NOTE: There is Christian content in this chapter.
Chapter 6: Counterattack
Renamon awoke to hear muffled screams coming from Rika's bunk bed. She opened her eyes and saw that Rika had been completely bound up in duct tape! Renamon jumped up and took the tape off from Rika's mouth. "Rika, what happened?"
"Oh, nothing. Nothing at all. I just have this duct tape coving my bed because it's good for my back. My roommate, that nasty little worm, tied me up in duct tape!"
Renamon sighed. She spun the spiked bracelets on her arms and made the points cut through the duct tape to free Rika. "Why would she do that?"
"It's her demented idea of fun." Rika sighed. "I need to get out of this place."
"So…where and when is breakfast?"
"I really don't feel like eating, right now."
"Rika, you need to eat. It's forgetting to eat that got you sick in the first place. Come on."
"Oh, all right…" Rika stormed off to the cafeteria. As she ate, she began to do some thinking---about how she'd wanted to die in that hospital. She also wondered what death was like. She'd heard all kinds of things from all kinds of people what death was like, and she'd even heard from some that death was just like life because it was another life. She didn't know who to believe, or why.
While she was still sitting at one of the tables, someone short was just passing her and offered her a small wafer of bread. It wasn't like any other type of bread she'd ever seen before. She looked at the person who had offered it to her, and she realized with a start that it was Cody from Season 2. She was a little hesitant about speaking to him.
Sensing her shock, Cody asked, "Why are you afraid of me?"
"You're…you're Cody from season 2!"
"What're you talking about?!"
"…Didn't Henry explain it to you? I'm from a parallel universe where you're a character in a TV show!!"
Cody stared at her blankly. "Do you…want to partake of The Lord's Supper?" he asked.
"What are you talking about? What lord?"
Cody thought about her question for a moment. "If you don't know what I'm talking about, then you shouldn't."
"What're you talking about?"
Cody put the wafer back in the bowl he'd been carrying. "I'm giving Mass."
"Mass?"
"It's a holy sacrament of the Catholic Church."
"Oh…I…I'm not a Christain."
Cody shrugged. He walked to the front of the room, symbolically broke the bread, and said Mass. It was a tradition that thoroughly puzzled Rika; she'd never seen anything like this before: the closest thing she could find in her memory was a tribute to the gods that she'd seen while on vacation in Mexico. She'd seen a display at one of the Aztec ruins where a few actors performed ritual dances and sacrifices before the Aztec gods---save for the gory parts. But in Mexico, those actors didn't actually believe that anyone heard them or was watching except their human audience. She wondered…did these people really think that the God they prayed to existed, or was this all some kind of an allegorical ritual?
As Cody was leaving, she followed him out of the cafeteria. "Hey---Cody!"
Cody stopped. "What is it?"
"One question---do you…actually think that your God exists?"
"Of course. Why do you ask?"
"…I've…never seen anyone who actually think that their god exists. Everyone I asked said, 'No, those spirits aren't real. But it's not really a question of the spirits; it's the principles behind the religion that count.' "
"Strange…excuse me, I have other things I have to do." Cody turned around and kept walking.
"Wait! …Why do you think that your God exists?"
"…Well, look at me."
"…I'm looking…what am I supposed to see?"
"What do you see?"
"I see you…I see the cross around your neck…the bowl you're holding…the bread inside…your clothes…I don't get it! What do you expect me to see?"
"Basically what you've just said. Now, tell me, have you had any science classes? What's the universe made of?"
"…I know about how the universe is made up of molecules and atoms and all that…"
"Did science tell you anything about how complex the human body is? How many cells are you made up of?"
"A few billion."
"And those cells are all organized into you. It takes a lot of orderliness to manage that, doesn't it?"
"Yeah…but how does that answer my question?"
"Do you think that evolution just happened? I've read it in a science magazine: every scientist has to stop and say to himself, 'Judging from the way everything is organized so well, there must be a God.' "
Rika didn't understand. She waved him off and left.
Cody sighed sadly and shook his head.
******
Davis and Hare were on Seek Patrol together, and they weren't finding anybody---anybody alive, that is. Occasionally, they found someone who had died, but, what from, they couldn't tell. They might've died of starvation, or disease, or an attack---there was no way to know.
Hare was bewildered: "What on earth could kill everybody like this?"
"That's a good question. But, I've said it before: time is 100% messed up. Maybe time sped up for them, and they starved to death in seconds when it should've taken weeks."
"Maybe…" Hare let out a sigh.
"I know. I can hardly believe that something like this happened, either. But c'mon…let's keep going."
It was a few minutes before they found a lost-looking family in the back of an alley. At first, the family wasn't too happy to see company. Davis held up his digivice like it was a police badge. "It's okay, I'm a Digidestined!"
The father and the mother looked at each other. This seemed too good to be true, so maybe it wasn't true…
It was that moment that a trio of cougores chose to attack.
"If you don't believe me, I'll prove it to you! Veemon, digivolve!"
"Veemon, digivolve to…Exveemon!"
Unfortunately, two could play at that game: "Vorre-tor-eliis, noh kreshnaiona djom…Vorre-tor-ospai!" The three cougores became one cybertooth.
"Okay, not good," Hare thought aloud. "You know, I sure wish that I had a massive transformation the way you guys do! It'd really come in handy, right about now! Dragon Kick!" he shouted.
"Kin Non!" The cybertooth answered, shooting flame back at Hare and hurling him backwards into a dumpster.
"Looks like it's just you and me!" Exveemon said.
"Man, we should've brought Ken along!"
"I'll just hit him with what I've got! Rapid Vee Laser!" Shot after shot knocked the cybertooth backwards, and, before long, the cybertooth was knocked back into the street, out of the alley.
The cybertooth looked like it was in a daze. Then it regained its senses and shouted, "Darwawo Ota!" It fired a huge, red ball of energy back at Exveemon. It hit Exveemon, and it hurled him backwards and forced him back down to Veemon.
Veemon went flying into Davis's arms, and Davis fell backwards. His digi-eggs went flying out of his pockets, to make matters worse…