Hi again! Now to deal with the aftermath of the last chapter, and set things up for the next few drabbles.
Data Fragment 43: Automatic
It all happened so fast: the space flip, the shift back to the Digital World, the screams. Then, just as Ryo had recovered, not one but two Soul Releases happened, and everyone was caught in the blasts.
Ryo felt fear, anguish, a little joy, and, more than anything, sorrow, none of it his own. Then it stopped, as the beams fizzled out. Ryo felt hollow as he watched Kazu and Kenta fall, flickering, and...singing? Wait, wasn't that Matt's song?
Suddenly Ryo recalled when he, freshly reborn, attacked Matt's Gabumon. The false dog Digimon easily killed him with a blast of blue fire, but Ryo didn't care. Gabumon was infected, and soon it would automatically spread to the others.
And how easily it did. The original Digidestined were so close-knit that their first reaction to sickness was to huddle together. Idiots. If only they had given him the same consideration, he might have-
Kazu and Kenta dissolved into data, snapping Ryo back to a more somber reality.
...Ryo knew this would happen. There was almost no way it wouldn't, with the way he set everything up. It had already happened to Henry, but Ryo had been prepared for that. As soon as he saw Henry's ankles flickering in the real world, he knew...
Speaking of Henry, he finally had digivolved back into his battle mode so he could fly. If he had been smart, he would have done that immediately...No, he had been too distracted to think of it before. Even now his gaze was distant.
Watching someone die ain't as fun as you thought it would be, huh?
Ryo knew that feeling. He infected the original Digidestined because they were never there for him. They almost were once, only to abandon him to face Millenniumon alone, again. They would never let one of their friends go alone, no matter what the Sovereigns said. But apparently Ryo wasn't important enough to worry about. And then when he got back, none of them seemed to even remember him...It never occurred to Ryo how ENIAC might have had something to do with their forgetfulness. He was too busy gutting the so-called god of the Digital World to ask questions...
"When do I get to make a choice?" Rika screamed somewhere below. "I didn't ask for any of this!"
...This has been pretty rough on you too, huh? thought Ryo. First Henry, and now Kazu and Kenta...
Rika BioMerged with Renamon, the two of them engulfed by light. But instead of the golden Sakuyamon, the dark-colored counterpart Kuzuhamon emerged. She grunted as she held the nape of her neck.
...This too was probably inevitable. All the stress, plus his Dark Spore...it was amazing this never happened during the D-Reaper incident...then again, no one died then. At least not right away. Poor Jeri.
...Ryo wasn't much help to the Tamers either, was he?
"Ryo," said Rika as she flew up to him, her tone cold. "Are you really the one who started all this?"
"Yeah," said Ryo.
Her hands clenched her staff. "Why?"
"Because both worlds need to change," said Ryo.
"Change into what?" asked Rika.
"Dunno. That's part of the fun," said Ryo with a smirk.
"So seeing us suffer is part of the fun?"
...No it wasn't. Seeing any of his fellow Tamers hurting, even if it was necessary and inevitable...Still, Ryo kept smiling. "Hey, no pain no gain, right? Being chosen by the Digital World is all about suffering, and evolving from that suffering. Otherwise the Digital World kills you."
"Like Kazu and Kenta?" growled Rika.
Ryo was quiet at first. "What happened to Kazu...wasn't fair. But Kenta chose to go with Kazu. That's why he gave you the Holy Ring."
"...Do I even deserve it though?" Rika murmured, as she gripped the Holy Ring on her wrist.
"You can always give it away," said Ryo. "You've got the black card anyway."
"What is that black card?" asked Rika.
"It's linked to your Dark Spore, and therefore your desire, so it'll allow you to be whatever you want." said Ryo. "So you could give that ring to someone else, swipe the card, and keep yourself human. Or go straight to Saint without the wasted time or memory, either way."
Rika was quiet, and Henry...where was Henry?
Ryo heard low muttering, but it was code rather than speech. Ryo noticed Henry out of the corner of his eye, spinning toward...no, staying in place? What was he doing?
Then Ryo felt a strange but familiar pull to the air, as a tornado whipped up around Henry. Suddenly Ryo knew exactly what he was doing, and barked a nervous laugh. "You've gotta be kidding me. Juggernaut?"
And now we officially know what the "strange program" Henry has is, and how the original DD got infected. Hooray for questions being answered lol