, wincing as he did. His wrist hurt; it was probably
sprained. "Where am I? The last thing I remember was that fight, and...oh my
god..." as he was speaking, he looked up, and saw Earth in the sky, multiple
beams of energy coming from it. "What is this place?"
"Are you alright?" a voice behind him asked. Swiveling around, he saw a small
blue and white digimon he recognized immediately.
"V...A Veemon?"
"That's my name, don't wear it out!" Veemon replied cheerfully. "I don't
recognize you. You wouldn't be from Gen-Bu, would you? I hear the digimon
there are pretty wild."
Ryo shook his head. "No, I...did you say digimon?" He looked up at the Earth
again. "Am I in the digital world?"
Veemon shrugged. "Sure you are. Where else do digimon live?"
Ryo suddenly gasped. "Monodramon! Where is he?" Quickly, he described
Monodramon to Veemon.
"You've been here for about a day, I think." Veemon replied. "If there was a
digimon with you, he probably left by now. Hey, you're a human, aren't you!
Oh, WOW! Wait'll I tell the others!"
"Others?"
Veemon nodded. "Yeah. There's a whole village of Chuchidarumon nearby I was
crashing at when we heard this big bang last night. I got up and set out right
away! Well, I took a short nap along the way..."
==Next Day
Ryo sat at the table, still stunned. "I'm actually talking to real live
digimon." he whispered, then he forced back a laugh when he heard one of the
smaller digimon whisper that they couldn't believe they were talking to a real
live human. "How did I get here? Do any of you know?"
The elder Chuchidarumon shook his head. "We have never heard of a human
coming here. There are legends of digimon searching for a way to get to your
world, what we call the Real World, but that is all we have. Legends, that
is." Outside, there was a small commotion. "We sent some of our stronger
villagers to the wreckage, to see if we could salvage anything we thought might
be of use to you. We do not know what you will need; they were instructed to
bring back anything that looked salvageable." Ryo nodded, and went outside.
What was there was a lot of stuff he would normally classify as garbage. Some
clothes, useful; blanket, good; Computer, wrecked and not very useful;
Digivice...wait. Ryo looked around the salvaged items, and found a shoebox.
Opening it, he found the rest of his Digimon cards, somewhat mixed up. "I
wonder where Monodramon went?"
"We saw some tracks going from the wreckage." one of the Chuchidarumon said.
"But we didn't follow them, they were kind of big."
He couldn't have stayed as Cyberdramon, could he, Ryo wondered. "I'd better
go find him. He might be my ticket to getting back home."
The Chuchidarumon elder nodded. "Of course. Please feel free to stop by any
time you wish. We will always welcome you here."
Ryo nodded. "Thank you. And thanks for taking care of my arm." He held up
his left arm, the wrist covered by bandages and having a hard metal plate on
the top.
"It was nothing." The elder replied.
"Wait for me!" Veemon said, hopping up. "I know this place a bit, I'll guide
you around."
Ryo smiled at that. "Should I call you Zero?"
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
==Hypnos HQ, still under construction
Isao looked over the central room. "All this?"
The agent beside him nodded. "It's a secret facility designed to keep tabs on
data and information transmission on a worldwide scope. However, we noticed
some unusual signals coming from a layer of the internet that's rarely accessed
these days."
Reilly, standing beside Isao, looked over a sheaf of printouts the agent
handed them. "This looks like some sort of machine code. But I can't identify
what it would do; it looks very complex."
"It is." the agent replied, nodding. "Shortly after we started picking up
these signals, reports of monster sightings began. There seems to be a
correlation between this code and the appearance of these monsters."
"Are you telling me that a computer program destroyed my house and killed my
son?" Yamaki asked quietly.
"Essentially true, if oversimplified. Somehow, some form of intelligence that
can be sourced to the Internet is generating these digimon and sending them
here. We've tried deleting it, but we can't access the code that these things
seem to come from. Short of dismantling the entire Internet, we don't know
what to do." The agent shrugged.
"If these...things are comprised of computer code, then we can use that code
to design a way of destroying them." Isao said. "What we need are samples to
work with. What do we have?"
"None. By the time we can get someone there, whatever came through has gone."
"Fog." Reilly said suddenly. "When those digimon appeared at our house, there
was some sort of fog all around us. But it didn't feel cold or damp."
"We think it's a side effect of the digimon emerging into this world. We call
it 'realization' or 'bio emergence', take your pick."
Isao took out his digivice. "What about this? It came from a card reader
after I passed a card through it. Ryo had one too, and it appeared in the
same way, though he used a blue card. It had some sort of holographic symbol
on the front, and a grey stripe along the side."
The agent took the digivice. "I've never seen anything like it. Do you think
it's connected?"
"Ryo passed a card through it after it changed, and the digimon on the card
appeared." Reilly said. As she spoke, the device started blinking, emitting a
quiet beeping noise. On the screen, an arrow appeared, spinning around before
pointing straight ahead.
One of the technicians, working on a console, spoke up. "We just got word of
a monster appearing nearby!"
==Digital World
Ryo kept walking along, looking around at the world he was now in. "So, Zero,
is there a way home?"
Veemon looked up. "Not that I know of. Of course, I never tried. And why
are you calling me Zero?"
Ryo smiled. "Back home, there's a story about a boy who's taken to the
digital world and meets a digimon he called Zero. I guess I'll never find out
if they make it back. I wonder if Taichi ever got homesick, they never seemed
to mention it in the manga."
"Oh? Humans have come here before?" Veemon asked.
"No, it was just a story. How long have we been walking? I don't feel hungry
or thirsty."
"You're data like us now." Veemon replied. "You don't have to eat unless you
want to, or drink! You still build up a bit of a waistline, though. I don't
know how that applies to humans though."
"That's good to know." Ryo replied. "Though I'd love to get a hamburger
sometime."
"Hasn't been a good burger here since the Burgermon family packed up and moved
to the lower levels."
"Burgermon? That sounds like some sort of silly marketing thing."
Veemon shrugged. "Hey, you humans put the data in. We just adapt to it the
best we can."
Ryo shrugged. "Maybe we should have put a few more exit commands in. What
are those beams from the Real World? They look like they come near here."
"Some of them do. When you step in one, you get transported to a random part
of the digital world."
Mentally, Ryo crossed that idea off. "So, what's it like here?"
Veemon shrugged. "There's a lot of fighting; loading data is the only way
digimon can get stronger, the only way they can digivolve. It's a tough place
if you're not careful." Ryo grimaced.
==Real World
Isao hopped out of the small van that had been assigned to Hypnos, following
several agents that piled out as well. In his hand, the small digivice kept
blinking, arrow pointing straight ahead. Filled with anticipation, he ran
ahead of the other agents, the beeping from his digivice getting louder.
On rounding the corner, he found the digimon it had detected. It looked like
a small cartoon mouse, pink fur, a paranoid look on its face. "You're not the
one." Isao muttered.
"M...me?" Chuumon replied. "I just came looking for something to eat, that's
all!"
The other agents caught up. "Step away, we don't know what that thing might
turn into!" one of them said to Isao.
"AHH!" Chuumon screamed. As he did, he glowed, and changed shape.
Digivolving, Isao thought. That's what Ryo called it. This one changed into
what looked like a wizened old man, still comically short.
Bomber Nanimon brandished an explosive. "You'll never get me!" he yelled.
"You'll never stop me from doing what I was sent here to do!" The digimon
hurled the explosive at the agents, who all scattered. The explosion was no
larger than a small firecracker, but it got Bomber Nanimon's point across.
"This is what digimon do!" Impmon's voice echoed in the back of Isao's mind.
Snarling, he picked up a rock and hurled it at Bomber Nanimon, catching the
digimon on the head. The rock bounced off, dazing it, and Isao leaped forward,
fingers wrapped around its throat. Isao got a knee to the gut, and was hurled
back by another explosive device, injuring him. Two agents stepped up, firing
dart guns. Bomber Nanimon dropped.
"Are you alright?" an agent asked, helping Isao up. "No offense, but that was
foolish. He could have...DUCK!" Isao was knocked over as another bomb went
off, and Bomber Nanimon got up, summoning another bomb. Looking, Isao saw that
two of the agents were unconscious and bleeding heavily.
"This ends NOW!" he snatched a dart gun that one of the agents had dropped,
aimed, and fired at the bomb that the digimon had just summoned. The dart hit,
the bomb exploded, and Bomber Nanimon howled as his body was torn apart by the
blast.
"Nice shot." the agent muttered, watching the digimon disintegrate. "Hey, up
there!"
Isao looked up, and saw a small digimon that he recognized instantly. As he
watched, the particles from Bomber Nanimon's corpse flew up and were absorbed
into Impmon's body. Suddenly, Isao recovered, raised his gun, and started
firing. Impmon jumped off the ledge and fled, a mocking "thanks for the pick-
me-up!" floating down to him.
==
The director looked at the report the agent filed, then at Isao. "Your
impressions?"
"They don't care about humans." Isao replied. "These digimon only care about
increasing their own strength, regardless of the damage their little wars
cause. That war took my son and my life away. I want to stay on and help."
The director nodded. "Ms. Reilly said the same thing."
==
In another part of the Hypnos HQ, Reilly looked over a final set of papers.
"So, I just sign here?" she asked. "No secret name or new identity?"
The agent shrugged. "It's up to you. This is a secret organization, so we do
expect you to remain...discrete. These are just the standard secrecy and non-
disclosure forms. We don't take away your identity until your first year's
done." Another shrug. "Sorry, small joke."
"Very small." Reilly replied. "Will I be working with anyone?"
"Reilly?" a figure asked. She was short, had blonde hair...
"Talli?" Reilly gasped.
"Reilly! I can't believe it's you! Oh, I heard about what happened, I'm so
sorry.."
"Umm...Ms. Reilly, this is your partner, but I see you already know each
other..." the agent stepped away, deciding not to interfere with the reunion.
"What are you doing here, Talli?" Reilly asked. "I thought you were going to
teach programming at Tokyo University."
Talli shook her head. "I got headhunted for this assignment. They said they
needed expert computer technicians, and naturally, my name came up. I guess
you got hired that way too?"
Reilly shook her head, and related what had happened to Ryo. "That's...I
can't believe it..." Talli gasped. "How's Isao?"
"Still numb, I think. It's either that or just...rage, I think."
==Digital World
The trip was long, but they finally made it back to the wreckage. "Nothing."
Ryo said, depressed. "I'd hoped that I might find something, a clue..." He
trailed off as a piece of the rubble shifted, revealing Cyberdramon, getting
up. The digimon growled, looking at Ryo. "Cyberdramon? It's me, Ryo! You
remember?" This was a lot easier on TV, Ryo thought to himself.
"Ryo..." Cyberdramon growled. Ryo wished the digimon had eyes; he couldn't
tell what mood Cyberdramon was in. Cyberdramon stood up, flexing his arms.
Then he locked on Veemon, snarling.
"Cyberdramon!" Ryo shouted. "No! He's a friend!"
"Data..." Cyberdramon growled. Veemon gulped, hiding behind Ryo. "Must
fight." Ryo stood there, trying to stare Cyberdramon down. Finally, the
dragon digimon snarled, and flew off, back the way Ryo and Veemon had come.
"Where's he going?" Ryo wondered, confused.
Veemon's eyes widened. "The Chuchidarumon village! He must be looking for
more data to absorb!" Ryo's eyes widened, and the two immediately ran after
the flying digimon, who was already vanishing into the distance.
==
When Ryo and Veemon got there, they found Cyberdramon had already devastated
half of the village. Cyberdramon howled as he tore another home apart,
revealing the two small Chuchidarumon who lived there. "STOP!" Ryo yelled.
"They're just children!" Cyberdramon snarled, ignoring Ryo.
"Let me do it! V-Headbutt!" Veemon slammed into Cyberdramon. Cyberdramon
snarled again, grabbed Veemon, and hurled him away.
"How can I get through to him...?" Ryo wondered. Then his hand touched his
digivice. "When Monodramon evolved into Cyberdramon, it was because I used a
card on this digivice. Maybe..." Ryo pulled out a card, hoping for the best.
"Downgrade! Activate!"
The effect was immediate. Cyberdramon stopped in his tracks, writhing in
pain. For a second, Ryo thought Cyberdramon would revert to Monodramon, but
that hope faded as the berserk digimon shook off the effects of the card.
Roaring, he charged Ryo!
Quickly, Ryo dodged the charge. "I'm glad he didn't use his Erase Claw." he
muttered, wondering how a digital attack would affect a human, and deciding he
didn't want to find out right now. He clutched his digivice even tighter,
wishing he had a way to control Cyberdramon.
Suddenly, the digivice hummed slightly, then shot out a beam of light,
wrapping around Cyberdramon. "Wha?" Ryo gasped, wondering what was happening.
Cyberdramon clawed at the beam of light, wrapped around his torso and neck now.
"Some kind of leash?" Cyberdramon turned, trying to launch an attack on Ryo.
"Stop it NOW!" Ryo ordered, feeling a pulse of energy flow through his
digivice. Cyberdramon snarled, but subsided. Ryo relaxed, and the energy beam
dissipated. "I'm glad that's over."
Suddenly, Cyberdramon jumped at Ryo, claws extended. Ryo flinched, unprepared
for the sudden attack. There was a loud splattering sound, and a loud crash.
Ryo opened his eyes, and saw Cyberdramon, covered in mud and apparently
unconscious.
==
"I am sorry about this, but I fear there is no other way." the Chuchidarumon
elder said to Ryo. "Cyberdramon cannot stay here, and he is too powerful to
destroy."
"I understand." Ryo replied. "Until I can find a way to calm Cyberdramon
down, there's no way I can go back home. Letting him loose on the digital
world like this would be nothing short of murder."
"It is said that when a digimon evolves too quickly, his mind can become
unhinged by all the power flowing through it." the elder said. "It may be that
his mind will adjust naturally. To the north lies the realm of the Digimon
Sovereign. The Devas there may have the answers you seek."
"Devas?" Ryo asked.
"They're powerful digimon that serve the four oldest digimon in the digital
world." Veemon answered. "Come on, I'll take you there!"
Ryo looked back at Cyberdramon, tied up and on a sled. "He's not going to be
too happy when he wakes up."
Veemon looked unconcerned. "Hey, you can tame him, right? Besides, you need
someone to show you around here."
Ryo smirked. "Alright. Lead on, Zero."
==Hypnos, present
Yamaki stood in the director's office, waiting for the final decision to be
handed down. "I've reviewed all the data about you and the...incident." the
director said. "I am in a bit of a quandary about how to proceed. You are a
brilliant programmer, and your insights have made possible some of Hypnos'
greatest advances in detecting and controlling Wild Ones. But at the same
time, your recent actions show you to be a bit...unstable. You are too
dangerous to let loose, and arresting you would create too much publicity,
especially if Ms. Motomiya were to find out."
"So, then?" Yamaki asked.
"It is my opinion that you need psychiatric help, Yama...rather, Mr. Akiyama.
You've let the death of your son turn this project into a personal crusade.
I'm assigning you to a psychiatric examiner for a period of six months. If it
is determined that you cannot be rehabilitated, you will be transferred
to...someplace else."
"Meaning I'll vanish."
The director sighed. "Meaning I'm trying to help you out here. You're
brilliant, but you never properly dealt with Ryo's death. I need someone who
can monitor and respond to threats raised by these digimon, not a crusader who
kidnaps children and tries to dissect them and their pets."
"My report-" Yamaki started.
"Your report went on about children from other dimensions and hybrid digimon,
Isao." the director said, using Yamaki's real name for effect. "There are
people who'd rather see you sent to a prison for the rest of your life. Let me
help you. Take the time off, clear all your issues up, then come back. I can
probably sweep this all under the rug."
Yamaki frowned, but nodded. "Very well. What will happen to Hypnos?"
"It will be taken care of. That is all."
==Nonaka residence
Kenta readjusted his position. Right now, he was standing up on several
poorly stacked garbage cans, trying to look into the back yard where the
digimon were practicing.
"I see we have company." Janyu whispered to Henry.
Henry glanced over. "It's just Kenta." he said. "He's pretty harmless, as
long as Kazu isn't around. He already knows about the digimon here." The two
watched as Gabumon made a few practice attacks against Renamon. Eevee took the
opportunity to rest up; Hitomi hadn't returned yet.
"What is taking them so long?" Rika wondered. She was about to go on when her
mother and Hitomi stepped out. Gabumon, Renamon, and Eevee quickly hid.
The dress Hitomi was wearing was pink and frilly, as Rika had feared.
However, the design and colour complemented Hitomi quite nicely. Even if
Hitomi was blushing fiercely at the moment.
"Head up dear," Rumiko whispered to Hitomi, "and don't blush so much, you've
got nothing to be ashamed of." In a louder voice, she said "Doesn't she look
lovely, Rika?"
"Uhh, yeah." Rika answered.
"Wow." Henry breathed. He head the sound of something falling over. Kenta,
he guessed.
"Hitomi," Jeri whispered, "that looks perfect on you!" She missed the look
Rika shot her.
Rumiko nodded. "You're right, Jeri. Hitomi, why don't you keep it?"
"But...I thought you got this for Rika..." Hitomi stammered.
"Oh, nonsense." Rumiko replied. "It looks nice on you, and I'd be so happy to
see this dress on someone who appreciates it." she said, casting a look at Rika.
Ouch, Henry thought. "Well, school photos are coming up."
"They are?" Rumiko asked, excited. "That's perfect then! Hitomi, you must
send me a picture, you'll be the envy of everyone at school."
Why me? Rika wondered.
Next Episode
Appointed the new head of Hypnos, Reilly decides to work with the tamers,
trying to enlist their help in handling the appearance of digimon. How well
will this plan work when two digimon appear in the middle of Tokyo? Next time
on Digicross Tamers, episode 15:
'Hypnos' new chief.'
beams looking for data came from. "It's been years since I came here." he
muttered, casting a glance at Cyberdramon, now asleep. "I wonder how
everything's going up there."
-----
Digicross Tamers Episode 14
'I remember the earth'
-----
Janyu Wong relaxed for the first time that day. He had been called in as a
witness in an internal investigation of Hypnos in general, and Isao Akiyama
a.k.a. Yamaki in particular. He had described what Yamaki had told him, how he
had been detained and prevented from contacting his family, and how, in Janyu's
opinion, Yamaki was, as Babel had put it, 'skipping without a rope.'
But, all that was over now, and he was reunited with his family. Now, he was
actually over at the Nonaka house, where Rika was giving Hitomi and Jeri a few
pointers on how to use cards from the digimon game to power up their partner
monsters in a battle. He watched, fascinated, as Hitomi used one card to
create a set of wings on Eevee, while Jeri created a shield for Gabumon to
defend himself with. "They're getting pretty good." Janyu said. "I still
can't believe it, even with everything I've seen."
Beside him, his son Henry nodded. "Well, Rika did win the Digimon Card Battle
tournament last year. I can't think of anyone better to teach them how to use
their D-Arcs. Especially after what happened."
Janyu looked at Hitomi. "How is she doing?"
Henry grimaced. "She's still pretty jumpy. She still gets nervous going into
the park, even when one of us is around. And Eevee and Noctowl never let her
out of their eyesight." Henry pointed out Noctowl.
"Well, she won't have to worry much longer." Janyu adjusted his glasses.
"After all the testimony, Mr. Yamaki's going to be gone for a good long time."
"Rika! I'm home!" Rika's mother's voice floated into the back yard.
"Everyone, hide!" Rika hissed, waving her arms. Renamon, Eevee, and Gabumon
all ducked out of sight, as Rumiko Nonaka poked her head out the back door.
"Oh, Rika, you're having friends over! Why didn't you tell me?"
Rika sighed. "I just wanted to show them how to play the card game, that's
all."
"Cards? That's no way for young ladies like yourselves to act. Come on, I
bought this new dress, I know you'll just love it!"
"*Mother*," Rika grumbled, "I don't. Like. Dresses."
"Oh, come on, dear. It's you, I just know it is."
Rika looked around, realizing her mother was not about to give up.
"Ahh...Hitomi! She said she wanted to be a model! Why don't you try her
first! She's been dying to try on something fancy!" Rika grabbed Hitomi, and
dragged her over to her mother. "Please," Rika whispered to Hitomi, "it's the
only way to stop her!"
Rumiko looked at Hitomi. "Alright. You look like you'd fit in this dress.
Come on, Hitomi, we'll have so much fun!" Rumiko dragged Hitomi into the house.
"Not a word." Rika said to Henry.
==Hypnos
Yamaki leaned back, waiting for the verdict. He had been called in to explain
his actions involving the Hypnos project, the development of Yuugoth and
Juggernaut, and, more to the point, his recent actions involving one Hitomi
Motomiya. He had a good idea what the result would be. He would 'disappear',
and Hypnos, the project he had built, would be taken over by some spineless
politician. Someone who had no idea how he had suffered...
==2 years ago
"Ryo? RYO!" Isao tore at the rubble that used to be his home, looking for
any sign of his son. Beside him, Reilly looked, though it was apparent that
she was beginning to lose hope. The battle between Cyberdramon, Gorillamon,
and Impmon had destroyed the house, leaving only Isao and Reilly relatively
unharmed.
Soon, firefighters and police started to show up, and they dragged Isao away
from the wreckage, so they could conduct a search, and take care of the small
fires that had sprung up. However, before the police could come over and take
statements, Isao was confronted by a man in a black suit. "Akiyama Isao?"
Numbly, Isao nodded. "Please come with me."
Isao was led over to an unmarked van, where more men in suits waited. "I know
what you were about to tell the police, and that would have been a mistake."
one of the suits said. "They would never have believed you, and would no doubt
have locked you up, blaming you for the explosion."
Isao looked up, anger returning in a flash. "I'd never have done that! It
was those... monsters that did this! They took my son away!"
Showing no emotion, the agent stood up. "Akiyama Isao. Widower, one son,
Akiyama Ryo, currently employed as a computer consultant to the local Microsoft
development team. Degrees in computer programming, system design, and advanced
mathematics." He looked at Reilly, who had just been brought over. "Reilly
Alison, also holding degrees in computer design and programming, worked for the
SFPD as a consultant on computer crimes before you met Isao and Miaka Akiyama,
then moved to Japan, where you work with the police in a similar fashion."
"What's all this about?" Reilly demanded coldly. "Do you know what happened
here? And where's Ryo?"
The agent handed Reilly and Isao several pictures. "Did any of the monsters
you saw resemble the ones in these photographs?" The two examined the photos,
then handed them back.
"That one looks a bit like the one...Monodramon, that was it." Reilly replied.
Isao held onto one photo, face unreadable.
"Those creatures we call 'digimon', as they all resemble creatures that can be
found in a card game that's been popular." The agent explained. "However, we
have been tracking the appearances of several such creatures over the last few
months here, in the real world. Someone or something has created actual
digimon and they are sending them here, for some unknown reason."
"Why tell us this?" Isao asked, voice barely audible. Reilly looked at Isao,
wondering at the emptiness in his voice.
"We were going to approach you two in a few days, but this has sped things up.
We're taking this...attack as an escalation. We want you to join a special
government project to track down and figure out why these...things are
appearing in this world."
"To destroy them?" Isao asked.
"Preferably, track and control them," the agent replied, "but that possibility
must be considered too. At the very least, we could make it so nothing like
this could happen again."
Reilly glanced at Isao, all this information nearly overwhelming her. Then
she stepped back, as Isao stood up.
"I'll do it." he said coldly.
==Digital world, about that time.
Akiyama Ryo came to, rubbing his head. "What happened to me...Dad? Ms.
Reilly? DAD!" Ryo sat up, wincing as he did. His wrist hurt; it was probably
sprained. "Where am I? The last thing I remember was that fight, and...oh my
god..." as he was speaking, he looked up, and saw Earth in the sky, multiple
beams of energy coming from it. "What is this place?"
"Are you alright?" a voice behind him asked. Swiveling around, he saw a small
blue and white digimon he recognized immediately.
"V...A Veemon?"
"That's my name, don't wear it out!" Veemon replied cheerfully. "I don't
recognize you. You wouldn't be from Gen-Bu, would you? I hear the digimon
there are pretty wild."
Ryo shook his head. "No, I...did you say digimon?" He looked up at the Earth
again. "Am I in the digital world?"
Veemon shrugged. "Sure you are. Where else do digimon live?"
Ryo suddenly gasped. "Monodramon! Where is he?" Quickly, he described
Monodramon to Veemon.
"You've been here for about a day, I think." Veemon replied. "If there was a
digimon with you, he probably left by now. Hey, you're a human, aren't you!
Oh, WOW! Wait'll I tell the others!"
"Others?"
Veemon nodded. "Yeah. There's a whole village of Chuchidarumon nearby I was
crashing at when we heard this big bang last night. I got up and set out right
away! Well, I took a short nap along the way..."
==Next Day
Ryo sat at the table, still stunned. "I'm actually talking to real live
digimon." he whispered, then he forced back a laugh when he heard one of the
smaller digimon whisper that they couldn't believe they were talking to a real
live human. "How did I get here? Do any of you know?"
The elder Chuchidarumon shook his head. "We have never heard of a human
coming here. There are legends of digimon searching for a way to get to your
world, what we call the Real World, but that is all we have. Legends, that
is." Outside, there was a small commotion. "We sent some of our stronger
villagers to the wreckage, to see if we could salvage anything we thought might
be of use to you. We do not know what you will need; they were instructed to
bring back anything that looked salvageable." Ryo nodded, and went outside.
What was there was a lot of stuff he would normally classify as garbage. Some
clothes, useful; blanket, good; Computer, wrecked and not very useful;
Digivice...wait. Ryo looked around the salvaged items, and found a shoebox.
Opening it, he found the rest of his Digimon cards, somewhat mixed up. "I
wonder where Monodramon went?"
"We saw some tracks going from the wreckage." one of the Chuchidarumon said.
"But we didn't follow them, they were kind of big."
He couldn't have stayed as Cyberdramon, could he, Ryo wondered. "I'd better
go find him. He might be my ticket to getting back home."
The Chuchidarumon elder nodded. "Of course. Please feel free to stop by any
time you wish. We will always welcome you here."
Ryo nodded. "Thank you. And thanks for taking care of my arm." He held up
his left arm, the wrist covered by bandages and having a hard metal plate on
the top.
"It was nothing." The elder replied.
"Wait for me!" Veemon said, hopping up. "I know this place a bit, I'll guide
you around."
Ryo smiled at that. "Should I call you Zero?"
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
==Hypnos HQ, still under construction
Isao looked over the central room. "All this?"
The agent beside him nodded. "It's a secret facility designed to keep tabs on
data and information transmission on a worldwide scope. However, we noticed
some unusual signals coming from a layer of the internet that's rarely accessed
these days."
Reilly, standing beside Isao, looked over a sheaf of printouts the agent
handed them. "This looks like some sort of machine code. But I can't identify
what it would do; it looks very complex."
"It is." the agent replied, nodding. "Shortly after we started picking up
these signals, reports of monster sightings began. There seems to be a
correlation between this code and the appearance of these monsters."
"Are you telling me that a computer program destroyed my house and killed my
son?" Yamaki asked quietly.
"Essentially true, if oversimplified. Somehow, some form of intelligence that
can be sourced to the Internet is generating these digimon and sending them
here. We've tried deleting it, but we can't access the code that these things
seem to come from. Short of dismantling the entire Internet, we don't know
what to do." The agent shrugged.
"If these...things are comprised of computer code, then we can use that code
to design a way of destroying them." Isao said. "What we need are samples to
work with. What do we have?"
"None. By the time we can get someone there, whatever came through has gone."
"Fog." Reilly said suddenly. "When those digimon appeared at our house, there
was some sort of fog all around us. But it didn't feel cold or damp."
"We think it's a side effect of the digimon emerging into this world. We call
it 'realization' or 'bio emergence', take your pick."
Isao took out his digivice. "What about this? It came from a card reader
after I passed a card through it. Ryo had one too, and it appeared in the
same way, though he used a blue card. It had some sort of holographic symbol
on the front, and a grey stripe along the side."
The agent took the digivice. "I've never seen anything like it. Do you think
it's connected?"
"Ryo passed a card through it after it changed, and the digimon on the card
appeared." Reilly said. As she spoke, the device started blinking, emitting a
quiet beeping noise. On the screen, an arrow appeared, spinning around before
pointing straight ahead.
One of the technicians, working on a console, spoke up. "We just got word of
a monster appearing nearby!"
==Digital World
Ryo kept walking along, looking around at the world he was now in. "So, Zero,
is there a way home?"
Veemon looked up. "Not that I know of. Of course, I never tried. And why
are you calling me Zero?"
Ryo smiled. "Back home, there's a story about a boy who's taken to the
digital world and meets a digimon he called Zero. I guess I'll never find out
if they make it back. I wonder if Taichi ever got homesick, they never seemed
to mention it in the manga."
"Oh? Humans have come here before?" Veemon asked.
"No, it was just a story. How long have we been walking? I don't feel hungry
or thirsty."
"You're data like us now." Veemon replied. "You don't have to eat unless you
want to, or drink! You still build up a bit of a waistline, though. I don't
know how that applies to humans though."
"That's good to know." Ryo replied. "Though I'd love to get a hamburger
sometime."
"Hasn't been a good burger here since the Burgermon family packed up and moved
to the lower levels."
"Burgermon? That sounds like some sort of silly marketing thing."
Veemon shrugged. "Hey, you humans put the data in. We just adapt to it the
best we can."
Ryo shrugged. "Maybe we should have put a few more exit commands in. What
are those beams from the Real World? They look like they come near here."
"Some of them do. When you step in one, you get transported to a random part
of the digital world."
Mentally, Ryo crossed that idea off. "So, what's it like here?"
Veemon shrugged. "There's a lot of fighting; loading data is the only way
digimon can get stronger, the only way they can digivolve. It's a tough place
if you're not careful." Ryo grimaced.
==Real World
Isao hopped out of the small van that had been assigned to Hypnos, following
several agents that piled out as well. In his hand, the small digivice kept
blinking, arrow pointing straight ahead. Filled with anticipation, he ran
ahead of the other agents, the beeping from his digivice getting louder.
On rounding the corner, he found the digimon it had detected. It looked like
a small cartoon mouse, pink fur, a paranoid look on its face. "You're not the
one." Isao muttered.
"M...me?" Chuumon replied. "I just came looking for something to eat, that's
all!"
The other agents caught up. "Step away, we don't know what that thing might
turn into!" one of them said to Isao.
"AHH!" Chuumon screamed. As he did, he glowed, and changed shape.
Digivolving, Isao thought. That's what Ryo called it. This one changed into
what looked like a wizened old man, still comically short.
Bomber Nanimon brandished an explosive. "You'll never get me!" he yelled.
"You'll never stop me from doing what I was sent here to do!" The digimon
hurled the explosive at the agents, who all scattered. The explosion was no
larger than a small firecracker, but it got Bomber Nanimon's point across.
"This is what digimon do!" Impmon's voice echoed in the back of Isao's mind.
Snarling, he picked up a rock and hurled it at Bomber Nanimon, catching the
digimon on the head. The rock bounced off, dazing it, and Isao leaped forward,
fingers wrapped around its throat. Isao got a knee to the gut, and was hurled
back by another explosive device, injuring him. Two agents stepped up, firing
dart guns. Bomber Nanimon dropped.
"Are you alright?" an agent asked, helping Isao up. "No offense, but that was
foolish. He could have...DUCK!" Isao was knocked over as another bomb went
off, and Bomber Nanimon got up, summoning another bomb. Looking, Isao saw that
two of the agents were unconscious and bleeding heavily.
"This ends NOW!" he snatched a dart gun that one of the agents had dropped,
aimed, and fired at the bomb that the digimon had just summoned. The dart hit,
the bomb exploded, and Bomber Nanimon howled as his body was torn apart by the
blast.
"Nice shot." the agent muttered, watching the digimon disintegrate. "Hey, up
there!"
Isao looked up, and saw a small digimon that he recognized instantly. As he
watched, the particles from Bomber Nanimon's corpse flew up and were absorbed
into Impmon's body. Suddenly, Isao recovered, raised his gun, and started
firing. Impmon jumped off the ledge and fled, a mocking "thanks for the pick-
me-up!" floating down to him.
==
The director looked at the report the agent filed, then at Isao. "Your
impressions?"
"They don't care about humans." Isao replied. "These digimon only care about
increasing their own strength, regardless of the damage their little wars
cause. That war took my son and my life away. I want to stay on and help."
The director nodded. "Ms. Reilly said the same thing."
==
In another part of the Hypnos HQ, Reilly looked over a final set of papers.
"So, I just sign here?" she asked. "No secret name or new identity?"
The agent shrugged. "It's up to you. This is a secret organization, so we do
expect you to remain...discrete. These are just the standard secrecy and non-
disclosure forms. We don't take away your identity until your first year's
done." Another shrug. "Sorry, small joke."
"Very small." Reilly replied. "Will I be working with anyone?"
"Reilly?" a figure asked. She was short, had blonde hair...
"Talli?" Reilly gasped.
"Reilly! I can't believe it's you! Oh, I heard about what happened, I'm so
sorry.."
"Umm...Ms. Reilly, this is your partner, but I see you already know each
other..." the agent stepped away, deciding not to interfere with the reunion.
"What are you doing here, Talli?" Reilly asked. "I thought you were going to
teach programming at Tokyo University."
Talli shook her head. "I got headhunted for this assignment. They said they
needed expert computer technicians, and naturally, my name came up. I guess
you got hired that way too?"
Reilly shook her head, and related what had happened to Ryo. "That's...I
can't believe it..." Talli gasped. "How's Isao?"
"Still numb, I think. It's either that or just...rage, I think."
==Digital World
The trip was long, but they finally made it back to the wreckage. "Nothing."
Ryo said, depressed. "I'd hoped that I might find something, a clue..." He
trailed off as a piece of the rubble shifted, revealing Cyberdramon, getting
up. The digimon growled, looking at Ryo. "Cyberdramon? It's me, Ryo! You
remember?" This was a lot easier on TV, Ryo thought to himself.
"Ryo..." Cyberdramon growled. Ryo wished the digimon had eyes; he couldn't
tell what mood Cyberdramon was in. Cyberdramon stood up, flexing his arms.
Then he locked on Veemon, snarling.
"Cyberdramon!" Ryo shouted. "No! He's a friend!"
"Data..." Cyberdramon growled. Veemon gulped, hiding behind Ryo. "Must
fight." Ryo stood there, trying to stare Cyberdramon down. Finally, the
dragon digimon snarled, and flew off, back the way Ryo and Veemon had come.
"Where's he going?" Ryo wondered, confused.
Veemon's eyes widened. "The Chuchidarumon village! He must be looking for
more data to absorb!" Ryo's eyes widened, and the two immediately ran after
the flying digimon, who was already vanishing into the distance.
==
When Ryo and Veemon got there, they found Cyberdramon had already devastated
half of the village. Cyberdramon howled as he tore another home apart,
revealing the two small Chuchidarumon who lived there. "STOP!" Ryo yelled.
"They're just children!" Cyberdramon snarled, ignoring Ryo.
"Let me do it! V-Headbutt!" Veemon slammed into Cyberdramon. Cyberdramon
snarled again, grabbed Veemon, and hurled him away.
"How can I get through to him...?" Ryo wondered. Then his hand touched his
digivice. "When Monodramon evolved into Cyberdramon, it was because I used a
card on this digivice. Maybe..." Ryo pulled out a card, hoping for the best.
"Downgrade! Activate!"
The effect was immediate. Cyberdramon stopped in his tracks, writhing in
pain. For a second, Ryo thought Cyberdramon would revert to Monodramon, but
that hope faded as the berserk digimon shook off the effects of the card.
Roaring, he charged Ryo!
Quickly, Ryo dodged the charge. "I'm glad he didn't use his Erase Claw." he
muttered, wondering how a digital attack would affect a human, and deciding he
didn't want to find out right now. He clutched his digivice even tighter,
wishing he had a way to control Cyberdramon.
Suddenly, the digivice hummed slightly, then shot out a beam of light,
wrapping around Cyberdramon. "Wha?" Ryo gasped, wondering what was happening.
Cyberdramon clawed at the beam of light, wrapped around his torso and neck now.
"Some kind of leash?" Cyberdramon turned, trying to launch an attack on Ryo.
"Stop it NOW!" Ryo ordered, feeling a pulse of energy flow through his
digivice. Cyberdramon snarled, but subsided. Ryo relaxed, and the energy beam
dissipated. "I'm glad that's over."
Suddenly, Cyberdramon jumped at Ryo, claws extended. Ryo flinched, unprepared
for the sudden attack. There was a loud splattering sound, and a loud crash.
Ryo opened his eyes, and saw Cyberdramon, covered in mud and apparently
unconscious.
==
"I am sorry about this, but I fear there is no other way." the Chuchidarumon
elder said to Ryo. "Cyberdramon cannot stay here, and he is too powerful to
destroy."
"I understand." Ryo replied. "Until I can find a way to calm Cyberdramon
down, there's no way I can go back home. Letting him loose on the digital
world like this would be nothing short of murder."
"It is said that when a digimon evolves too quickly, his mind can become
unhinged by all the power flowing through it." the elder said. "It may be that
his mind will adjust naturally. To the north lies the realm of the Digimon
Sovereign. The Devas there may have the answers you seek."
"Devas?" Ryo asked.
"They're powerful digimon that serve the four oldest digimon in the digital
world." Veemon answered. "Come on, I'll take you there!"
Ryo looked back at Cyberdramon, tied up and on a sled. "He's not going to be
too happy when he wakes up."
Veemon looked unconcerned. "Hey, you can tame him, right? Besides, you need
someone to show you around here."
Ryo smirked. "Alright. Lead on, Zero."
==Hypnos, present
Yamaki stood in the director's office, waiting for the final decision to be
handed down. "I've reviewed all the data about you and the...incident." the
director said. "I am in a bit of a quandary about how to proceed. You are a
brilliant programmer, and your insights have made possible some of Hypnos'
greatest advances in detecting and controlling Wild Ones. But at the same
time, your recent actions show you to be a bit...unstable. You are too
dangerous to let loose, and arresting you would create too much publicity,
especially if Ms. Motomiya were to find out."
"So, then?" Yamaki asked.
"It is my opinion that you need psychiatric help, Yama...rather, Mr. Akiyama.
You've let the death of your son turn this project into a personal crusade.
I'm assigning you to a psychiatric examiner for a period of six months. If it
is determined that you cannot be rehabilitated, you will be transferred
to...someplace else."
"Meaning I'll vanish."
The director sighed. "Meaning I'm trying to help you out here. You're
brilliant, but you never properly dealt with Ryo's death. I need someone who
can monitor and respond to threats raised by these digimon, not a crusader who
kidnaps children and tries to dissect them and their pets."
"My report-" Yamaki started.
"Your report went on about children from other dimensions and hybrid digimon,
Isao." the director said, using Yamaki's real name for effect. "There are
people who'd rather see you sent to a prison for the rest of your life. Let me
help you. Take the time off, clear all your issues up, then come back. I can
probably sweep this all under the rug."
Yamaki frowned, but nodded. "Very well. What will happen to Hypnos?"
"It will be taken care of. That is all."
==Nonaka residence
Kenta readjusted his position. Right now, he was standing up on several
poorly stacked garbage cans, trying to look into the back yard where the
digimon were practicing.
"I see we have company." Janyu whispered to Henry.
Henry glanced over. "It's just Kenta." he said. "He's pretty harmless, as
long as Kazu isn't around. He already knows about the digimon here." The two
watched as Gabumon made a few practice attacks against Renamon. Eevee took the
opportunity to rest up; Hitomi hadn't returned yet.
"What is taking them so long?" Rika wondered. She was about to go on when her
mother and Hitomi stepped out. Gabumon, Renamon, and Eevee quickly hid.
The dress Hitomi was wearing was pink and frilly, as Rika had feared.
However, the design and colour complemented Hitomi quite nicely. Even if
Hitomi was blushing fiercely at the moment.
"Head up dear," Rumiko whispered to Hitomi, "and don't blush so much, you've
got nothing to be ashamed of." In a louder voice, she said "Doesn't she look
lovely, Rika?"
"Uhh, yeah." Rika answered.
"Wow." Henry breathed. He head the sound of something falling over. Kenta,
he guessed.
"Hitomi," Jeri whispered, "that looks perfect on you!" She missed the look
Rika shot her.
Rumiko nodded. "You're right, Jeri. Hitomi, why don't you keep it?"
"But...I thought you got this for Rika..." Hitomi stammered.
"Oh, nonsense." Rumiko replied. "It looks nice on you, and I'd be so happy to
see this dress on someone who appreciates it." she said, casting a look at Rika.
Ouch, Henry thought. "Well, school photos are coming up."
"They are?" Rumiko asked, excited. "That's perfect then! Hitomi, you must
send me a picture, you'll be the envy of everyone at school."
Why me? Rika wondered.
Next Episode
Appointed the new head of Hypnos, Reilly decides to work with the tamers,
trying to enlist their help in handling the appearance of digimon. How well
will this plan work when two digimon appear in the middle of Tokyo? Next time
on Digicross Tamers, episode 15:
'Hypnos' new chief.'