DIGIMON TAMERS: AFTERMATH
BOOK 3
by Vashkoda
(Disclaimer: This work of fiction uses characters belonging to Toei and Saban without their permission. I am getting no profit from it. I only do it because I think Digimon is a great show, and I want to keep the story alive!)
Author's Note: Sorry for making the chapters end so strangely, but it was hard to find good cut-off points. Anyways, the finale will come tomorrow. These three 'books' have been a lot of work, but I think it was worth it. I hope the rest of you enjoyed it.
As always, thank you for your reviews.
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"Do you think the others will be okay without us?*
Takato felt a pang of guilt at his partner's question. The others had encouraged him to go after Juri, despite the fact that they were hard-pressed fighting the rebels, Sovereign, and Ryo's warped Mega. Yet Dukemon wasn't much good to them in a battle where they didn't dare hurt any of their opponents. His power was in his offensive attacks, and the only enemy they truly wanted to take down was the D-Reaper.
"We have to find out what's happening with the D-Reaper, and save Juri if we can," Takato reminded him. "Guilmon, see if you can contact Grani. We'll need him to get Juri out of here once we find her."
*Already have. He's on his way.*
"Good."
*Takato,* began his partner hesitantly. *What if-*
"Don't even think it!" snapped Takato. "We will save her, Guilmon! I won't let the D-Reaper have her a second time!"
They reached the crest of the hill and spotted Kenta leaning over a comatose Elecmon. Dukemon ran over to meet them.
"Kenta, where's Juri?"
The green-haired boy pointed a shaking finger down the opposite slope of the hill. "She's over there, in one of MarineAngemon's bubbles. He tried to break it open but something was keeping her inside. Juri and Culumon are trapped in there with the D-Reaper."
"Then I'll break it open!" shouted Takato.
Kenta looked at him uncertainly.
*Wait Takato! You might hurt Juri and Culumon!* cautioned Guilmon.
The ground beneath them suddenly lurched, causing Kenta to lose his balance and stumble. Dukemon braced himself and reached out to steady the other Tamer.
"What was that?" cried Kenta, fumbling for the glasses that had fallen from his face.
Dukemon growled. "The Sovereign are under attack. Their control over the Digital World is weakening." His words were punctuated by a loud clap of thunder as dark clouds rolled through the sky.
"Go help MarineAngemon!" ordered Takato. "He's trying to shield them!"
Kenta shook his head slowly, staring at his digivice despondently. "He's already at Mega level. There isn't anything more I can do for him."
"He isn't as strong without you," insisted Guilmon, surprising Takato as he took over Dukemon's voice. "You're his Tamer. He needs you."
"That's right," added Takato, following his partner's lead. "You should've seen yourself when you were merged together, Kenta. You were five times bigger than MarineAnegmon's regular size!"
"Really?" asked Kenta in surprise, looking out towards the cliffs where the battle with the rebels was still raging.
"Hurry!" urged Dukemon. "The others will see you coming and open up a path through the front lines. If you need help de-digivolving MarineAngemon, ask Jen. He showed me a trick with the digivice."
Kenta raced down the hill. Takato watched him go until he was certain he would make it, then turned his attention to Elecmon.
"What's happening to Juri?" the knight asked him, wishing that the small digimon could answer.
"Please, Leomon," Takato whispered. "Watch over her."
"You aren't strong," snapped Juri, even as the creature continued to drag her down. "If you were, you'd be brave enough to search for what your true purpose is!"
"And how am I supposed to do that?" it sneered, narrowing its golden eyes.
"Culuuu! Juri knows!" piped up Culumon. Juri turned in surprise to look at the small digimon. She had been focusing so much on the D-Reaper that she had almost forgotten her little friend. But what did he mean about Juri having the answer?
"Look into her mind, culu-culu!"
The D-Reaper tugged the chain once again, bringing Juri's face closer. She could feel the dark entity probing her thoughts, and reflexively tried raising a mental shield to block it. But to her dismay, the walls that once protected her were gone. Juri then remembered what Leomon had said about the need for her to be open to the D-Reaper.
She allowed her mind to be filled with images of her first encounter with the creature. She could sense that the digimon was carefully sifting through her memories, but Juri forced herself not to look. She did not want to deal with the painful emotions associated with them.
"I see nothing," grumbled the D-Reaper impatiently.
"Culu! Search deeper!"
Juri realized that she was hearing both digimon voices in her head. It felt strange, being connected to them this way. She wondered if this was what it was like to be merged with one's partner.
Then her thoughts focused on a half-buried memory taking place shortly after the D-Reaper's defeat. The Tamers were meeting with members of the Wild Bunch, who during the course of the conversation, began discussing the purpose of the deviant program. Juri had only been paying half attention, automatically blocking out any mention of the D-Reaper. Yet in this memory, she was recalling everyone's words perfectly, as if the scene were playing out again before her.
The D-Reaper was a program that had appeared near the time of the Digital World's creation, Shibumi explained. It was supposed to be a means of controlling the amount of data in the Digital World, to ensure that it didn't exceed maximum capacity. The critical flaw was that the D-Reaper could not distinguish living data from excess data, and would wipe out everything if given the chance. Unlike digimon, it was a simple program with no conscience, no sense of right and wrong to guide it. Limited only by its most basic programming, it was a virtual god--a power too great to summon.
"I was like that too, once, culu--so the Sovereign kept me bottled up and only let my power drip out bit by bit. But then Qinglongmon changed me into a digimon, and I was set free, culuuu!" The little digimon sounded awed. Juri realized that it was not just the D-Reaper who was sharing those memories with her. Culumon, too, read her mind, and relearned the history he had forgotten.
"You're different now, don't you see?" cried Juri, suddenly realizing the message that Culumon was trying to give. "You're digimon! You and Culumon have already evolved into something greater than what you were. Now you can finally achieve your true purpose!"
She could sense the D-Reaper's amazement and its growing understanding. Suddenly she could no longer feel either presence in her mind, yet the experience left her momentarily reeling. When she finally looked up, she saw that the red slime and cables had vanished. Culumon was free, and hopped towards her excitedly.
"Culuuu, you did it Juri! Now we both know what we have to do!"
"I'm glad," she said, smiling. "Though where did he go?" She couldn't see Culumon's clone anywhere.
Culumon giggled. "She's a she, Juri! I told her she should call herself Calamon. I think she likes it, culuuu! But we'll be needing a new name, soon." The little digimon looked troubled for a moment, then jumped onto Juri's shoulder and gave her a quick embrace.
"You have to go now. I'll try to teach her right and wrong--I promise, Juri, culu!"
"What do you mean? What's going on, Culumon?"
Without answering, he gave her a surprisingly strong shove against the walls of the bubble and she passed through without resistance to land softly on the grass outside.
Juri spent a moment staring at the iridescent bubble, trying to decide what to do. Now that her protective walls were gone, she felt vulnerable and afraid. She wished that she could still feel Leomon's comforting presence, but it too was gone.
She had a choice now--to build a new wall and continue to hide behind it for the rest of her life, or to leave herself open to all life's experiences--good and bad--facing new challenges as bravely as she could.
Leomon would want her to be brave. He would remind her that hope alone could accomplish the greatest of deeds, even if there was great risk involved.
I can't go on if there's no hope, Juri realized. I'm so tired of being afraid....
A small blip of light appeared on her D-Arc, coming closer. She looked up and saw an Elecmon at the crest of the hill, looking down at her with mixed expressions of concern and relief. Juri recognized it as the Elecmon she had met upon entering the reformatted Digital World. She remembered how hard it had struggled to remain a Leomon despite being weakened by the D-Reap...by Calamon. She knew that he had done so for her, because she would need him to be strong. He was so much like the Leomon she knew...and yet didn't this Elecmon deserve to live his own life, a life that could be far better if he were not saddled with Juri as a partner? What right did she have to burden him with the memories of his old life, and of his death?
She ran up the hill to join him. "Elecmon-" she began, then paused in surprise as she saw Dukemon come up behind him.
"Juri..." the knight said, kneeling down beside her. "I was so worried. What happened to you? What happened to the D-Reaper and Culumon?"
"I'm not sure," she said, then looked back in surprise to discover that the bubble had vanished.
"Well then, we may not have seen the last of it," sighed Dukemon. "At least you're safe for now, and I'm going to make sure you stay that way."
"What do you mean?" Suddenly she heard the piercing whistle of engines and looked up to see Grani gliding through the air, heading straight towards them. It dropped speed and altitude and came to rest hovering a few feet from Dukemon. The dragon knight ran a hand along its wings in affection.
"Thank you for coming, Grani. We need you to take Juri home."
Juri was stunned into silence for a long moment. "Wait, no Takato, I can't go home yet."
The eyes beneath the visor narrowed. "I'm fulfilling my half of the deal, Juri. You helped us find Culumon. Now I'm taking you home."
"But...but I don't want to go yet!" Things were moving too fast. She needed more time to think! What did she really want?
Dukemon's voice took on an edge of frustration. "Look Juri, the Digital World isn't safe. We're doing the best we can to keep the Sovereign and rebels from killing each other, but our chances don't look all that good right now. You shouldn't be here."
"I stay and help. You go," urged her partner, nodding his head towards Grani.
"No, I can't let you do this alone, Elecmon. Leomon never abandoned me when I needed him." The hand holding her D-Arc suddenly began to feel warmer.
"C'mon, this is crazy, Juri!" argued Dukemon. "You wanted to go home! You didn't want anything to do with this place!"
"Yeah, well I changed my mind," she said resolutely. Juri knelt down and wrapped her arms around Elecmon, squeezing him gratefully. He returned the embrace, rubbing his whiskered cheek against her shoulder.
"I won't let you do this!"
"Why?" she replied, giving Takato a challenging stare.
"Be-cause I- I..." he stammered, avoiding her gaze. "Because I care for you," he admitted softly. "I love you, Juri."
Juri was speechless. She was surprised to find that a part of her had recognized Takato's feelings and had secretly reciprocated them all this time, but that she had never allowed herself to be fully conscious of it, blocking it out as she had once walled herself from everything.
How many similar opportunities had she allowed to slip past? How much of her life had she wasted being so focused on her own little world that she ignored the one around her?
"Takato, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I-"
The ground began shaking again, but this time it didn't stop. Large fissures split open from the ground, hissing steam. They all quickly climbed atop Grani.
"So you agree to go home?" asked Dukemon hopefully.
Juri shot him a look of apology and shook her head. "I told you, I can't Takato. I'm a Tamer too, and I have to do my part. Please, give me your deck."
Dukemon looked at her for a long moment, then sighed and summoned Takato's digimon cards to his hand.
"Be careful," he said in a flat voice, handing her the deck.
"I will be," she promised, smiling at him. But Dukemon had already turned around to navigate Grani towards the battlefield and didn't notice.
Lightning fell all around them, igniting fires across the hills. The air had turned cold and their breaths turned to mist. Juri huddled closer to Elecmon and examined the deck. She wished she still remembered the things Ruki had taught her about the game. She didn't recognize most of the cards in her hand.
Should she biomerge with Elecmon? No, that wasn't a decision she should rush through. She needed more time to think about the risks and discuss them with Elecmon. She would simply have to hope the cards were enough.
"Takato!" cried the others below as they spotted their approach. The few rebels that hadn't run away in fear from the storm suddenly decided to call it quits when they spotted the Tamers' reinforcements. Juri began to feel hope that they would make it through this after all.
Then she saw the condition of the Sovereign. They seemed ready to collapse, the digicores floating suspended around their bodies glowing only dimly. Their skin was ripped or burned away in places, leaving gaping wounds that shimmered to reveal the raw data underneath. Standing guard over them were Beelzebumon, SaintGalgomon, Sakuyamon, MarineAngemon, and HighAndromon, also horribly battered.
A sixth Mega digimon hovered over them. Not recognizing it, Juri took out her D-Arc and pointed it at the creature.
"Sujinmon: machine-type digimon named for the god of water; delivers a quadruple-hit ultra-powerful attack."
"Yeah, we already found that out," quipped SaintGalgomon, wincing as he rubbed a blast wound on his right arm. Juri found it amazing yet also reassuring that Terriermon could continue to be funny at a time like this.
"Juri, get off," hissed Dukemon, lowering Grani to the ground. Juri looked at him in askance, but he wouldn't turn to face her.
"Takato, what are you going to do?"
Dukemon didn't speak for a long moment, then finally answered, "What I have to. Ryo isn't himself, but we can't let him continue to destroy the Digital World. We don't have any other options. Grani has already agreed."
Juri realized in shock what he was planning to do. "But...but Grani will be killed!" she cried.
"We'll find some other way home."
"No, Takato, that's not what I mean! Grani is your friend! You finally have him back, and now you're ready to sacrifice him again!" Tears formed in her eyes as Juri realized the irony in her words. Leomon had also been returned to her, and yet she had been ready to leave him behind in the Digital World to an unknown fate.
"He wasn't supposed to return in the first place. It diminished the honor and memory of his sacrifice. Isn't that what you once told me about bringing back Leomon?" Dukemon asked, as if reading her thoughts.
"Jen said...something very similar...to me," wheezed Qinglongmon, opening his rheumy eyes. "I didn't understand at first. I thought that bringing the digimon back would make everyone happy, and that it was a good enough reason to try. But I've learned since then how terrible my mistake was."
"It was a mistake to try to change things," agreed Juri, "but now it's done. An even bigger mistake would be ignore the good that's come of it and repeat the past!"
"Little fly talk too much."
Sujinmon raised his palms to strike at Juri, but Grani flew upwards at once and pulled her to safety. The machine digimon glared at them as he charged up his cannons.
"Mugen Canon!"