Hell's Joint Progress, Imperialdramon Zero.
Neo glares at his monitor, on which is an image of Demon. "What do you want?"
"I see you have yet to accomplish Dagomon's goals," says Demon with a note of amusement in his voice.
"Akiyama hides well, and there's increased support for his unit. The High Eight are established as heroes throughout the digital world."
"There is a price for disobedience. Or did you really think Arcademon could be reconstructed by your hand?
"Only one Tamer has ever succeeded in reconstructing a synthetic digimon, and when I tried to retrieve him..."
"You were thwarted," finishes Neo, bored. "Myotismon had his idiot plan going, and he had already degraded the Millenniumon .bat file when he copied it.
"Not that it was much use trying to control Ken anyway. We should never have forced our hand."
"Now that we don't have our trump sword," muses Demon, "what will plunge the digital world into darkness? As I initially summoned you to do."
"I still have data fragments of Arcademon. And the Kimeramon construct is intact. We also have Moon=Millenniumon, one of the most powerful entities in this world.
"You forget the prophecy."
"As do you. If ever our enemies learn of it, they can implement the countermeasure."
"Demon. Everything shall proceed as I see fit. Besides, Arcademon as a single digimon was rather unimportant.
"He couldn't crush the soul of the sun." Laughing, Neo crumples a picture of Taichi.
= = =
I'm flying on top of an Airdramon as we soar over Central to head to the western continent. Agumon's riding along with me. Looking at that city below, built on the blood and tears of digimon.
Including Zeromaru's tears.
Thinking on these disgusting matters, I scowl.
"Are you okay, Oniisan?" asks Hikari, concerned. She's riding Nefertimon. And no, I'm not really okay. I want vengeance and blood.
"Yeah," I grunt. "I'll feel much better when that city of Neo's is leveled to the ground."
"You're acting strange, Taichi," notes Agumon.
"This is a strange situation."
"I know, but you're scaring me. There's something inside you that's...not you. It's as though you have a Black Gear twisting you up."
I smile weakly, holding my orange friend tight. "Don't worry so much."
= = =
Ken's holding Miyako rather snug there. Both of them are on Aquilamon, while Stingmon carries Daisuke and Demiveemon.
Neo's off his game. We slip past his radar and out of Central. Ryo, our fearless leader, chooses this as a good time for a pit stop.
We rest for a few minutes. Daisuke sits in front of me with a serious expression on his face.
"Is there a problem?" I ask.
He has one answer. "Liar."
"What are you talking about, Dai?"
"About your memories. There's no way you can forget a guy like Zero. Besides, you identified Veemon to me years ago."
"Not possible. I never saw Zeromaru's rookie form back then, and I didn't know it was a Veemon until a month ago."
"I knew it!" Daisuke scowls, not happy with me. "You're keeping your memories a secret on purpose.
"Damn it, we don't have time for this. I can't believe you lied to Zero the whole time."
"I had suspected it for a while." Ken munches on a rice ball. "Taichi's not the type of person who could suppress severe mental trauma."
"Cute. Since you know so much about me," I continue, "why not tell me about my past? What time I was born, for example?"
"Taichi. I know who Zero's jogress partner was." Come on, Ken; I'm trying to rile you up. Punch me or something.
"And I'm not getting into a fight with you, because the mood I'm currently in due to this crisis isn't good," Ken continues in that same calm voice. "I'm liable to beat you to within an inch of your life."
"Try it," I hiss.
"No," counters Daisuke. "You just want to get in a fight so you can ignore everything. All that's doing is slowing us down.
"Our fight's with Neo; take it out on him when we get back to Central."
"Taichi won't do that," smiles Ken. "That would require him to face his demons. It's too...inconvenient."
I want to rip Ken's eyes out. They're so sharp and bright, just like the eyes of a certain hated someone.
But...Ken understands. I know he understands. His eyes charm people, but even so; I shouldn't hate him over the past. Especially when I can't get beyond my own past.
I want to pick a fight with Ken, because he's so much like Yamato. Only not. It takes a lot more to provoke Ken than insults.
Speaking of Yamato, he gives me a glare as he walks past.
He doesn't understand. None of them understand."
"It was Zed," I scowl. I feel like something dirty touched me.
"What do you mean?" asks Daisuke. Such an innocent, and happy soul.
The soul of what I once was.
"Zed. He was Zero's jogress partner." Curling into a ball, I rock back and forth while glaring at Ken. "I want my goggles back."
Comprehension dawns in Ken's sage eyes, but Daisuke hands me my old goggles I gave him.
I snatch them out of Dai's hands and jerk upright, throwing them as close to Ken's face as I can aim. Ken doesn't flinch. The goggles miss him, hitting a tree instead.
"Good thing it wasn't a Cherrymon," Yamato quips.
"He's right," adds Ryo, "Western is the Metal Continent, but it has wooded areas."
I ignore them, so heated in my rage. "That's not what I meant!" I cry, grabbing Daisuke's arms. "I want to be you again...just for a day...."
Letting go of Daisuke's arms, I sink to my knees and...sob.
- - - -
"I don't think I like you, Neo." Taichi scowls, he and Zero being his unwilling guests.
Neo traces Taichi's jaw, and suddenly slaps him. "I hate you, Taichi."
"Why? What reason do you have to hate me? Aside from the whole 'omae no korosu' bit."
"You infect my perfect darkness with your light. You intrude into my life unbidden."
"All of this over a card game? I think that's rather extreme."
"You don't understand the concept of power. I'll have to teach you this before you die.
"After all, your bloated blue friend is part of a glorious experiment of mine."
"Bloated?" fumes Zero. "Why you steaming pile of half-dead Garbagemon, I ought to..."
"Become a great deal more powerful before you spew threats at me. And you will be more powerful. However, there's a price to pay.
"Zeromaru, I'd like you to meet my new marshal, Zed." A Wormmon crawls to Neo's side.
Taichi and Zero laugh.
"He's so adorable," chuckles Zero, "that it's hard to believe he's a viral."
"But I am," says Zed.
"Yes; and he will help me get a digimon to replace my Arcademon."
"What, you couldn't make a new one?" quips Taichi. "Some genius."
"I wasn't involved in Arcademon's creation. That honor goes to an associate of mine, whom I recently displaced to further the purposes of darkness. He'll get over it," Neo adds, laughing at a private joke.
"Although," Neo continues musing, "I'm creating a brand-new digimon, from scratch.
"Zed will provide the basic data needed, and since you have a Crest, you'll give Zero the break factor needed to bring Zed to his Ultimate."
Zero laughs. "Keep dreaming, Saiba. Your plan won't work.
"You're trying for a joint-progress with a rookie?"
"Zed, digivolve." At Neo's cold command, Zed digivolves to Stingmon.
"Okay...." Zeromaru's laughter fades. "What if I don't want to jogress with Sting-chan, eh?"
"You have no choice," smiles Neo.
"But our hearts have to be united. And you don't have a heart."
"...you'll come around. Don't you agree, Taichi?"
To Zero's surprise, Taichi nods dumbly, his mind in a fog.
- - -
Something's...wrong with me. Why did I agree with Neo? My head feels like a balloon, inflating on the inside.
"Wait, I don't...want to agree with you...." I sound like my dad after drinking a bottle of sake. Neo didn't get me drunk, did he?
"I had to lower your inhibitions," smiles the bakayaro. "I merely drugged your food. Zero wasn't so easily fooled, despite his healthy appetite."
"How dare you...." I try to glare at Neo.
Though at least that explains why Zero was so weak when we got captured. Digimon need lots of food, and I was surprised that this bottomless pit said he wasn't hungry. That should have tipped me off; but I was hungry, and that nice Kuwagamon was offering us free food.
Kisama, Saiba Neo. "Don't hurt Zero...I-I mean it...if you do, I'll make you pay...."
"It won't hurt at all," smirks Zed. "Not if Zero cooperates."
"I'm not getting my data scrambled with a maniac digimon like you," counters Zero.
"Into the tube, Zed," sighs Neo. "I have a feeling Zeromaru wishes to entertain us with an exercise in futility."
As soon as Zed and Zero enter a pair of tubes, Neo presses a few keys on a console. He then takes out a deck of cards.
"What are you going...to do?" I ask.
Instead of answering me, he swipes a card with a restrictor band on it. The band appears on Zero.
"Resisting, are we, Zeromaru? Inadvisable." Neo follows up with a Dark Area card.
Zero screams.
"Stop...stop it...." Neo had better stop it, or I...I...can barely think. Why'd the jerk have to drug me?
"If Zeromaru ceases his defiance, the pain will cease. Aside from that," Neo adds in his evil way, "Zed's going to have a ball mind screwing him.
"Which is good, as Zed will be the dominant personality of the new beast."
"Just...just go back to...rookie, Zero. Then it won't work. I won't tell anyone your rookie level...I promise," I add weakly. I still feel so woozy, but I'm trying to fight through the drug. What the hell did Neo put in my food?
"I'm trying to, kid," Zero grunts. Zed can hurt others without even touching them. That's scary. "But I'm too weak to break the ring's control."
"Excelsior Victory," says Neo, slashing another card. Zero suddenly loses a few tons, turns a darker shade of blue, and has an X-shaped scar on his chest.
"Zeromaru's in his ancient dramon line," he tells me. Pressing a few keys on his console, Neo fuses the tubes together.
Zed grabs Zero from the back, pinning him.
"Coward! You can't force me to do this!" roars Zero.
Zed just laughs, a vicious and horrible sound that I won't forget anytime soon. There ought to be a law that keeps evil digimon from laughing at heroes.
"Let me go!" Zero keeps struggling.
"You're fun. But for our next trick," hisses Zed, "we have to get close and personal."
"Undoubtedly," smiles Neo, slashing another card through the console. "Dark card. Zeromaru, quit delaying the inevitable."
"No!"
"It's going to happen, my blue friend." If Zed treats his friends this way, I'd hate to see his enemies. "Jogress shinka...."
As soon as I hear the word, "Dinobeemon" come from a hideous mishmash of Zero and Bugboymon, everything goes black.
- - - -
Unleashed on the digital populace, Dinobeemon. Raise hell, Zed.
Taichi slumbers at my feet, where he belongs. He would make an interesting pet if I could tame him. But it would be wasted effort; Taichi would soon surpass me, as he tends to do in everything. The baka even has a superior deck of Tama cards.
Zed returns to me. "Have I done well, Neo?"
"Not good enough. Too many digimon retaliated," I say. A couple of well-placed shots from another ultimate or enraged mega, and my purposes would be thwarted.
"Zero holds back a lot of my power. It's all I can do to retain control."
I twirl one of Taichi's cards in my hand, an Imperialdramon card.
"We'll just have to drive Zeromaru out of his mind, then." I point to a dais, directing Zed to stand there.
"What is your plan?" asks Zed.
"I will push you and Zero to Mega."
"...Gran Kuwagamon? I would be the most feared digimon ever. None would oppose the Saiba regime."
"How kind of you to include me," I smirk. Zed may be arrogant, but he's no fool.
I begin the process. "Card slash. Orb card, digicore boost. Divine Intervention."
- - - -
I've got to get out of my link with this psycho. Got to save Taichi.
What did I do to those other digimon? If it hadn't been for that freshie Kenichi breaking to Rapidmon, who knows how many more I could have killed. I have to get away from Zed.
Power. I'm being fed core power from the orbs the Guardians carry. Probably Neo, at his card hack act again.
The fool. He should never-ever-have messed with the mightiest of the Victory Dramon, especially in my ancient mode. We soak core power like a sponge.
I'll show them both. I'll wipe Neo off the face of the digital earth.
- - - -
"I-I'm losing control...." Zed screams in agony, even as he evolves into a huge, hulking emperor dragon.
"You...are not Gran Kuwagamon," scowls Neo, looking towards the Imperialdramon. "Nevertheless, you are still mine."
The Imperialdramon laughs. "Worthless baka."
Neo's eyes widen in terror. "Zeromaru...."
"I...serve...no one." Imperialdramon Zero rumbles. "I serve no one!" Zero flies out of the fortress, breaking the ceiling in the process.
Amid the chaos, Taichi wakes up and looks around.
"Zeromaru?" Taichi sees Neo. "You! Where's Zero? What happened to him?"
Neo points up at the gaping hole in the ceiling.
"Zero did that?"
"Yes," hisses Neo. "This matter has grown out of proportion."
"Meaning?" Taichi notes that a giant digimon overshadows the hole in the ceiling, and that it summons a great amount of energy.
"We run like hell." Grabbing Taichi's hand, Neo flees the fortress.
- - -
"So, you can't handle your own mess, huh?" I smile ruefully. Neo's finally going to get what's been coming to him.
"Idiot! This wasn't supposed to happen. Zed has better control than that!"
"Yeah; but Zero went crazy when you forced him to jogress," I explain. "There's no way you can stop him now, so you're basically getting what you deserve."
"Go to hell, Taichi. As you know so much about digimon, you'll have the unenviable task of stopping this unstoppable one." Neo shoves me down a rocky slope, and the next I see him, he's fleeing on a Beemon.
"Come back here, you coward!"
"Adieu, Yagami Taichi. We'll meet again...if you survive!"
I turn to face Zero, who landed. He stares at me a second.
"Zeromaru. It's me, Taichi."
The giant digital hulk growls softly and flies off. I run after him as fast as I can.
Until a green blur snatches me up and joins my chase.
"Who are you?" I ask this green digimon.
"Kenichi. Is that Zeromaru?" he asks.
"Sort of-he's combined with this Stingmon named Zed."
"I understand. Zed got in over his head thinking he could keep Zero under control."
"What kind of digimon are you?" I ask. "I don't want to call you Kenichimon."
"Kenichi is my name. Naming's a common convention in Central. I'm at my ultimate, a Rapidmon."
"Oh." That was as clear as mud. At least I know what kind of digimon he is. "What do we do to stop him?"
"We cannot stop an Imperialdramon; especially when one has gone viral, or Skull. Zero's infected; his entire file is corrupted."
"But why?"
Kenichi stops. "A combination of factors. One, he jogressed with a malignant viral against his will. Two, his Victory Tamer was weak-willed and completely worthless. He allowed this to happen."
"But...I'm his Victory Tamer. And I didn't have a choice-Neo drugged me into submission!" I can't believe this guy; he's blaming me.
"Ridiculous excuses? How dare you call yourself a Tamer?"
"I didn't ask to be one! I was heading back to the digital world with my partner digimon, Agumon, and I got sent here. Now Zero's gone crazy, has way too much power, and will probably kill us all; and some metal green rabbit trying to pin this on me!"
"Partner digimon?"
"Yeah, see?" I show Kenichi my digivice.
"A T1? What's a Victory Tamer doing with a T1?"
"Zero asked me the same thing before. And it's a digivice."
"That's because only a Tamer First Class can use a T1 while taming digimon, and there are several types of digivices."
"Kenichi, this isn't helping," I sigh. "I didn't come here as a Victory Tamer. I'm a digidestined who knows how to play the card game. That's the only reason I have a deck of Tama cards and a 'T1'."
"Digidestined. That explains a bit. I'm sorry. Zero and I hatched in the same Primary Village. He's a bit older than me."
"So...Zero's like your oniisan." At least his attitude makes sense now. I'd be pissed too if somebody hurt my kid sister; if she weren't sick, Hikari would probably find some way to hurt Neo, too. Yamato would rip someone apart over Takeru.
I miss my friends so much.
"I...guess so. Only right now, Zero's going to do a lot of things he'll regret if we don't stop him."
"But you said we can't stop him."
"You've been given Victory Tamer status. I know it's not fair of me to make this demand on you, but life isn't fair either."
Kenichi scowls. "You have to adapt."
"Adapt?" Is usagi yojimbo out of his Rapid-mind?
"You were sent here because you have the power to handle situations like these. I can't reach Zero because he's blinded with rage. But a Tamer's job is to tame."
"How the hell am I supposed to tame that monstrosity?"
"That monstrosity...is our friend."
"I know that."
"Then you know you have to save him."
How? Why won't Kenichi tell me how? Of course I want to save Zero; he is my friend. I wish he would have had someone stronger than me as a partner...but he doesn't. Right now I am all he's got.
And I'm going to stop him, no matter what it takes.
- - -
Taichi stands in Imperialdramon Zero's path.
Zero roars, and fires several positron lasers near the boy.
"I love you, Zeromaru. I love you, and I'm not afraid enough of you to be scared off.
"Power down. Let everything go," says Taichi. "That's all you have to do to be free."
"Free...?" asks Zero.
"Yeah, free."
Zero studies Taichi a moment. "No."
"Don't you want to be free?"
"I want to destroy Neo. I want to destroy...everything!" With that, Zero launches a Giga Death towards Taichi, at point-blank range.
Taichi stands still, his crest aura glowing bright. The death beam connects with the aura; both Zero and Taichi are blasted backwards.
- - - -
I have such a headache. Waking up, I notice Kenichi and Taichi.
"You look adorable." Despite the Terrier-chan's little quip, his face looks grim.
Can't blame him for teasing me, though. I'm in my training stage, one of the most tooth decay-inducing forms a digimon can adopt.
Chibimon. Known as Demiveemon in Eastern and Southern. Yuck.
[AN: Zero is obviously too concerned with his "tough" image. Chibimon is so cute...aww....]
Not that I'm worried too much about that. Kenichi's Kokomon mode is even worse in the cute department. But my real concern is for the kid. I know I shot at Taichi, and I don't know how his body remained intact.
"Taichi." I shake the kid. No response. "Taichi? Can you hear me, freshie?
"Taichi!" Why is all of this water leaking out of my eyes? "Taichi! Please get up; I didn't mean it....
"Taichi...."
- - - -
Kenichi notes that a mysterious, white-robed child has picked up an unconscious Leafmon.
"What are you doing?" the Terriermon asks.
The masked boy smiles. "Taking him home."
"Who are you?"
"That...is not your concern at the moment. You'll find out soon enough, at my discretion."
"But Zed has to be punished for his evil."
"Zed is under my protection. Do not cross me." With that, the mysterious boy disappears with Zed, the Leafmon.
In defeat, Kenichi sighs and heads back to Zero and Taichi.
Taichi's fate...is unknown.
- - - -
A part of me did die that day; at least that's how it feels. I used to be ready for any adventure. Now I'm basically scared of my own shadow. Fine Child of Courage I am.
Ken smiles at me. "Is that the worst you could have done?"
"I...should have known better." I really should have. If Zero doesn't eat, something's wrong.
"Come on, Taichi," says Daisuke. "Be serious. We've all fouled up at some point in our experience with the digital world.
"You did pretty good considering you weren't trained. If we get someone like Ryo to train you, you'd be unstoppable."
Wonderful. Trained by Ryo the Drone. Thanks, but I'd rather keep my angst.
"Sure, he's hard to get along with," continues Dai, guessing my lack of confidence, "but deep down, he's cool. He knows so much about the digital world, and he has that Walther Shot thing."
"It's a modified digivice peripheral," notes Ken with a slight note of annoyance. Or probably envy.
After all, Ryo gets a kakkoi laser weapon that can amplify and fire digimon attacks; while Ken gets a whip, a disco costume, and big stupid glasses. At least he lost the Van de Graff hair.
Then again, who am I to talk about big hair?
"Ryo just isn't social, that's all," grins Mimi. "He was born in the country, and spent most of his adolescence here with digimon.
"Although he is coming out of his shell," she adds with a smirk in Ryo's direction. Guess he isn't immune to girls. Or to Hikari at least.
Why Hikari...? Forget it. I'm tired of giving old "Bright Noah" a hard time. It's his fault-he got me into watching UC Gundam.
= = =
I awake to the digital sun. It casts light over everything, even my slumber.
Why do you intrude upon my rest? Why do you shine in my world of darkness? I have no need for you and your heat, for I have chosen evil.
Mari enters, with her face of cheerfulness. The twit opens the window wide, letting in more sun so her soft skin can drink it in.
"Enjoy," I smile. "You won't see many more sunrises."
"What," asks Mari, "are you going to cast out the sun?"
"That has been my will from the beginning." I'll let her think for once. Mari has a limited mind, but it's her own.
Not for long though. Soon she will be mine forever. A garden removed from the sun must turn to darkness for her light.
"I want you and Rosie to capture Inoue and Motomiya. There's a bonus if you capture Yagami Hikari as well." The bonus is a simple pleasure of her choice. She's easy to please, in so many ways.
"Why them? Their capture won't give us much of a tactical advantage," muses Mari. "Except for Dai's Veemon, of course."
"I want them to be here. Unless you want to romp with me in the sheets again," I smirk. She is so lovely when I torment her. I must do it more often, until the image of her heart is darkness.
But as long as she cherishes you, Taichi, she will have to suffer. Why?
I ponder this, tracing my scars. Due to my tempestuous Ken, they're more pronounced. I know them as cracks in my flawless mask.
Why do I torment her? Why do I ravage the world you love, Taichi?
Because I hate you.
Neo glares at his monitor, on which is an image of Demon. "What do you want?"
"I see you have yet to accomplish Dagomon's goals," says Demon with a note of amusement in his voice.
"Akiyama hides well, and there's increased support for his unit. The High Eight are established as heroes throughout the digital world."
"There is a price for disobedience. Or did you really think Arcademon could be reconstructed by your hand?
"Only one Tamer has ever succeeded in reconstructing a synthetic digimon, and when I tried to retrieve him..."
"You were thwarted," finishes Neo, bored. "Myotismon had his idiot plan going, and he had already degraded the Millenniumon .bat file when he copied it.
"Not that it was much use trying to control Ken anyway. We should never have forced our hand."
"Now that we don't have our trump sword," muses Demon, "what will plunge the digital world into darkness? As I initially summoned you to do."
"I still have data fragments of Arcademon. And the Kimeramon construct is intact. We also have Moon=Millenniumon, one of the most powerful entities in this world.
"You forget the prophecy."
"As do you. If ever our enemies learn of it, they can implement the countermeasure."
"Demon. Everything shall proceed as I see fit. Besides, Arcademon as a single digimon was rather unimportant.
"He couldn't crush the soul of the sun." Laughing, Neo crumples a picture of Taichi.
= = =
I'm flying on top of an Airdramon as we soar over Central to head to the western continent. Agumon's riding along with me. Looking at that city below, built on the blood and tears of digimon.
Including Zeromaru's tears.
Thinking on these disgusting matters, I scowl.
"Are you okay, Oniisan?" asks Hikari, concerned. She's riding Nefertimon. And no, I'm not really okay. I want vengeance and blood.
"Yeah," I grunt. "I'll feel much better when that city of Neo's is leveled to the ground."
"You're acting strange, Taichi," notes Agumon.
"This is a strange situation."
"I know, but you're scaring me. There's something inside you that's...not you. It's as though you have a Black Gear twisting you up."
I smile weakly, holding my orange friend tight. "Don't worry so much."
= = =
Ken's holding Miyako rather snug there. Both of them are on Aquilamon, while Stingmon carries Daisuke and Demiveemon.
Neo's off his game. We slip past his radar and out of Central. Ryo, our fearless leader, chooses this as a good time for a pit stop.
We rest for a few minutes. Daisuke sits in front of me with a serious expression on his face.
"Is there a problem?" I ask.
He has one answer. "Liar."
"What are you talking about, Dai?"
"About your memories. There's no way you can forget a guy like Zero. Besides, you identified Veemon to me years ago."
"Not possible. I never saw Zeromaru's rookie form back then, and I didn't know it was a Veemon until a month ago."
"I knew it!" Daisuke scowls, not happy with me. "You're keeping your memories a secret on purpose.
"Damn it, we don't have time for this. I can't believe you lied to Zero the whole time."
"I had suspected it for a while." Ken munches on a rice ball. "Taichi's not the type of person who could suppress severe mental trauma."
"Cute. Since you know so much about me," I continue, "why not tell me about my past? What time I was born, for example?"
"Taichi. I know who Zero's jogress partner was." Come on, Ken; I'm trying to rile you up. Punch me or something.
"And I'm not getting into a fight with you, because the mood I'm currently in due to this crisis isn't good," Ken continues in that same calm voice. "I'm liable to beat you to within an inch of your life."
"Try it," I hiss.
"No," counters Daisuke. "You just want to get in a fight so you can ignore everything. All that's doing is slowing us down.
"Our fight's with Neo; take it out on him when we get back to Central."
"Taichi won't do that," smiles Ken. "That would require him to face his demons. It's too...inconvenient."
I want to rip Ken's eyes out. They're so sharp and bright, just like the eyes of a certain hated someone.
But...Ken understands. I know he understands. His eyes charm people, but even so; I shouldn't hate him over the past. Especially when I can't get beyond my own past.
I want to pick a fight with Ken, because he's so much like Yamato. Only not. It takes a lot more to provoke Ken than insults.
Speaking of Yamato, he gives me a glare as he walks past.
He doesn't understand. None of them understand."
"It was Zed," I scowl. I feel like something dirty touched me.
"What do you mean?" asks Daisuke. Such an innocent, and happy soul.
The soul of what I once was.
"Zed. He was Zero's jogress partner." Curling into a ball, I rock back and forth while glaring at Ken. "I want my goggles back."
Comprehension dawns in Ken's sage eyes, but Daisuke hands me my old goggles I gave him.
I snatch them out of Dai's hands and jerk upright, throwing them as close to Ken's face as I can aim. Ken doesn't flinch. The goggles miss him, hitting a tree instead.
"Good thing it wasn't a Cherrymon," Yamato quips.
"He's right," adds Ryo, "Western is the Metal Continent, but it has wooded areas."
I ignore them, so heated in my rage. "That's not what I meant!" I cry, grabbing Daisuke's arms. "I want to be you again...just for a day...."
Letting go of Daisuke's arms, I sink to my knees and...sob.
- - - -
"I don't think I like you, Neo." Taichi scowls, he and Zero being his unwilling guests.
Neo traces Taichi's jaw, and suddenly slaps him. "I hate you, Taichi."
"Why? What reason do you have to hate me? Aside from the whole 'omae no korosu' bit."
"You infect my perfect darkness with your light. You intrude into my life unbidden."
"All of this over a card game? I think that's rather extreme."
"You don't understand the concept of power. I'll have to teach you this before you die.
"After all, your bloated blue friend is part of a glorious experiment of mine."
"Bloated?" fumes Zero. "Why you steaming pile of half-dead Garbagemon, I ought to..."
"Become a great deal more powerful before you spew threats at me. And you will be more powerful. However, there's a price to pay.
"Zeromaru, I'd like you to meet my new marshal, Zed." A Wormmon crawls to Neo's side.
Taichi and Zero laugh.
"He's so adorable," chuckles Zero, "that it's hard to believe he's a viral."
"But I am," says Zed.
"Yes; and he will help me get a digimon to replace my Arcademon."
"What, you couldn't make a new one?" quips Taichi. "Some genius."
"I wasn't involved in Arcademon's creation. That honor goes to an associate of mine, whom I recently displaced to further the purposes of darkness. He'll get over it," Neo adds, laughing at a private joke.
"Although," Neo continues musing, "I'm creating a brand-new digimon, from scratch.
"Zed will provide the basic data needed, and since you have a Crest, you'll give Zero the break factor needed to bring Zed to his Ultimate."
Zero laughs. "Keep dreaming, Saiba. Your plan won't work.
"You're trying for a joint-progress with a rookie?"
"Zed, digivolve." At Neo's cold command, Zed digivolves to Stingmon.
"Okay...." Zeromaru's laughter fades. "What if I don't want to jogress with Sting-chan, eh?"
"You have no choice," smiles Neo.
"But our hearts have to be united. And you don't have a heart."
"...you'll come around. Don't you agree, Taichi?"
To Zero's surprise, Taichi nods dumbly, his mind in a fog.
- - -
Something's...wrong with me. Why did I agree with Neo? My head feels like a balloon, inflating on the inside.
"Wait, I don't...want to agree with you...." I sound like my dad after drinking a bottle of sake. Neo didn't get me drunk, did he?
"I had to lower your inhibitions," smiles the bakayaro. "I merely drugged your food. Zero wasn't so easily fooled, despite his healthy appetite."
"How dare you...." I try to glare at Neo.
Though at least that explains why Zero was so weak when we got captured. Digimon need lots of food, and I was surprised that this bottomless pit said he wasn't hungry. That should have tipped me off; but I was hungry, and that nice Kuwagamon was offering us free food.
Kisama, Saiba Neo. "Don't hurt Zero...I-I mean it...if you do, I'll make you pay...."
"It won't hurt at all," smirks Zed. "Not if Zero cooperates."
"I'm not getting my data scrambled with a maniac digimon like you," counters Zero.
"Into the tube, Zed," sighs Neo. "I have a feeling Zeromaru wishes to entertain us with an exercise in futility."
As soon as Zed and Zero enter a pair of tubes, Neo presses a few keys on a console. He then takes out a deck of cards.
"What are you going...to do?" I ask.
Instead of answering me, he swipes a card with a restrictor band on it. The band appears on Zero.
"Resisting, are we, Zeromaru? Inadvisable." Neo follows up with a Dark Area card.
Zero screams.
"Stop...stop it...." Neo had better stop it, or I...I...can barely think. Why'd the jerk have to drug me?
"If Zeromaru ceases his defiance, the pain will cease. Aside from that," Neo adds in his evil way, "Zed's going to have a ball mind screwing him.
"Which is good, as Zed will be the dominant personality of the new beast."
"Just...just go back to...rookie, Zero. Then it won't work. I won't tell anyone your rookie level...I promise," I add weakly. I still feel so woozy, but I'm trying to fight through the drug. What the hell did Neo put in my food?
"I'm trying to, kid," Zero grunts. Zed can hurt others without even touching them. That's scary. "But I'm too weak to break the ring's control."
"Excelsior Victory," says Neo, slashing another card. Zero suddenly loses a few tons, turns a darker shade of blue, and has an X-shaped scar on his chest.
"Zeromaru's in his ancient dramon line," he tells me. Pressing a few keys on his console, Neo fuses the tubes together.
Zed grabs Zero from the back, pinning him.
"Coward! You can't force me to do this!" roars Zero.
Zed just laughs, a vicious and horrible sound that I won't forget anytime soon. There ought to be a law that keeps evil digimon from laughing at heroes.
"Let me go!" Zero keeps struggling.
"You're fun. But for our next trick," hisses Zed, "we have to get close and personal."
"Undoubtedly," smiles Neo, slashing another card through the console. "Dark card. Zeromaru, quit delaying the inevitable."
"No!"
"It's going to happen, my blue friend." If Zed treats his friends this way, I'd hate to see his enemies. "Jogress shinka...."
As soon as I hear the word, "Dinobeemon" come from a hideous mishmash of Zero and Bugboymon, everything goes black.
- - - -
Unleashed on the digital populace, Dinobeemon. Raise hell, Zed.
Taichi slumbers at my feet, where he belongs. He would make an interesting pet if I could tame him. But it would be wasted effort; Taichi would soon surpass me, as he tends to do in everything. The baka even has a superior deck of Tama cards.
Zed returns to me. "Have I done well, Neo?"
"Not good enough. Too many digimon retaliated," I say. A couple of well-placed shots from another ultimate or enraged mega, and my purposes would be thwarted.
"Zero holds back a lot of my power. It's all I can do to retain control."
I twirl one of Taichi's cards in my hand, an Imperialdramon card.
"We'll just have to drive Zeromaru out of his mind, then." I point to a dais, directing Zed to stand there.
"What is your plan?" asks Zed.
"I will push you and Zero to Mega."
"...Gran Kuwagamon? I would be the most feared digimon ever. None would oppose the Saiba regime."
"How kind of you to include me," I smirk. Zed may be arrogant, but he's no fool.
I begin the process. "Card slash. Orb card, digicore boost. Divine Intervention."
- - - -
I've got to get out of my link with this psycho. Got to save Taichi.
What did I do to those other digimon? If it hadn't been for that freshie Kenichi breaking to Rapidmon, who knows how many more I could have killed. I have to get away from Zed.
Power. I'm being fed core power from the orbs the Guardians carry. Probably Neo, at his card hack act again.
The fool. He should never-ever-have messed with the mightiest of the Victory Dramon, especially in my ancient mode. We soak core power like a sponge.
I'll show them both. I'll wipe Neo off the face of the digital earth.
- - - -
"I-I'm losing control...." Zed screams in agony, even as he evolves into a huge, hulking emperor dragon.
"You...are not Gran Kuwagamon," scowls Neo, looking towards the Imperialdramon. "Nevertheless, you are still mine."
The Imperialdramon laughs. "Worthless baka."
Neo's eyes widen in terror. "Zeromaru...."
"I...serve...no one." Imperialdramon Zero rumbles. "I serve no one!" Zero flies out of the fortress, breaking the ceiling in the process.
Amid the chaos, Taichi wakes up and looks around.
"Zeromaru?" Taichi sees Neo. "You! Where's Zero? What happened to him?"
Neo points up at the gaping hole in the ceiling.
"Zero did that?"
"Yes," hisses Neo. "This matter has grown out of proportion."
"Meaning?" Taichi notes that a giant digimon overshadows the hole in the ceiling, and that it summons a great amount of energy.
"We run like hell." Grabbing Taichi's hand, Neo flees the fortress.
- - -
"So, you can't handle your own mess, huh?" I smile ruefully. Neo's finally going to get what's been coming to him.
"Idiot! This wasn't supposed to happen. Zed has better control than that!"
"Yeah; but Zero went crazy when you forced him to jogress," I explain. "There's no way you can stop him now, so you're basically getting what you deserve."
"Go to hell, Taichi. As you know so much about digimon, you'll have the unenviable task of stopping this unstoppable one." Neo shoves me down a rocky slope, and the next I see him, he's fleeing on a Beemon.
"Come back here, you coward!"
"Adieu, Yagami Taichi. We'll meet again...if you survive!"
I turn to face Zero, who landed. He stares at me a second.
"Zeromaru. It's me, Taichi."
The giant digital hulk growls softly and flies off. I run after him as fast as I can.
Until a green blur snatches me up and joins my chase.
"Who are you?" I ask this green digimon.
"Kenichi. Is that Zeromaru?" he asks.
"Sort of-he's combined with this Stingmon named Zed."
"I understand. Zed got in over his head thinking he could keep Zero under control."
"What kind of digimon are you?" I ask. "I don't want to call you Kenichimon."
"Kenichi is my name. Naming's a common convention in Central. I'm at my ultimate, a Rapidmon."
"Oh." That was as clear as mud. At least I know what kind of digimon he is. "What do we do to stop him?"
"We cannot stop an Imperialdramon; especially when one has gone viral, or Skull. Zero's infected; his entire file is corrupted."
"But why?"
Kenichi stops. "A combination of factors. One, he jogressed with a malignant viral against his will. Two, his Victory Tamer was weak-willed and completely worthless. He allowed this to happen."
"But...I'm his Victory Tamer. And I didn't have a choice-Neo drugged me into submission!" I can't believe this guy; he's blaming me.
"Ridiculous excuses? How dare you call yourself a Tamer?"
"I didn't ask to be one! I was heading back to the digital world with my partner digimon, Agumon, and I got sent here. Now Zero's gone crazy, has way too much power, and will probably kill us all; and some metal green rabbit trying to pin this on me!"
"Partner digimon?"
"Yeah, see?" I show Kenichi my digivice.
"A T1? What's a Victory Tamer doing with a T1?"
"Zero asked me the same thing before. And it's a digivice."
"That's because only a Tamer First Class can use a T1 while taming digimon, and there are several types of digivices."
"Kenichi, this isn't helping," I sigh. "I didn't come here as a Victory Tamer. I'm a digidestined who knows how to play the card game. That's the only reason I have a deck of Tama cards and a 'T1'."
"Digidestined. That explains a bit. I'm sorry. Zero and I hatched in the same Primary Village. He's a bit older than me."
"So...Zero's like your oniisan." At least his attitude makes sense now. I'd be pissed too if somebody hurt my kid sister; if she weren't sick, Hikari would probably find some way to hurt Neo, too. Yamato would rip someone apart over Takeru.
I miss my friends so much.
"I...guess so. Only right now, Zero's going to do a lot of things he'll regret if we don't stop him."
"But you said we can't stop him."
"You've been given Victory Tamer status. I know it's not fair of me to make this demand on you, but life isn't fair either."
Kenichi scowls. "You have to adapt."
"Adapt?" Is usagi yojimbo out of his Rapid-mind?
"You were sent here because you have the power to handle situations like these. I can't reach Zero because he's blinded with rage. But a Tamer's job is to tame."
"How the hell am I supposed to tame that monstrosity?"
"That monstrosity...is our friend."
"I know that."
"Then you know you have to save him."
How? Why won't Kenichi tell me how? Of course I want to save Zero; he is my friend. I wish he would have had someone stronger than me as a partner...but he doesn't. Right now I am all he's got.
And I'm going to stop him, no matter what it takes.
- - -
Taichi stands in Imperialdramon Zero's path.
Zero roars, and fires several positron lasers near the boy.
"I love you, Zeromaru. I love you, and I'm not afraid enough of you to be scared off.
"Power down. Let everything go," says Taichi. "That's all you have to do to be free."
"Free...?" asks Zero.
"Yeah, free."
Zero studies Taichi a moment. "No."
"Don't you want to be free?"
"I want to destroy Neo. I want to destroy...everything!" With that, Zero launches a Giga Death towards Taichi, at point-blank range.
Taichi stands still, his crest aura glowing bright. The death beam connects with the aura; both Zero and Taichi are blasted backwards.
- - - -
I have such a headache. Waking up, I notice Kenichi and Taichi.
"You look adorable." Despite the Terrier-chan's little quip, his face looks grim.
Can't blame him for teasing me, though. I'm in my training stage, one of the most tooth decay-inducing forms a digimon can adopt.
Chibimon. Known as Demiveemon in Eastern and Southern. Yuck.
[AN: Zero is obviously too concerned with his "tough" image. Chibimon is so cute...aww....]
Not that I'm worried too much about that. Kenichi's Kokomon mode is even worse in the cute department. But my real concern is for the kid. I know I shot at Taichi, and I don't know how his body remained intact.
"Taichi." I shake the kid. No response. "Taichi? Can you hear me, freshie?
"Taichi!" Why is all of this water leaking out of my eyes? "Taichi! Please get up; I didn't mean it....
"Taichi...."
- - - -
Kenichi notes that a mysterious, white-robed child has picked up an unconscious Leafmon.
"What are you doing?" the Terriermon asks.
The masked boy smiles. "Taking him home."
"Who are you?"
"That...is not your concern at the moment. You'll find out soon enough, at my discretion."
"But Zed has to be punished for his evil."
"Zed is under my protection. Do not cross me." With that, the mysterious boy disappears with Zed, the Leafmon.
In defeat, Kenichi sighs and heads back to Zero and Taichi.
Taichi's fate...is unknown.
- - - -
A part of me did die that day; at least that's how it feels. I used to be ready for any adventure. Now I'm basically scared of my own shadow. Fine Child of Courage I am.
Ken smiles at me. "Is that the worst you could have done?"
"I...should have known better." I really should have. If Zero doesn't eat, something's wrong.
"Come on, Taichi," says Daisuke. "Be serious. We've all fouled up at some point in our experience with the digital world.
"You did pretty good considering you weren't trained. If we get someone like Ryo to train you, you'd be unstoppable."
Wonderful. Trained by Ryo the Drone. Thanks, but I'd rather keep my angst.
"Sure, he's hard to get along with," continues Dai, guessing my lack of confidence, "but deep down, he's cool. He knows so much about the digital world, and he has that Walther Shot thing."
"It's a modified digivice peripheral," notes Ken with a slight note of annoyance. Or probably envy.
After all, Ryo gets a kakkoi laser weapon that can amplify and fire digimon attacks; while Ken gets a whip, a disco costume, and big stupid glasses. At least he lost the Van de Graff hair.
Then again, who am I to talk about big hair?
"Ryo just isn't social, that's all," grins Mimi. "He was born in the country, and spent most of his adolescence here with digimon.
"Although he is coming out of his shell," she adds with a smirk in Ryo's direction. Guess he isn't immune to girls. Or to Hikari at least.
Why Hikari...? Forget it. I'm tired of giving old "Bright Noah" a hard time. It's his fault-he got me into watching UC Gundam.
= = =
I awake to the digital sun. It casts light over everything, even my slumber.
Why do you intrude upon my rest? Why do you shine in my world of darkness? I have no need for you and your heat, for I have chosen evil.
Mari enters, with her face of cheerfulness. The twit opens the window wide, letting in more sun so her soft skin can drink it in.
"Enjoy," I smile. "You won't see many more sunrises."
"What," asks Mari, "are you going to cast out the sun?"
"That has been my will from the beginning." I'll let her think for once. Mari has a limited mind, but it's her own.
Not for long though. Soon she will be mine forever. A garden removed from the sun must turn to darkness for her light.
"I want you and Rosie to capture Inoue and Motomiya. There's a bonus if you capture Yagami Hikari as well." The bonus is a simple pleasure of her choice. She's easy to please, in so many ways.
"Why them? Their capture won't give us much of a tactical advantage," muses Mari. "Except for Dai's Veemon, of course."
"I want them to be here. Unless you want to romp with me in the sheets again," I smirk. She is so lovely when I torment her. I must do it more often, until the image of her heart is darkness.
But as long as she cherishes you, Taichi, she will have to suffer. Why?
I ponder this, tracing my scars. Due to my tempestuous Ken, they're more pronounced. I know them as cracks in my flawless mask.
Why do I torment her? Why do I ravage the world you love, Taichi?
Because I hate you.
