Chapter 21
Anniversaries
Otaru, Japan 2028
"Tell us how you defeated Pesmon, again!" little Henry shouted.
"Henry, it's past your bedtime," Takato told his son. "And you shouldn't pull on Uncle Coyomon's tail like that. It's very rude."
"Besides," Jeri put in, "you've heard the story a dozen times."
"But I like it!" the little boy protested. "And it's different every time he tells it!"
"What did he add in last time?" Renamon asked.
"Space aliens!" Henry chirped with delight.
Henry and the rest of the kids were put to bed after appropriate promises of future (slightly exaggerated) stories of adventure and the rest of the gang settled in for a quiet evening.
Takato poured out the wine. It was a vintage from grapes grown on the slopes of the Crystal Mountains in the Outer East Realm and tasted like-- well-- like nothing else on Earth. Very nice, actually. The data bits made my tongue tingle.
"Happy twentieth anniversary!" he toasted and we all clinked glasses.
It was twenty years sine we had left Earth for the Digital Dimension to rescue Calumon. We had adopted the day as a holiday-- an excuse to get together and celebrate. That year the party was held at Takato and Jeri's summerhouse on Hokkaido.
We caught up with each other and gossiped about the few of the group that couldn't make the reunion. The past decade had been good for most of us and very good for the Earth in general. I'm always amazed at the adaptability of the human race. They kick and scream about any tiny change in their routines-- but turn the whole world upside down and they seem to deal with it just fine-- eventually.
Rika and I were still officially dead. There had been a lot of speculation about us possibly being alive but that was taken seriously only by the Bigfoot and UFO crowd. With nearly a billion digimon living on the Earth, it was ridiculously easy to remain unnoticed. A few dozen beings on Earth knew our secret and they had been good at keeping it. Renamon used a false name most of the time and most everyone who met her assumed she was some other renamon. Oh, digimon could feel how strong she was even though she still registered as Rookie level on digivices but none of them were dumb enough to ask prying questions of a creature who was so powerful she made their fur stand on end when she got near them.
Our children were scattered across both worlds. Every one had been a surprise and a joy to us. All of them were powerful and a bit wild but none were as fearsome or destructive as we had feared they might be. Ma'iimon had lived in the Southwestern deserts of North America for many years, looking pretty much like a normal coyote and only occasionally interacting with humans or other digimon. I thought it was a strange existence but he always seemed perfectly happy when we visited him. Rokomon and Ciyamon had both taken human tamers. Rokomon's tamer wanted to explore the Digital Dimension and they both seemed perfectly happy to live a vagabond life. Ciyamon's tamer was one of the first humans to try to open up trade between the worlds and the wine we drank that night was one of his successful ideas. Kayamon still served Yasuramon as her Captain of Devas and was the terror and delight of the Southern Realm.
Ryo surprised us all by taking a digimon girlfriend about a year after the PES war. Varyemon was certainly a beauty. She was a fierce fighter and had a wicked sense of humor. Most amazing of all, she seemed to have a mellowing influence on Cyberdramon. He actually smiled on occasion-- really-- I have pictures. Ryo and I never became close again but at least we could be gracious and polite toward each other and comfortable in each other's presence.
The Ministry for Digital Relations was no longer in the backwaters of Japanese government. With such a high percentage of the population being digital, it was of central importance, and Takato, as Minister was doing a terrific job of shepherding an amazingly diverse population through a rapidly changing world.
The only real concern I had was that the future looked so good that it promised to be-- well-- boring.
I needn't have worried about that.
-o--()--o-
The Sea of Brass, South Realm 2048
"Renamon!" I shouted to her. "Get out of there!"
"I'm fine! Go!" she yelled back as she leaped over a mass of the insect-like digimon that were swarming through the steep, winding streets of the seaside village. I shuddered at the sight of the viscous yellow venom that dripped from their mandibles-- but poison was my weakness, not Renamon's. She blasted a courtyard free of the things with a Diamond Storm and then waded into more of them that were packed into a narrow alleyway, her fists and feet blurring into streaks of blue fire as bursts of data began billowing upwards.
Renamon could delay the swarm while the villagers escaped but I needed to find the power behind the bugs or they'd never stop coming.
I phased out and scanned the glittering landscape, tracing the insects back into the tunnels they'd erupted out of. The tubes twisted oddly and merged into an enormous burrow that was beneath the seafloor. Then the whole system of tunnels moved sluggishly and the mystery was explained. There was no burrow. The bugs were an attack phase of a gigantic digimon that was lurking just offshore. The tunnels were tendrils that extended from its bloated body.
Time to take the fight to the enemy.
I soared out over the ocean and poured energy into my long-bladed spear. When it was blazing and vibrating with power, I flung it downward with all my strength. The golden water hissed into steam as the spear passed through it and disappeared.
For a long moment nothing happened and then the land shook and the sea boiled. The huge mutant Mega reared up, shedding water and sea-bottom gunk and howling like a demented banshee. The houses of the village shook and tilted as the thing's tendrils retracted from beneath them.
I called my spear back to me and banked away from the Mega. It was covered in spines that oozed a stinking yellow slime. I couldn't handle venom on that sort of scale so I'd have to rely solely on distance attacks. I was readying a Destroying Blade attack when Rika spoke into my mind.
Wouldn't it be more fun to get your claws into it? It was an odd remark. Rika knew I was vulnerable to poison, just as Renamon was vulnerable to ice-based attacks.
Okay-- you want me to go in barehanded against it?
Don't be silly. There's something I've been wanting to try. Come to me. I'm on the beach.
She must have called Renamon also because I saw her leaping down the steep rooftops of the village like a staircase as I dropped to the beach. Rika stood on the sand, her long red hair streamed in the breeze as she calmly watched the looming monster surge toward us.
Rika looked the just same as always. She wore what she called her "adventuring clothes", jeans and a denim shirt with a small rucksack over one shoulder and a digivice on each hip. She didn't need the digivices, of course. She could give us modifications with a wave of her hand or just a thought. But the digivices were a universally recognized mark of a tamer and Rika said she'd never dream of being without them. She had often remarked that she'd dig the Sovereign Spark out of her own head sooner than give up being our tamer.
"What's up, Rika?" I asked as I skidded to a stop beside her. It looked like we had about thirty seconds before the big heap of ugly slammed into the beach-- and us.
"Nastiest thing we've faced in years, isn't it?" she asked calmly nodding at the charging monstrosity."We might need something special to defeat it." Renamon landed just behind her and she took a step backward and pulled one of Renamon's hands around her waist. Then she motioned me over to her and did the same with me.
"Uh--," I said as Rika sighed and snuggled into our mutual embrace, "maybe this isn't the best time for a group hug?" My fur was ruffling in the wind caused by the monster's huge bulk pushing air before it.
"The calm before the storm--" Rika murmured quietly and then held up a digivice in each hand, pressed them to her chest, and triggered them. We merged.
The thing spewed clouds of venomous bugs at us. We laughed and swept them into a red haze with a flick of our tail. It flailed its hundreds of poison-spined tendrils at us and we ripped them from its body by the handfuls, the poison hissing harmlessly on our gleaming fur, the spines unable to penetrate its thick strands.
The gigantic claws it had used to dig itself into the seafloor came up and swiped at us. We danced aside and tore great furrows in its arms with our own claws. A spin, a kick, and it crashed back into the sea, pushing a huge wave away from the shore beneath its bulk. We waded after it.
It was a joy to fight such a powerful and brutal foe together as one and when, at last, we sank our fangs into the creature and tore the last bit of life from it, the burst of energy we drank in was sweeter than any wine. Its vintage was victory.
A cheer went up from the watching digimon and humans on the cliff top above the village. We waded ashore and stepped to the pastureland beside the crowd before separating. All three of us were grinning like idiots.
Yamaki stepped forward to thank us. "These things keep creeping in from the outer worlds. They seem to be getting stronger and more aggressive every year. I'm glad you happened to be here. We would have been in big trouble otherwise."
"It was no accident," Rika told him. "We've heard so many good things about the place that we all decided to hold our anniversary party here this year. The three of us just came early to get things ready. It's a beautiful little community you've created--" She glanced down the steep path at the tumbled and broken houses. "Oh-- I guess I should do a little clean-up for you." She summoned a cloud of digignomes who swept down over the village, repairing the damage that the fighting had done.
"I wish there was some way we could properly thank you," Riley said.
Rika shook her head. "There's no need. That fight was-- was its own reward." Now there was an understatement for you! Why hadn't she told us we could merge like that?
It was a good party-- one of the best. Tents and pavilions spread over the big meadow nearly to the edge of the forest and damn near everybody we knew as well as the whole village attended. Forty years since humans had first ventured into the Digital Dimension and not many of our friends were showing their age. Well, with diginets to keep human bodies in constant and perfect repair or the option of freezing oneself at a particular age by "retiring" to a world in the Digital Dimension, who would want to get all old and wrinkly?
We ate and drank and circulated and talked and drank and danced and sang and drank and just had one hell of a good time.
Mid-way through the evening I propositioned Riley just to fluster her a bit and got a hell of a surprise.
"I think I'd like that," she smiled at me. "There's a quiet little grove in the woods not far from here--"
"Whoa! Wait! You mean you--"
"Sure," she said quietly, stepping closer to me and twirling a finger in my ruff. "I won't tell anyone if you won't--"
"No wait!" I said, suddenly realizing the mess I was about to get into. I grabbed Riley's shoulders and pushed her away from me. "I was just kidding! You're beautiful-- and I'd love to-- but-- I-- ah--"
Riley burst out laughing. "Oh my! Rika was right! That's the perfect way to stop you in your tracks-- fuzzy-pants!" She turned, still laughing, and went off in search of her husband.
I cursed under my breath for a while and then stomped off toward the food stalls. Women!
I ran into Liesel's Gazimon at the yakitori booth. True to his type, he was shoveling it down with a will.
"Where's your tamer?" I asked him.
"Murfer fere!" he sputtered around a gigantic mouthful of barbecued chicken.
I waited until he'd swallowed and then asked him again.
"She took off with the big demon for a ride on his motorcycle," he said, grabbing up another handful of chicken skewers. "Over that way." He flung out a hand carelessly indicating some direction vaguely away from the village.
"With Beelzemon? Really?" It was a day for firsts, all right.
"Yff," Gazimon nodded, "Fee fed ffeyd bff bkk un ahf ffr uh ffoo."
"No kidding?" I said as I grabbed a few skewers and headed for the bar.
I ran into Yoko and Renamon as I was finishing my snack. They were talking quietly near one of the bonfires where people were playing music. A group of gomamon were keeping up a complicated rhythm by clapping their front flippers together in time to the music. I handed my last bit of yakitori to Kudomon where he lay comfortably curled around Yoko's neck.
"Renamon was just telling me about your fight," Yoko said. "It sounds like it was exciting."
"It was frikkin' awesome is what it was!" I told her enthusiastically.
"Fighting one of those creepy new mutants that seem to be spawning out on the edges of the remote worlds-- not knowing what it might be capable of--" Yoko grinned. "Yeah, that does sound like fun!"
A sudden idea struck me. "Hey, you took a look around the village when you got here this afternoon. What do you think of it? Would you like to spend some time here?" I rushed on before she could answer. "Because they really need a Protector here. They're close enough to the Outer Edge that new creepies can turn up almost without warning and having a resident Mega to look out for them--"
I didn't have to finish. Yoko's eyes were gleaming just at the thought of it and Kudomon had raised his head in immediate interest.
I grinned. "I'll introduce you to 'Mayor' Yamaki and you two can talk it over."
-o--()--o-
Tokyo, Japan 2108
Some things never change. A gaggle of schoolgirls drifted by me where I lounged on a bench waiting for my ladies to finish their shopping. The girls whispered and giggled behind their hands and stole glances at me. Aside from the change in their uniforms and the fashionable elf-ears they all had, they could have stepped right out of early last century.
I leered evilly at them and flattened and extended my ears in imitation of their own. They burst into laughter and scurried away.
They all knew who I was. Our little ruse had successfully lasted almost sixty years, time enough for people to mostly stop caring. Oh, there was a big flurry of attention when it finally came out that Rika and I were still alive but the interest was more of a subdued sort by then. There were enough high-level digimon around to make us seem like nothing special, I guess. Earth didn't really need a Digital Sovereign anymore.
Our hundredth anniversary was a fairly big event, though. Takato insisted that we let everyone enjoy it as a "landmark of historical significance". Bleah.
It was to be held in the Tokyo Megadome. Aside from the usual guests, all sorts of celebrities and politicians and "important" people were going to attend. There were going to be speeches, for Tesla's sake!
Rika and Renamon could have instantly whipped up any sort of clothing they cared to for the big party but they insisted that it would be more fun to search out clothes and jewelry from among the shops in Tokyo's fashion district.
After the tenth dress shop, I begged off and went to Ueno Park to catch some sun and people-watch.
I leaned back and squinted up at the sky. I could make out a few of the orbiting starships that were growing up there. Hive-type digimon, they were, with mixed crews all eager to set off into the vast unknown. Rokomon was aboard one of them with his tamer. Their ship would be leaving in a few days and we'd already said our good-byes. The chances that we'd ever see each other again were slim-- but you never know. What he was doing took a hell of a lot of guts and I was proud of him.
The Digital Dimension had invented its own version of the great exploration ships. It was discovered that if new worlds were created small enough, they could be separated from the rest of the Digital Dimension and sent off-- somewhere else. Nobody knew if there was anything else out there in the infinite noise of digitalspace but there were a lot of people who had gone off to find out. None of them had found anything yet but only a few of the miniworlds had returned so far.
The blending of human and digimon cultures seemed to be capable of creating an infinite amount of new arts, sports, and pastimes. There were no signs of the century-long flurry of creativity slowing down anytime in the foreseeable future.
The mutants were still a problem. With dying going out of style, the population of the Digital Dimension was growing like mad and it was expanding to accommodate everyone. The distant peripheral worlds got pretty weird sometimes and that seemed to lead to spontaneous creation of new digimon types-- not usually of the cute and fluffy variety. The bigger the Digital Dimension got, the more mutants showed up. The new types even found their way to Earth sometimes so the position of Protector was a formal and very important one at the turn of the 22nd century. The Earth was divided into patrol districts and careful watch was kept on all large bursts of digital energy. The fights were broadcast worldwide, of course.
Unsurprisingly, the Digital Dimension was less structured but "Protector" was still a respected title and nearly every village had one. The cities had several each.
Fortunately for me, my only duty was to keep my lovers happy and entertained and occasionally merge with them to kick the ass of some Lovecraftian horror.
It's a tough job-- but somebody's got to do it.
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Author's Note:
Thank you for reading.
Remember there are many more good digimon stories out there! If you haven't yet, give these ones a try:
Omegamon's Awakening by A Dragon Knight
Terry is a Tamer? and Karen can Laugh? by Tab is Neat
Reality by NKC
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