Chapter Three: D-Coded
Chiyaku watched the stream of white barcode-like rectangles pouring out of the rapidly vanishing dinosaur digimon before the group, a frown on her face as her brown eyes followed the movement of the strange phenomena. The creature had thanked them for killing him, which didn't sit right with the hotblooded girl. That meant that something else was behind the creature attacking them…
She didn't get much time to contemplate the situation, however, as that very moment was when the strange devices they had all received began to make ring like cell phones, their screens lighting up, causing whatever pockets they were stored in to light up with an ominous glow. Renaku was the first to answer, pulling his device from his pocket and tapping the screen with his thumb. "Greetings, Chosen," came the creaky groans of an old man's voice.
"Who the fuck are you?" Renaku asked without hesitation, his grip tightening on the device in his hand.
"Please, calm yourself," the voice intoned in response. "All will be explained in due time. But first, it is urgent that you use the device we're communicating through to catch the stream of data leaving Allomon! You must hurry!"
Grumbling his protests under his breath, Renaku thrust the device into the path of the stream of data. The clear section with the glowing light lit up brighter, and a much more mechanical voice sounded from the device. "Digi-Load complete. Obtained data: Megabyte Forest; Allomon's Claws." Almost immediately after the device had finished talking, all of the lights where Allomon had fallen vanished, and there was no longer any sign that he had ever existed.
The old man on the other end of the call spoke once more, relief eking into his voice. "Oh, thank Yggdrasil, you made it in time."
Masuyo was the next to speak, his voice almost hostile as he demanded, "Now tell us what the fuck is going on!" Chiyaku knew her brother well enough to know that he was barely restraining himself from flying off the handle as it was.
"My name is Fanglongmon," the voice on the other end replied. "I am the one who has summoned you here."
"Send us back," Yoshiro interjected, his arms folded over his chest. The blond's voice seemed calm, but one look at his face told Chiyaku a much different story.
"I must beg of you to stay," Fanglongmon replied, his voice cracking with what sounded to be tears. "It is only through your help that our world can be saved. I will answer whatever questions I can for you, though."
Chiyaku's heart melted at the sound of tears in the strange being's voice, but before she could say anything, Amilia spoke up. "Guys, let's at least hear him out, okay?"
Masuyo's expression softened at Amilia's words, and he nodded. Similarly, Renaku and Yoshiro both eased up, relaxing, if only a little. Hitomi, however, seemed to have the opposite reaction. "Hear him out? Are we seriously considering this? We're already in enough trouble for skipping out on detention, we're never going t-"
Yoshiro was the first to react, turning to Hitomi, his eyes narrowing as he moved up to her, silencing her with his sheer presence. He whispered something to her that Chiyaku didn't hear, and Hitomi's face went white, her whole body going limp. With the shrill cries of her voice silenced, Akemi spoke up. "What did you mean that your world can't be saved without us?"
Fanglongmon's voice was silent for a long moment before the answer came, as if the speaker was debating how to respond. "It is how our world has always been, since the beginning of time immemorial. You are now in the Digital World, a world that exists parallel to your own. Our worlds are intertwined, and the fate of one affects the fate of the other. As such, it is the nature of our existence that our world cannot be saved except by the help of humans. In humans exists a power that can push us digimon to unthinkable heights, allow us to accomplish unimaginable feats. This power can only be achieved through the bond between a human and digimon pair. And the Digivices you each carry will manifest that bond for you."
Chiyaku finally spoke, interested in the explanation of these "digivices". "What do you mean, manifest that bond?" she asked. "What's a digivice?"
"I have given each of you a D-Coder Digivice. These devices will help you to empower your digimon partners when you are in need, as well as store, carry, and manifest objects and even your own digimon partners, all via the power of Digi-Load. When you Digi-Loaded our fallen friend Allomon's code, you obtained two pieces of code. One is the missing piece of the forest, which you can restore by pointing towards the gap in the forest and Digi-Loading it again. And the other was… Allomon's Claws, I believe it said? This is a piece of Allomon's own data, which you can Digi-Load to your digimon partner, Coronamon, in order to increase his fighting strength or provide him with a new option in battle."
Renaku looked to the others, his eyes landing on Amilia after a moment. Amilia smiled sweetly. Too sweetly, in fact, and her gaze happened to land in the direction of the giant hole in the forest. Renaku, grudgingly, pointed the device in that direction. "Alright, so how do I Digi-Load this… Megabyte Forest?"
As if on cue, the device lit up once more, and the gaping hole to the abyss was filled with light. Once the blinding light faded, where once there was a hole, now there were trees and a forest floor littered with leaves and pine needles. "Digi-Load complete," came the digivice's mechanical voice once more.
Fanglongmon's voice seemed happier when it spoke again. "Your digivices respond to voice commands. And as you can see, they are capable of amazing things. Part of the reason we need your help, Chosen Ones, is that these fragmentations, like the one you just repaired, are happening all over the Digital World. You must restore the Digital World, and put a stop to the digimon responsible. His name is-" Fanglongmon's voice cut off mid-sentence while the gathered teens waited with bated breath.
"Fanglongmon?" Yoshiro asked after a moment. All that met his voice was silence. After another moment, the light on the screen of Renaku's digivice died, and the call ended.
"Shit," Masuyo muttered, just loud enough that Chiyaku could make it out.
"Well, that can't be good," Yoshiro commented dryly. "But there's no use getting worked up over it now. We're in a strange environment and we have limited resources. We need to focus on our own survival for now."
Masuyo nodded, his short brown hair bouncing as he did. "You're right. Let's get moving, everyone," he said, taking charge as he led the way deeper into the strange, digital forest.
The group had spent most of the day after that walking. When they stopped for the night, the boys took turns keeping watch. The group had realized that, somehow, defying all logic, they didn't seem to get hungry here. They hadn't spoken about Fanglongmon or his abrupt cut-off all day, but now that morning had come, all bets were off.
Chiyaku walked with Amilia and Akemi, giggling together with her newfound best friends. The group had been walking for about two hours now, and already, Hitomi was complaining. Again. "Can we please take a break? My feet are killing me!" Hitomi whined from her spot about 10 feet behind the back of the group.
"No," came the choral response of the rest of the group, their voices sounding in unison as if they'd rehearsed it for months. Hitomi crossed her arms, pouting as she tried to keep up, panting for breath.
Chiyaku broke the silence after that. "So, what are we going to do, just hike through the forest forever? Because that Fanglongmon guy-"
"-is annoyingly persistent," a new voice finished. Just then, a figure landed behind Hitomi, an extremely thin purple man in a bluish-hued armor. Guilmon rushed to put himself between Hitomi and the new figure.
Ludomon, however, seemed fearful. "That's… that's…" the soldier-like digimon stuttered.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Craniamon," the newcomer supplied, pulling out a large, double-bladed sword. "And I am here to put an end to Fanglongmon's meddling. Forgive me, humans. None of this is personal, but I must eradicate you now, before you become a threat to my plans…"
Instantly on-guard, the teens took defensive stances as their digimon partners jumped out in front of them, preparing to fight. Chiyaku noted that Renamon's stance in front of her was particularly aggressive, but she didn't have much time to study anyone else's stance.
"TWENTY DIVE!" Zubamon shouted as he rushed towards Craniamon, Masuyo and Renaku close on his heels. Yoshiro stayed back, but it was clear to Chiyaku that he wanted to get a few good punches in, too.
Craniamon swept all three of them aside with a single motion, knocking them into a tree with the flat of his blade. "Hmph. You are brave, humans, I'll give you that. But you are no match for me."
Renaku, seemingly remembering what Fanglongmon had told him before, pulled out his digivice. "Digi-Load! Allomon's Claws!" A bright light wrapped itself around Coronamon's knuckles, before the light faded, revealing claw weapons reminiscent of Allomon's own hands or feet.
Coronamon, newly armed with these weapons, ran forward, punching Craniamon. At first, the much taller digimon laughed, expecting the punch to do nothing. As the claws ripped into Craniamon's armor, however, his laughter turned into a yelp of pain. "You little… You actually managed to hurt me?! You'll pay for that!" An otherworldly glow came over Craniamon, and Coronamon was knocked away, face-down in the dirt.
Tadashi's eyes locked onto Craniamon, and determination filled them. Chiyaku, too, was determined not to lose, but even before she heard Tadashi say it, she knew what they had to do. "We have to run, guys, we can't take him!"
Of course, the first person to try to flee was Hitomi. As she got up and ran away from Craniamon, Guilmon tried to cover her escape. Craniamon, however, simply laughed, throwing his double-bladed sword. As it spun through the air, it cut through Guilmon, and the red dinosaur digimon shattered into thousands of tiny white squares.
Hitomi looked back, fear in her eyes. The look on her face showed that she knew what was coming next, but was powerless to stop it. The blades were spinning towards her, moving faster than she could dodge. Yoshiro made a start towards her, shouting as he tried to do what he inevitably knew was impossible: save Hitomi. In that split-second, it seemed like time slowed to a crawl as Chiyaku could only watch in horror as the blades cleanly cut Hitomi in half. For a brief moment afterwards, her expression remained, horrified, the pain of the injury evident on her face.
And then, with the sound of shattering glass, Hitomi's form dissolved into thousands of glittering white squares of light, and faded from sight.