Digital Demons III - Part 1
by Nopporn Wongrassamee
Summary - A Digimon Tamers/Jackie Chan Adventures/
Gatekeepers Crossover.
Disclaimer - None of these characters are mine, nor am I
making a profit here.
"They ran away," Ruriko said thoughtfully. "They've never done
that before."
"Before what?" Jackie asked, a little puzzled. "I seem to recall
them running away at that first battle."
After the Invader attack on them at the airport, the whole party
had returned to Section 13. They had even managed to avoid
the news crews, a feat in itself in America. Ruriko and Jackie were
in the visitor's lounge watching the news report on TV.
"When I was young, Mr. Chan, the Invaders would just keep
attacking until we destroyed them," Ruriko explained.
"Oh, you can call me Jackie," Jackie told her.
"Thank you...Jackie," Ruriko said, flashing him a smile. "Anyway,
I've never known them to hit and run before."
"There was yesterday," Jackie pointed out.
"Well, yes," Ruriko agreed. "but it was pretty obvious that they
were after the Talismans."
"Hello, people," Captain Black said tiredly. He plopped down on
an old couch and asked disgustedly, "If I handed one of you my
gun, would you shoot me? Please?"
"Captain? What's wrong?" Ruriko inquired concerned.
"My people have finally discovered how the Invaders bypassed
the monitors," Black replied miserably. "It was so bloody simple!"
"Okay, I'll bite," Jackie said. "How'd they do it?"
"There's a folder in the computer where all the threat profiles are
kept," Black began. "When the monitors detect a signal, it compares the signal to the profiles in that folder and a folder for
a natural and human made signals. If there's a match in the
threat folder, an alarm is sounded. Well, someone went and
moved the Invader's profile from the threat to the non-threat
folder."
"How'd they do that?" Ruriko asked, frowning. "Don't you have
security firewalls in place?"
"Yes, but only for anyone trying to access the system from outside
Section 13," Black told her. "On the inside, anyone with access to
one of the monitor's teminals can access both folders. If you
know where to look, moving the right files is as simple as
dragging and clicking a mouse. This means that someone in
Section 13 is an Invader agent. But then, we already knew that
after we were raided."
"That's awful," Ruriko murmured sympathetically.
"Um, could you go over that again?" Jackie asked hesitantly. At
the other two's stares, he added. "I don't know computers very
well. I'm an archaeologist, not an engineer."
***
"Well, that was... embarassing," the Attache commented after
they recieved the after action report.
"YES!" the Zealot thundered. "They should have pressed the
attack at all costs! Had they been willing to sacrifice themselves
they would have been VICTORIOUS!"
"Just between you and me," the Lawyer whispered to the Spy,
leaning over so only they could hear, "I think he's been hanging
around the Middle East too long."
"I heard that!" the Zealot interjected, glaring at them.
"Nevertheless," the Soldier said shortly, "pressing the attack
would have been pointless. If the attack had been pressed, the
only result would have been a waste of soldiers for no gain."
"I agree," the Accountant weighed in. "Let humans expend
themselves in pointless suicide attacks. We save our strength
for when it will be the most use."
"But in the days of our Masters..." the Zealot began.
"Our old Masters are gone," the Spy snapped, tired of this old
argument, "banished from the world by the human Shun Ukiya.
Live with it, already. I for one like us making our own decisions
for ourselves."
"Yes, making our own decisions," the Technician said slowly. He
turned to the Spy. "I want to know what gave you the right to
destroy one of our own without consulting the rest of us."
"Yes, there are certain procedures that should be followed," the
Lawyer added thoughtfully.
"That idiot broke cover," the Spy said shortly. "He revealed our
presence for all the world to see. He got many of our own killed.
He even failed in what he set out to do. If I had let him go, he
would have caused another fiasco."
"I don't know," the Soldier mused aloud. "Unlike you, I don't
worship at the altar of secrecy. Now that the human governments
know we still exist, we are free to take more... direct action."
"You mean like this morning's attack?" the Spy said sarcastically.
***
"Well, one good thing is that Mr. Yamaki has his superheroes,"
Captain Black mused. "Pity they're all so young. I hope they'll
suffice in the world defending department."
"They seemed to have done fine so far," Ruriko said neutrally,
unsure if she ought to be included on Yamaki's "team".
"I hope you don't consider Jade as part of this team," Jackie
interjected. "She's too..."
"Jackie, don't say that she's too young," Black interupted. "Jade's
the same age as the others."
"Um..." Jackie mumbled as he searched for other arguments. "It's
just that this is all too dangerous."
"Okay, now I think you're selling Jade too short," Ruriko added.
"What I mean is that Jade has no powers," Jackie explained.
"Without the Talismans, I'm not sure she can keep up with the
other kids."
***
"Ow!"
"Geez, Henry," Jade replied, leaning over and looking down at
her sparring partner. He was laid flat out on the mat. "I would've
thought that your sensei would have taught you how to fall as
lesson one."
"He did," Henry groaned, holding up a hand. "But he doesn't
usually flip me over his shoulder."
Grasping the extended hand, Jade hauled Henry to his feet. "So
you wanna quit?" Jade asked.
"No way," Henry snorted. "I'm going to put you on your back if it's
the last thing I do."
The kids and their Digimon had moved into Section 13's gym.
Actually, Jade had taken up Henry's offer to spar and led him to
the gym. The others had tagged along for lack of anything better
to do. A soft mat covering the floor took up most of the space,
set there so that Agents could practice their hand to hand.
Rika watched as Henry and Jade exchanged another flurry of
blows, followed quickly by Henry hitting the mat again. He got
up again for another round.
"Y'know, I never figured Henry as the macho type," Rika remarked
to no one in particular.
"I guess you never know about some people," Jeri replied, looking
up from watching Takato sketch. Since returning from the airport,
he had appropriated some printer paper, color pens, and pencils.
Takato had been sketching furiously away ever since. Guilmon
also looked on, interested.
"Ooh, that's gotta hurt," Terriermon commented as his partner
was floored yet again. "You need help, Henry?"
"No!" his partner croaked.
"Okay," Terriermon said cheerfully as Henry got to his feet again,
"but if you're waiting to digivolve, I don't think it's working."
"Oh, har har," Henry said flatly.
"Is that fun?" Calumon asked. "'cause if it is, you humans are
weirder than I thought. That looks like it hurts."
"Yeah, you look like you need a break Henry," Jade added.
"One more time," Henry gritted out, assuming a ready stance.
"Whatever you say," Jade sighed, not doing the same.
Henry feinted with a punch, then lashed out with his foot. With
one hand and barely shifting her stance, Jade caught the foot
and twisted. Henry suddenly found that neither of his feet were
on the mat.
"Ow!"
***
"Y'know, those kids are pretty young," Black said, rubbing his
chin thoughtfully.
"Don't I know it," Ruriko agreed. "I was seventeen when I started.
Rika's younger than I was." She sighed. "Seems like alot younger."
"Haven't I been saying that?" Jackie said, exasperated. "I know
they have powers or Digimon or whatever, but they're too young
to be doing what this 'defend the world' stuff."
"There is that," Black admitted.
"They'd just go ahead and do it anyway," Ruriko said. "Trust me
on this, I know from personal experience...on both sides of the
age gap."
"What they need is adult supervision," Black announced
suddenly. "They need an adult who can acompany them into the
field and guide them. Someone responsible, capable..." He
glanced at Ruriko and Jackie and smiled.
"Don't look at me," Ruriko said quickly. "I've had all the
excitement I can stand. I just want to enjoy my retirement."
"I'm just an archaeologist!" Jackie exclaimed, raising his hands in
protest..
"Relax, people," Black chuckled. "I wasn't considering either of
you anyway. I have one of my own agents in mind."
***
"Waauuugh!" Thump.
"Hey, listen Henry. How about you try and floor me and I'll defend
myself as best I can without counterattacking?" Jade suggested
as she helped him up again.
"No," Henry said stubbornly. "I'm going to do this right or not...
WAAAUGH!" Thump. "Oooooh, okay."
"Wanna bet that Henry will finally drop Jade?" Rika asked Jeri as
Henry began. Jade fended off every attack, only slowly backing
away.
"No bet," Jeri replied. "Why is Henry so bent on trying to beat
Jade?"
"Beats me," Rika shrugged.
"Oh, I know!" Terriermon interjected. "Back when we fought the
D-Reaper, we ran out of ammo and Henry had us use several
martial arts moves to fend off attacks from those big sickle
things."
"Oh, I get it, it's a self esteem thing," Rika concluded. "Since he's
the only Tamer who knows martial arts of any kind, meeting
someone who's better than he is has got to rankle."
"Hey, that works, too," Terriermon added.
"Better?" Jeri mused, watching as the sparring duo reached the
edge of the mat. Jade ducked a blow by diving into a forward roll.
When she was back up on her feet, Henry had his back to the
edge and Jade had the whole expanse of the mat to back up on.
"Jade's better alright. By an order of magnitude or two."
"Hey, Renamon, you've been pretty quiet," Rika called to empty
air. "Do you think you could take Jade?"
"Let me put it this way," Renamon answered, appearing beside
her partner. The yellow Digimon's eyes were locked on the duo on
the mat. "I'd prefer to keep my distance. Or digivolve first."
"Alright, I'm done!" Takato announced loudly, drawing the
attention of the spectators. He held up his stack of notes and
illustrations. "Hey, guys, take a look!"
"ARGH!" came from the mat, quickly followed by a solid thump.
"Hey," Henry gasped, "you said you wouldn't counterattack."
"Sorry," Jade apologized, "but you were leaving yourself wide
open on those last few moves. I just couldn't resist."
"Hey, Henry come and take a look!" Takato called.
"Sure!" Henry replied, sitting up slowly. "Just let me make sure I'm
still in one piece."
***
"Sir, you must be joking," the Agent said when he got the news.
"No joke," Black said firmly. "Those kids need guidance."
"But I work best alone!" the Agent argued. "I don't know anything
about paranormal operations. And...and kids?"
"Think of it as expanding your repetoire," Black said cheerfully.
"Couldn't you get someone else, sir?"
"You're my best agent," Black told him.
"What about Chan or that Mrs. Ukiya woman?" the agent asked,
not at all mollified by Black's compliment. "I'm sure either one of
them would make a better team leader than I would."
"I'm sure they would, too," Black agreed. "Unfortunately, they
both declined. Being civilians, they have that option. You, on the
other hand, work for me."
"D'oh!"
***
"So, what do you guys think?" Takato asked.
The primary picture appeared to be an illustration of a four
footed version of Growlmon wearing a silvery metal plated vest
and helmet.. A pair of jet pods were mounted on the back with
forward swept wings exdending from them. Jet boots adorned the
hind feet. A little Takato-figure drawn to scale indicated that the
Digimon would be just smaller than a bus if one discounted the
long, whiplike tail.
"Takato, what is this?" Jeri asked doubtfully.
"It's Guilmon's new Champion level," Takato said proudly.
"Um, Takato, Guilmon already has a Champion level form," Henry
pointed out.
"Yes, but this is his..." Takato whipped out a Modify card, "Armor
Digivolve form."
"There's no Armor Digivolve card in the game," Rika objected.
"Well, there's no official Armor Digivolving in the card game,"
Takato admitted. "So I made my own. The cards are just a mental
crutch anyway for what we do. I just decided to take advantage
of it."
"On the TV show, the Digimon Armor Digivolved to get around a
block put up by these black obelisks," Jade said. "But there's not
even a hint that anyone's duplicated that in real life. So why
would you want to Armor Digivolve?"
"Well, after this morning's attack, I realized we needed something
that could catch that Invader plane," Takato explained. "None of
our own fliers are fast enough. So I needed to come up with an
alternate digivolved form..."
"Is that a cockpit?" Henry interupted, examining one of the notes
pages closely. Before Takato could respond, Captain Black
entered the gym.
"Hey, kids" Captain Black greeted. He was followed by Rika's
grandmother and Jade's uncle Jackie. Jackie seemed distinctly
unhappy.
"Hi, Captain Black," Takato returned cheerfully. "What's up?"
"Given that you and your friends' young ages and that we're
basically asking you to defend the Earth from all manner of
paranormal threats," Black began, "we thought that giving you
some adult supervision and leadership might be a good idea. So
I got one for you kids."
A round of groans and denials came from the kids in question.
"Wait a minute," Rika said suspiciously, cutting the others off.
She scheered up. "It's you, Grandma, right?"
"Ah, no, dear," her grandmother replied, avoiding Rika's eyes. "I
declined."
"Jackie! It's you, isn't it?" Jade deduced, wrongly divining the
cause of her uncle's mood.
"Ah, no, sorry," Jackie replied sheepishly.
"So, who is it?" Jeri asked, confused. "It's not you, Captain Black,
is it?"
"No, it isn't," Captain Black told her. He stepped aside to let a
fourth adult into the gym. "Kids, I'd like you to meet your new
field commander, Agent MacTaggert!"
"Aw, no," Jade groaned, recognizing the Agent. "Not Agent Tag!"
***
"Okay, let me see if I got this right," Alice said to the other girl in
the white kimono. She still didn't know her name. "There's this
guy who's been a worthless bum all his life. By the end of the
story, he impersonates another man about to be killed because
it's the right thing to do. The other man is a good man with a
wife who loves him and would be devastated by his loss. The
first man has no one who would miss him and decides to make
his life mean something. Have I got it right?"
Setting the book aside, the other girl just stared back.
"Are you trying to draw a parallel with my life here?" Alice
pressed. "I'm just not seeing the connection here."
The other girl just stared back.
"Oh wait, I know what you're getting at," Alice said suddenly as
a new thought occured to her. "You're drawing parallels to
Dobermon. Right?"
The other girl just stared back.
"Sorry, but you're wrong there," Alice continued. "Dobermon had
someone who loved him. Me. He was my friend, maybe would
even have been my partner. So your parallel doesn't hold up."
The other girl just stared back.
"Now, wait, are you refering to me as the guy who was supposed
to be executed?" Alice asked scornfully. "Sorry, I'm not married."
The other girl just stared back.
"But there are other people who love me..." Alice said slowly. She
mulled over that fact for several minutes in silence. Then she
got to her feet. "Excuse me, I have to go," she said quickly to the
other girl.
The other girl just stared back as Alice opened her Gate and
stepped through. After Alice was gone, Yukino smiled a sad kind
of smile.
"It is a far, far better thing I do..."
by Nopporn Wongrassamee
Summary - A Digimon Tamers/Jackie Chan Adventures/
Gatekeepers Crossover.
Disclaimer - None of these characters are mine, nor am I
making a profit here.
"They ran away," Ruriko said thoughtfully. "They've never done
that before."
"Before what?" Jackie asked, a little puzzled. "I seem to recall
them running away at that first battle."
After the Invader attack on them at the airport, the whole party
had returned to Section 13. They had even managed to avoid
the news crews, a feat in itself in America. Ruriko and Jackie were
in the visitor's lounge watching the news report on TV.
"When I was young, Mr. Chan, the Invaders would just keep
attacking until we destroyed them," Ruriko explained.
"Oh, you can call me Jackie," Jackie told her.
"Thank you...Jackie," Ruriko said, flashing him a smile. "Anyway,
I've never known them to hit and run before."
"There was yesterday," Jackie pointed out.
"Well, yes," Ruriko agreed. "but it was pretty obvious that they
were after the Talismans."
"Hello, people," Captain Black said tiredly. He plopped down on
an old couch and asked disgustedly, "If I handed one of you my
gun, would you shoot me? Please?"
"Captain? What's wrong?" Ruriko inquired concerned.
"My people have finally discovered how the Invaders bypassed
the monitors," Black replied miserably. "It was so bloody simple!"
"Okay, I'll bite," Jackie said. "How'd they do it?"
"There's a folder in the computer where all the threat profiles are
kept," Black began. "When the monitors detect a signal, it compares the signal to the profiles in that folder and a folder for
a natural and human made signals. If there's a match in the
threat folder, an alarm is sounded. Well, someone went and
moved the Invader's profile from the threat to the non-threat
folder."
"How'd they do that?" Ruriko asked, frowning. "Don't you have
security firewalls in place?"
"Yes, but only for anyone trying to access the system from outside
Section 13," Black told her. "On the inside, anyone with access to
one of the monitor's teminals can access both folders. If you
know where to look, moving the right files is as simple as
dragging and clicking a mouse. This means that someone in
Section 13 is an Invader agent. But then, we already knew that
after we were raided."
"That's awful," Ruriko murmured sympathetically.
"Um, could you go over that again?" Jackie asked hesitantly. At
the other two's stares, he added. "I don't know computers very
well. I'm an archaeologist, not an engineer."
***
"Well, that was... embarassing," the Attache commented after
they recieved the after action report.
"YES!" the Zealot thundered. "They should have pressed the
attack at all costs! Had they been willing to sacrifice themselves
they would have been VICTORIOUS!"
"Just between you and me," the Lawyer whispered to the Spy,
leaning over so only they could hear, "I think he's been hanging
around the Middle East too long."
"I heard that!" the Zealot interjected, glaring at them.
"Nevertheless," the Soldier said shortly, "pressing the attack
would have been pointless. If the attack had been pressed, the
only result would have been a waste of soldiers for no gain."
"I agree," the Accountant weighed in. "Let humans expend
themselves in pointless suicide attacks. We save our strength
for when it will be the most use."
"But in the days of our Masters..." the Zealot began.
"Our old Masters are gone," the Spy snapped, tired of this old
argument, "banished from the world by the human Shun Ukiya.
Live with it, already. I for one like us making our own decisions
for ourselves."
"Yes, making our own decisions," the Technician said slowly. He
turned to the Spy. "I want to know what gave you the right to
destroy one of our own without consulting the rest of us."
"Yes, there are certain procedures that should be followed," the
Lawyer added thoughtfully.
"That idiot broke cover," the Spy said shortly. "He revealed our
presence for all the world to see. He got many of our own killed.
He even failed in what he set out to do. If I had let him go, he
would have caused another fiasco."
"I don't know," the Soldier mused aloud. "Unlike you, I don't
worship at the altar of secrecy. Now that the human governments
know we still exist, we are free to take more... direct action."
"You mean like this morning's attack?" the Spy said sarcastically.
***
"Well, one good thing is that Mr. Yamaki has his superheroes,"
Captain Black mused. "Pity they're all so young. I hope they'll
suffice in the world defending department."
"They seemed to have done fine so far," Ruriko said neutrally,
unsure if she ought to be included on Yamaki's "team".
"I hope you don't consider Jade as part of this team," Jackie
interjected. "She's too..."
"Jackie, don't say that she's too young," Black interupted. "Jade's
the same age as the others."
"Um..." Jackie mumbled as he searched for other arguments. "It's
just that this is all too dangerous."
"Okay, now I think you're selling Jade too short," Ruriko added.
"What I mean is that Jade has no powers," Jackie explained.
"Without the Talismans, I'm not sure she can keep up with the
other kids."
***
"Ow!"
"Geez, Henry," Jade replied, leaning over and looking down at
her sparring partner. He was laid flat out on the mat. "I would've
thought that your sensei would have taught you how to fall as
lesson one."
"He did," Henry groaned, holding up a hand. "But he doesn't
usually flip me over his shoulder."
Grasping the extended hand, Jade hauled Henry to his feet. "So
you wanna quit?" Jade asked.
"No way," Henry snorted. "I'm going to put you on your back if it's
the last thing I do."
The kids and their Digimon had moved into Section 13's gym.
Actually, Jade had taken up Henry's offer to spar and led him to
the gym. The others had tagged along for lack of anything better
to do. A soft mat covering the floor took up most of the space,
set there so that Agents could practice their hand to hand.
Rika watched as Henry and Jade exchanged another flurry of
blows, followed quickly by Henry hitting the mat again. He got
up again for another round.
"Y'know, I never figured Henry as the macho type," Rika remarked
to no one in particular.
"I guess you never know about some people," Jeri replied, looking
up from watching Takato sketch. Since returning from the airport,
he had appropriated some printer paper, color pens, and pencils.
Takato had been sketching furiously away ever since. Guilmon
also looked on, interested.
"Ooh, that's gotta hurt," Terriermon commented as his partner
was floored yet again. "You need help, Henry?"
"No!" his partner croaked.
"Okay," Terriermon said cheerfully as Henry got to his feet again,
"but if you're waiting to digivolve, I don't think it's working."
"Oh, har har," Henry said flatly.
"Is that fun?" Calumon asked. "'cause if it is, you humans are
weirder than I thought. That looks like it hurts."
"Yeah, you look like you need a break Henry," Jade added.
"One more time," Henry gritted out, assuming a ready stance.
"Whatever you say," Jade sighed, not doing the same.
Henry feinted with a punch, then lashed out with his foot. With
one hand and barely shifting her stance, Jade caught the foot
and twisted. Henry suddenly found that neither of his feet were
on the mat.
"Ow!"
***
"Y'know, those kids are pretty young," Black said, rubbing his
chin thoughtfully.
"Don't I know it," Ruriko agreed. "I was seventeen when I started.
Rika's younger than I was." She sighed. "Seems like alot younger."
"Haven't I been saying that?" Jackie said, exasperated. "I know
they have powers or Digimon or whatever, but they're too young
to be doing what this 'defend the world' stuff."
"There is that," Black admitted.
"They'd just go ahead and do it anyway," Ruriko said. "Trust me
on this, I know from personal experience...on both sides of the
age gap."
"What they need is adult supervision," Black announced
suddenly. "They need an adult who can acompany them into the
field and guide them. Someone responsible, capable..." He
glanced at Ruriko and Jackie and smiled.
"Don't look at me," Ruriko said quickly. "I've had all the
excitement I can stand. I just want to enjoy my retirement."
"I'm just an archaeologist!" Jackie exclaimed, raising his hands in
protest..
"Relax, people," Black chuckled. "I wasn't considering either of
you anyway. I have one of my own agents in mind."
***
"Waauuugh!" Thump.
"Hey, listen Henry. How about you try and floor me and I'll defend
myself as best I can without counterattacking?" Jade suggested
as she helped him up again.
"No," Henry said stubbornly. "I'm going to do this right or not...
WAAAUGH!" Thump. "Oooooh, okay."
"Wanna bet that Henry will finally drop Jade?" Rika asked Jeri as
Henry began. Jade fended off every attack, only slowly backing
away.
"No bet," Jeri replied. "Why is Henry so bent on trying to beat
Jade?"
"Beats me," Rika shrugged.
"Oh, I know!" Terriermon interjected. "Back when we fought the
D-Reaper, we ran out of ammo and Henry had us use several
martial arts moves to fend off attacks from those big sickle
things."
"Oh, I get it, it's a self esteem thing," Rika concluded. "Since he's
the only Tamer who knows martial arts of any kind, meeting
someone who's better than he is has got to rankle."
"Hey, that works, too," Terriermon added.
"Better?" Jeri mused, watching as the sparring duo reached the
edge of the mat. Jade ducked a blow by diving into a forward roll.
When she was back up on her feet, Henry had his back to the
edge and Jade had the whole expanse of the mat to back up on.
"Jade's better alright. By an order of magnitude or two."
"Hey, Renamon, you've been pretty quiet," Rika called to empty
air. "Do you think you could take Jade?"
"Let me put it this way," Renamon answered, appearing beside
her partner. The yellow Digimon's eyes were locked on the duo on
the mat. "I'd prefer to keep my distance. Or digivolve first."
"Alright, I'm done!" Takato announced loudly, drawing the
attention of the spectators. He held up his stack of notes and
illustrations. "Hey, guys, take a look!"
"ARGH!" came from the mat, quickly followed by a solid thump.
"Hey," Henry gasped, "you said you wouldn't counterattack."
"Sorry," Jade apologized, "but you were leaving yourself wide
open on those last few moves. I just couldn't resist."
"Hey, Henry come and take a look!" Takato called.
"Sure!" Henry replied, sitting up slowly. "Just let me make sure I'm
still in one piece."
***
"Sir, you must be joking," the Agent said when he got the news.
"No joke," Black said firmly. "Those kids need guidance."
"But I work best alone!" the Agent argued. "I don't know anything
about paranormal operations. And...and kids?"
"Think of it as expanding your repetoire," Black said cheerfully.
"Couldn't you get someone else, sir?"
"You're my best agent," Black told him.
"What about Chan or that Mrs. Ukiya woman?" the agent asked,
not at all mollified by Black's compliment. "I'm sure either one of
them would make a better team leader than I would."
"I'm sure they would, too," Black agreed. "Unfortunately, they
both declined. Being civilians, they have that option. You, on the
other hand, work for me."
"D'oh!"
***
"So, what do you guys think?" Takato asked.
The primary picture appeared to be an illustration of a four
footed version of Growlmon wearing a silvery metal plated vest
and helmet.. A pair of jet pods were mounted on the back with
forward swept wings exdending from them. Jet boots adorned the
hind feet. A little Takato-figure drawn to scale indicated that the
Digimon would be just smaller than a bus if one discounted the
long, whiplike tail.
"Takato, what is this?" Jeri asked doubtfully.
"It's Guilmon's new Champion level," Takato said proudly.
"Um, Takato, Guilmon already has a Champion level form," Henry
pointed out.
"Yes, but this is his..." Takato whipped out a Modify card, "Armor
Digivolve form."
"There's no Armor Digivolve card in the game," Rika objected.
"Well, there's no official Armor Digivolving in the card game,"
Takato admitted. "So I made my own. The cards are just a mental
crutch anyway for what we do. I just decided to take advantage
of it."
"On the TV show, the Digimon Armor Digivolved to get around a
block put up by these black obelisks," Jade said. "But there's not
even a hint that anyone's duplicated that in real life. So why
would you want to Armor Digivolve?"
"Well, after this morning's attack, I realized we needed something
that could catch that Invader plane," Takato explained. "None of
our own fliers are fast enough. So I needed to come up with an
alternate digivolved form..."
"Is that a cockpit?" Henry interupted, examining one of the notes
pages closely. Before Takato could respond, Captain Black
entered the gym.
"Hey, kids" Captain Black greeted. He was followed by Rika's
grandmother and Jade's uncle Jackie. Jackie seemed distinctly
unhappy.
"Hi, Captain Black," Takato returned cheerfully. "What's up?"
"Given that you and your friends' young ages and that we're
basically asking you to defend the Earth from all manner of
paranormal threats," Black began, "we thought that giving you
some adult supervision and leadership might be a good idea. So
I got one for you kids."
A round of groans and denials came from the kids in question.
"Wait a minute," Rika said suspiciously, cutting the others off.
She scheered up. "It's you, Grandma, right?"
"Ah, no, dear," her grandmother replied, avoiding Rika's eyes. "I
declined."
"Jackie! It's you, isn't it?" Jade deduced, wrongly divining the
cause of her uncle's mood.
"Ah, no, sorry," Jackie replied sheepishly.
"So, who is it?" Jeri asked, confused. "It's not you, Captain Black,
is it?"
"No, it isn't," Captain Black told her. He stepped aside to let a
fourth adult into the gym. "Kids, I'd like you to meet your new
field commander, Agent MacTaggert!"
"Aw, no," Jade groaned, recognizing the Agent. "Not Agent Tag!"
***
"Okay, let me see if I got this right," Alice said to the other girl in
the white kimono. She still didn't know her name. "There's this
guy who's been a worthless bum all his life. By the end of the
story, he impersonates another man about to be killed because
it's the right thing to do. The other man is a good man with a
wife who loves him and would be devastated by his loss. The
first man has no one who would miss him and decides to make
his life mean something. Have I got it right?"
Setting the book aside, the other girl just stared back.
"Are you trying to draw a parallel with my life here?" Alice
pressed. "I'm just not seeing the connection here."
The other girl just stared back.
"Oh wait, I know what you're getting at," Alice said suddenly as
a new thought occured to her. "You're drawing parallels to
Dobermon. Right?"
The other girl just stared back.
"Sorry, but you're wrong there," Alice continued. "Dobermon had
someone who loved him. Me. He was my friend, maybe would
even have been my partner. So your parallel doesn't hold up."
The other girl just stared back.
"Now, wait, are you refering to me as the guy who was supposed
to be executed?" Alice asked scornfully. "Sorry, I'm not married."
The other girl just stared back.
"But there are other people who love me..." Alice said slowly. She
mulled over that fact for several minutes in silence. Then she
got to her feet. "Excuse me, I have to go," she said quickly to the
other girl.
The other girl just stared back as Alice opened her Gate and
stepped through. After Alice was gone, Yukino smiled a sad kind
of smile.
"It is a far, far better thing I do..."