Redux I: Reality Redux
By ArchangelUK & Digicowboy

We don't own Digimon in any way, shape or form. Nor do we own Yamashita, who really does work at Toei, and is yet to hunt us down with intent to injure.

As said priorly We do not own Digimon, just this inexplicably long story.... which is gonna get longer with the THREE Redux based sequels/sidequels appear in the near future, expect the first chapter of Redux II: Triforce Redux (set in the Zelda universe unsurprisingly) to appear in the not to distant future. RR still has at least 6 chapters to go but three sequels? Ohhhhhhhhhh hell yeah!

Incidentally a warning for those who think that Ben, Angelus, Aeth and Gennai are digital - they aren't, hence bleed when injured...

Chapter 31 - Sins Of The Father


'Kari', her eyes blank and her face emotionless, surveyed the group. Once again, Kari had been shouldered aside, The Light preferring to talk through her it made little pause for the destraught DigiDestined and got down to business.

"First, I must tell you that there have been countless more Unifications than I have had you believe. You did not need the information. Gennai and Aeth have always had ulterior motives for their actions. Long ago, when the Digiworld was newborn and free from Virus type Digimon, I prophesied partial Unifications as inevitabilities, part of the war between light and dark. Neither side wanted Unification to happen, so to the dark was given the Keymaster, and to the Light was given the Gatekeeper. Each could, when their powers were combined with the Staff of Entherial, a rod of tremendously concentrated Tear energy that only the Alzari may wield, push the worlds back into their proper alignment. Before the Unification took place, the Gatekeeper, Angelus, would battle the Keymaster, Ankar, until one or the other conceded defeat, the both of them being equal. In the beginning, there were no Vaccine or Virus type Digimon. Whenever Angelus won, he introduced Vaccines into the Digiworld, and whenever Ankar won, she introduced Virus types, eventually turning herself into a Digimon of unimaginable power. Ankarmon. Over time, these two adversaries developed an overpowering hatred of each other, for all that they were meant to be nothing but purpose."

"But what about Gennai?" asked Ken.

"Gennai is indeed the 'brother' of Angelus. Whenever Angelus was defeated in battle, Gennai would assume his duties, and when Ankarmon lost, Apocalymon did the same for her. Gennai grew to believe he was merely playing second fiddle to Angelus, resentment growing in his mind like a cancer. Then, at the point when Angelus and Ankarmon's hatred of each other had peaked, they met again for the duel that would decide whether Light or Darkness would reign until the next duel. You know what happened then. Angelus, working with the aid of Jasmine, a fairly young Traveller who had been catapulted far into the past by Aeth when he banished the Travellers- "

"What?" Mimi interrupted, "He did what?"'

"All in good time, Mimi Tachikawa" The Light said calmly. "Angelus and Jasmine managed to not just defeat Ankarmon, but vanquish her, spilling her code, but Jasmine was not Alzari, and the effort it exerted on the both of them shot Jasmine, dazed and confused, back into the present day, and....well, you know what happened to Angelus. So. The Digiworld and the real world hung into the balance. Unification had been averted, but the duel had more or less been a draw, and the ties that held the worlds together in Unification had not been snapped. Merely...stretched. Gennai, of course, didn't know this, and believing Angelus to have gone for good, went to the Digiworld to bring order to chaos. He already knew from the prophecy that there would always be only one Warrior of Light, and he assumed this was now him, for all of time. The Gatekeeper spirit, however, had stayed with Angelus, however weakened he was, enabling Gennai to maintain his grip on humanity. Obviously, you know the rest of his story. Up to a point. He helped bring you, the Digidestined, to the Digital world to fulfil your destinies, and that of the Digital World. You destroyed Apocalymon, 'brother' of Ankarmon, and brought peace, of a sort, to the Digital world. Gennai, in short, felt secure in his role as protector of the Digital world. However, when Unification began, he could sense his place shifting. When the two of you were downloaded from your world into the Digital world, Gennai was surprised and dismayed to see Angelus, albeit with no accessible memories of his past. He knew that your reappearance could only mean he was, as he perceived it, on the way out again. This was when he formed an alliance of sorts with Atheist, the self-proclaimed ruler of the Travellers. Atheist knew from the beginning exactly who Ben had the potential to become, and the threat he represented to his dictatorship. As his name implies, Atheist did not believe in anything except himself and his power. They realised that this Unification would be much more powerful than any of the others that had gone before, possibly the last ever. Unwilling to risk themselves, they resolved to let the two of you deal with Ankarmon, end the Unification permanently with the Golden Ritual, and then have you killed, taking up the reigns of the new world. They threw many obstacles in your path, like the Scubamon from the Dark Ocean."

"What happened to them?"

"As you may be aware, the Scubamon are not as they appear. They are demons from the Chaos Plain, formed from negative energy. They move from world to world, reality to reality, absorbing positive energy until the world is devoid of life, a husk. Of course, when they reached the Dark Ocean, they fell under the command of the Darkness, which understands negative energy. It bound them in new shapes, and forced them to do its bidding. They became self aware in a way they hadn't been before. After their master was supposedly gone, although he merely bid his time within Azaraelmon, a revolution began between those who sought to free themselves, and those who were still cowed by the very thought of Dracomon's return. Aeth took advantage of this confusion to persuade them to attack you, in the hopes that your attention would, at the very least, remain diverted. I simply diverted them from their destination - here- back to the Chaos Plain. After the Rebirth, Aeth and Gennai sought to kill Angelus, and later you, Ben, and take control once more. Obviously, their plan backfired."

Not listening, Ben knelt down by Sora, peaceful even in death, even with a cruel arrow lodged in her back. He took her hands and covered them in his own in a silent tribute, for there was nothing he could say that could express his feelings, no hymn of deepest grief deep enough. A mourning from one who could only half believe that there was a reason to mourn at all, could hardly comprehend the death of his sister. He sighed, closing his eyes briefly, then lowered her hands to her chest once again. He stood up respectfully.

"Oh, Sora...Your greatest tragedy is still to come." He said softly. A look of bemused worry crossed his face, and he put a hesitant hand to his forehead. He shook his head slowly, and blinked a few times as if trying to clear his vision, or so it seemed to Mimi, watching with concern and blinking back stricken tears.

"Ben? What's wrong? What's..."

"I....I can't....see..." he said in wonder as the light in his eyes, and his eyes alone, grew brighter and brighter and -

- And then it faded, and he was reeling backwards across a rooftop somewhere else entirely, a furious pain burning in his chest. The wind lashed around him, flapping at his leather jacket, making it dance around him. He looked up. His grip on the Staff tightened.

"You."

Aeth nodded affably. "I thought it was only a matter of time till you came after me, so I thought I'd do this on my terms. Get the first blow in." He too was holding a staff, his of iron and steel. One end, Ben noticed, was covered with a glittering mass of tiny, razor sharp edges, some dyed red. Without taking his gaze away, Ben brought his free hand up to the pain in his chest, probing gently with the tips of his fingers. They came away damp. The red dye, Ben realised, was nothing other than his own blood, which was even now beginning to ooze down his front, a warm tide that his skin shied away from contact with. He tried his best to grit his teeth against the pain in his shattered and bleeding chest, almost relishing in it. Aeth had struck first, removing any remaining qualms about being the first to strike. It let him know he was mortal, capable of injury, capable of dying, but it told him who he was. He remembered when Angelus had almost lost his humanity for good in that fight with Gennai after Sora's death, so long ago...

So long ago? But...that hadn't happened yet. At least, not all of it...

"Has it begun?" Jasmine asked, subdued. The death of the daughter she had lived with for years had shaken her to the core, her spirit all but destroyed. She would not loose Ben as well. A fact, and that she knew, but she was still human, and fear gripped her, grief wailed within her, and in her soul, resolution fought with unreasoning anger.

Her companion nodded.


"It has. He is becoming Alzari, and the Staff is changing him. His mind is being altered so that he perceives time and space differently. That's what's happening now, in part. He's becoming temporally unstable, if only for a short while. It's a peculiar feeling, premembering something. It still happens occasionally, and it's damn well disconcerting." Alzari commented, gazing down on his younger self. He didn't need to watch the battle particularly - he was, after all, a product of the outcome, so to speak. Jasmine, however, needed consolation, reassurance, and who better to supply it at this moment in time? Instead of watching the fight, he instead cast his eyes over the city, whilst in the air above him, Raine flew in lazy circles, the both of them looking for a little speck...

Raine flapped his wings, urgently trying to gain height. It was hard, just born as he was, but flying came as naturally to him as swimming to ducks, so with a varying degree of success, he ascended, trying to find his partner. He seemed to be getting a...pull from over to the east, so he followed it. Instinct was a great help when you were new to the world.

Aeth watched his son suspiciously. He was simply standing there, the blood dripping down his chest. His expression, if anything, was confused. Cautiously, Aeth made a feint to his right, which Ben blocked clumsily, seemingly dragging his mind back to the here and now. He had to try and focus on the evidence of his eyes, in spite of having what he assumed was simply a killer headache. For all the time that he'd held a staff recently, this was his first combat situation with it. He found it surprisingly easy, and easier still as the rapid mental changes the staff was subjecting him too came into play. It was as if he'd fought like this for years...
Aeth took a twin-handed grip on his staff and swung the mass of razors at his son with all of his not inconsiderable strength. Ben went into a crouch, easily ducked under the iron staff, overbalancing the former Alzari, swinging his own staff behind his back, cracking Aeth in the back of his knees, staggering him forward with a grunt. He made to turn around, only to have the tip of Ben's staff strike him repeatedly in the torso. It felt to Aeth like each blow was almost heavy enough to shatter his ribs. He didn't look it, but Ben was deceptively strong, and the knowledge of what Gennai had done was enough to add weight to his blows and a determination to his features that was normally absent, even during the most serious of encounters.

Finally, Ben struck a vicious blow that reeled Aeth backwards to the edge of the rooftop, staggering him towards a vicious drop. He pin wheeled his arms, recovering. Expecting his son to follow up with another attack, he held his staff in front of him, ready to deflect any attacks. Instead, he found him simply standing there, watching him with a hint of sadness, congealing blood dripping from his chest wound.

"Did you ever realise the significance behind your staff, father? How it changed over time? You started off meaning the best for all travellers, didn't you? But you came less and less flexible, as did your staff. You didn't want to embrace change, give up your position to mother, so you banished or killed the other Travellers, kept them from the only place they could feel at home. In a way, you helped them hone their abilities, I suppose. They began to create tears, searching for their home. My mother was Alzari in everything but name, father. You had half the staff, and so did she. And now I have both. And I'm much more flexible than you." He slammed the lower edge of the staff onto the tiling at his feet, causing the entire staff to ripple, as if seen through a heat wave. When it faded, the process lasting no longer than a second, the staff's orb had reshaped itself into a pair of Pike-blades, one on either end of the staff. The staff, it also seemed, had reduced its length, the extra mass flowing up Ben's arm, across his shoulder blades, and reforming in his other hand in a replica of itself. Roughly three quarters of the way along each section, the wood slithered around Ben's forearms, closing into gauntlets that covered his forearms, protecting him and also keeping the Tonfa-style weapons in place. Each of the weapons was only slightly longer than the full length of his own arm, so that the blades protruded to about 6 inches above his shoulders, and the same at his fists. The entire process took less than two seconds, leaving Aeth with a growing sense that he was starting to get out of his league. Ben started to walk towards him, anger mixing with pity, and compassion in his eyes.

"I don't want to do this, father." He warned. 'Whatever else has happened, I don't think I'm that kind of guy. But God knows you've given me enough reasons, and so help me, I will.' His voice became choked. Desparate now, the tide having turned against him, Aeth swung a blow at Ben, who caught it on a Tonfa, twisting his arm around so that Aeth's staff scraped up against the gauntlet before he caught it in his hands, pulling at it, overbalancing Aeth, who stumbled, his defences down. Within a moment, Ben had slipped past the staff, a blade mere centimetres from Aeth's chest.

And then he stopped.
Slowly, the two of them pitiful inches away from the edge of the rooftop, Ben lowered his weapon, and half turned away.


"I can't do it, you know. I've got these....instincts now. Reactions in battle. I know it's the work of the staff, but I can't murder someone....just relinquish your position, and I'll let you go." He turned away, distracted. "God, my head..." Aeth seized his chance; Ben never even saw it coming. Time seemed, to Aeth, to slow down to a crawl. He gripped the staff firmly at one end, and with both hands. He pulled it back, to give more impact to the blow. And, time still flowing like treacle, he swung, Ben still looking away. Aeth's eyes, previously clenched with effort, slammed open with surprise, as Raine, soared down, landing on Ben's shoulder, wings still spread, mouth open as if screaming soundless defiance. For the tiniest fraction of a second, he thought he saw a tiny orange flicker at the back of the creature's throat.
It was one of the last things he ever saw. With a whoomph, a fireball blossomed from Raine's gaping maw, expanding as it came into contact with the air, cannoning into Aeth's face and chest. With a scream, he staggered backwards, in burning agony. Right over the lip of the building. He plummeted towards the earth, a human torch.

There was a terrible sound, followed by a silence, no less dreadful.

Curiously, Ben looked at Raine, who purred in pride and butted his small head against Ben's forehead, wrapping his tail firmly around his neck. Behind Ben's eyes, images leapt. Soaring down towards himself, Aeth preparing a swing, the sensation of the fire building within him....he realised that this was what Raine had just seen and felt. He looked over the edge of the building, and grimaced.

"It didn't have to end like this, you know."

"Cheeeee......Krikaww....."

"'I know, I know. You did a great job protecting me. I probably wouldn't be standing here if you hadn't - but nonetheless...." Ben picked up Aeth's discarded staff, and dropped it over the edge. "Goodbye, father." Alzari said softly, and turned away, the staff's changes completed. The air shimmered again, and the arcane weapon that was more a thing of change than a staff disappeared in its entirety, ready to be called again next time he needed it.

"We should try to find Angelus. He has to fight his own fight, but he might need us there afterwards.....Remember this moment, Raine. This is the beginning."

'The beginning of something new.'

To Be Continued...
Please Review!

TK: What'll happen next?
Kari: Will Angelus rip Gennai into itty bitty pieces?
AAUK: It's the start of the biggest smackdown session anywhere on FF.net in the next thrilling action packed chapter of Reality Redux.
DC: Postage and packing not required.

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