Chapter 14: Fallout, Part 1
Matt:
"Jun dear," Mrs. Motomiya said, poking her head in the door. "You have a visitor!"
"A visitor?" Matt asked. "Is it Monoe again?"
Yolie's sister had come over a couple of times since the switch. He did not know who else would; Jun did not seem to have many friends. Matt felt that a fate she deserved, though he didn't like living with its consequences in her body.
His supposed mother continued "It's some boy from your class. He said you he had a summer project he wanted to ask you for help with. What was his name? Jo…suke?"
"Maybe it's just Joe?" Matt joked.
"Nah, that would be silly." She replied.
It would be silly. The odds of his old friend coming to see "Jun" were next to none. Still…
"I don't suppose you have a project to you haven't told me about?"
He did not, and he doubted Jun had an assignment from over two months ago none of her teachers had mentioned in the mean time. That made it seem odd that someone from the same class would. It had to be a lie. Someone, and someone Jun did not know well given there were no guys on her short list of friends, wanted to talk to her and didn't want to say the reason why... but what could the reason be? Matt couldn't think of one. Was this guy some suitor trying to get into Jun's pants?
He laughed out loud. A guy chasing after this freak was just that ridiculous. Even if they didn't know what a monster she was on the inside, one look at her outside ought to dissuade them. Matt had tried to make this body more presentable while he was in it, but there was only so much polish you could put on a turd... much to his chagrin.
"Jun?" The mother asked.
The question brought him back to reality. The more he reflected on it, the more the lie sounded liked something a digidestined would have said when they needed to get to another digidestined through their parents. It seemed like a lie that was plausible enough for someone not in the know, but that someone in the know would recognize. It was the kind of lie that sounded like "Something digimon related is happening".
"Could it really be Joe after all?" He asked himself internally.
"Oh, um, I guess I forgot about the project," He improvised "now that you mention it.".
Even if it wasn't Joe, the former boy had to investigate now. As much time as he endeavored to spend apart from Mrs. Motomiya, surely he could convince her he did the nonexistent project in it later. He was used to working around lies like this as a digidestined.
"Jun, young woman, I am disappointed in you. You never just forgot about projects before. Do I need to get you a planner? What's gotten into you lately?"
As much as he had tried to delay it, he couldn't keep the Motomiyas in the dark about their supposed daughter's falling grades forever.
"I… it's okay mom. I've got Joe… erm, Josuke to help me out on this one."
She sighed. "Just go get it done."
"Will do." Whatever the visitor really wanted, Matt had just committed to take part in it. He did not believe the visitor was Joe… but he had to hope so now.
"I might as well hope it's Jun come to give me my body back."
Never the less, he walked into the living room on the way to the apartment's doorway… and to his amazement, it really was the Joe he knew.
"Hello, um… Jun."
"Hello… Joe."
Had his attempts to reintroduce himself to the doctor in training gone better than he had known? Had they kindled a desire to make a seemingly new friend? That could only strike Matt as bizarre. Friendship with the other digidestined had made Joe a lot more sociable than he was four years ago, but he still did not seem the type to randomly pop up at an acquaintance's house. Even if he were, why would he lie then? He would have to know "Jun" wouldn't be deceived by it; even without her uncanny ability to detect lies, she wouldn't have had the assignment. Was it real afterall?
"Thank you for reminding my daughter about her summer project." Mrs. Motomiya butted in.
"Oh, um, you're welcome." Joe answered. "Do you mind if I go to her room with her? She has some, um, materials we need."
"Her room? Oh, of course. Just don't tell her father." The mother joked.
Matt groaned, but he played along. "It's this way." He said pointing back into interior. Mrs. Motomiya did not follow them back, but she did blurt in "Get it done right!" as they disappeared down the hall.
The former boy led Joe into Jun's room. "Now I can get to the bottom of this." He thought and closed the door. "Why is he doing this? Is Kari trying to send a message to me through him? Why would she do that?"
He began to think up some witty way to address digimon in the context of a summer project as they walked away, but Joe beat him to the punch, apparently choosing a more direct route.
"So, um, you're Matt, right?"
It was like time stopped right then.
"Wha.. what?"
He couldn't have just said that.
"I said, 'you're Matt, right?'. You are aren't you, Matt?"
It was another second before the former boy could speak.
"Oh my god! Yes! I... it's me, Matt. Joe, how did you know?"
For a second he expected the doctor in training to say he had guessed the truth from their interactions at school. That would have been ludicrous, and Matt knew it. There is no way someone like Joe would ever detect that "Jun" was Matt-like from a few conversations, let alone believe it. And yet. the story Joe did tell... it had to be even more insane than that. Wizardmon's ghost!? The former explanation had been deeply improvable... but this... was it even possible? Did ghosts exist at all? Even if they did for humans, didn't digimon get reborn as eggs when they died? And yet...
"Oh my god."
"Whe... where are the others?" He decided to ask. Better to have something more tangible to think of.
"TK and Yolie tried to follow Davis into the digital world immediately after he fled."
"Didn't you say he destroyed the digiport?" Matt replied. "What were they planning? To track him down from the next area?"
"I assume so." Joe sighed. "Not that they had any idea what area he was in. They just sort of... picked one. Cody complained it wasn't going to work, but he went in with them anyway."
From the oldest boy's tone it was clear he agreed with the youngest. So did the former boy. With 108 areas in the digital world... well, 105 with working portals by now, you didn't need Jun's brain to realize the odds of picking one near where the Motomiyas escaped to were... not good
"Not that Jun's brain has ever worked for me." He whined internally.
"Tai took the others to Mimi's hotel and sent me to get you. He wants us to regroup there. I would have just picked you up at the door, but, well, Izzy had an additional request."
"What would that be?" Matt asked.
"He wanted to examine the rings that switched you guys." Joe answered. "You have them here, don't you?"
The former boy nodded and pulled the blue gemmed ring out of his pillowcase. "I copied that trick from Kari. She has a red tipped ring in the same place in Davis's room."
"Um, will it look suspicious if you go get that out of her room?"
"Probably," the former musician replied. "Go distract my mom while I do it."
Joe agreed. After he got the other ring, Matt found him talking to Mrs. Motomiya again in the living room. When the older boy saw him come in, he broke off the original conversation and said. "If you don't mind, I would like to take Jun out to the library for some research."
"Oh, of course." She assented. She wound up basically shoving her perceived daughter out the door, in fact. "Get a good grade!" She added as the door slammed closed.
"She... seems gung ho about your education." Joe commented. "It almost reminds me of my dad."
"Don't remind me." Matt snorted. "Let's just go see the others."
When Matt walked into the hotel room, he saw most of the other digidestined there. Izzy was at his computer with Mimi and Sora behind him. The pink haired girl was the first to notice them come in.
"Hey there… Matt?" She asked.
"That's me."
If Mimi could have had any doubt, the youngest present digidestined was to immediately displace it.
"Matt! Oh my god!"
Kari had been sitting on the bed with Tai. Upon seeing him enter, she leaped from the mattress and ran to him.
"Oh my god, Matt! You were right!" She hugged him tightly, tight enough to take the wind out of him.
"Thank you big brother! Thank you for everything! You told me we'd go home… and I think we are because of you! I… didn't believe it, but you were right. You were right, and we're getting our lives back! Thank you so much for getting me up! We wouldn't have seen Wizardmon if you hadn't done that. Thank you so much for getting me through all of this!"
"I… breath..."
Kari blushed and lightened her hug.
"Sorry."
"It's okay." He said and returned her hug. "You're welcome. And thank you. You… you helped me through this too."
As they embraced his eyes glanced inadvertently over toward Tai. For the brief second their eyes met… the former boy could not begin to describe the shame and misery he saw in rival's face. Tai quickly looked down, not seeming to bare maintaining the eye contact. Matt couldn't hear anything, but he thought he could see him mouth the words "big brother."
Davis:
"Davis, Jun, I found a cave we can take shelter in." Veemon reported.
"A cave, are you serious?" Jun complained.
"Would you rather stay out in the rain?"
"Ugh, fine." The former girl replied. "Davis, come on!"
"A cave... yeah." Saying that was all the former boy did in response. She barely heard what the others were saying. She didn't care. It didn't matter. Nothing mattered anymore. The rain around them was a perfect match for the feeling inside her.
"Damn you Wizardmon!" She thought. "Why did you take all that away from me?"
"It's this way, not very far." Veemon said, gesticulating for her partner to follow. When she did not, the digimon grew concerned.
"Partner?"
Jun noticed it too, but was less sympathetic. "We don't have time for this!" He grabbed his sibling by the arm and started pulling her in the direction Veemon had pointed. Davis did not resist him.
Before long they entered the cave and the former leader was released.
"Thank you, Veemon." It was Jun that said then. "Both for this and for getting us away from that monstrous horse!"
"Don't mention it."
Davis just sat down on the ground. All she could do was think about what had just happened. In an instant she had gone from the top of the world to the bottom. She had been Tai's perfect sister… and now…
"He knows the truth." She thought. "He knows who I really am. He knows I'm not really his sister… that I stole all of that from Kari."
It was what she had feared since the night she arrived in this body. At first it was just that Kari would hate her for lying about how she wound up in said body. That was only the surface, though. Deep down the fear had always been that Tai would reject her for what she did to his true sister. That was why she had to become her in the first place. Now...
"It doesn't matter." She replied. "We lost."
Tai knew now. It was over. He could only hate her now.
"No, love never looses! We just need to lay low until Gatomon realizes her mistake."
The former boy just laughed out of control.
"Why are you laughing!?" Jun interjected. "Stop that!"
"Gatomon did not make a mistake. No one in their right mind would choose a DemiVeemon's body over a champion's."
Her partner looked down anxiously.
"They would if they really loved that DemiVeemon." Jun insisted
"Here we go again." Davis thought.
"You're an idiot. You're the a freaking genius, but somehow you're the dumbest idiot I've ever met. Gatomon does not love Veemon, Kari doesn't love me, and Matt most certainly does not love you!"
She saw the look on her brother's face change as she said that. Despite the intended insults to his intelligence, the part about Matt not loving him was clearly the part that offended him most.
"Shut up! Of course Matt loves me. He loves me as much as I love him, and I love him like nothing else in the world. You're the idiot if you can't see that."
"That day we switched bodies with each other, after our date," What did that humiliation matter at this point? "while I was waiting for you to come home from the digital world, Matt visited me in your body, thinking I was you, called you disgusting to your face, swore vengeance for stealing her body and said you would wish you were never born."
"Wha... no, that's impossible." Jun barked back. "You're lying! If Matt was disgusted with anyone it was you, not me, and I agree; you are disgusting!"
Davis just laughed again.
"Stop that! Stop laughing at me!" he roared! "I said STOP!"
She ignored him. I was hilarious.
"Whack!"
Matt's stolen fist struck her. In a moment she was driven from a sitting position onto her side. Towering over her, Jun looked like she was about it hit her again.
"You littl-"
Some insult was sure to proceeded the next intended hit, but neither ever came.
"Lightning Paw!"
In a split second, Jun was knocked down as well. Veemon stood over him, her paw shoving him face first into the dirt. He screamed. He screamed like nothing Davis had ever heard before. Part of it was pain; it had to be, but much more sounded like fear, like true unadulterated horror. He writhed as he screamed trying to escape from under the champion digimon, but to no avail. Veemon just silently held him down.
"Ha. Ha." The former boy said not truly laughing. "That's what you get Jun! Ever hear about picking on someone your own size? Ha! I guess you aren't now either!"
After that she really did laugh. It was funny. She expected Jun to squirm in response. He did... but not in the way she had expected. It was doubtful Jun heard her over his own screaming. It was more than a bit disheartening... At first it pleased Davis a bit anyway, the pain was severe where he had hit her, but the longer she watched him squirm, the more uneasy she got...
"This is what Kari wanted to do to him, that day I caught him in the alley." She thought. "This is... what TK tired to do just a minute ago..."
It was worse than that.
"He's still going to want to do it to me. They all will. If anyone with a digimon finds me... Is this... is this my future?"
The siblings, she had always known, would share the same fate, whatever that turned out to be. And now...
"Damn you, TK!"
Once again his rival thought of Matt's words, of her promise that Jun would regret the very day she was born... Was that inevitable? Could it be stopped anymore? It filled her with dread either way... for both of them.
Very quickly Jun's screams turned to whimpers. She became still.
"I... I'm sorry." He muttered with hisr face half covered in dirt. "I'm sorry I hit you. Really, I am. Please, let me go."
Veemon looked up at her partner for approval. "Are you okay? I'd have asked sooner were it not for all the screaming to drown me out."
She nodded. When Veemon released her paw, Jun got up and limped over to the far wall from them where he sat down. Looking into his eyes, Davis could see the former girl was still horrified. He looked away. "I'm sorry." He muttered. "I'm really, really sorry."
After that they just sat there in silence. None of them could have know for how long. It must have been hours. It felt like years. The rain kept pouring the whole time.
Ken
"Well, well, well."
A new image had appeared on one of his screens not long ago, a pair of them, technically.
"I'm sorry." Matt's body whined. "I'm really, really sorry."
Davis and Jun had come to the digital world, and they had come into an area he controlled. The local control spire relayed clear signals from the ring on Jun's finger, and the one on Veemon's tail. His monitors now showed him the view from their perspectives.
"So this is the view from another human's eyes." Ken thought, looking from Jun's perspective. He had never seen the likes before, despite seeing that of thousands of digimon by now. "Shame Davis isn't wearing one. Where's the signal from that yellow gemmed ring I gave them? No matter, I can see him from two angles anyway."
Not that the view of his spy was impressive. He just sat there, wallowing in apparent self-pity. Having witnessed the preceding scene, he knew exactly why. They had been caught. One way or another the former Gatomon had convinced the leader of the digidestined exactly who his apparent sister really was. The gig was up.
"Shame." Ken thought "I could have gotten so much more intelligence out of them."
Still, it wasn't a a total loss on that front. He pulled out the image of Duomon on a spare monitor. That experiment had proven a great success. All of his opponents' strategies revolved around freeing his slaves by breaking the dark rings or spirals controlling them. Defending said rings or spirals with a barrier could only have been a logical decision. Couple that with the offensive power of an ultimate level digimon, and there was nothing the digidestined could do but run away.
This boded well for Chimeramon. A creature born loyal to him needed no dark spiral to control it, and to prescribe his project's the power of an ultimate failed to do it justice. He would have gone ahead with its creation either way, just to have a greater partner. A perfect human deserved only a perfect digimon. Still, it was nice to have that extra bit of certainty, not that he wouldn't have gone ahead without it.
"As if my perfection could ever have lost."
That was still far from the intelligence victory he had hoped for, but that had never been the primary objective of giving them the rings anyway. He had wanted to watch the digidestined implode from within, and it looked like that was exactly what had happened. His enemies were now openly infighting. He had taken their effective leader and turned the rest of the group against him. The head of the snake was severed. Now he could only watch the tail squirm as it died.
The emperor looked at Davis. As for the head itself… there was one last objective. Why stop at having his enemies merely fight each other?
"They're mine now." Ken said aloud. "Davis, Jun, Veemon, they all work for me."
The new minions did not seem to share his enthusiasm; for the next hour they continued their silent wallowing. They were much more upset about being caught than the Digimon Emperor had expected. He began to wonder why.
"Why don't you 'tell' me, Jun?"
Using the dark ring on her finger, Ken peered into Jun's mind. He could not only see through her eyes on the monitor, but hear her thoughts through its speaker. It was an inevitable step on the technological route to body switching. He had to process their minds after-all, and the emotion sharing of the digivices provided a nice head start. He had done this before with digimon, but he was exited to do it on a human for the first time.
"It… it can't be true, can it?" She thought. "He… has to love me. Why wouldn't Matt have told me before now if he didn't? He… Davis has to have misunderstood. Of course Matt loves me. Do.. doesn't he?"
Then the emperor spoke to her. "Of course he does. How could you ever doubt that?"
"Of course he does." Jun's thoughts echoed. "How could I ever doubt that?"
Because she was a fellow human being, if not a perfect human being, Ken would not outright enslave Jun. That said, he was not above toying with her mind in more subtle ways. He was the perfect one, after all. As far as this 'marriage' had come, Ken could not have her getting cold feet now. It didn't look like he would have to. With that bit of assurance the romantic's thoughts began to shift to other matters.
"Damn am I hungry! What time it it anyway?" She began to grope in her pockets. "Where did I put Matt's phone. He..." Of course, she wasn't totally off the old train of thought. "He still hasn't answered any of my texts..."
Her id wanted to believe Matt loved her, but her ego was beginning to doubt. This in turn prompted the superego.
"If… if he really doesn't like me… I…. what does that mean for everything I've done up until now? I… what is wrong with me?"
"Nothing." Ken spoke in her mind's voice. "Matt loves you, remember? He's just being shy about it. Confessing your feelings is always hard, even when weird things like body switching aren't involved."
That seemed to appease her rational mind. Of course, the young genius new it wouldn't last. He did not know much about Matt, but he found it hard to imagine he did feel as Jun hoped after what Davis had said, and it was hard to image someone as intelligent as Jun would believe it forever. She did not have to, however. If the devil on her shoulder could not silence the rational brain in her head, he would silence the angel on the other side.
"None of us chose who we love. It's destiny. You didn't choose him." He made her think. The lead in was innocuous enough. "Now for the punch." the emperor thought "And he didn't choose you. It doesn't matter. Nothing can interfere with your love."
"I… never thought of it that way..." Jun wondered.
Ken answered that with more of the previous argument. "It doesn't matter anyway. Of course he loves you."
She did not need to dwell on the on the newer though as long as the older one was on her mind. No need to risk her rejecting it. As long as she was convinced Matt also wanted her "perfect marriage" she did not need to. Eventually she would have to confront the reality that he did not return her love, but if this new thought was in the back of her mind...
He laughed maniacally.
He had planted the seed, and he would continue to nourish it.
"All he needs is a little encouragement."
"Yes, that's true." Jun responded internally. "Love always wins."
Davis:
Singing.
That was the first sound to grace the cave after who knew how many hours of silence. Jun... out of all things... started singing.
"After years apart, we are together again.
We left of our own foolishness, and suffered for it.
Now we will never again know that pain."
Davis knew what it was, an insipid love song by Matt's stupid band. Somehow, in spite of all of this, her brother just would not give up on that. The sheer bullheadedness of it was mind boggling. In it's own way, it was kind of inspiring. For the most part however...
"Shut up." The former boy groaned.
She was more than a bit annoyed by his attempts at music, as she had been even when she was a he and he was a she. The former girl's new voice did little to help.
In this context, she was also more that a bit disgusted. "Is he a human being or a freaking cartoon?"
At first Jun ignored her, continuing to spew out syllables, but then a glare came from Veemon and the wannabe musician abruptly closed his stolen mouth.
"I'm... sorry." He muttered.
Quiet returned for a few minutes. Eventually it was once again broken, this time by Davis's own growling stomach.
"Huh, I guess I'm hungry now."
She didn't really feel it. She really didn't feel anything, but it seemed like it ought to happen by now. She glanced outside the cave. The sun was clearly going down. You couldn't see it because the rain was still falling, but it was obviously getting darker anyway, the clouds' shadows outdone by the oncoming night.
"When did we get here anyway?" Davis thought. She was pretty sure they arrived at the TV station early afternoon, and it was summer. "Eh, whatever, it doesn't matter."
Veemon looked back and forth between them, then out into the rain. She grunted.
"I'm going to go out and try to forage." She said to the humans. "Don't worry about me; I have night vision." Turning to Jun she added "You'd better not hit Davis again while I'm gone."
"I.. I won't" Jun whimpered again.
The digimon turned back toward her partner again for approval. With her nod, she picked up her partner's book-bag in her mouth and was off.
Briefly, the silence returned.
"I.. I really am sorry I hit you." Jun eventually said, seemingly calming down. "I... I'm a boy now. I... shouldn't hit girls anymore, especially not ones half my size."
He sighed.
"I… I just wish you hadn't said that… that… thing about Matt. I'm sorry I call you a liar and everything. You… you must have just misunderstood."
Davis resisted the urge to laugh at him again.
"I don't know how to stop you, but I promise I will figure it out. I promise I will figure out how to get my body back, and more than anything, I promise that when I do you will suffer for this! Do you hear me Jun? I swear, when I get my body back you will wish you were never born!"
That was Matt's quote, as close to verbatim as the former boy remembered it. It left little room for misunderstanding. She was about to share it with her brother when she was distracted by a loud beep.
"Wha... what was that?" Jun asked softly, obviously startled again.
It was the sound the D-Terminal made when it received an e-mail. That... didn't make sense. They only people who message her that way were digidestined...
She pulled it out. Sure enough there was an e-mail... from Tai.
"Oh my god."
"Davis, what are you doing?" Jun bawked. She ignored him.
"I... does he not hate me?"
Reading the message itself, it said "Davis, why? Why did you do this? We were friends. Why did you steal my sister's body?"
He was talking to her. That... that was actually a good sign. He even said they were friends! For a glorious moment, she dared to hope.
"Does he still love me?"
The more she thought about it, the more that had to be right. Jun... damn his obsessive soul, maybe he was right after all. Love never lost... maybe not the romantic garbage he obsessed over... but the love between siblings... between real siblings.
"He has to know. He has to know I'm his sister as much as I do."
Tai had loved Kari, he always had, but it in his own way he had loved Davis too, even before the switch. Now... now that Davis had become Kari, how could that love not be greater? It was obvious he treasured the new Kari more than the old. How could he not? He had to see that he and Davis were the perfect match. Her new brother had seen it before Davis even had. He had been the one that convinced her that she was his true sister, that night she joined the soccer team. Surly it had to be true. Surly Tai had to understand.
"How could I have doubted before now?"
For the first time ever, Davis had underestimated him. Looking back, it seemed obvious.
She started typing a message for him. Before long it said:
"Big brother,
It's me… Davis, but I guess you know that now. Thank you so much for reaching out to me like this! I was beginning to think you didn't care about me. Wasn't that silly?
Listen; you asked me why I did this. Honestly, I didn't mean to steal Kari's body at first. I switched with her by accident… but once it happened… I couldn't let it end. I'm sorry I had to do that, but you've seen the results now too. Haven't the last two months been the best ever? I know they were for me, and I know they were for you too. I know you called me the best sister ever. Before we were friends, but now we're so much more. We're brother and sister. You and I both know we're a million times more compatible than you were with Kari or I was with Jun. We were always brothers in spirit. Why shouldn't we be siblings in blood too? I know you loved it as much as I did. We can't let Kari's selfishness get in the way of our sibling bond. He doesn't deserve what I have now, what we have now. You showed me that. You showed me I deserve this so much more!
You'll protect me now; won't you, big brother? I don't know how to handle Jun, but Veemon and I can at least come home to you, can't we? I couldn't bare hiding out in a cave for the rest of my life. You won't tell the others I'm home right? I'm afraid of TK at this point. You won't let him attack me again, will you? I might have to change schools or something to avoid him, but I'm safe with you, aren't I? What should I do? Please, big brother, help me now. I'm scared and I don't know what to do! I love you. I know you love me too, more than you ever did Kari. The bond between us is so much greater than that. We can't let them break it. Please, don't let them come between us. Please, please don't let them steal this body we both know I was meant for. We can still be brother and sister. We still ARE brother and sister. I know you see it that way too. Please, big brother, we have to keep it that way! Please help!"
She sent the message. Looking up for the first time since she started typing, Davis saw her other brother still looking her suspiciously.
"Are you going to tell me what that was now?"
"I... I got a message from Tai. I think he might be willing to help us."
Jun stated at her for several seconds, flabbergasted. When she finally did speak her confusion turned to anger.
"Are you freaking kidding me?"
Of course... of course she didn't get it.
"Tai is my brother." Davis said. "He has to understand. He'll shelter us."
"Tai is not your brother!" Jun shouted back at her. "He's not your sibling at all. I am you disgusting brat! How dare you call him that!?"
He ranted quite a bit more after that, but she did not listen.
"He's a better sibling than you." Davis muttered at one point. That only made the ranting much louder and angrier, not that the former boy listened to it then either. Things might have gotten violent again quickly, but that possibility abruptly vanished with the sound of Veemon's return.
"Hey guys, I found food!"
"Oh, um hello there Veemon!" Jun muttered fearfully. "I... I was just having a friendly conversation with my brother. Nothing bad happened while you were gone, I promise. Thanks so much for the food!"
It was surprising to see such an amazing actor fail so obviously.
"Sure, whatever." The former dragon seemed to notice this, but not to care. "Help yourselves." She opened up the book bag with her mouth and revealed a bunch of roots and berries within. To say they did not look appetizing was an understatement.
"Do I have to eat that?" Davis wondered. "I should probably just wait a little bit and eat dinner at home with big brother... no, that would be rude." After Veemon went through the trouble of finding this stuff in the rain, they pretty much had to eat it.
"Thank you, partner."
As expected the, roots were... not very good. If the best sister ever weren't in such a great mood, she might have been utterly revolted by them. She was about to try some of the berries when when she caught a concerned glance from her brother. The former boy could see a burning question in the former girl's eyes, one he felt he had to ask but was afraid to. She thought for a moment...
"Partner," she asked "do you know if these berries are poisonous?"
"Honestly, I don't" Veemon answered.
"Better just stick to the roots then." Davis thought.
Looking over she saw Jun take a bite of the roots as well, and visibly struggle not to vomit it back up. His disgust was obvious, but when the digimon looked over at him, a phony smile covered his face.
"Thank you so much Veemon! This is delicious."
The white cat sighed. "I know it's gross, you don't have to flatter me." She sighed. "I'm sorry I couldn't find anything better. I tried, I really did, but there is nothing to eat around here! I mean that literally in my case. I'm a cat; I'm a carnivore. I couldn't find any meat apples or even a place to fish! I know the roots aren't your forte, but hey, at least you can eat them and gain sustenance. I can't."
"Oh..." Jun said. "I... I'm sorry."
As far as his sister could tell, that sounded sincere.
"Don't worry about it" Davis said. "Tai will take us in tonight and we can eat real food."
She was expecting her brother to get angry again, but he just sighed. "My poor idiot brother" was clearly on his mind, even if it didn't pass his lips.
"Whatever." the best sister ever thought. She said nothing, silently judging her sibling as he did to her. Looking over at Veemon, she expected to find acknowledgment in her partner... but the look on her face... it was plain the former dragon did not believe her either.
"Are... you sure about that, partner?" She eventually asked.
Davis was about to answer "Of course, I'm sure. I've never been surer of anything!" when another beep came from the D-Terminal.
"Oh, oh gods yes!" She thought. "Perfect timing!"
Instantly forgetting her partner's question, she opened up the e-mail as quickly as she could. She knew it had to be Tai agreeing with her. It had to be him telling her what to do to keep her new body. She had to see it.
"I hate you."
What?
"Don't you dare tell me that you love me. You don't know what love is. We are NOT brother and sister. You stole my sister's body. How can you think a few days playing Smash together can change that? You're disgusting. Come back and give Kari her body back right now. I swear I will hunt you down if you don't. She's the one I need to protect, not you. SHE is my sister. You are my enemy.
Like I said, you'd better give Kari her body back. I don't know what far-flung corner of the digital world you're run to, but it doesn't matter; I will find you. You can't hide forever, not from just me or even just the digidestined, but from our friends all over the digital word! I will make you give that body back by force if I have to, and you and be sorry when I do."
"Wha... what?"
Her legs gave way then, and she was kneeling in the dirt.
"Wha... WHAT!?"
It couldn't be. She read the e-mail over and over again. Sure enough, it kept saying the same horrible thing.
"I... how..."
It had to be a dream. It had to be a horrible nightmare. This email, this cave, this whole terrible day in which she was exposed... that was the only explanation. Yes... that clearly was the only explanation.
"This is fine." She thought. "This is just a dream. In a few minutes I'll wake up and Tai will love me again. Yes, it has to be a dream. How else would you explain the ghost?"
Looking back, she should have realized that the moment she saw that paranormal entity. To a certain extent, she had.
"This can't be happening."
She had said or thought that multiple times. Now she was positive of it. That didn't happen, because it couldn't happen. Ghosts obviously weren't real, and just as obviously, she and Tai would be the each other's perfect siblings forever.
She glanced over at the Jun and Veemon of her dream. They were plainly in shock from what she had just said.
"What does it matter?" Davis said aloud. "They're just figments of my imagination. This is a dream, after all. My real brother and partner are probably doing normal things right now like exploring as a cat or groping their stolen body. Good times."
"Davis," Jun eventually said, "you know this isn't a dream. I hit you. Didn't you feel pain then?"
"You... did."
Now that he mentioned it, her check still kind of hurt where the blow connected.
"Oh.. oh my god, no. No! NO! NO!"
A despair like she had never known overtook her then.
"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"
It wasn't a dream... but it was a nightmare, and worst of all, it was real.
Merely kneeling wasn't enough. She feel face down into the dirt and wept. She wept and cried like she never had before. She wailed and screamed and wept. Since getting that first e-mail she had gone from the bottom of the world back to the top... and now back to the bottom... no, the bottom did not begin to describe it. The bottom of the world was a paradise on top of a mountain now. At least there she didn't know.
Eventually she stopped crying. It wasn't because she stopped being said; that wasn't possible. She just... ran out of tears. How many hours had it been since she drank water? It didn't matter. Unlike food, fresh water would be easy to find...
And of course, just as she thought that, it stopped raining.
She laughed. The former boy laughed and laughed like she never had before. She rolled around in the dirt laughing like a meme come to life. Her brother and partner just looked at her in awe.
Eventually she stopped laughing, the deep despair she had fallen into overtaking the moment of irony. She got up out of the mud.. and just sat in the corner, trying to cry again. She had been right when she said water did not matter. Nothing did.
Ken:
Little did the former boy know, he was not the only one laughing manically.
"Bravo! Bravo! Wonderfully good show!" The Digimon Emperor cheered, clapping his hands in semi-mock delight. "This is the best thing since slave fights!"
Davis, without a ring, was the only one he could not directly manipulate, but in the state he was in, Ken doubted he needed to. Through Jun and Veemon, Davis would be easy to control. Speaking of whom, the ringed minions attempted to reach out to Davis several times during his outburst, but of course, the former leader just ignored them.
Eventually, they gave up and began discussing what to do with each other.
"What do we do?"
It was Jun that asked that of the other, not Veemon. Ken did not need to feel her emotions to know she feared the digimon, but she seemed more afraid for her brother than she was of it.
"I don't know." The digimon replied. "I really don't."
Davis:
By the time they others had begun speaking to eachother, the former gogglehead had calmed down to the point she could at least care about what they were saying.
Her partner's stomach growled. She said "I was going to ask you help me forage. Hopefully we could have found something we could all eat and enjoy, but now... I think one of us needs to stay and watch Davis next time.
That was how much she had fallen. A few hours ago she was about to be restored to being the leader of her group... now... she was a burden to it.
"Below the bottom of the world doesn't do it justice either." She thought. "I'm not in the hole, I am the hole. I'm just absorbing things they need."
It was just like she had done with Kari when she stole his body.
"No!" She screamed at that.. "I didn't steal this body. It's mine! I'm the best sister ever! Tai... knows... that..."
He did indeed. He knew. He knew...
"Dammit! Why doesn't he understand?"
She laughed bitterly.
"Dammit... it really is over. Isn't it?"
It really was. There was only one solution... to both of the problems.
"Let's just give up." She said, shocking the others to attention. "We lost. Let's just give up, give back these bodies and hope to salvage something of our old relationships."
She... soon to be he again, knew Tai would never love his former protégé any more, but maybe he could at least get him not to hate him. Hours ago she would have never dreamed it would come to that... but now that was as good of nightmare as it looked like she could get.
"But why?" She couldn't escape that thought either way. "Why do I have to settle for that? Why doesn't Tai still love me?"
She still could not see how he couldn't understand. Why didn't he know they were both better off this way?
"No!" Jun said flatly. "Love never gives up! We can't give up these bodies! They are our sole mates!"
"They aren't our soul mates!" Davis cried, a new despair coming to him. "They're our victims, and they're going to take a terrible revenge if they have to take these bodies back."
Her brother sighed. "I don't know what's happening between you and Kari, but I know things between Matt and I are perfect! If you want to give up your marriage, whatever, but I'll give up mine the day your crazy 'brother' pulls the ring off my finger and makes me, no sooner."
"Or when Matt does it." Davis thought.
"I'll make you suffer. Do you hear me Jun? I'll make you wish you were never born!"
That line played again in his head. It seemed inevitable now. She had fled with them to the digitial world in part to prevent it... but her brother seemed determined to make it happen anyway. Back then she had felt she had to stop it. She still did in fact, but now she felt she couldn't.
"Dammit Jun!" She thought "What are you going to make us do?"
She looked over at her partner, hopping to find some support, but the look in her eyes... the former leader could not begin to guess what was happening in her head.
Ken:
"Is it really over?" Veemon thought. "I... do I have to go back! Do I really have to be a DemiVeemon again? I know I said I'd be Davis's partner no matter what body he chose, and I really meant it... but now... I love it this body so much... It wasn't this powerful then, not before I got the ring painted. Either way, I've been in it so long... before I only had a taste of how amazing this body was. After consuming so much... how could I possibly give it up? "
"Typical digimon" was Ken's thought. He had not much bothered looking into the minds of his slaves before. Simple programs only produced simple thoughts not worthy of an emperor's time, in this case the Neolithic desire for physical power. "Join the club, kitty."
Stereotypical as it was, it was something of a breath of fresh air. Usually the super majority of the slaves' thoughts involved fear of their new master. That was a bit... how would he describe it? Unpleasant? Disheartening?
"Monotonous" he decided. It was no wonder he was filtering raw emotions now. He could hear his slaves thoughts, but he did not want to feel their feelings. It was a counterproductive distraction.
Speaking into Veemon's mind he said. "No, never! You would sooner die than be that helpless imp again!"
"No, never! I would sooner die than be that helpless imp again!" The monster's thoughts echoed. Then he paused for a bit. "Would I really?"
"He is indeed a smart one for his kind." Ken thought himself. Speaking again he said "No, you're a digimon. What is death to you? Only humans are afraid of death. You just get to be born again in that same new body... that wonderful Gatomon body. Isn't that the best claim you could ever have to it? That's how humans claim their bodies, being reborn in them. Dying would be better than loosing that wonderful body, and of course, nothing would be worse."
"That... that is true." was the monster's next thought, after repeating Ken's words. He then looked at the humans in the cave. "What about them, though?" He asked himself. "Would they... go that far? Davis told me there is no Primary Village for humans... Could I just run off in this body and let them give up in theirs? No... I couldn't. I couldn't abandon Davis like that... never."
Ken was about to say "You'll just have to encourage them to stay like that too," but to his surprise the former dragon thought it on his own.
"I... I can convince them to stay right? Jun... Jun obviously. She's made it abundantly clear she doesn't need to be convinced. Davis though... No, he said he'd never leave me either. If I refuse to leave this body, he has to stay in Kari's to be my partner."
"Partner," It said aloud "I can't go back. I'm sorry, but I can't give up this body... No, I'm not sorry. I deserve to be free. It's only fair that I get to live like this and that Gatomon lives like I used to."
A lot could be extrapolated from that last sentence.
"It seems new new kitty is jealous of the old." Ken realized. He did not know what it meant by being free in it's body, but this gave a new opportunity...
Davis looked like he was about to cry again.
"Dammit both of you! You're not being practical at all!' He whaled. "We don't have any choice but to give up. What else are we going to do? Be starving cavemen here until they decide they love us after all? We literally don't have food!"
"We don't have to be cavemen." Veemon countered. "There are cities and towns all over the digital world. Surely we can find a place in civilization."
"Maybe you can." Davis groaned. "Not me or Jun though. Two humans will stand out in the digital world worse than any sore thumbs. As many contacts as the others have word is going to reach Tai through one of them: through Andromon, or the Gekomon, or Chuumon, or any of the older partner digimon, or who knows how many others! They all practically worship us for saving them before... but more than anyone else they worship him! I... I know that feeling..."
Jun grunted. Ken did not need to read her thoughts to guess why.
Veemon continued without any input. "We can just tell them we need to stay secret to hide from the Digimon Emperor. They know you're a digidestined too"
"No," It was Jun that objected this time. "I agree we should hold out here, but that's not the way to do it. If Tai has all those contacts in the Digital World he could just tell them about some traitor digidestined he needs help rounding up. He wouldn't need to convince them body swapping was real, just that 'Matt' and 'Kari' went rouge." She cringed. "They'll be after us too."
"How would you have us hide then?" the digimon asked.
"I don't know." Was Jun's thought. Ken decided to provide an answer for them.
"What if you hid out with the Digimon Emperor?"
"What if we hid out with the Digimon Emperor?" She thought "Could we do that that... hmm..."
Surprisingly, he did not need to direct her thoughts any further. She decided that was the best path on her own.
"Jun?" Veemon asked again.
"This is going to sound crazy, but, hear me out for a second... what if we hid out with Ken? He's an emperor, isn't he? Surely he has somewhere we can be safe and fed."
There was silence once again in the cave.
"Why do you keep bringing us to him?" Davis asked. "You know he's not going to just let us stay in his base for free. If I were him I'd expect us to work for him. He's going to make us to fight the other digidestined."
"You're expecting them to come and retake these bodies by force, aren't you?" his sister replied. "The way I see it we have a common enemy, and you know what they say about your enemy's enemy."
"That demon can never be our friend." Veemon said. "He enslaves digimon. Come on Jun, I know you know that's heinous by now."
"Is it?" Ken spoke into his mind. "If Gatomon does not deserve to be free, does any digimon? Let them all know what it's like to lose their freedom before you have to lose yours."
Unlike with Jun, the emperor had no qualms dominating the digimon completely, and he would if need be. Still, why not play this game with it while he did the same with her? He could use the practice, and a willing minion would prove much more reliable than one whose loyalty could be destroyed with their dark ring. As long as his new minions did not actively reject the thoughts he input this way, they would linger in their minds even if the rings were removed, as if they were their own. And when it played so well into what they already wanted, how could they reject them? How could they not accept these thoughts of their own accord? How could they ever even guess they weren't their thoughts to begin with?
"Wha... that..."
Admittedly, that input was a stretch. It was plain the digimon did not know how to respond to having that thought. It didn't matter. The lovesick Motomiya already had another counterpoint in mind.
"I'm not saying we work for him." Jun countered. "Not, truly. We've been double agents already, why not just drop the 'double' part and spy on Ken directly? You can still contact Tai like you did just now. Who knows what intelligence we can gain from the emperor first hand!?"
All Ken could do was laugh maniacally. It wasn't like he hadn't already seen something like that coming.
"Good luck with that, idiots!" He said aloud. "Good luck defying me when your minds are my toys."
With his window into their minds they could hide nothing they did from him, and with his input therein, he doubted they would even want to much longer.
Jun went on "We can help them defeat the emperor, and surely by then, they will have come around."
The others in the cave clearly did not know what to make of that idea.
"Isn't it what you wanted?" She went on. "You wanted to salvage your relationship with... Tai and the others. This is the best way to that!"
Davis:
"Is that possible?" She asked herself. "Could I ever salvage what I had with Tai?"
"Do you really think you can win them over?" She asked aloud. "You really think that they'll forgive us by the time we defeat the emperor?"
"How could they not?" He answered. "How could the others not understand when our soulmates finally come around to us?"
That again...
"Gods does he ever stop!?"
Still... if there was a way... this had to be it.
"Could things with Tai ever be like they were before?"
Either way it didn't seem likely... and yet, the more she thought about it, the more realized she had to try. How... how could she do anything else?
"There was never any going back." She realized. "I burned that bridge when I told Kari I wasn't giving him back this body... no... The bridge has been burnt since that first night I lied to him about not knowing how we switched. I go forward... or I fall over the cliff."
It still did not seem like it would work, but it was the only option. If she could do it...
And a part of her still said it wasn't unlikely.
"He has to understand eventually." It said. "Tai has to realize at some point you are his best sister ever. Kari will never love you like Jun thinks he will, nor will Matt love him... but how could Tai NOT love you?"
"Because he straight up told me he hated me." Was the obvious answer... and yet, somehow she couldn't bring herself to believe it.
"Doesn't he have to come around?" Davis asked herself. Of course, she then asked "Isn't that also what Jun is saying about Matt?"
"Jun is crazy. You aren't." Was the answer.
It didn't matter. Davis eventually decided. Even if she couldn't get Tai to acknowledge her as his sister, she had to at least not be his enemy anymore. Next to the former, that latter seemed so much more provable. It had to be what she strode for.
"And maybe Jun will be right afterall."
There was only one other hurdle.
"What about, Veemon?" She said. "What if Ken tries to enslave my partner? I really will give up this long shot long before I let that happen. "
Looking over at the digimon, that possibility had came to her mind. It was not one she could accept. Fortunately, it seemed the digimon already had...
Ken:
"The emperor doesn't enslave every digimon." Ken said in the Veemon's mind. "He lets Wormmon walk round without a dark ring. If he thinks you're willing to work for him, he'll do the same for you."
It was true... well, technically it wasn't but this much didn't count. The digimon could always reject his input, like any other idea it thought it had, not that he believed it would.
Davis:
"I don't think he will." Veemon said. "We've seen him with that Wormmon of his and I've never seen a dark ring or a dark spiral on him."
Thinking back, the former leader couldn't think of that Wormmon wearing a dark ring either.
"I know it's a risk," the former dragon continued "but, it's a risk we're going to have to take. I don't see a better option, and if the only alternative is going back to being a DemiVeemon..." she shook a bit as she said that word "If I'm going to lose me freedom either way, I want to lose it going out swinging. I have to try something to keep it."
That was that then. The last hurdle was crossed. Her partner agreed. There was nothing else left to discuss.
"Alright then." Davis said. "Let's go hide out with the Digimon Emperor."
Ken:
The emperor's laugh then was the biggest and deepest he had had all day... and that was saying something.
"This couldn't possibly have gone any better!" He said.
His former enemies were officially on his side.
"This calls for a celebration! A party even!" He said to himself "And I know just the party to combine it with! It's finally time for an emperor to get his new home!"
Ken had wanted to leave his home on Earth ever since he discovered the Digital World. It was obvious, even before then, that his parents' intellect was far inferior to his own. Having to obey them was torturous when it was clearly he who should be the one giving orders. Now it would be, with his new housemates.
Yes, keeping contact with his new minions in the real world had been the only reason he had enduring staying with his idiotic parents. Now that the switched ones were coming to live with him in this world, that reason was gone. It was time to say goodbye.
"I'm no one's child anymore! I am the Digimon Emperor!"
He began typing a note, that last of his words the insects were ever to have of him.
"Goodbye to all of you. Your trivial lives will plague me no longer. My destiny awaits."