Alice was desperate. How could they do this to her? They had created Dobermon in the first place so why shouldn't they be able to bring him back now? What kind of gods where they if they couldn't even do that? They were not better than any other mega level digimon if they couldn't even do that so what gave them the right to call themselves Sovereigns? What made them more special than others?
Flashback
They had finally reached the place where, as Ryo had told her, they would meet the Sovereigns of the Digi-world. Alice had to admit it was quiet impressive. There was some kind of island, which was cut off from the surrounding land by a seemingly bottomless pit over which four narrow bridges had been built. One bridge for each direction and Sovereign, Ryo had told her.
But as they came closer they noticed that the bridges were severely damaged and using them would be no good idea at all. The other thing they noticed was the groups of digimon who were busily working on the reconstruction of the bridges. They approached a smaller group of Gazimon who were carrying some ropes to the construction site.
"If you are here to see the Sovereigns you'll have to use that gateway over there. As you can see the bridge is not ready yet and shouldn't be used so the Sovereigns installed a gateway in each of the four directions. But I warn you not to disturb them without a good reason. Zhuqiaomon is still not too fond of humans and it would be wise not to anger him," one of the Gazimon explained before it disappeared into a larger group of digimon.
They shrugged of the strange behavior of the digimon and continued on their way to the gateway the Gazimon had been speaking of.
The gateway itself turned out to be a small circular platform made of a shimmering dark metal which neither of them had ever seen before. Alice went a little closer to get a better look at the strange machine.
"I guess we won't get any further if we just stay here gawking at that thing."
"You're right. Let's try it. What's life without a little risk now and then," he grinned before taking the girls hand and stepping onto the metal platform.
* * *
They had just stepped into the dark circle but only one moment later they had already reached their goal. Slowly Alice opened her light blue eyes, which she had pressed shut as she had stepped onto the gateway only to stand face to face with the four Sovereigns.
They were in the middle of the circular island and the four holy beasts were gathered around them. Azulongmon, the guardian of the east was to their right, Baihumon the guardian of the west and Ebonwumon, the guardian of the north were watching the two humans from their left and from behind, and finally Zhuqiaomon, proud guardian of the south, who was right in front of them.
The majestic bird digimon was eyeing them carefully not even trying to hide his distrust and hostility.
"What is it that you need to see the four Sovereigns of the Digital world for? What could be important enough to disturb us and what makes you think that we will listen to you?" the phoenix-like creature demanded with arrogance in his voice.
Alice took a step towards the guardian of the south seemingly unaware of his resentment.
"I'm here to ask you for a favor only you can do me. I don't know much about you or the Digi-world but I know that only you have the power to help me."
Zhuqiaomon watched to girl intently but without showing aggression or interrupting her as she continued.
"I know that you created Dobermon and sent him to our world to support the Tamers in their battle against D-reaper. I accompanied Dobermon until he dutifully died fulfilling his purpose."
As the young girl stopped for a moment to take a breath Ryo was sure he had seen a single tear rolling down her pale cheek. But she didn't bother to brush it away. Instead she went on.
"I'm well aware that I'm not Dobermon's tamer and that I have no right to demand such a thing but I want you to bring Dobermon back to life. Bring him back, please!"
For a few seconds none of them spoke but then Zhuqiaomon answered with his booming voice.
"No!"
It was just a single word but it was enough to shatter all hopes Alice had had. At first she looked as if she was going to cry but then her face became stern and she angrily shook her head.
"Why do you deny my request? Tell me what I've done wrong and I'll apologize for it but don't ignore me as if I was nothing but an unwanted toy! It wasn't easy to get here but I did it and now you just say 'no'? I won't accept that!"
Before she could say anything else Azulongmon raised his voice and interrupted her raving.
"Do not misunderstand our intentions. It is not that we do not care about your request. Not at all. It is a brave thing to come here and to ask us for help and we are well aware of the troubles you must have been going through but that does not change the fact that we cannot grant you this wish. I am sorry but we do not have the ability to bring this Dobermon back."
Now Alice was truly shattered. It couldn't be true. They had created him why wouldn't they be able to give him life once again.
"But you are the ones who created him in the first place. Why can't you just do that again?" she asked with her voice trembling.
"It is one thing to create a digimon but it is an entirely different one to revive a digimon which has been destroyed in your world with all his data scattered by the wind. We are sorry but this is not possible for us to do. Even our powers are limited." the turtle-like guardian of the north, Ebonwumon, tried to explain. "But maybe you can find a way to do what we can not. We have seen humans doing seemingly impossible things before so I would not be surprised if you found a way.
You have to go now but do not give up hope and come back if you need our assistance again. Maybe then we will be able to help you. Farewell."
After Ebonwumon had finished a bright light blinded their eyes and the next moment they were standing on one of the gateway around the island again.
End Flashback
"So what are we going to do now?" Ryo asked form behind her.
"I don't know what you are going to do but I'm going home. What a stupid little girl I have been to believe I could bring him back," the blonde girl mumbled back.
"You are giving up already? Why?"
"'Cause there is nothing else I could do. I already asked my grandfather about it but neither he nor his friends could come up with any ideas. The Sovereigns were my last hope to see Dobermon again. But I'll get over it, as usual, so don't worry about me", she answered dejectedly. 'Yeah, as if he would really do that' she added mentally.
"Maybe I know somebody who is able to help you."
"Obviously there is nobody in our world nor in the Digi-world who could help us but I also have, or at least had, friends somewhere else. I wouldn't give up hope before you asked them for help."
The new interest and the sparkling hope in the young girls eyes was clearly visible for Ryo so he just went on.
"There is only one problem. I don't know how to get to them. [ a/n.: I haven't played any of the Wonderswan games and I know too little about Ryo's adventures before 03 so I'll just do the traveling between the worlds my way. So flame me if you want ^_^ ]
I guess the only possibility is to ask the Sovereigns once more for their support."
"But before we do that I have to warn you. This is probably even more dangerous than just going to a completely foreign and strange world to ask some Gods for help. I don't even know if the Sovereigns can help us to get there and also to come back again safely. Furthermore I'm not so sure about this friend I have been talking about. He once was probably the kindest person I've ever met but I know that he has changed and I'm not sure if he is going to help us now or if he tries to kill us as soon as we get there. As far as I know the later one is more likely at the moment.
Well, he isn't the only one there who could eventually help you with your problem but he would be my first choice. It's up to you to decide what we are going to do now. So, what do you think?"
"Why are you doing all this for me?" Alice asked suspiciously.
Ryo had to smile involuntarily at her suspicion.
"I guess I like you and I think you deserve some help. Nobody should have to face life all alone. Furthermore I would like to see those guys again. But of course I can always go home if you don't want me to come along."
"As if I could decline your offer," she answered with a little smile on her lips.
"Then it's settled. If you are ready we should go back and see what the Sovereigns can do to help us," that said he grabbed her hand and pulled her back onto the gateway.
* * *
I know that chapter sucks. I'm sorry if there are some mistakes but I don't know much about Ryo's past and I haven't got the time to do much research. Also I'm not really good at describing landscapes or people/digimon as you may have noticed. I really prefer to write about their thoughts and feelings. But if one of you finds some mistakes review and tell me or write a mail. If I think it's important to the story I'll rewrite the wrong parts.
So please help me and review!