"Primary colors
We're still primary colors
Afraid of mixing with each other
Primary colors
Everything is up to our future selves
When we join hands
We'll be infinitely expanding colors."
Takato Matsuda, Ruki Makino, Jenrya Lee—"3 Primary Colors"
(Translated by Megchan)
With Broken Wings
Chapter Six: "3 Primary Colors"
Kouichi growled in fury, pacing around the room and creating total havoc in his study. His loss of control over Kouji had done more than just to frustrate him; he was maniacally releasing his emotions into full-blown rage.
"I nearly had him!" he shouted. "He had succumbed to my power and his life was in my hands! I could have killed him if it hadn't been for her!"
He lifted his desk and threw it against the wall, disrupting the books he used for his studies. He grabbed a book off the shelf and glanced at it for a moment before throwing it into the door.
"Everything is just child's play in here for me!" he roared. "I am the most superior being in two worlds! Nothing can stand in my way! But somehow those two do!" He slammed his fists on the overturned desk in anger, cracking the wood in his rage.
"What power," the Kaiser's voice commented. "Kouichi, end your rage for a moment and look around at what you've done."
Kouichi looked at the radius of destruction around him. His desk, which had housed several books and whatever reports his Imperial Guard could dish out on the Resistance, had been very heavy, and he'd tossed it as though it was nothing.
"Where did that come from?" Kouichi questioned. "How did I do it?"
"Seems you've finally mastered my power," the Kaiser observed. "We have become one."
"Then how are we still able to converse with each other?" he asked.
"I am keeping a part of myself from fully assimilating with you," the Kaiser explained. "I do not wish to repeat the errors Ken made."
"Understandable," Kouichi replied. "But don't you tire of being mainly a spirit without a permanent body?"
"Your intellect and insight have rapidly enhanced too," the Kaiser noticed. "Yes, being a mere entity can be redundant, but it does empower me with abilities far beyond mortal man—even Digimon. Before my imprisonment in the Dark Ocean, I had never found a single person that could even possibly tap into my power. Not even the great dictators and forces of evil of the past could even scratch the surface: not Hitler, not Nero, not anyone. But then there was Ken—only eight years old! He was the one, but his Crest of Kindness was his greatest fault. He was far too gentle with his slaves and his heart too soft. True, his soul was dark, but that consisted almost entirely of angst. It was as if I had inhabited another from that world, Yamato Ishida, or a girl from another world, Juri Katou. Yamato only doubted himself and Juri simply let her sorrow use her for evil purposes. Like those two, Ken was unable to understand the meaning of loss. He still weeps for his brother Osamu. You did not weep for your grandmother, am I correct?"
"Some," Kouichi admitted, briefly remembering being summoned to his grandmother's deathbed four years ago, and being told that he had a younger (and in his and Kaiser's opinion, pathetic) twin. "She died while I was in the Digital World. Life and death were just something I learned to accept. Everyone is destined to die."
"And that's one reason why I find you to be the perfect host," the Kaiser answered. "You do not attach yourself to material objects or persons, knowing that you'll only lose them in the end. I can see why Cherubimon selected you for the Spirits of Darkness. You truly are the darkness. We complement each other rather well, wouldn't you say?"
"I agree of course," Kouichi replied, lying through his teeth. He didn't entirely trust the being he shared a body with. He trusted the Kaiser no more than say, Monodramon would trust Millenniumon in the other world, where Ryo was. But every word of the Kaiser's counsel had been fruitful. In a way, he was somewhat relieved that the Kaiser had restricted part of his consciousness. Often, at night, before going to bed, Kouichi would wonder what would happen if the Kaiser decided to completely fuse with him. Would he still be the same? Or would he be the nameless soul Ken had been? Or the puppet Juri had been? Or the despaired consumption of darkness Yamato had been?
Kouichi laughed at his misgivings. "I am the Digimon Kaiser. I rule two worlds, not one. What fear have I of defeat? Why should I compare myself to those three weaklings?" He laughed even harder. "I don't even need to evolve to win. All of this is mine! Not Löwemon's or KaiserLeomon's, but the Kaiser's! I'm in control now."
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"DigiCode Scan!" ordered Chakmon. The black ring of data entered his D-scanner and neutralized, leaving behind three very confused Fladramon.
"What happened?" asked one.
"What were we doing?" another questioned.
Chakmon devolved into a very-much-changed (and five-foot-two tall) Tomoki Himi. His brown hair was again highlighted with summer blond, and his sickly pale skin had a rich bronze tan. One look at him, and it was common to mistake him as a younger Takuya. His green eyes were less fearful, and now sparkling like emeralds. But even though he had grown older, he still retained an irresistible innocence.
"You were under the Kaiser's control, remember?" he asked in a voice that had deepened with maturity.
"We were?" the third asked. "I don't remember a thing."
"Maybe it's better that you don't," Tomoki reasoned. "But please, join us in our fight. We're trying to defeat the Kaiser so we can free the worlds."
"I'm in," the first decided.
"Same here," the second agreed. "It would be nice to keep our freedom."
"You know I'm with you," the third added.
"Then it's settled," Tomoki answered. "I'll take you to base."
Keeping an eye out for enemy troops, the foursome made their way to one of the many Resistance bases scattered throughout the Digital World. An African-American girl stood guard outside.
"Three Fladramon, Tomoki?" she observed. "Good work, Legendary Warrior of Ice."
The Fladramon stared in shock as Tomoki smiled modestly and replied, "It wasn't easy, Skye. If Takuya onii-chan hadn't taught me how to pit ice against fire, I never would have made it past their vicious attacks." He was obviously exaggerating to make the Fladramon look good. He turned to them and continued. "You guys put up a great fight. I thought I was done for a few times."
Skye smiled at how much Tomoki praised the Fladramon even though he'd probably beaten them fairly easily, especially if he used his B-Spirit. He was what—thirteen?—and he was still the same as he'd been four years ago, minus the crying. Now he was one of the strongest fighters the Resistance had to offer, but he was still the innocent boy who'd been pulled into everything by accident.
Skye Parker wasn't new to the Resistance thing. She and her older brother Quince had been adopted by Resistance fighters when their parents were captured as slaves. At thirteen, Skye was an expert in weaponry, her aim rumored to even rival Sakiko's. And with her chocolate brown skin, jet-black hair, and dark brown eyes, she got the blood flowing of many guys her age. But it didn't matter because she was taken—and by Tomoki Himi, no less.
Tomoki walked further into base, greeting several of his friends along the way.
"Three Fladramon?" questioned an ROTC student named Lisa.
"That's even better than the Tailmon you defeated," commented a twenty-year-old named Ataru.
Tomoki smiled as he remembered that battle. A Tailmon had ambushed him when he didn't have his D-scanner with him. He fought her in hand-to-hand combat until Takuya had managed to arrive to scan the evil DigiCode. Ever since then, Tailmon had been a close friend and a powerful ally, even learning to evolve into Angewomon. Rumors flew around the troop that she was the Plotmon that was the incarnation of Ophanimon, but if she was, she wasn't talking.
"Tomoki," Tailmon called, "Kage and the others want you."
"Coming," he replied, letting Tailmon lead him to what the militia affectionately called the Inner Circle—the conference area of the base.
Inside the Inner Circle were Takuya and Junpei, as well as their girlfriends Tram-Anh Nguyen and Katrina Vostok. Tram-Anh was a Vietnamese-American fourteen-year-old from the depths of Washington, D.C. Along with being well trained in several forms of the martial arts (a black belt in karate and an expert in aikido, kung-fu, and tae kwon do), she was calm and collected like Kouji—a complete foil to Takuya, who remained hot-blooded and short-tempered. Some people said that Takuya had fallen in love with her silky jet-black hair and almond-shaped amber eyes, but it wasn't the truth. In fact, no one was quite sure what the real reason was that they could tolerate each other, but Katrina surmised that it was because Takuya's brother Shinya was good friends with Tram-Anh's cousin Cam. Tram-Anh never ran into a situation without thinking it through completely, which had earned her the position of tactical manager, second only to Kage.
Katrina had long curly brown hair and light brown eyes. Her mother, Tania Martinez, was a Cuban immigrant who'd flocked to Florida. Her father was of Russian descent, and was visiting Miami when he'd fallen in love with Tania. They were married a year later and had been on their second honeymoon in Puerto Rico when Katrina was born. She held a Russian name and Latina beauty. Her expertise was in survival tactics, so she was a prized member of the team.
Kage walked in, carrying his infamous computer. He nodded at his forces, observing that most of them were all there. His team had fallen in love with people from their own continent and those from other continents. There had been no thought for trying to maintain stretched relationships in the future. But, then again, there would be no future if they didn't win. The important thing was the here and now.
"We'll begin when Skye and Val get here," he announced.
Valerie LaSalle was the co-leader of the D.C./Fuji Resistance force, commanding alongside Kage. Valerie was twenty-nine, twelve years older than Kage, which aided his excuse for harboring no romantic interest in her. Well, not only that, but rumor said he liked a girl named Tori, who was with the Chiba/Beijing Resistance movement. Valerie had been with the Navy Seals after dropping out of the Air Force ("Not my style," she claimed. "The flying's good, but you're only able to shoot from a distance. You can't stop these guys head-on. Besides, if you kill someone, it would be better to see them face-to-face. More honorable, I think."). She was most at home with stealth operations and raids, so she and Takuya were always the ones leading the others undetected into an enemy encampment. Her life was full of rules and rigid order, which caused her to constantly lose her patience with many Resistance fighters.
"Sorry we're late!" Skye apologized, running in with Valerie. "I had to threaten—er, convince Quince to take over for me." Quince was her laid-back brother, older by a year.
"And I was waiting for her," Valerie explained. "We need a permanent guard so some of our best fighters don't have to grovel at their older brothers' feet."
"I was not groveling!"
"Val, this is the best we can do for now," Kage reasoned, interrupting Skye's exclamation. "We're only militia."
"I know, but I know we could have better. So long as we had some rules, these warriors wouldn't be quite as liable to run off."
"Rules and regulations don't make a good warrior!" Takuya argued.
"And ancient Spirits don't make one either," Valerie replied.
"This is the best we have here," Tram-Anh reasoned. "I think we can both agree that experience makes a warrior great. Right, Takuya? Val?" They nodded, not happy, but accepting the compromise for the time being.
"Okay, if there are no more threats of war breaking out, let's get down to business," Kage decided. "While Tomoki was handling those Fladramon, Tram-Anh managed to intercept a message heading for the Mugendramon general further in the jungle." He held up a CD-ROM. "And this is what we found." He quickly ran the program in his computer. The picture of a high school student appeared, along with a long, intricately coded message. "From what Val and I could decipher, this kid—Masaki Nishigawa—was kidnapped right in front of the Kaiser."
"Bet that scared Kouichi," Takuya decided.
"The kidnapping is supposedly a Resistance plot to overthrow the Kaiser," Kage continued. "And our dear friend Kaiser is positive Kouji's behind it."
"Then Kouji hasn't been captured," Tomoki realized.
"But there's no guarantee that he's alive either," Junpei pointed out.
"Can I finish?" Kage questioned. "There's more to this story than you think. Shutumon was the one that grabbed this Masaki guy. And yes, this does prove that Izumi's okay." He saved the picture of Masaki in his Photoshop program. "Remember when we claimed the hospital? Dr. Yamamoto gave Kouji and Izumi false names without telling us. He didn't want us to recognize the nom de plumes."
"So you think that Masaki and Kouji might be one and the same," Katrina guessed.
Kage pasted an old APB photo of Kouji next to the one of Masaki. "I don't think that. I know it. Remember, Kouji cut his hair. What if he didn't have it grow out again? Just place gray contacts in his eyes and you have an eleven-year-old version of Masaki."
"Nice trick," Valerie admitted. "Faking your own kidnapping and blaming it on yourself. But how is he going to get himself out of this?"
And so she lit the fuse.
"Look, I know Kouji!" Takuya defended. "He's gotten himself out of more situations than you think! He spent five months rotting in the Kaiser's prisons, for God's sake! He'll think of something; he always does."
"Calm down," Valerie ordered in a reasonable voice. "I'm not criticizing your friend. From what you all tell me, he is nowhere near impulsive, and he's so rational it's impossible for him to be human or Digimon. All I'm saying is that he's gotten himself into a very tough situation. If he was in danger before, he may be in even deeper trouble now." Kage blinked. Was it just him, or were these personalities finally mixing?
"Kage, didn't you add evolution options into an artificial digivice?" Skye checked.
"Yes, I did," he answered, recovering from his prior surprise. "Tomoki's brother uses it for Gabumon."
"And if I'm right, Gabumon's Ultimate form is MetalGarurumon, who looks a lot like Garmmon," Skye remembered.
"Mm-hmm," Kage replied.
"Then that's…"
Quince Parker and one of the Fladramon ran into the Inner Circle. Both looked full of excitement and fear, ready for a fight.
"Mugendramon's forces are moving out," Quince informed. "This is the moment we've been waiting for!"
"All right, let's get to it," Kage decided.
"Anyone who can evolve, do it now!" Valerie ordered. "Move it, people!"
"B-Spirits, you three," Kage advised.
Everyone pulled out a D-scanner or some kind of weapon. The Chosen Children evolved into Vritramon, Bolgmon, and Blizzarmon. Tailmon became Angewomon, a Terriermon went to Galgomon, and a Piyomon evolved twice into Garudamon. Quickly, they hid in the shadows of the jungle, so as to avoid being spotted by the troops.
"Okay, now!" Kage ordered.
"Corona Blaster!"
"Double Thunder!"
"Avalanche Step!"
"Holy Arrow!"
"Shadow Wing!"
"Gatling Arm!"
Attacks, lasers, bullets, and whatever else the D.C. weapons fired went flying through the air. It was the loudest battle the three Legendary Warriors had ever fought. Humans and Digimon alike were shouting out long strings of curses in various languages. Other Digimon would be yelling out attacks.
"Forget the forces; get the general!" Valerie shouted to the Chosen while she fought off a MegaloGrowmon.
"Corona Blaster!"
"Double Thunder!"
Blizzarmon had his hands full with a MarineDevimon that just wouldn't give up.
"Angewomon, help them out over there," he requested. She nodded in agreement and flew to Mugendramon.
"Infinity Cannon!" he attacked, blasting at the two Hybrids.
"Holy Arrow!" Angewomon fired the glowing white arrow at Mugendramon's cannon, crippling it.
"Ah, so now it is the angel's turn," he observed. "It will take much more than a simple Holy Arrow to vanquish me." MarineDevimon suddenly went flying over his head, bringing his attention to Blizzarmon.
"Will this be enough?" he questioned, throwing an ax in the general's side. The metallic creature shouted in anguish as a sparkling ring of DigiCode appeared.
"He was a mercenary," Angewomon realized. Blizzarmon nodded in agreement and devolved. He held out his D-scanner and pressed a button on the side.
"DigiCode Scan!"
This was the longest chain of DigiCode any of the Chosen Children had ever scanned. It took a full five minutes to enter the digivice and another three minutes to exit.
"That took a while," Tomoki commented, somewhat out of breath.
"Some of the other troops are still fighting," Angewomon alerted. "We'd better help our friends out."
"Right," he agreed.
"Knuckle Fire!" a Fladramon attacked, nailing several enemies square in the chest.
"DigiCode Scan!" Quince ordered. His scan was kind of sloppy, leaving behind specks of data, but he was sure to clean up after himself.
Kage fired lasers from his newer gun, as Kouji still had his old one. No matter which weapon he used, his aim was always on target, landing a direct hit nine out of ten times (during the ninth time, he'd been sideswiped by the tenth, so he managed to only get one).
"DigiCode Scan!" His scan wasn't exactly flawless, but he did manage to absorb every trace of the data, no matter how shaky the scan had been.
"Three ahead!" Tomoki observed. Angewomon put her hands together, releasing a pink light.
"Heaven's Charm!"
The power rushed forward, eradicating the three Infermon attackers while Tomoki scanned the data.
"Seems like we're only running into more and more mercenaries," Valerie noticed.
"You're right," Kage agreed. "I wonder if that means the Kaiser's keeping back his power."
"Doesn't matter," Vritramon replied. "Keep it up!"
They kept up their fighting, never once stopping for breath. As long as there was something to fight for, they'd never stop. Despite the fact they all were entirely different, they were all one in their cause: freedom. And with that, no colors could ever not mix for the fight.
Remember people that this fic isn't about Kouzumi. And yes, I did rip of Ken's line from "Genesis of Evil" for Kouichi. You'll see me using them a lot more often in coming chapters. Also, for some odd reason, I'm using stuff Master Asia from G Gundam would say for Kaiser's lines. This chapter is to let you know what happened to the others after "Mirai Part One." Also, keep this story in mind when you read "Version Up" and "Yuuki wo Tsubasa ni Shite." Tram-Anh comes from Tram-Anh Tran who played Tina Nguyen on Ghostwriter.