Digimon Legacy

Episode 14

To the Digital Frontier

It has been a week since the animatronic incident, and Takashi was just lounging on the roof of his house, stargazing with his father and sister. Erin was still uneasy for whatever reason, and this stargazing leisure was Takashi's idea to help her relax. Frank went on pointing out various constellations while Takashi could only glance at Erin out of the corner of his eyes, wondering why she was so nervous.

"Hey, Erin…" Takashi spoke up. Erin jolted up in shock before she realized it was just her brother. "Is something wrong?"

"I-it's nothing, Takashi…" she claimed, slowly looking away from Takashi in shame. Her brother still looked at her in concern. She was the same as Sammy, but not quite as mature… though she was still mature enough to recognize the fact that in the story of Takashi's life, she almost always filled the role of the Helpless. Someone else always had to save her from some situation or another. She could feel it in her blood that another such incident would be occurring in the near future, but she didn't want to make Takashi worry.

Frowning in anticipation, Erin excused herself and slowly slid off the roof, wanting to just be alone for a while. Takashi slowly turned his gaze back to the stars above when he suddenly heard Erin scream in horror. He and Frank immediately slid off of the roof and into their backyard to see Nathan, in front of a portal to the Digital World, holding Erin by her hair.

"Nathan!" Takashi screeched in outrage. The Demon Lord smirked at him smugly.

"Thanks for the gift, loser," Nathan taunted him, slowly backing into the vortex with Erin in tow. "I'll just be on my way now. Sayonara!"

"Get back here!" Takashi screamed, trying to follow him into the portal, but it closed on him, leaving Takashi to land hard on the ground in front of him. "Erin!" He screamed futilely. He banged his fist on the grass in outrage. His gaze slowly shifted to the pocket he kept his D-Memory in.

Meanwhile, in the shrine to the Demon Lords, Nathan and his hostage emerged from the portal, and the former tossed the ten-year-old girl onto the floor. Erin slowly got back up and glared at her captor in seething rage.

"You rotten piece of shit!" she screeched at him. "If you think you can use me as the fucking bait for your fucking trap for my fucking brother, you've got another thing coming!" Nathan only stared at her with a deadpan expression.

"Yeesh… like mother, like daughter, I guess," Nathan commented. Erin only stared at Nathan in surprise.

"What do you…?" she started to ask, but before she could finish, she could see three figures approaching the room she and Nathan were in, the center figure being dragged along the floor. The figures on the ends were both Devimon, and their captive was…

Erin could hardly believe her eyes as she caught a glimpse of the captive's face through the thick, auburn hair. The gentle, emerald-green eyes she had seen so many times in the pictures…

"Mom?" she asked nervously, pushing past Nathan to get a closer look. Victoria lifted her head in surprise, a mixture of emotions visible on her face.

"…Erin? Is… is that you?" she choked out, both happy and terrified to see her daughter here, of all places. The Devimon let her go, but she still sat there in disbelief. Finally, never female could take it any longer, and dashed forward, hugging each other in sheer happiness. Tears of joy flowed freely from both sets of eyes.

"I thought…" Erin could barely choke out the words through her tears. "I thought you were dead. Dad and Takashi… we all thought you died in that fire…"

"How touching…" Nathan said in disgust. Erin and Victoria both turned towards the Demon Lord in shock, having forgotten that he was there. "But let me clear something up; I kidnapped her on that day, four years ago. I would have let her die or make her own way out, but I needed her alive."

"Why?" Erin asked.

"She's the Medium."

"The what?"

"I'm the Medium that connects the human world to the Digital World…" Victoria clarified. "When I was a little girl, I had always had a fascination with digital electronics. It was my dream to become a digital electrician. One day, I encountered a strange creature on my computer monitor. It was the first Digimon I had ever laid my eyes on. It wasn't some common guy, either. This was the Time Keeper of Dusk, Twilimon…" she began to trial off as she reminisced. "He was the one who told me about my role as the Medium… and about the abilities that came with. If I focused hard enough, I could sense the Data Cores of any Digimon… even the Time Keepers."

Erin could only stare at her mother in apprehension, the pieces beginning to fall into place in her head. "So… you knew what Takashi was the entire time?"

"Right from the day he was born, I knew he was special. But Takashi isn't some standard DigiCarnate. He is the reincarnation of Amateramon, the Time Keeper of Noon, and embodiment of day, summer, and sun." Erin was shocked when she heard this. Amateramon was Takashi the whole time!? (Takashi told her and Frank everything he and the others discussed in chapter 6) "I never blamed him for starting the fire that day. You, Takashi, and your father all got out before me, and before I could make my way out, he appeared in front of me and knocked me out."

"And then he dragged you here, so he could use you to track down the Time Keepers," Erin muttered as everything fell into place in her head. "Then he decided to kidnap me for two reasons: to blackmail you into cooperating with him and to lure Takashi into the Digital World." She slowly turned to face Nathan, expecting him to grab her and hang over a vat of electric eels or something.

Nathan smirked at the dirty look Erin gave him. "You really are her daughter," he said as if he were having a casual conversation with the girl in front of him. "Sharp as a tack, nasty habit of swearing, and a preference for long hair. As they say, 'the falsification of guilt begins with the absence of a cup holder'."

Erin stared at Nathan weirdly at his last metaphor. "What?"

"Never mind. Devimon, escort these ladies to their cells. We'd best prepare them for the show." With that command, the two Devimon each grabbed one of the women, and dragged them in opposite directions, their charges kicking and screaming the entire way. Nathan smirked evilly as he imagined how quickly it will take Takashi to call up his friends and begin his maiden voyage into the Digital World…

"We have to go in," Takashi stated boldly to his audience. Sammy, Mac, Yuna, Marisa, and Alex were all assembled in front of him, having been informed of what had just happened. "Are you guys with me?" They all nodded their heads in confirmation. With that, Takashi turned on his heels, held out his D-Memory, and pressed a sequence of buttons, which fired a laser from the top of the device, opening a portal to the Digital world. The six of them bravely walked into the swirling vortex, moving to the awesome adventures that awaited them.

What will the DigiCarnates find in the Digital World? What Capcom game was the author referencing with that cup holder metaphor? To find out the answer to the first question, keep watching Digimon: Digital Monsters! Also, if anyone can correctly answer the second question, you may win a fabulous prize!