Crossroads…
Author's Note:
Here it is! The first chapter. I just decided that I shouldn't submit my character descriptions until I wrote at least one chapter, so here it is! Hope you like it, and please review. I've worked my brain really hard on this one and I think I finally have an idea that no one else has thought of yet. Also, this section is just leading up to the present, so there really isn't any dialogue. It's more of a narrative by Suzuki than anything else. It's a very important chapter though, since it pretty much explains the world setting and sets up the current situation.
Disclaimer:
I don't own Digimon, dang it, so don't even think about soaking money out of me! I don't have any anyway. I do own Suzuki, Sato and Arai though, so please don't take them without my permission. Also, all the other new characters that will pop up sooner or later are also mine. MINE! *runs off laughing evilly*
Questions? Mail me at intellect_of_strata@hotmail.com.
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The year is 2080 and my name is Hokkaido Suzuki, but everyone these days calls me Ice. I'm 17 years old and I've never truly known what the world was like before the Great Conversion. I know you must be saying, "What the hell is the Great Conversion?" Well, it's quite complex, but I guess I better start with the beginning…
This all started in 2004, after the great evils had been purged. The darkness had been stopped by millions of lights in the sky…or so I heard. Seems completely inconceivable that a bunch of lights destroyed all the evil there was in the worlds. Seems too innocent and childish if you ask me. Anyway, it appeared to have worked. Peace among the nations of the world was in sight and every human on Earth savored life and lived it to its fullest. Everyone was so happy…of course, they didn't think about how this peace could never last forever. There would always be something to destroy it because wherever there is great light, there will always be great darkness. Always a drawback for an act of kindness. That's just how everything works. But, this situation seems to go against the neutrality law, since there was no great evil to purge the peace. Well, it depends on your definition of the word "evil". I'm getting off-track.
Of course, everyone remembers the legend of both sets of Chosen children who saved the world from malignant domination, well…at least they used to remember… Anyway, during their adventures, they constantly used portals that connected the two worlds together. That meant that there was a definite separation between them. After the first set of Chosen defeated the first great evil, all the portals between the mortal and digital realms were closed and those holes healed. For four years, no evil pierced the barrier, but that was soon to end. That's when the Kaiser appeared, ripping a new hole in the line between real and digital. This void was different though. Instead of being ripped apart by a force that misunderstood the powers of this barrier, it had been gradually prodded open and was eventually told to drop all lines of defense, causing a small gap to become larger and larger over a period of time.
This new void was too large to heal immediately, therefore causing the neutralizing forces of the Digital World to go completely into overload. This left the gap to fend for itself in a way. At times, it could close itself with a temporary barrier, but this barrier was constantly broken by the second set of Chosen children, who had the ability to break through the line at any point they wished. They had no clue what harm they were causing themselves and others by constantly opening and closing the portals.
By the time the destruction of the second, and last, evil occurred, the permanent damage had been done. The barrier that had been keeping the two worlds separate had been tattered and torn and it was only a matter of time before the wall fell. It did. That's when the rebirth of life began in each world. Color and light returned, but no one seemed to notice that the access to the Digital World was now too easily accomplished. That everything seemed to be too happily made. I'm surprised that Digital World research team didn't notice the gap. Maybe they didn't know there was a barrier there in the first place since it had been destroyed by the time they even started researching it.
By this time, every person had a digimon partner. Little did they know that this was the first step in the Great Conversion. Within a few years, the Digital World was not able to keep itself separated from the mortal one, therefore causing it to merge. No one noticed it, but subtle changes started to occur in the humans and digimon. They became closer to each other, but it was not a natural closeness. It was like they were holding each other's souls within their hands and if one were to walk away, the other's soul would be lost forever. In a sense, that's what happened.
One day, some scientists, whose names I have forgotten by now, decided to test a theory that one of them had conjured up the other day. The theory was that digimon and humans had formed an empathic bond that could never be separated. It was tested…and the result was positive. They swore to keep these results a secret, but somehow, someone from the outside received this information and thought it would be a great idea to spread it to the media. Widespread panic was the result. People went as far as to quit work and look after their digimon 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. That's when the period of the Stagnation occurred. Almost all business stopped and it was a time of economic recession. The only reason that some trade kept going was because a few thousand people decided that their work was more important than keeping their empathic partner safe from all harm.
It was these people that somehow broke the bonds with their digimon. While the others stayed at home and made sure to give every possible comfort to their partner while making their bond even stronger, these people pulled away and made sure that not everything in the world came to a standstill. In my opinion, they are the true heroes. They resisted their own feelings and instincts, which is almost impossible for anyone to do. These people were later devastated to find that their digimon had disappeared without a trace and without even a good-bye. After moving through their own grief, they started the period of recovery, where trade and business came back together. But, as people slowly returned to the workplace, the "depression workers", as they were later called, noticed that their comrades had changed. They no longer spoke and their eyes had changed to a dull gray. They did their work as they were supposed to, but the workrooms of major offices were always left in an unearthly silence in the early days of the end of the Stagnation.
For a while, the depression workers were able to work in peace and converse among themselves, but after the first year or so, that began to change. The "Rightful Genesis", as they soon called themselves, initialized prejudiced laws that were aimed at harming the depression workers. Some fled the large cities for the country when this began, but many did not have that choice. So, they stayed and endured the laws. At first, the prejudice wasn't all that bad, but it soon began to escalate. After a year or so, I can't remember exactly, riots broke out among the Rightful Genesis. Many were unprovoked, but their anger towards the Deps, a current slang term for the Depression Workers, remained the same. The Deps were considered as criminals for their "crimes" (neglection, ignorance and all other kinds of ridiculous accusations), and many were mauled during the riots. The RGs seemed to believe that we were the cause of the economic recession and that we were the reason that they had to work so hard to bring the economy back together. It's like their minds had been completely erased and re-written like an old computer program…hmm…I'll take that into note. Anyway, that's when the lucky few that were left fled the cities. I think that the figure at that time was around 7,000. That's all that escaped death. Quite a sad figure in my opinion.
After two years in hiding, some people wanted to figure out what had happened to make their friends and families attack them with such maliciousness. Many cowered away from the prospect of sneaking back into the heavily guarded cities, but five brave souls volunteered to go back. Of course, my parents were the first to volunteer. I guess they just liked to be leaders in everything, even in foolish missions such as this one. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that I was born three months after my parents initially fled the cities. I was left in the care of one of their close friends and the team left. Of course, I was constantly looked at strangely because of the fact that I could never walk normally. Most of the time, I just sat and tinkered with old machinery parts, not thinking about how fast the time passed.
Several weeks went by and pretty much everyone in the small gathering believed that my parents and their crew had been caught and were killed by the RGs. Still, no one had the courage to go and see for themselves what had truly happened to them. I would have gone to look for them myself, but I was still too young to understand where they had even gone. To catch up a little on myself, I had grown into quite a little mechanic in those few weeks. I had been called a freak a couple of times by some of the group members because of this, but I didn't mind since I didn't know what the term meant. Also, the other two children of the group thought it was strange that I wouldn't get up and play with them. So, one of them thought it would be fun to force me up onto my feet. That was a bad idea. I collapsed once the boy let go and I hit my head on the floor. Thankfully, no damage was done, but I certainly had a bit of fun watching the child get yelled at. Anyway, to get out of the childhood stories, I guess I should move on to what happened next.
About a week after the head-hitting incident, my parents returned with only one other member of the team. The families of that pair were devastated to hear that their loved ones had been captured and killed within the first week of the mission. The people never did forgive my parents for letting the RGs get away with such a hideous crime. They felt that as the unofficial leaders of the team, they should have protected the others with their lives. Their explanation was completely different, and personally, more correct. Why should they have risked their lives for a couple of fools who felt they could take on an entire army of RGs? I heard about the whole thing a few years later from my father.
He said that once they had entered Nagasaki, Naomi and Kai, the two that had perished, had become angered about how their precious city had been conquered by a bunch of "zombies", as they put it. My mother constantly tried to get through to them about how they couldn't help themselves and that they were here to find the reason that this had all taken place. They refused to listen each time. As far as they were concerned, the minute everyone had "given up" to their own fear, they were no longer worthy of being human beings. My father, knowing this would be trouble if it went too far, had to silence them was a couple sleeping herbs he picked up along the way.
The next few days were quite peaceful. Yes, there were a few close calls with the RG Feds, but they were never caught. Soon, the sleeping weed wore off and, unfortunately, during the night when the others were sleeping. Naomi and Kai decided that they should go off on their own, but not without leaving a note telling the others where they had gone. Just another sign of their never-ending foolish pride in themselves. When my parents and Jade, the other member, awoke, they found that note, which read:
Dear O' Fearless Leaders,
Fearless? Ha! That's a joke. How are we ever able to accomplish anything if we hide here while you subdue us with sleeping plants? We refuse to take this treatment anymore and I feel that you shouldn't take this either, Jade. You're much better than that. We're going to find the answers ourselves and don't you dare try to follow us. We'll successfully complete this mission and prove that we can do anything, INCLUDING taking on the entire RG army if we have to. So, be reasonable and go home now, cowards.
~Naomi and Kai
My parents could care less about the two. They had always been the troublemakers of the group and my parents had been reluctant to take them in the first place and they had had the feeling that something like this would occur. So, they pressed on, but with rumors of the capture and scheduled execution of two Deps spreading around the RG Feds, the going became extremely tough. Security and defense became much more alert and active than it was when they had entered the city, therefore making it nearly impossible for them to hook up to the necessary system files. (Yes, in the main government computer, there were encrypted files of what effects the mind had taken during the Stagnation period. They were made by the Deps and placed in the system before the riots officially began.) They had no other choice but to come back empty handed.
I'm positive that my father felt extremely guilty for leaving Naomi and Kai to die, but I feel he did the right thing. He couldn't endanger three lives in the place of two, but no one else seemed to understand that. I guess it's just that they themselves were never placed in that type of situation. Then, they'd understand. Anyway, my father and mother never really fought back against the constant taunting that the tiny community threw at them. I guess they felt that there was no point in explaining something that no one else would ever completely comprehend. It's just sad how people think that every single life is important enough to risk so many others in order to save it, but I guess I'm just living up to my nickname by that statement. Not everyone can be so cold to saving a life as I can be. Emotions are such hindrances anyway. Always flying off the handle at the least opportune moment, causing chaos and improper conduct.
Anyway, after several years, the people had forgotten about the entire incident, but by that time, we were total outcasts. Not that it mattered all that much. Being an outcast meant that you could do pretty much anything and go unnoticed. As I grew older, my parents found the resources on the outskirts of Nagasaki to build a wheelchair for me. Of course, I objected whole-heartedly, but I also thought that I could walk on my own. I was only eight years old, after all. That's when we went back to the city…and I'll never forget that day.
I was being my little annoying self that day and I was upset that my mother and father forced me to go in the wheelchair. I dearly hated that thing. It felt so inhibiting against a child of my energy level, but I had to deal with it. They said that they'd push me around in there since they didn't have time to wait for me. Quite blunt, weren't they? I was quite angry and unresponsive until we reached the city. For someone who had never seen anything like it before, I was impressed. All the tall buildings and the lights were so dazzling that I just wanted to rush in, but my parents held me back. They said it was dangerous and that I can't just go hustling in. I didn't question what they said, but I didn't understand why such a beautiful place was so dangerous.
I soon found out why, but I found out the hard way. When my parents told me to wait inside an abandoned building until they got back from doing something or other, I didn't know at the time that they were still looking for the Stagnation information, I decided that I wanted to have some fun. After all, they never told me how dangerous this place was. They just said "dangerous". So, I left and decided to wheel myself around the streets for a while, just to have the thrill of seeing how fast I could go in my newly made chair. Well, in the end, you could probably already tell that led to disaster.
I found a nice large hill to test my skills on after about ten minutes of wheeling around in circles. I was exhausted and I thought it would be a good idea to just coast my way back to my hiding place. So, I pushed myself over the event horizon and slowly began to speed up. Before I knew it, I was going way to fast for my own safety. Screaming all the way down, I acted as a siren to all of the nearby RGs that told them that Deps were within Nagasaki again. They had become more militarized over the past few years, so their response was quick and efficient. Once I reached the bottom, I found myself face to face with an entire assemblage of RG Feds with no defense line of my own.
Thankfully, my parents were close enough to hear my shouts of fear and came to rescue me. We ran and ran for what seemed like days. Not that I got all that tired since I was being pushed from behind, but once we were far enough outside the city limits, my mother and father practically collapsed onto the wet grass. Aside from their heavy breathing, there wasn't a sound in the air. It was quite surprising since there's almost always some type of animals roaming around the area. I just sat and stared off into the distance for a while until spotted our home. It was just a small speck, but it was still visible. Before my parents could know what was happening, I was off in a rush to get back to my home and I felt that I'd probably never go out again. That's when it happened.
Because of my foolishness and childish actions, my home, my entire old life was destroyed in one fatal blow. I had led the RGs right to our home. Well, not the RGs themselves, but rather their cameras and mechanical bombers, but it was all the same. A few explosions and there was nothing left. I was close enough to be knocked from my chair and I cried out as I watched everything I had known burn to the ground. I knew it was my fault. All those people were dead because of me. Upon hearing the explosion, my parents rushed up to me and asked if I was all right. I never responded. I was too busy thinking about where I was going to sleep and what I was going to eat now that everything was ashes. I hoped that at least someone made it out.
My hopes were in vain though. When the flames subsided, we treaded among the remains of our home, only to find that everything and everyone had been completely destroyed. Being the least emotionally strong out of us three, my father fell to his knees and started sobbing into the ashes. I remember his exact words. One of the few details that I remember of that day, but not that they were anything worth repeating. He just felt that he was responsible for the deaths of everyone. First Naomi and Kai, now everyone else. I guess all those years of taunts and untrue rumors got to his head. My mother, being more logical, said that we couldn't stay here and mope over the losses of our home and friends, if you could call them that. The RG Feds would have probably shown up at any second checking for survivors of the explosions and if they found any, it would be instantaneous death.
She was finally able to drag him out of the ashes after a few moments of coaxing and prodding, which was a good thing because the RG Feds could be seen in the distance. My mother took a hold of my father and my chair and began to run as fast as we could. The only other place we could go was inside Nagasaki. With part of the troops outside the limits, it was much simpler to sneak into the city than it was before. We also had more time to find a shelter among the several abandoned complexes that littered the area, which is exactly what we did. I watched in earnest as they built an entire computer network and hooked it up to the main system without setting off a single trigger. That's how I was able to build my system. Being a quick learner does have its good points, but I was never able to express myself well from that point on. I guess it's better this way.
Anyway, that's how we lived for several years. Sitting, eating, sleeping, watching the system and waiting. Waiting for what, I don't know, but I do know that we stayed in hiding for a long time. Six years to be precise. By that time, I was old enough to understand the reality of our situation. Yet, I still didn't know where my parents went every night. They refused to tell me and I could never follow them without being caught. Damned cane made too much noise. So, I sat awake at night and watched each of the hookups. Nothing interesting ever happened. I mean, you would think that for a militarized society that there would be some type of assemblies every once in a while. The one thing that did interest me were the mysterious animals that always seemed to pass by unnoticed by anyone. I could never catch a full glimpse at them, but they're probably not all that important to anything.
Then, one day, they never came back. I waited….and waited…and waited some more, but no sign of them ever turned up. I went to look for them, but it was like they had suddenly vanished from the face of the Earth. I knew that the RG Feds captured them, but I wanted to know when and how. My parents were the best evasive technicians I had ever known and the clumsy Nagasaki forces couldn't have captured them that easily. That's what I want to find out for myself. That's been my mission for the past two years and I have the means to do it. It has been a struggle though.
I roamed the city for a couple of days, searching for my parents and hiding from the RGs. I found the search to be futile and decided to return to my parents' base, only to find that it had been completely destroyed. The entire system had been smashed to pieces and the one picture that I had of my parents had its frame broken in half. My immediate reaction was one of revenge, but that soon faded after I began to build my own new base. It's more advanced than the pervious one though. It had to be since security had been stepped up once again. That base is still in operation today, which leads up to present time. Right now, everything is still the same. No action, no riots, just pure quiet. It's really amazing to walk deserted city streets that were once bustling with action. I just wonder everyday if there's anyone else out there like me, or was everything of the past generation of people destroyed along with my home. I doubt that. There are so many people in the world that there have to be other groups of humans like me.
I just need them here…
To be continued…
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Okay people. That's the prologue, yes prologue, for you. This thing was too short to be considered a chapter. It's also just setting up the plot and everything, so I consider it to be a prologue. Anyway, PLEASE REVIEW!!! I can't emphasize this more! I have ten million fics to work on and reviews help me along on these things. Also, my muse is getting really ticked at me…
Mysterious muse: You bet I'm ticked! I've been working non-stop for who knows how long! Then, you have the gall to not finish your other fics before starting a new one! *pants heavily*
SC: ………Ummm….whatever you say…
Mysterious muse: Uh huh. You're not the one doing the work around here. What am I? A hamster in the giant hamster wheel of your mind?
SC: So…I have a hamster wheel for a mind now…whatever. *walks off*
Mysterious muse: Fine! I'm ditching this place. Maybe Muse_Jobs.com has something that pays better. *pulls up his computer*