A/N: So, I'm only now learning that the article of clothing that Bokomon wears is a Haramaki and not a belt. Always good to know, though for some reason it's treated more as a belt in its ability to hold items and Patamons. Weird.
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
Digimon Trinity
Chapter: 133/ Episode 19: Reading like a Book
"Here we go! Ruff!" Jeri called out as her sneaker struck the empty can, sending it flying through the air. Guilmon chased after it, calling for it to wait while the others fled to hide. All this Takato heard distantly while he focused on the scene before him. Bokomon and Neemon sat on the ground, a massive book – the Monoshiri Book of Knowledge – open between them. The book belonged to Bokomon, and it was full of information about the digital world and he hid it somewhere between his clothing and his belly. Precisely how he was able to accomplish this without it sticking out or showing a noticeable bulge was unknown, but Takato, like so many Digidestined and Tamers before him, brushed this off. In the grand strangeness that was the digital world and its denizens, one minor detail was not worth the concern when danger was afoot.
"I didn't get much of a chance to research the Chaos," Bokomon said with an annoyed scowl as he flipped another page. "But now that I do, I am amazed at how little information there is regarding it. It seems rather strange that all I have to go on is this…this red…blob!"
Flipping several pages backward in growing frustration, Bokomon tapped a finger on one such image. True enough, a red, formless mass was on full display, but the writing on it was fragmentary. He scowled at Neemon. "It would be just our luck if you decided to use this as a coloring book."
"But I don't even have crayons," Neemon protested, his tone suggesting that had he the means, he would have done exactly as accused. Growling in frustration, the white-colored digimon snatched hold of Neemon's pants, stretched it out as far as it could go, and then released it with a twang. A loud snap echoed upon the air and Neemon toppled to the ground with a cry of pain.
Off to the side, Ken, who had arrived minutes before, knelt down and held out his hands. "May I?" he asked, to which Bokomon nodded and passed the book to him. Taking it, Ken began to pour through it, his eyes set in a dark frown. Unlike many humans, he could read digi-code quite well, his stint as the Digimon Emperor having given him extensive knowledge in that area. This version was a little bit different – some kind of sub-world language he supposed – but not so much that it prevented him from deciphering anything.
"Anything, Mr. Ichijouji?" Takato asked, leaning forward and peering over the man's shoulder. Ken said nothing at first, instead continuing to pour over the book's contents. Takato's eye followed his, taking in crude drawings of what he supposed was the 'Chaos' that Bokomon was referring to. The blob appeared to be wreaking havoc over the digital world and then…
"Nothing?" Ken asked, more to himself than to others. "I don't understand. There's a portion here that says that this 'Chaos' simply disappeared." He looked up at Bokomon. "Am I reading that right?"
"Quite so," Bokomon nodded. "This book was assembled by the best scholars that the digital world had at the time, but it would seem that there was little information available from that early part of our history."
"That's not really a surprise," Ken sighed. "Even for humans, the further back we go, the fewer records there are. More myths than actual facts."
"Maybe the Chaos was just that devastating?" Takato suggested. "Maybe that's why the Sovereign is so hyped up about conquering our world. Maybe they don't think they can beat it without us."
"Maybe…" Ken resumed giving the book a look over. The sheer amount of historical detail he was seeing was rather impressive. Takato was likely on to something about the devastation destroying so much recorded history. There was plenty of precedent for that in human history as well.
"Are you sure there aren't any pages stuck together again?" Koji asked.
"Quite sure," Bokomon huffed, folding his arms together as though he were offended by the mere suggestion. "But you're welcome to double check if you'd like."
"So far, I'm not getting anything," Ken said, doing just that. "All one sheet and nothing else. I wonder…"
"Wonder what, Mr. Ichijouji?" Takato asked. Before the Digidestined of Kindness could respond, a loud, surprised cry resounded from behind them. Adrenaline flooding his system, Takato bolted in its direction, searching for the source. He didn't see any of his friends nearby, but he quickly dug out his digivice to locate Guilmon. The compass function sprang into action and swiveled about wildly before stopping off to the boy's left. Turning, he raced towards the brush, broke through it without a second's hesitation and there…found Guilmon, Jeri, Kazu and Kenta standing all in a jagged line, bewildered looks painted on their faces.
"And I thought he was weird before…" Takato heard Kazu mutter, his breath coming out raggedly.
"What's going on?" Takato asked, looking about and finding nothing that could have upset his friends so badly. Ken drew up beside him, frowning slightly.
"I-It was that weird digimon from the park," Jeri hastily explained, managing to settle her heartrate down. "Kazu… He found it while we were playing hide and seek and…and…"
"He was just sitting there," Kazu continued as she trailed off. "I don't know, practicing being a rock or something and when everyone else showed up he just screamed at us and ran off laughing like a total weirdo." He eyed Takato pointedly. "Are you sure you don't know who that guy is? He's weird enough to be one of your friends."
"You know, you're one of my friends," Takato said, breathing a sigh of relief, grateful that no one had been hurt.
Ken, however, was of a different opinion. His mind raced, and upon recalling the report about Renamon's encounter with the odd digimon during the battle with the snake Deva, he swore loudly. Stringing together a further series of curses much to the astonishment of the children, he raced away, back in the direction of Koji, Bokomon and Neemon.
"Mr. Ichijouji!" Takato called, racing after him with the others behind him. "What's going on?!"
We've been tricked! Ken thought angrily at himself. We fell for the oldest trick in the book and I can't believe…
He blinked in confusion as they drew up to where they had left the Legendary Warrior of Light and his two companions, finding them still there and all with raised eyebrows.
"Everything all right?" Koji asked. Ken coughed, composing himself, and then looked about uncertainly. He felt almost sure that the digimon spy would burst out into the open and attempt to grab Bokomon, his friend, his book, or all three.
Yet there was nothing.
"Did you see anything?" he asked. Koji shook his head while Neemon pointed upwards.
"I only saw the pretty bird up above me," he said a hairsbreadth before a purple and white splot splattered across his face. "Oh! Now it's pooping on me!"
"I take back what I said before about that monkey dude being weird," Kazu said, pointing at Neemon. "This guy is even weirder."
Ken breathed a sigh of relief, though he cursed himself for being so lax about the situation that he had left Wormmon behind. If things had gone sour with that spy digimon…
He shuddered to think of it. The report concerning that strange digimon didn't leave him with any pleasant feelings about its intentions. He felt a sickening hole form in the bottom of his stomach for having ignored the obvious problem.
Too much going on, he thought. Too much going on at once, and with Takaishi continuing to press his boot on our necks…
"I'm going to need to take your friends to a more secure location," Ken said to Koji, taking out his phone. "I have a friend who can help us."
Koji paused and looked down at his two companions, who returned his gaze with cautious curiosity.
"They're Digidestined," he said to them, though it felt as though he were telling that to himself. "Like me and the others. We can trust them."
I hope, his expression seemed to say as his eyes returned to Ken.
###
Impmon was furious. Anger and him rarely mixed well, and it could be said that it got along the way oil and water did. Weak. Weak! Weak! She had called him weak! The pony had called him weak! Even Calumon…
"People laugh at you a lot, huh?"
At least he had finally lost the pipsqueak, but the words and the laughter echoed through him all the same. He was weak. Everyone saw him as weak. That cat digimon had pinned him to the bus like was nothing back during the camping trip. Even the crows weren't afraid of taking shots at him whenever they saw him. Since when did birds hold grudges against those that terrorized them?
Well… All that was going to change.
"They think a Deva's tough, wait 'till they get a load of me!"
Hopping down from a lamplight, he smashed his feet into the roof of a car, causing the metal to deform deeply beneath the impact. With a ferocious grin spreading across his face, he leapt over to the next car, repeating the same act. Heads popped out of windows as he smashed his way across the line of vehicles, but he ignored him. Strong digimon paid no attention to those beneath him. Strong digimon didn't care about what others thought or how they felt. Strong digimon did as they pleased!
"No one…will call… me weak…again!" he grunted with each successive crash until he reached the end of the line, where a line of humans was busily crossing. He grinned upon seeing them and their surprise. "Look! More weaklings!"
Picking a target – a little, rosy-cheeked girl with an ice cream cone – he jumped down and promptly snatched the cone out of her hand. Without so much as waiting to see what her reaction would be, he slurped up the ice cream from its container, and the cone soon followed in a single gulp.
The girl's sudden sobs sounded like music to his ears.
"Hey you!" exclaimed the adult behind her – a tall, towering man wearing a light-blue shirt and an indignant look on his face. "Why'd you do that?!"
Impmon finished licking the fingers of his gloves and looked up at him, somewhat surprised by the reaction – or rather the lack thereof with regards to the fear that he was used to getting from humans. Did this human look down on him as well? See him as weak?!
He wasn't going to stand for that.
"What? Who do you think you're talking to?" Impmon demanded heatedly. Raising his fingers, he popped a small fireball, and with a cry of Bada-Boom, flung it at the human. It slashed along the edge of his shoulder. The man stood there for a moment as a curl of smoke rose up from his shoulder, seemingly confused by what had happened, and then…he began screaming, slapping a hand on the burn, attempting to put it out. Impmon smirked. Now he understood! Now he'd be afraid!
"That's just a little present for ya!" he said, spreading both hands out in front of him. His pupils dilated for half a second, and then multiple fires lit up above them. "And…I brought enough for everyone! Bada-Boom!"
Screams tore across the air as panicked humans fled in all directions, flames chasing after them. Impmon laughed gleefully, basking in the success of his reign of terror over the helpless, pathetic humans. "None of you is as tough as me! And the ice cream tasted like old prune juice! Ba-boom!"
"Do you really need to be like this?" piped up a voice from the back of his mind. Impmon swatted the air and sent a fireball flying off to the side.
"Shut up, you wing-eared pig!" he snapped. Folding his arms together, he sniffed. "I've got news for you voices in my head. My name is Impmon, and from now on I'm going to be the one on top! No ifs, ands, or buts about it! Got it?!"
The voice didn't respond, but oddly enough, a memory drifted up to him about the house and the humans he had left behind.
That, however, only made the anger in him grow again, and igniting more fires over his fingers, he began to fling them at the passengers and drivers behind him.
###
The sun dipped towards the horizon, casting a golden glow over the sky. Jeri watched Takato carefully as he bid his goodbyes to Kazu and Kenta, the former of whom did so in his usual manner, informing everyone that he'd 'smell them later.' Always an odd thing to say as far as Jeri was concerned, but that was how Kazu was. She wouldn't have traded him for the world any more than Takato.
After what happened with Ayaka and Miki, she no longer had any concerns about making such statements.
"Go ahead and play with those stupid boys. See if I care!"
Jeri frowned, her wave at Kazu as he and Kenta retreated falling away. The memory of her fight with her two friends still hurt. She wondered if she would be fortunate the way Takato had been and become friends with them again, but she doubted it. Ayaka and Miki had never been fans of digimon the way she secretly had been and Takato, Kazu and Kenta openly were. Oh, they enjoyed Guilmon and had fun with him when they learned of his existence – his reality being simply too good to pass up – but the camping trip had changed everything for them. Guilmon had showed a side of himself that they were unprepared for, making it easy to forget the dinosaur's true nature. The kind, playful, cuddly Guilmon who was so, so cute.
Brushing away the thoughts of her former friends, she turned back toward Takato, bringing her whole attention on him. Ever since that boy, Koji, had called on him, there had been something about him that had been bugging her today. Like he had something weighing on his mind. She wanted desperately to know what it was so she could help him through it, but he remained mute on it.
In some ways, that reminded her of her father.
"Hey, are you okay?" she asked, leaning towards him to get a better look at his eyes prompting a surprised look from him as he leaned away.
"Yeah, why?" he asked, composing himself and attempting a façade of relaxation. It didn't work however. Jeri could read it in the way the muscles around his face tensed up. He was like an open book to her and she felt her heart clench tightly, wondering what sort of pressures he was going through being a Tamer.
"I don't know, you seem to have a lot on your mind," she replied, drawing back. "I notice these things about you, Takato."
Dropping her chin slightly down towards her chest, she looked up at him worriedly, inviting him to talk to her.
"Ah!" At that, Takato gave a start and a red tint appeared on his cheeks, taken aback by her confession. A thousand emotions seemed to whirl about in those warm, red eyes of his and he hastily looked away, as if afraid to reveal the contents of their inner storms. Afraid that she might get hurt or frightened if he revealed the full totality of what weighed on his mind.
Her heart squeezed in sympathy for him, and she felt a sudden ache to take his hand into hers; to tell him that it would be all right.
"Uh… No, I'm…uh…" he began to babble, but at his pause, he seemed to think better of it. "Well, now that you mention it… Kinda."
Jeri's eyes widened and she stood up straighter. Her heart skipped a beat, ready to hear whatever he had to say.
"But it's nothing big," Takato continued to say, throwing on a wide, comforting smile for her. "Really, it's not."
Jeri's expression softened. He's not ready to talk yet, she thought. Still, she couldn't help but smile a little. The fact that he had told her that he did have things on his mind meant that he trusted her a great deal. In time, she might be able to help him. She wanted to do more, but not being a Tamer…
"Well if you ever wanna talk..." she said before reaching out and patting Guilmon on the bridge of his nose. "And you," she giggled, "stop chasing those poor squirrels!"
"Awww… They like it!" Guilmon protested with a laugh. Jeri gave his nose a hard, but playful rub to let him know that she didn't believe so and quickly ran off, waving her hand at them as she went.
"Bye-bye!" she called over her shoulder.
"Have a good night, Jeri," Takato called, waving back while Guilmon did likewise.
"Have a bunch of good nights, Jeri!"
"You too!" she called back, rounding the corner and then…she was gone, leaving the pair alone. She smiled to herself as she raced along, feeling an odd excitement coursing through her veins. Takato almost accepted her help. Almost spoke to her about his troubles. She felt as though she should be disappointed that he didn't fully do so, yet for him to come so close to doing so…
Jeri raced along down the sidewalk, swiftly losing herself in her thoughts about the goggle-wearing boy.
###
Takato's face fell at Jeri's disappearance, the carefully crafted mask he had been wearing ever since Bokomon. All his worries began to boil up to the surface and he heaved a heavy sigh.
"Jeri's right about me. All I wanted was a digimon, and now I've got more than I can count. And I've got to stop some of them from taking over the world!"
"Do you think I'll be able to digivolve and become stronger as stronger enemies show up?" Guilmon asked, bumping up against his partner's leg. Takato patted the dinosaur's head, uncertain as to how to reply to that. A thought had come to him recently regarding the digivolution of their partners. They had always assumed that they were the ones doing it, but…
"Is the fun over already?" spoke up an all too familiar, high-pitched, cute voice from down below. Following it, Takato found Calumon standing there, green eyes wide and smiling up at them.
"Calumon…" he said softly. "Oh, right. Can I ask you…?"
He trailed off, and Calumon, sensing something important in his question, hopped closer, his smile disappearing. His eyes however remained wide and full of curiosity.
"What do you want to know?"
"Well," Takato began, "it seems that...I don't know, every time our digimon digivolve, you're around. So, do you have something to do with their digivolving?"
Guilmon's ears rose up at this as Calumon tipped his head to one side questioningly.
"Oh! Um...I never thought of that!"
"Of course. But do you think you have some special power...that helps them, you know, digivolve?"
"Do you?" Calumon asked, his voice coming out in a soft, almost conspiratorial whisper. Takato felt a bit irked, not enjoying being put on the spot like that. He had always thought that the power of digivolving came from humans, but seeing that strange light coming from the alley and hearing what could only have been Calumon crying out had gotten him wondering. He quickly replayed his memories of all the digivolutions he had seen, and sure enough Calumon had been there…hadn't he?
Was he just there during the parking lot fight and we didn't see him? Or was that definitely Henry? And what about Rika? Was Calumon there when Renamon digivolved for the first time?
Something to ask for later, he supposed, though he wondered if Rika would be at all thrilled to hear from him. He could never figure out where he stood with her. One minute she'd be calling him a friend or colleague and the next acting as though she could barely tolerate his presence.
"Look, Calumon," he resumed in exasperation. "I'm just wondering whether or not they could digivolve at all...if you weren't around!"
Calumon's ears abruptly shrank into his head, and with a sorrowful moan, he turned away, preparing to leave. Sensing that he had done something wrong, he reached out for the little digimon.
"What's the matter?"
"I get it," Calumon replied sadly. "You don't want me around."
Takato gaped and clutched a hand at his mouth in utter bewilderment at how he gave the tiny digimon that impression.
Why does the stuff in my brain never make it to my mouth the right way?
###
The afternoon quieted down after Rika caught back up with Sora – and received a bit of a scolding from her for just leaving her like that – and with little left to do, the vulpine digimon excused herself to follow up on a curiosity of hers. Impmon's little scene with the horse Deva, Indramon, had remained in the back of her mind, nibbling away at her thoughts. His behavior was…odd, to say the least. Rejecting digivolving. Attempting to take on a Deva all by himself, all the while claiming to be the strongest of all digimon despite the obvious power difference between himself and even many humans. And…almost breaking down crying as he ran off.
She and Impmon had never been close. Being a Nightmare Soldier meant that one did not have the luxury of forming close attachments. Devidramon and Musyamon had been exceptions to this rule, but outside of that it tended to be so rare to be considered impossible. Until today, she could still say that she wouldn't have given much thought if the little termite of a digimon had been run over by a car, but after seeing him lose his composure like that, and to the Deva's own mocking of him…
In a way, it almost reminded her of Rika's earlier frustrations about her own inability to make her digivolve.
Is that what's bothering you? she wondered, bounding from rooftop to rooftop, her blue eyes keeping a keen watch for the troublemaker. You told us all that you would find a way to digivolve… That you would prove to us your worth, but you haven't made any headway with that on your own. You're starting to see it, but you don't want to admit the truth of it.
She considered letting him fall into the metaphorical cat box so that he may learn his lesson well and be done with it, but she felt a strange kinship with him now at seeing his frustrations. Perhaps her past situation with Rika made her more concerned with others who were experiencing similar issues. If they were unlucky, their fall might be too far for them to get back up from.
Especially for one without a partner… she thought, and there came a great swell of pity in her heart for Impmon. In the end, he had no one. Once again, she was reminded of Rika and how lonely she often seemed herself, no matter how much she refused to admit it.
Commotion down below caught her attention and she paused briefly on a ledge to take it in. She gave a light chuckle. Impmon, it seemed, had gone out of his way to stir up quite a bit of trouble. Surrounded by police cars with officers all training their weapons on him, all the while looking completely confident in his ability to weather a hailstorm of bullets.
A foolish thing to believe. At Champion and below, digimon were more vulnerable to human weapons, especially the Rookies. Their guns were very much a threat to him and Impmon should have known that.
Then again, Impmon never really believed in anything except his own hype, she thought, diving off the rooftop. I'd better put a stop to this.
Moving as quickly as a shadow, she rebounded off one of the police cars and dashed at Impmon just as he was in the middle of his bravado and an attack. Her arm guard caught his flung fire and she promptly squashed his pride by snatching him away. Not giving him so much as a second to talk, she phased into her personal shadow world, moving in and out of it until they found themselves beneath a freeway overpass, Impmon held tightly in her grip by his bandana.
"Put me down you ugly furball!" he shouted, struggling to break free. Holding him at arm's length, she scowled at him.
"Or what?" she asked sarcastically. "You'll use that little flame of yours to boil water and make me some bad tea? Why do you pretend to be stronger than you are? Why are you so obsessed with power?"
"Be quiet!" Impmon hollered. "I don't have to take this from you! All you do is follow your pathetic little human around and hide behind her skirts like a little baby!"
"You'd better watch what you say about that 'pathetic little human,'" Renamon warned. "Even she could beat you up."
Impmon cringed at that, but looked at her fiercely, still trying to get one last word on her. "So what? You can't even digivolve if your partner's not around!"
"Yes, and you know all about not being able to digivolve, don't you?" Renamon asked sarcastically. "Or are you able to digivolve without a partner?"
Impmon didn't answer right away. Instead, he looked away, his whole body shaking.
"'Partner! Partner!'" he growled, clenching his fists together tightly. "Shut up!"
"No," Renamon replied sternly. "I believe digivolution is decided by how digimon fight alongside their partners. That's why…"
"I don't need a partner to digivolve like the rest of you weaklings!" he snarled suddenly. "I'm glad I left those stupid humans- ah, I mean, I'm glad I never had some useless partner holding me back. I'm glad!"
Renamon gasped, her azure eyes widening as she caught that one particular word that Impmon attempted to cover up. Drawing him closer, she angled him around so that they were both looking at one another.
"Wait a minute, chatty," she said. "Did you used to have a partner?"
Impmon's face paled in horror at his unexpected slip, but before Renamon could say anything more, he spun about and slugged her on the face. Taken aback, her grip on him loosened, and Impmon dropped unceremoniously to the ground. Groaning softly, she rubbed at the spot where she had been struck, looking down at the tiny creature as he slammed a fist against the concrete floor, his body shaking as he began to cry.
"I wanna digivolve!" he choked out. "It's not fair! I'm the strongest! I deserve it! I don't need a partner..."
His voice gave away as his spirit crumpled. Renamon watched him in understanding and sympathy. Yes, this was very much like what happened with Rika. She was so used to being alone that the very idea of needing others in order to become stronger was not only an anathema to her, but also a painful experience.
This is what the Nightmare Soldiers have done to us, she thought. Remembering what Sora had said to Rika before about trying new things, she took a step forwards, preparing to comfort the little imp, only for her ears to twitch as her senses snagged hold of her. Turning, she looked out from between a gap in the overhang and saw a digital field billowing up into existence. She narrowed her eyes in understanding.
"Looks like the Deva is back."
"H-He is?" Impmon's head snapped up, looking almost relieved. His bravado returning, he quickly bounced back to his feet. "Then this is my time to shine!"
"Impmon…" Renamon began, but it was too late. Her former comrade in arms was already out and away, heading towards the digital field, and into trouble.
8