Digimon: Digital Monsters
Mirror, Mirror—Part XI
By 7 of 11
"What are you doing here, Gennai?" Alt-Yamato's hands never left the hilt of his sword, hanging at his belt.
Gennai chuckled, a wheezing sound. The old man looked even older now, almost 30 years after the Digidestined had seen him last. "I thought I just told you. I'm here to congratulate you, for killing Taichi." Malevolence crept into his tone, like none of them had ever heard before. He smiled. "Thanks to you, I can now invade your world and take it over much more easily."
Taichi couldn't take it anymore. "We beat Alt-Hikari, Alt-Jyou, and Alt-Sora, and then we get captured by you guys, and have to escape! So then we need to travel back in time, and fight everyone ALL OVER AGAIN! That should have been the end, but no, we had to come here to beat my counterpart. And after we kill him, you show up! I'm sick and tired of this!" He stepped forward, WarGreymon right beside him. "It's time to finish this once and for all! WarGreymon, get him!"
On Taichi's right, Yamato clenched his fist. "MetalGarurumon, you're up too!"
Alt-Yamato stuck his sword into a crack in the concrete roof of the tower. "IronGarurumon, take him out!"
The trio of Mega Digimon flew into the air in a three-pronged pincer attack. "TERRA FORCE!" WarGreymon bellowed, hoisting a huge ball of fire into the air, and hurling it at the old man.
"Lightning Slash!" IronGarurumon smacked his bladed tail against the ground, and sparks jumped at Gennai, adding to the power of the Terra Force.
Opposite of the other two Digimon, MetalGarurumon launched his own attack. Rearing back his head, light burst from his mouth. "Ice Wolf Claw!" He bellowed, spitting shards of frost at Gennai.
The three attacks came at Gennai from three sides, each looking more deadly than the next. He smirked and raised his hands. There was a flash of light around him—and then the attacks hit, but they did nothing. He stood there, an egg-shaped bubble protecting him from the tempest of flame, ice, and electricity. When the attacks had spent their energy and fizzled out, Gennai put his arms down again. "You can't beat me…learn that!"
He stroked his beard with his hand, in thought. "However…" he said. "Your Digimon are quite powerful…so I think I must get rid of them." He pointed at IronGarurumon—green light flickered, there was a thunderclap—and the Digimon was gone. Next, he turned his attention to the other Digimon. Lazily, he pointed again—the thunderclap much louder this time—and they had vanished.
"Lillymon!" cried Mimi.
Jyou blinked twice as if he was not sure what he was seeing. "Zudomon…" he whispered.
Masayoshi collapsed, huddling his knees to his chest. "I…never got to say goodbye…"
"What did you do to them!" Takeru shouted at Gennai.
The yellow-clad man held up his hands in a gesture of dismissal. "If you believe I killed them, you are wrong…I merely sent them back to the Digital World, from which they came. I don't like killing when I don't have to."
Fire welled up in Alt-Yamato's eyes. "BULLSHIT!" He yelled. "I remember now, when Taichi used to sneak off in the Digiworld at night…we all thought he needed to be by himself. But you were really meeting with him, telling him what to do, weren't you! You told him to kill all of the evil Digimon…because they were standing in your way! And then when we got back here, you were the one who ordered us to kill everyone who opposed our rule. You say you don't like killing if you don't have a reason? Well here's your reason!" He flipped the one-fingered salute at Gennai. "Now kill me!"
Yamato turned to his counterpart, concern on his face. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he hissed.
Ignoring Yamato, Alt-Yamato tore open his shirt, exposing his chest. He plucked the sword from the ground and tossed it at Gennai's feet. Pointing to his heart, he glared at the other man. "Right here, Gennai. One slice right here, and its all over." Alt-Yamato said softly.
Looking with disdain at the sword at his feet, Gennai gave it a kick and it slid back to the Digidestined. "I don't need to bother with that to kill you…" he sneered. He snapped his fingers twice, and the ground beneath them began to rumble.
"What's happening?" Kana asked, fear tainting the girl's melodic voice.
Alt-Yamato stood his ground. "Do you remember when I told you what happened to those people who had their souls ripped out of them?" He said, not moving at all.
"You don't mean…" Hikari dashed over to the side of the building and peered down. What she saw chilled her to her bones. There was a mass of brown steadily scaling the sides of the citadel, and then she heard a faint howling, like a predator seeking prey. The brown grew even higher, and she could begin to make out individual bodies. "Zombies…" she whispered.
Koushiro, also looking over the edge, did some mental calculations. "We have less than two minutes before they're here…" his face was sickly white. He began to speak to himself, holding his wife's hand. "Don't worry, Mata…we'll make it in time…and get you to a hospital."
Gennai smiled, knowing that he had the battle won already. "They won't attack me, Yamato. And you know that they won't attack you if you join me." A look of pure anticipation crossed his wizened features. "Take your place at my side, and you will be spared, and you will reap the benefits once we invade their world! Join me, and we will conquer!" In his madness, flecks of spittle flew from his mouth and landed in his beard.
"He's insane, don't listen to him, Alt-Yamato…" Sora said quickly, but apparently the offer had not touched the blonde man, who stood, in deep thought.
And then Alt-Yamato picked his sword up from the ground, holstered it, and walked over to Gennai—and knelt at his feet.
~~~
Jyou was dimly aware of his mouth hanging open, but didn't bother to correct it. All he could see, all the others could see, was Alt-Yamato kneeling to Gennai. The other man spoke, penetrating the howl of the zombies growing ever closer. "I give you my answer, Gennai." And he stood, and turned. There was something in his hand, and Jyou recognized it from his military training, as he pointed it at the Digidestined. A bomb.
The thought that had been trying to penetrate Jyou's mental haze finally succeeded, and flickered through his mind. Alt-Yamato is a traitor…His mind raced, and he calculated that the only chance they would have is if Alt-Yamato was disarmed. By pure reflex, Jyou leapt into action, sprinting at Alt-Yamato. Through his adrenaline rush, everything seemed slow motion. He was 15 steps away from Alt-Yamato…13 steps…11 steps… 10…….9…….8 steps… And then he saw what was in Alt-Yamato's other hand as the shorter man continued his turn.
It looked like a Digivice, but it was flatter, and more round. There were also four spikelike protrusions from the bulge in the middle. It was the dimensional transporter.
"My answer is…HELL NO!" Alt-Yamato flicked a switch on the transporter, and the brightest light Jyou had ever seen burst from the center. It narrowed into a column that washed over all of the Digidestined, who were shielding their eyes from the energy. And even though Jyou's mind and body told him he was still running forward, he felt the unmistakable sensation of being tossed backwards. Everything around him seemed blurred, as if it was moving in fast-forward. He felt as if he weighed light as a feather. And then, the world began moving past him so fast, he saw almost nothing.
It was then that the bomb went off. Rivaling the intensity of the transporter light, brilliant red-gold flames exploded into the air, and the gigantic tower that Alt-Taichi had made his command center split in half, with the top falling down to the streets below. Even amidst the ringing in his ears from the blast, he could still hear the thunder as entire blocks of the alternate universe's Odaiba were wiped out in milliseconds.
Everything swirled together in white light…and he found himself placed onto a bed…the distinctive smell of a hospital wafted across his face. He heard a voice. "A hiker found all twelve of them unconscious on a hill above Odaiba. One of them was in critical condition—she's in the OR now—although all the rest of them seemed to be in pretty fair shape."
And another voice answered. "I wonder what they were doing to end up like this?"
"Who knows? I wonder if they'll remember when they wake up." The first voice again.
Unbidden, a stray thought flew through Jyou's mind. We'll remember all right…but it's not as if they'll ever believe us…
THE END…or is it? (Epilogue coming)
A/N: What did you guys think? PLEAAAAASE review! Oh yes, there WILL be an epilogue shortly, look for it!