Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
Digimon Trinity
Chapter: 136/ Episode 20: The Eye of the Battle
Thunder cracked distantly as Indramon marched into the great hall and fell to one knee. A great fire illuminated the throne room of the Sovereign, but his master's shadow shielded him from it. He bowed his head, lowering his eyes to the floor. Shame washed through him. Memories of his battle with Garudamon followed upon its heels.
I am not fit to kneel in the presence of the Sovereign, he thought. To be tossed about so easily by one of the lower beings… I should be stripped of my title and power as Deva and sent into the wastes.
Yet, his master, so far, saw fit to not do any such thing. He was allowed to keep both for reasons he could not comprehend. Well…he supposed it was not his place to ask such questions.
"You have returned, as commanded," came a voice as a new figure fell in beside him. It was smooth and soft. Almost amused.
"I have, Caturamon," Indramon replied, not lifting his head. At present, Caturamon was the Sovereign's Voice, and commanded great respect and reverence. One did not raise one's eyes to their master's voice any more than they did that voice's master. Obeisance was necessary in all things. "I apologize for my inability to vanquish the Digidestined of Love. I had not expected her intervention."
"There is no shame in that," Caturamon remarked. Indramon flushed in humiliation, hearing the mocking smile in his voice. "You have done well. You defeated the Trinity and tested the Nightmare Soldier. Few could have accomplished superior feats. And what's more…you retained their power as ordered."
Indramon's shame lessened. Yes, both from Garudamon and the Trinity Burst, he retained much of the power they sent at him, though it hadn't yet been fully assimilated.
"When next you face them," Caturamon continued, "they will be of no threat to you. And face them you shall, for you have unfinished business to attend to with them. For now, you will meditate. Merge their strength with yours. But should the Nightmare Soldier appear…leave him be. Our Sovereign has plans for him that will assist in the conquest of the humans."
"As you wish," Indramon nodded, thumping a hoof against his armored chest. "The humans… Their weapon has changed from what it was."
He sensed movement; Caturamon moving away.
"It will not be a concern."
The great shadow of the Sovereign retreated with Caturamon, and the Deva was left alone in the throne room. Rising, he breathed deep and centered himself. He felt the power he had obtained coursing through his data. He smiled. With it, he would put an end to the Trinity and whoever rose to the defense of humanity.
###
"Go home! Go home!"
"We aren't your battlefield!"
"Protests took place outside the government building today, calling for action to be taken against the recent digimon attack, fueling fears that another invasion from the digital world is eminent…"
Izzy hit the mute button and turned towards the others gathered about in his apartment's living room. The group that made up their makeshift Digidestined team had grown again. Sora had joined them after meeting up with Ken yesterday and filled them in on the details of the latest Deva attack, as had the two digimon, Bokomon and Neemon sat at the center table amongst the partner digimon, the former staring intently while the latter…merely stared.
"It's official," came Tentomon's voice from Izzy's computer monitor. "We are now sitting on a powder keg that will go off at any minute!"
"An astute observation," Bokomon nodded, massaging his chin. "I hadn't been aware that things were this bad in the human world."
"We're not quite there yet," Ken said. "But if things continue to go on as they are, we will be."
"Man, if TZ hadn't taken our digivices, we'd have this Deva problem beat no problem," Davis growled, clenching his fists together tightly. "Imperialdramon would take them all out no sweat!"
"Not if what Sora has told us about Indramon is true," Izzy said, typing on his computer and drawing up an image of the Deva in question. It was an image photographed from a bystander who had shown up to investigate the situation and not from his digimon analyzer program. The Deva had managed to somehow dodge being catalogued in the system. Not that this was anything out of the ordinary. As he understood it, the Devas could shield themselves, essentially 'going off the radar' unless they willed it.
Quite advantageous, he thought.
"Come on," Davis complained, slapping a hand on the table and causing the dishes to rattle. "You're telling me that that Ultimate's vacuum cleaner could handle Imperialdramon's Positron Laser?"
"It took on the Trinity Burst Rika told me about," Sora snapped at the boy. "She says that's powerful enough to take down a Mega."
"And not just any Mega," Izzy said. "Gulfmon. If this Deva is capable of absorbing our attacks and throwing them back at us, we're going to need to come up with a strategy to handle him. I don't think this is something we can just outmuscle or use different techniques against. He's not like Myotismon who was vulnerable to holy digimon…at least that we know of."
"The Tamers will be all right though, won't they?" Biyomon asked, raising a wing. "I mean, they're having trouble digivolving to Ultimate still, but they have their modify cards. That can help shake things up a bit, right?"
"That's hard to say," Izzy replied uncertainly. Tapping a few keys on his computer, he called up the files he had made on the modify cards the Tamers used from the card game, having bought some recently to study. "The effects they provide in real time are minor and only last a short duration. How long depends on the experience of the digimon using them, but if their concentration is broken a card can last only a few seconds."
"I saw Takato use some in combination during his fight with IceDevimon…" Sora said, frowning. "That seemed to help increase Guilmon's power…"
"True, but the power won't be enough against an Ultimate." Tapping another key, he did an analysis of the statistical increases in digimon fighting power at the Champion level. He shook his head. "An Ultimate is, on average, about ten times stronger than a single Champion. Modify cards operate in very small percentage changes. Even the rare cards with extremely high 'win-percentage ratios' don't even reach the range needed to fight on par with an Ultimate." He sighed an ran a hand along his mouth. "If only I knew more about how these cards work with their digivices…"
"Maybe we ought to call Joe and have him get down here," Sora suggested. "Kari and Matt too. Aside from Biyomon, they're the only ones who can still reach Ultimate right now. Matt at least can reach Mega, though…" She paused, pressing her lips together. "I'm not sure how easily Gabumon can hold it. Matt said it was a little hard back when he and Tai were fighting Apocalymon."
"It was," Izzy confirmed. "But it's possible. Can Matt get any time off from work?"
"He hasn't had any new missions to outer space assigned to him recently," Sora laughed lightly, only to quickly sober. "Though I think with everything that's going on, he might end up getting called to his unit. He'll let me know if that happens, but I think we can count on him being involved."
"Yeah, but will he be involved with us or the Self-Defense Force?" Davis wondered aloud. DemiVeemon looked up at him.
"But isn't that a good thing? It'd be just like it was during the war."
"I don't know." Davis shook his head. "What do you think, Ken?"
Wordlessly, Ken got up and went over to the apartment window and looked down. Below sat a black van that, for all intents and purposes, might as well have Hypnos stamped on it. It had been there for some days now.
"Careful," Izzy warned. "You're at the limit of our shielding. My script won't be able to distort what you're saying as easily."
Ken drew back unhappily and went back over to the table. "I think…" he began. "…that we should operate as though we can't depend on things to be like they were during the war. Takeru is not on our side and is running his own agenda." He looked at Sora apologetically. "We should probably be prepared for the possibility that Matt might be ordered to not help us."
Sora looked as though she were about to protest, but frowned and nodded hesitantly. She knew the old game as well as any of them now. Even with the high likelihood that Matt might disobey his superiors to lend them aid, he could very well be placed under arrest and jailed. If they relied on his partner's power during a critical moment and couldn't get it, the results would ultimately be disastrous.
"Right," she said quietly, but firmly. "So, Kari and Joe then."
"What about Cody? Or Yolei?" asked Davis.
"Yolei's situation is obvious," said Izzy. "And as for Cody…"
There came a stern cough. All eyes looked up to find Mimi standing at the doorway to the living room, arms folded over her round belly.
"Did someone forget to include me and Palmon in your digivolving strategy meeting?"
"Sorry, Mimi," Izzy said with a shake of his head. "But with your pregnancy, we can't have you placing yourself in danger."
"So, I'm supposed to just waddle around on swollen ankles while you do all the fighting?" Mimi asked angrily, leaning forward and giving her husband a withering glare. "Even the planning? Izzy-bun, I'm a Digidestined too in case you've forgotten!"
"I haven't," Izzy frowned, placing his hands on his legs. "But the fact remains that while you're pregnant with our child, we can't risk Palmon digivolving too much or even worse, having her get into a fight and transferring feedback to you. We don't know what kind of affect that will have on the two of you. And that's not even taking into account what happens if you get hurt."
Mimi's cheeks puffed out angrily, clearly not liking his response. With a huff, she whirled about and stormed away.
"Mimi…" Palmon began, starting after her, only for the sound of a door slamming to echo loudly throughout the apartment. Palmon's flower wilted and she looked over at Izzy, who was now getting to his feet.
"I'm sorry," she explained. "I tried to tell her, but I don't think she's happy about the idea of sitting things out when her friends are in trouble."
"Can't say that I blame her," Izzy sighed, thinking back to their childhood and their first adventure in the digital world. During their battles with the Dark Masters, the stress had taken a toll on her and she sat out for a number of battles. While things had turned out fine in the end, her refusal to fight led to her watching Leomon – a dear friend of hers – die protecting her from an enemy who sought to kill her.
No doubt she still thinks about that time, he thought. "I'm going to go talk to her," he said to the others. "I'll be back."
"Take all the time you need," Ken said, picking up the remote and unmuting the news report. For a while, the only sound that could be heard was the TV discussing the international reaction and movements from the United Nations.
"Oh my," Bokomon said after a while as on the screen, world leaders made loud, fiery speeches about how to combat the Forces of Darkness and the threat of the digital world that spawned it. "Humans are indeed strange and unpredictable creatures. I thought you were more united than this."
"Maybe they really are and are just pretending not to be," Neemon countered. Bokomon scowled.
"And what would that accomplish other than looking ridiculous?"
"I don't know. Maybe because they want to look ridiculous?"
His temper stretching to its breaking point, Bokomon snatched hold of Neemon's pants. With a hard yank, he stretched it all the way back before letting it go with a loud snap that struck his companion's belly.
Davis exchanged a look with Ken. "These two helped save the digital world?" he asked in a low whisper. Ken gave a light laugh.
"There's been worse."
"I gue… Hey!"
###
Izzy closed the door behind him and turned to find Mimi lying on their bed, her back facing him.
"Mimi…" he began, only for the woman to cut him off.
"Don't say it, Izzy!" she snapped angrily, her arms holding onto her belly tightly. Izzy sat himself down next to her and placed a hand on her arm. She stiffened at his touch, but didn't push him away.
"I probably should have said it better," he said. Mimi sniffed.
"You probably should have," she said, annoyed. "Sometimes it's like you think everyone is like your computer and that if you explain everything logically enough, we'll all go, 'Yes, you're right, Izzy. We should have thought of that.'"
Izzy's expression softened. Sometimes he did have a habit of forgetting how his words made people feel when he got into his – to borrow Mimi's past description – 'computer dark mode.'
"I just…want to keep you safe," he said, giving her shoulder a soft squeeze. "I'm sorry for how I made you feel, but I don't think I'm wrong to worry. Things are getting serious and…" He sighed, feeling her stiffen once more underneath his touch. "I don't want the two of you to get hurt. Or die."
Her hand reached up over his and fell upon it.
"What if the rest of you get hurt or die because I was sitting on the sidelines?" she asked quietly, and a small tremor made itself known in her body. She sniffed, and Izzy realized she was crying. "I know it's not a good idea for me to get involved while I'm…like this." She grimaced. "I'm starting to have a hard time getting around. I can't run anymore without getting winded…" She shot Izzy a glare. "Don't look at me like that!"
"L-Look at you like what?" Izzy asked, eyebrows rising in honest puzzlement. Blushing, she looked away, rubbing a hand along her swollen belly.
"Forget it," she mumbled. "I just…want to be able to do something that helps everyone."
Laying down next to her, Izzy caressed her hair and gave the back of her head a light kiss.
"We'll think of something," he said, smiling. "I'm open to suggestions."
###
Takato felt a ping of anxiety worming about in his guts as he made his way through the school hallways. He cast his eyes about, half expecting someone to give him a dirty look for being partnered to a digimon. So far, no one did. Word hadn't spread very far from his class with regards to that, and the faculty had kept quiet as well. Still, with everything going on in the news and with the protests, he half-expected the rumors to start flying.
"I'm…not sure if I feel better or not about that…"
"What was that?"
Yelping in surprise, Takato spun around to find Henry standing behind him, Terriermon on his shoulder.
"Someone's a little jumpy," the long-eared rabbit digimon giggled. "What's the matter? Rika threaten to chain you to your bed if she caught you not getting rest like she told you to?"
"Terriermon…" Henry sighed as Takato blushed mightily.
"N-No," he stammered out, though Rika had threatened something similar if he didn't take it easy. "I'm just…thinking out loud." He shifted before continuing. "Henry? Can I ask you a personal question?"
"Sure, I guess," Henry replied, arching an eyebrow at his friend. "What's on your mind?"
"I was just wondering… You used to be in Ms. Kamiya's class last year, but you got moved to Mr. Mori. That was because you were bullied for being a Tamer, right?"
"Yeah," Henry admitted and, on his shoulder, Terriermon huffed.
"Some kid got into a shouting match with him," he clarified. "Tried shoving him around too."
"I was getting to that."
"Were you going to get to the part where you just let him do it?"
"You were there?" Takato asked. Terriermon stood up straight and puffed his chest out.
"I sure was!"
"Even though I told you not to come to school," Henry sighed. "You know, you were pretty much the reason why I started getting bullied."
"Momentai! I just wanted to see what the big deal was about this place. You kept coming here and leaving me alone to suffer with Suzie. I figured it had to be important." The long-eared digimon looked around and frowned. "Besides the food, it really wasn't all that special."
"Figures you'd think with your stomach," Takato frowned slightly. "But…things are good now, right? I mean, everyone knows you're a Tamer, so…"
Takato trailed off and Henry fixed him with a curious look.
"Things are…fine," he said, though he left out the obvious fact that he didn't have much in the way of friends. Not that he had many even before becoming a Tamer, but being partnered with a digimon as rambunctious as Terriermon had the tendency to isolate one. "What happened at camp is still bothering your classmates, isn't it?"
"It kind of is," Takato admitted. "And with everything in the news about yesterday's fight with Indramon, I guess I'm worried that they're just going to hate Guilmon and all the other digimon."
"You've got to admit, we do cause a lot of trouble," Terriermon said. "And I'm not exactly family friendly when I digivolve to Champion."
"No offense, but you're not exactly family friendly even as a Rookie," Henry quipped.
"I'll give you points for that, but at least Growlmon looks like a dinosaur. I mean, sure, he'll still eat everything in sight, but he doesn't have guns on his hands. Your worlds not exactly built with digimon in mind."
"What does that mean though?" Takato asked. "That just because some digimon are bad that all the rest are too? Guilmon… Guilmon gets along just fine here without any problems!"
His voice was fast becoming more animated, his face flushing as his agitation grew. He was quickly interrupted by the sound of the school bell ringing, signaling that class was about to start and that they'd better hurry.
"I'm sorry that there aren't any easy answers," Henry said sympathetically, placing a hand on Takato's shoulder. "Anyway, we've got to get going. I'll talk to you after Rika and I get done trying to find Impmon." He paused. "Are you going to be okay?"
Takato sighed and adjusted his bag. "Yeah," he said dejectedly, though he wasn't sure if such was actually the case. Everything on the news that morning had been bad, and he felt a black pit forming in his stomach because of it. Not even checking in on the still napping Guilmon had helped to improve things.
The feedback was worse that time, he thought, massaging his shoulder as he bid Henry and Terriermon goodbye. Is it because Guilmon and I are getting closer? Or because Indramon hit us that hard?
No answer came to him as he hurried along to class and slid inside before the final bell. Kari looked up from her spot at the front of the room and nodded to him, a thin smile on her face.
"Nice of you to join us, Takato," she joked. "Now take your seat, I'm about to do rollcall."
"Hey Chumley!" Kazu called out, waving his hands from in front of the boy's empty desk. "I heard how you and the others were defending the city! That's totally awesome!"
"Y-Yeah…" Takato replied uncertainly, his eyes flicking out over the rest of his class. Ayaka was glaring at him while Miki studiously ignored him. The others who had been his friends – Jeremy, Yuuji and Taizou among them – looked away guiltily. He felt a wave of déjà vu wash over him, remembering when Kazu and Kenta had briefly rejected his friendship over Guilmon. Only this time, he doubted that there would be a making up.
Still, there was one bright island in the sea of hostile eyes that looked at him (when they weren't ignoring him that is). Jeri sat amidst it all, smiling sweetly at him and he found himself smiling back. Confidence returning to him a little, he made his way over to his seat, somehow managing the miracle of not tripping on his way there, lost as he was in Jeri's amber eyes and sat himself down.
As Ms. Kamiya began the rollcall, Kazu turned towards him.
"So, what happened, Chumley?" he asked in a low voice. "The news didn't show much, but I saw a photo of Garudamon tackling that giant horse."
Takato grimaced, feeling the twinge still from his feedback.
"We…had a little trouble," he said. "Indramon sent our attacks right back at us. We didn't stand a chance."
"Seriously?" Kazu raised an eyebrow. "You digivolved to Ultimate, didn't you? This guy's that strong?"
"Um…" Takato looked embarrassed. "We…didn't get further than Champion. We're having a little trouble with that and…"
"No talking during rollcall!" Kari said sternly and at once Kazu quieted. It didn't last long though and soon enough the boy spoke up again, this time in a quieter whisper.
"You need a Crest, right?" he asked. "I've got a bunch you can use."
"Um… Those cards don't work for some reason though," Takato said.
"Huh? Why?"
Takato was silent on that, wondering that himself. Just about all the other cards they had worked, though digivolving cards always represented something of an odd challenge. Rika even mentioned that she hadn't been able to use any until after Renamon had digivolved on her own.
But…we've already all digivolved to Ultimate twice, he thought, trying to work out the puzzle. The Crests always appeared on the cards, blanketing the entirety of what was on them beforehand with their symbol and color.
Maybe that's it?
"Maybe it just doesn't look right?" Takato offered. Kazu raised an eyebrow at this.
"Doesn't look right? What do you…?"
"Kazu Shioda!"
"I know," the boy sighed, rolling his eyes. "I shouldn't have been talking, but I'm trying to help Chumley figure out how to save the world." Leaning back, he draped his arm over his chair. "That's got to be good for something, right?"
Kari met the boy's gaze levelly and shook her head. "See me after class."
"What? No fair!"
Takato took out a notebook. He wasn't entirely convinced that the card was the issue. There was also Calumon to consider. He had seen the symbol on his head glow right before they digivolved.
Just how much does that little guy affect our digivolving? he wondered. There was so much about him that they didn't know. He hadn't heard of a digimon like him in the card game or anything from the documentaries that suggested there were digimon capable of digivolving other digimon.
Well, except Azulongmon I guess, but that required a digi-core or something. This is different.
He tried to remember if he had ever done a scan of Calumon. He usually did that with any wild digimon that popped up, but he suddenly wasn't sure. It had been so long ago now and so much had happened that Calumon had become one blip among many on the radar of strangeness that his life turned into.
I should probably do it next time I see him, he thought.
A folded-up piece of paper plopped down in front of him just then. Blinking in startlement, he looked up to find Jeri giggling into her hand while Ayaka and Miki gave her dark looks. Smiling back, he took up the paper and unfolded it. Within was a picture of himself and Guilmon, determined expressions on their faces, standing alongside Henry and Rika, facing down against a scrawl of darkness shaped into a vague monster. Light rays were colored about the team, driving back the shadow, forcing it to shrink away fearfully.
Scrawled above the drawing were these simple words:
I believe in you.
Takato felt tears sting at his eyes and he looked back up at Jeri. She was looking away now, but her smile etched itself into his heart. Folding the drawing back up, he pocketed it away for safekeeping. The world's troubles felt a little less concerning now, like a weight had been lifted.
Thanks, Jeri, he thought, feeling a warm glow in his heart.
###
A/N: The remark about Ultimate's being (on average) 10 times stronger than Champions is based loosely on observations from the first two seasons of the show, the first being how handily Etemon and Myotismon defeated groups of Champions without breaking a sweat, with the second coming from Arukenimon, who often used up to ten spires to produce an Ultimate without deviation (Okuwamon and a herd of Mammothmon respectively). Of course, there would be variations as very little in nature is an absolute so much as it is a guideline (Lucemon and Parasimon being notable examples. The former, a Rookie with the power on Ultimate/Mega, while the latter, a Mega level, gets taken out by Champions with ease). There would be other factors as well, such as experience (during the Myotismon arc, a Snimon and Tuskmon held off Zudomon, Garudamon and WereGarurumon for quite some time before finally going down) and attributes (the aforementioned Angemon, a Champion, who has taken out Ultimates like Phantomon with just a glancing blow, and his own Ultimate form which defeated Piedmon, a Mega who helped defeat the four Harmonious Ones). There's a lot that goes into a battle that keeps things from dissolving into a power level situation but in general I think it's safe to say, based on the above examples, that Ultimate might be 10 times stronger on average than Champion.
Hope you all enjoyed the chapter, and until next time.
Take care.
-Crazyeight
8