19) A Horse of a Different Colour
Kenta, Kazu, and Juri were playing with Guilmon at the park. They were wading in the reflecting pool. Guilmon was splashing the kids with his tail.
"Your turn!", Guilmon announced as he gave Kenta a drenching.
"You're gonna regret that!", he threatened back at Guilmon. "Let's gang up on Guilmon! He hasn'r had a good wettin'!"
"Are the Deva coming after us?", Takato asked.
"Koichi didn't think so", Jen explained. "I'm not so sure... Yeah, the power plant is up by the camp site, and he could have been there because of that. And we were there too, but I don't like coincidences. We did get their attention, yannow".
"They're evil digimon, and we'll defeat them", Takato said. "Doesn't matter if they're after us or not".
"Hey! Takato!", it was Kazu. "Are you gonna join us or not?! Water's cool; it's great", he encouraged.
Kazu really didn't think much of Jen. It wasn't that he didn't like him, but rather that he thought Jen a real kill-joy. Didn't like playing cards, didn't like playing in the park. He didn't want that rubbing off onto Takato.
"Coming!", Takato called back.
"How about you, Jen? You coming?"
"I'd like to, but I was on my way to the dojo".
"I see...", Takato began. He knew he wouldn't. Jen could be as bad as the girls, with his desire to prove he was above such immaturity. "Later then".
Impmon was watching, unseen, from a nearby tree.
"Bunch of dipshits", he said to himself.
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Calumon had been intercepted at a water fountain in the park. Three girls, maybe twelve or thirteen, stood around, admiring him.
"What do you suppose this is?", one asked.
"No idea...", another answered.
"Why do all of you look so strange, culu?"
Calumon didn't understand about girls in their early teen years, the dressing the same, the same make-up, always applied more heavily than needed. Their need to "fit in" that made their desire to "stand out" the epitome of conformity.
"And it talks! That makes it even cuter!", another one exclaimed.
"Like totally!", yet another agreed.
"Why do you talk so weird, culu?"
"Will you ever stop sucking up to the Outworlders?!". It was Impmon, standing at the top of a slide, beginning another one of his rants. "What happened to your pride?", he asked.
The girls turned to look: "It's another one of those things".
"Yeah, but this one isn't the least bit cute".
"Rather ugly, I'd say", another agreed.
"Totally!"
"What's his problem, anyway?"
"Totally!"
"'Totally, totally, totally': hellsamatter with all of you? You can't even speak properly, let alone say anything the least bit intelligent!"
With that, Impmon did a back flip, landing on the hand railing behind him, flicked up a fireball. He threw it at the girls' feet, where it exploded like a firecracker. The girls ran off, as Impmon laughed.
"That'll show 'em not to mess with me!", he declared.
"Culu?", Calumon looked on.
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Henry and Terriermon were on the subway, on their way to Henry's lesson. He sat there, thinking: "What does that mean, Deva?"
At the dojo, he was demonstrating his latest moves for Cho-sensei, who bore an uncanny resemblance to Josef Stalin. He kicked, he threw punches, and slashed with his hands. Cho simply side-stepped every kick and thrust.
Finally, he caught Henry off balance, and pushed him to the mat with nothing more than a forefinger to Henry's forehead.
"I'm sorry, Sensei", Henry bowed in defeat.
"Don't apologize to me. Apologize to yourself. You seem unusually distracted today, not up to your usual standards. Come, share tea with me and tell me all about it".
"Deva?", Cho asked.
"You know anything about that?"
"'Deva' is a Sanskrit word. It means something like 'holy spirit' or 'god'. In Hindu mythology, the Deva are the holy spirits who fight the Asura: demons who bring misfortune". Cho sipped his tea.
"So the Deva are good guys?", Henry had to force himself to not seem surprised at hearing that.
"The Asura are the enemies for the Deva, that is true, however, for the followers of the Asura, it is the Deva who are evil. In other words, good and evil aren't absolute. When the point of view changes, so does everything else. I hope I've been of some help?"
"Yes", Henry agreed vocally, "thank you very much".
"What unmitigated bullshit!", he thought to himself.
The answer really meant nothing. Hindu gods and myths of demons who brought misfortune had nothing to do with digimon. And there was nothing good about these new 'Deva'. They were malicious, destructive, and no possible change of any point of view could ever change that.
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
"Will you stop following me!", Impmon complained to Calumon. He was traveling in his usual method: jumping from one roof top to the next.
"Hop some more, culu?", Calumon requested.
"Why are you being such a pest today?", Impmon asked.
"I want to see if you scare some more girls, culu?"
"Those girls had it coming!", Impmon was saying. That's when he heard it: laughter coming from the digital field that was forming in the parking lot just below the building upon which they stood.
"Who's that?!", Impmon asked, just before jumping into the mist, disappearing from Calumon's sight. He landed on the roof of a parked car, continuing his leap to the ground.
"Are you laughing at me?!", Impmon demanded of the anthroequine that towered over him, four, maybe five times his height. He was wearing yellow body armour, with a red ribbon tie around his neck, and an enormous yellow horn strapped to his back. His body was covered in short fur nearly the same color as Impmon's purple fur. The head with long, platinum blond hair, long tail the same color.
"What else can I do but laugh at you? You are the same..."
"Huh?", Impmon asked.
"The same as all the other fools"
"What're you talkin' about?", Impmon demanded.
"All digimon who once lived with humans carry the same stench"
"Uhhhh!", his eyes widened, as he recalled that last fight he had with his former Tamers, the five year old twin boy and girl, Mako and Ai. Impmon shook his head vigorously to clear that memory.
"If you lived with the Outworlders, then why haven't you evolved like the others?", the anthro-horse taunted him.
"Nunya f'kin' business! Asshole!"
Renamon and Koichi were just arriving. Renamon joined Impmon, standing by his side, as Koichi tried running an ident. Once again, his digivice seemed stuck on "Seek", displaying nothing. It was becoming too much of a familiar pattern: "C'mon, c'mon" he urged.
Finally the data arrived:
Indaramon
Ultimate, Virus
Holy Beast Digimon
His Horn of Desolation isn't something you want to hear.
His worst suspicion confirmed: another Deva. Another malicious digimon.
"No evolution should be taking place in the Material World", Indaramon announced. "Your very existence can not be tolerated. Remember that", he threatened. With that, Indaramon and the digital field disappeared.
"Why did you come?!", Impmon raged. "I could have handled that dipshit all by myself!"
"You can't possibly be serious?", Koichi told him.
"You are nowhere near strong enough to take on a Deva", Renamon agreed. "Especially when you can't digivolve".
"What's with you!", Impmon accused, as he pointed at Renamon. "You all underestimate me because I can't digivolve! I'm strong enough without having to digivolve! I'm different! I'm tough! I don't have to co-operate with Outworlders!"
With that, Impmon jumped onto the roof of a car, then over a chain link fence, and out of sight.
"With an attitude like that, he is so going to get the shit beat out of him", Koichi observed. "Might as well go, nothing left for us to do". Renamon paused, still looking off in the direction where Impmon had disappeared.
"You go on ahead", Renamon told him, "I'm gonna keep an eye out for him".
"If you're sure... I wonder if it isn't a lost cause".
"I hope not... for Impmon's sake".
Hypnos
Yamaki was clicking his lighter again, oblivious as to how annoying this habit was to his staff.
"I want you to monitor all communications coming from the Digital World".
"Yes, sir. Preparing to monitor... Got something... Putting it on the screen"
Yamaki watched the screen as it filled with ones 'n' zeros. It was plain text ASCII.
"We are the Deva", it said.
Yamaki kicked over a chair, startling his operators.
"They think this is a game to them!", he raged.
Then he had an inspiration: "Of course all they know is the languages they learned. Well they are about to find out just how far humanity has come from those days", he announced to himself.
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Impmon stood on top of a sound barrier. Below him, traffic was so jammed, nothing was moving. He was still in a snit over what Renamon had told him. He jumped onto the roof of the nearest car, smashing it in.
"If they think a Deva is tough, wait till they get a load of me!", he declared as he jumped from one car roof to the next, smashing in the the roofs.
"No one... will ever... call me... weak again!"
He stood on the roof of the last car, at an intersection. A little girl was eating an ice cream cone. He'd smashed in the roofs of nearly a dozen cars.
"That looks tasty", he said, as he leaped into the intersection.
"Thanks", he said, as he took the ice cream out of the girl's hand and swallowed it in one gulp. The girl started crying.
"Why did you take it from her?", her father demanded.
"Do you know who you are addressing?", he asked. He didn't wait for an answer, as he threw a fireball at the man, grazing his arm.
"Hot! Hot! Hot!", he complained, as he grabbed his arm.
This attracted much attention from the other people waiting to cross.
"What the fuck are you all staring at?!", Impmon demanded.
"Night of Fire!", he threw six fireballs over their heads. Everyone was running, screaming. Just then, something moving very fast swept Impmon from the scene.
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
"Here goes!", Juri announced before giving the can they'd recovered from a trash bin a good kick. She, Takato, Kenta, and Kazu ran off in different directions. It was Guilmon's turn to recover the can before coming to find the others.
Unexpectedly, a rather odd boy ran past Takato and Kazu. The dress odd: light gray jumpsuit over yellow T-shirt, bright red cap, purple ascot with color co-ordinated wrist bands, brown leather boots. He wore a strange necklace with a large, round crystal hanging from it.
He sat on the ground, just looking off into the distance at nothing in particular, or, perhaps, at something only he could see.
("Found you, Juri")
"Friend of yours?", Kazu asked.
"I thought he might be a friend of yours; I never saw him before now".
("Found you, Kenta")
"Definitely something a bit off about him", Kazu observed.
He stood, just as Guilmon was appearing: "Where...", he called out. Then he noticed:
"Who're you?", he asked.
The strange boy, Guilmon, and the others, just looked at each other. The boy saying nothing.
"Mah!", he finally called out, then stood there, laughing at the reaction he had gotten.
"That was... unusual", Takato said.
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Renamon had taken Impmon to the plywood cage that had been installed under an overpass for the scraping and repainting of the under structure.
"Let me go this instant!", Impmon demanded, as Renamon had him by his bandanna.
"Why are you so obsessed with strength?", she asked.
"Shut up! You can't order me around!", he complained. "You're just some stupid digimon who can't even evolve without a partner".
"And you can?", she asked. "You can evolve without a partner? Do tell", she asked with appropriate sarcasm. "I believe evolution depends on how digimon fight alongside their partners. That's why..."
"Partner this, and partner that!", Impmon continued complaining. "Shut up about 'partner'!", he demanded. "Even if I can't digivolve... even if I don't have a partner, I'll become stronger!"
"Could it be that you had a partner once?"
Suddenly, and unexpectedly, Impmon stopped struggling.
"What did you just say?", he asked.
"Did you have a partner?", Renamon asked again.
"How... how did you know?", he asked as she released him.
"I didn't... just a guess".
"He knew!"
"Who..."
"The Purple Pony! Who do you think?! He mentioned it specifically!"
Renamon stood there, a questioning look on her face.
"We're being played here, Renamon", Impmon shook his head. "No way in hell could he have known that... unless someone told him".
"Who?"
"I don't know! Whoever he's working for, that's who. Something's going on, and it's beginning to stink like week old fish..."
Renamon seemed distracted, as she was looking outside. He joined her. A block away, the digital field was already forming, people running, police directing people away from the area.
"Don't!", Impmon said. "Get to Koichi; get to the others. Tell them to stay away..."
"Why?", Renamon asked.
"Because that's what he wants! He wants a fight and you'll be playing right into his plans!" Impmon's instincts, developed during his time with the Violet Zone Air Defense Corps, had kicked in. "Get to them; tell them. You have to".
"I don't know..."
"There isn't much time, you have to get to them first, tell them not to fight Indaramon".
"If you're sure..."
"I know I'm right: you have to take a pass on this battle".
Renamon took off, using that "teleportation" ability of hers.
"You arrived just in time", Koichi said.
"We're not fighting", Renamon told him.
"You're just gonna abandon Takato and Henry?", he asked. "That's not like you".
"No, that's not what I mean...". she filled him in on everything Impmon had told her.
"Can you trust his judgement?", he asked.
"This time, I do. What Impmon said makes a good deal of sense. We have to warn the others..."
Indaramon, Icedevimon, and Ruki stood in the street: "Where are they?", Indaramon asked.
"Maybe they chickened out?", Ruki speculated. "I knew they didn't have the balls. Wreck some shit: that'll get their attention..."
She stopped, as she saw what looked like Indaramon's beginning to phase out.
"What..."
Hypnos
"Output at 40%... 50%..."
Shaggai's digital warp fields were being targeted on Indaramon. Yamaki seemed pleased, so far.
"60%..."
Something overloaded, then a circuit breaker tripped with a sound like a gunshot. Indaramon decided that this was a good time to leave.
"Chief", came a call from the control room above them, "the Wild One has disappeared".
"Excellent", Yamaki said, "even if it's not perfect, it still works".
"He's... gone?", Ruki asked Icedevimon.
"Coward", Icedevimon dismissed the Deva.
0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF
Kenta and Kazu were taking their leave: "Bye-bye", Guilmon waved, as he usually did. Juri stayed behind.
"Hey, Takato", she began, "you seem a bit sad today?", she asked.
"I don't think so".
"Then a bit preoccupied? Are you worried about something?"
"Is that so... I don't think I am"
"Really?"
He nodded: "I guess I was wrong", she apologized. "We'll play again, soon", she said as she rubbed his snout, "Guilmon".
"We'll see you".
"Goodbye"
"Goodbye"
Juri ran off.
"The Deva...", Takato said to himself with a sigh. "I wonder if Guilmon will evolve and become stronger as more and more enemies appear", he said to himself.
"Fun over already, culu?"
It was Calumon.
"There's something I was wondering", Takato began. "It seems you're always around when our partners evolve..."
"Culu?"
"I was wondering... do you have something to do with that?"
He turned away: "Culu?"
"I mean, if it wasn't for you, our partners couldn't evolve? Right?"
"Culu?', he turned back. "Calumon knows nothing of such things, culu?"
He took off.
"I guess that wasn't the way to ask?", he said to himself.
The Digital World
"How is it that you have failed me, Indaramon?"
"My Lord, I followed the plan..."
"A simple assignment: turn Impmon against the traitors and the human devils. My sources inform me the job was 90% complete already. How could you fuck this up?"
"My Lord, I materialized right in front of Impmon. I laughed at him, as we know he hates being laughed at. I ridiculed his weakness and inability to digivolve since we know he resents his Rookie weakness. It was all going according to plan. I had him so beside himself with rage he couldn't see straight. I called him a fool for being just like the rest of the traitors..."
Indaramon recognized his big mistake.
"Go on..."
"I said he was like the other traitors who entered servitude to the humans..."
"Do you realize what you have done?!"
"M-m-m-m-my L-l-l-l-lord... a second chance! If I go back, try again, I can..."
"You know how I regard failure, Indaramon?"
"My Lord! Please! Another chance! I won't fail you..."
"I gave you life, and I can take it"
"No! Please! NOOOOOOO!"
Indaramon was deleted.
"My Lord, if I may?"
"Yes, Catsuramon, what is it you want?"
"There is an alternative. It will require something unconventional, something you may not like..."
"Go on..."
Catsuramon laid out the plan.
"I quite agree: most unconventional. Do you believe you can pull it off?"
"Yes, My Lord, I will succeed where he failed".
"See that you do".