Digimon: Chaotic Future

Disclaimer: Oh my God, I'm actually going to do a technically non-insane disclaimer! Okay, so me and Rikui don't own Digimon, but we DO own the ten Digidestineds (how DO you spell that, really?) and their partners, the villian (can you really call him that, though?) AND the concept of the Digitechs. Steal them and die. Sorry, but we've worked really hard on this and personally, I don't want to see any of my characters being plagerized, as I'm sure is the same with Rikui.

Author Notes: Welcome to the sixth chapter, written by yours truly! In this chapter, a lot of stuff happens that cannot be explained in an Author's Note. BUT MORE VILLIAN ACTION! I'm seriously starting to grow fond of the guy, he rocks. And also, sorry it took a bit to get this chapter out. I was lazy, and I kinda lost interest for a bit...well, until Rikui reminded me about it. Also, some plot development in this chapter. I felt it was needed.

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Chapter Six: And So We Begin to Fall

There was always a higher being.

He was foolish to have thought otherwise, foolish to have thought that he was the only one destined to control this world. He had let his guard down, thinking he was safe and had therefore allowed himself to get taken in his weakened state. Had he not been prodding at the
Digitech (which he still had no idea what it was for) he would've been alert and able to try and escape from the clutches of whatever that thing was. His Digitech had constantly been repeating 'Digimon', over and over, so he assumed that's what it was called. Assuming, however, was something he didn't want to do. He needed cold, hard, facts, and if he didn't have them, well...things for him could get ugly later on. Knowing exactly what he was trying to control definitely helped matters. It allowed him to prove that he was better than the current residents, because he knew more about the place than they did themselves. It was a trait he prided himself on.

But how could he pride himself on his cowardice? It was the feeling he was currently experiencing, sitting in a large chair with nothing but blackness to focus his eyes on. It was starting to freak him out, especially since he had heard noises coming from in front of him about five minutes ago. And there it was again! It was like something...squelching across the floor. He opened his chapped lips, giving them a quick lick, and managed to call out to the noises.

"What do you want from me?!" He demanded angrily, fighting against the leather cloth that bound him to the arms of the chair. To his dismay, he found that he could still not slip out of them, even though he had been trying to for over an hour. At least, he thought it had been an hour. Time was nothing here; all he could think about was the present, and possibly, his future.

There was a low chuckle, coming from the same place as the squelching. "You want control, correct?" The voice was deep, and the sound of it was enough to send chills down his spine. Obviously, he had underestimated exactly what he had been dealing with. There was something about the voice that boomed authority. He wanted that voice.

Slowly, he managed what he hoped was a witty response. It was best not to show what he wanted, no, what he would have early on. "What's it to you?" He asked arrogantly, making a show of battling with the cords again, swearing that he would soon take control over whatever this voice was. It was only a matter of time...

The laugh sounded again. He grimaced slightly; it was starting to get on his nerves even more than the Digitech did. Surprisingly, his device had fallen silent, indicating that it knew as much as he did about the voice: nothing. He didn't know if it was human, alien (like that thing had attacked him before), even if it was a female or male. He was leaning toward male, however. They were always more controlling than anyone else.

"Of course you crave it. It's written in your face. Now, should you accept-I can help you get control. You just have to do me a tiny favor, first." It seemed too good to be true. The voice willingly giving him control? The favor part perked his interest. No doubt it was going to be something incredibly hard to complete. However, he did want the control. He needed it to feel whole.

So it was no surprise to him when his next words came out of his lips. "What must I do," He queried, grinning slightly, unable to resist a scathing remark, "and will it help me get out of these cords?" For added affect, he began tugging on the cords for the third time in under ten minutes. The voice gave a booming laugh.

"Yes, the cords will be removed," It stated, allowing humor to drip into the tone, "and as for the task-have you ever destroyed before?" Slowly, he began wondering why he was being asked so many questions. Why not just tell him his mission? Why sprinkle these queries everywhere? Did the voice not think he was strong enough to accomplish them?

However, he complied to the question, allowing an evil smile to creep onto his face. "Yes, many times." He stated, reveling in the memories of screams that had come from the most unsuspecting people. Ah yes, that had felt good.

The voice grunted in satisfaction. "Good. Very, very good. Now, you know those ten children you were surveying earlier?" Slightly surprised that he had been caught in this act, he nodded. When the voice spoke next, it was laced with malevolent pleasure.

"Tear them apart."

---

Mentally, Connor was taking notes. It was always good to figure out what was going on. He didn't always want to know what was going on, like Kerra apparently did, but in a situation like this, (a completely insane situation, although he didn't voice this comment out loud) it was probably smart to figure out things beforehand. That way, when things got extremely whacky, you could at least have some sense about what was occurring. And considering the events that had just happened, Connor was quite sure things were going to get whacky.

The first whacky development had been his arrival to this strange world. And the gave a quick glance at the thing that was sitting beside him, its eyes flickering this way and that. It, or he, had called himself Neitomon, and had stated that he was to be his 'partner'. What did that mean? Slowly, he pondered this, before giving the catlike-digimon a poke.

Neitomon glanced over at him, yawning lazily. "Yeah, partner?" He asked curiously, his eyes sparkling with trust. Connor was unable to fathom where the sudden trust had come from. It wasn't as if he had talked at all to his digimon partner. In fact, just the opposite. As soon as he had introduced himself, the digimon had plopped down on the ground and hadn't spoken at all. The boy hadn't even gotten a chance to ask exactly how it knew his name.

"What's all this 'partner' stuff about?" He queried, as Neitmon's eyes continued sparkling. Apparently, it loved knowing more than Connor did. The boy sighed, running a hand through hair and waiting for a response.

Neitomon grinned. "You talk!" The digimon exclaimed. Connor couldn't help but allow a small smile to trickle onto his face. "Anyways," His digimon stated, getting back down to business, "we're partners. That means we battle together, side by side, you know, like friends. I'm there for you, you're there for me. That kind of stuff. And when you get your Digitech...well, we'll be unstoppable! The perfect team!" Neitomon finished enthusiastically as Connor pondered this new information. He still didn't know what a Digitech was (and judging by what the others knew, nobody did) and the fact that his partner had mentioned battling perked his interest. He had never been very good at fighting...maybe, with this digimon by his side, he would have a chance.

Connor found himself warming up to the idea more and more. Slowly, he extended his hands, clasping Neitomon's furry paw in it and shaking it up and down. Neitomon looked slightly confused by this gesture, but smiled anyway. And to Connor, the pair were officially partners.

...Unstoppable partners.

---

"So, you're a digi...digi...a digisomething." Zack said, glancing at his digital partner. The Ligazumon sighed, irritated. For the past half and hour (the amount of time it had been since they had gotten their partners) he had been attempting to teach Zack about the finer points of a digimon, particularly what they were. However, Zack had been getting caught up on the name. Not his partner's name; he was pretty good at that, but the name of the species in general.

"Digimon, Zack." Ligazumon stated, grinning toothily as Zack exclaimed 'I knew that!'. The loud noise caused many of the people near them (Meg, Gareck, and Kerra) to look at him oddly and Meg snorted, saying something that sounded like 'weirdo'. Zack shot her a glare before turning back to Ligazumon.

"Right." The boy stated. "And this Digi...digite...this digitesomething, it makes you stronger." Not bothering to offer the correct word (Digitech), Ligazumon nodded. Zack appeared curious at this, laying back on the grass and placing his hands behind his head. "How come we don't have one now, though?" The boy queried.

Ligazumon sighed again. He had explained it about three times, but Zack was either very forgetful or just plain stupid. "I do have one. Actually, you have it." Zack began checking his pajama pockets. Finding nothing but a bottle cap and a candy bar wrapper (and wondering how the items had gotten there), he looked at Ligazumon curiously. The digimon took this as a chance to go on. "Well, not yet. Eventually though, you'll get one."

Zack sighed. The whole thing was just too confusing for him. All he wanted to do was go home. During the beginning of the conversation, he had asked whether or not there was a way to leave this strange world, during which the digimon had bobbed his head no. He had said something along the lines of 'you were brought into the Digital World for a reason, and you can't leave until it's completed'. When Zack had asked what the reason, his partner had said that the Digital World had fallen into troubled times, and it was up to them to fix it.

That wasn't something Zack was looking forward to at all.

---

Nightfall sure came quickly in this strange world.

It was as if a giant switch had been flicked off, shutting off the light. Everything was plunged into darkness and then illuminated dimly by the arrival of a solitary moon. There were a few strangled exclamations, mainly by the younger kids, as the strange transition from day to night occurred, but once everyone had adjusted to the new light, the group settled back into silence.

With the exception of Jamie and Naram, none of the ten children had attempted to forge friendships. They were too busy trying to deal with other things, their minds plagued with thoughts, such as the fact that they were in this strange world in the first place, and now the newest development, the appearance of the creatures that had labeled themselves digimon and picked themselves a partner. It was too confusing to take in at once, especially since the digimon had been mentioning about how they needed to find their Digitechs. Not one of the children knew what a Digitech was.

Luke sighed, stretching out on the ground. Beside him, Hanumon did the same. It had taken to mimicking him at every possible moment. "Do you think we should get some sleep?" He voiced aloud, wondering whether or not he was going to be answered.

"Probably." One of the twins, Rikui, agreed. At least, Luke thought that was his name. "We can figure everything out in the morning." After the boy finished his statement, there was a scoff from somewhere beside him. The girl that had been annoying Luke with her comments spoke up.

"'Figure everything out'?!" She exclaimed, rather incredulously. "Of course. We're going to magically figure out why we're stuck in some strange world, why the heck we're the ones stuck in it, and how the heck we get out. Kerra can just look it up on her computer, because everyone knows that computers know everything." She spat out angrily. There was a protest from the youngest child in the group, but it was cut off as the girl's rant got angrier. "Face it! We're stuck here and we need to figure out why now! I'm not spending the rest of my life stuck with you bunch of losers." She ended here with finality and anger clouding her voice.

Silence preceded for a moment, until quiet sobs began echoing throughout the field. It took Luke only a moment to realize it was from the girl with the computer, and another moment to realize that the female twin, Ryena as he had heard her say once, was going over to comfort her, the girl's digimon trotting along obediently. Kerra's digimon was also attempting to make the sobbing girl cease. One of them had finally broken.

The boy sighed. They were getting nowhere, and annoyingly he found that Meg's words seemed to be true. Luke wanted things figured out as soon as she did. However, he was unsure about how that was possible. They were just a bunch of young kids, lost, scared (although most of them would never admit it) and homesick. How were they supposed to 'figure things out' if they couldn't even figure out themselves?

---

He watched them from his previous position, smirking. He had been chosen to tear them apart. But they were doing it quite nicely themselves. All he needed to do was deliver the final blow, when the situation called for it, of course.

Tossing his Digitech into the air and then clasping it in his hands, he found he was rather curious about what the creatures near them were. They hadn't been there earlier, when he had last checked in on the group on ten. Glancing at his Digitech, he waited for it to tell him what they were. However, the device was silent.

"Useless thing..." He snarled, stuffing it in his pocket. The moment it settled into the fabric, it began beeping. Annoyed by the fact that it decided to give information once he put it away, he pulled it out again angrily. The sight that greeted him, however, was something that took his anger away and replaced it with curiosity.

The grid that he had looked at once before appeared on the screen. He recognized his own black dot, and found that it was pulsating slowly. Clustered in a spot not too far away, were more dots, these of different colors. There were ten of them to be exact.

Wondering if the dots belonged to the children, one of them now crying, he took a step forward in their direction. His dot moved farther away from the multicolored dots. Grinning, he took another step in a different direction and was rewarded when he found his dot moving closer to the others.

Ignoring his current mission, he began trekking for the dots. Something under his control would be a nice prize for all the work he had cut out for him in the future.

---

Jamie sighed. Apparently, according to the sky, it was nighttime and he was supposed to be asleep. However, he couldn't seem to pass out. The thoughts running through his brain was keeping him up, and the words from Meg's earlier outburst where slowly repeating themselves in his head as he tried to process them. Surprisingly, he found that some of things she said were true. They did need to figure out why they were stuck in the strange world. They wouldn't progress until they did.

Next to him was a snoring Konamon. The dog-like digimon, upon noticing the sky change, had promptly leaned back and passed out, becoming completely oblivious to the exchange that had occurred the moment after. He smiled softly, watching as his partner's chest rose and fall. Sometimes, it was nice being oblivious. You pretend you know what was going and if you don't, you make something up and if it happens to be wrong, fix it afterwards. Yes, being oblivious was a good trait to have.

Jamie assumed that Naram and his digimon were sleeping, because neither had made any move to talk to him. That was a shame. It would've been nice to have someone to talk to, especially if it was his friend. Everyone else...he just didn't want to associate with. It was too early for that. They were still spiteful, full of hatred for the situation they had been placed in without their consent. They were just kids...they couldn't handle not knowing what was going on.

The fact that they seemed to be the only other humans there unnerved him. There was always supposed to be a person of authority wherever they went. It was like an unwritten rule. Here, however, rules didn't seem to apply, and that scared Jamie. He didn't like to be the only one somewhere. It made him constantly paranoid.

The only other person, aside from this group of ten, himself included, was that kid that Naram had pointed out earlier. The silhouette that hadn't bothered introducing itself. There were two ways to look at that; either the person was shy, or they had been here longer, knew more, and didn't want to share it. Jamie began pondering the person's identity. Was it a kid like them? Or an adult?

Unanswered questions were the only thing that Jamie's mind was dwelling on, and he didn't like it. Morning seemed to hold more possibilities. Whether or not they were good possibilities, it was best to figure things out in the morning. At least they could see what they were doing.

---

Digitechs.

Ten of them, to be exact, each one with its own unique design. He plopped himself on a conveniently placed rock, stuffing his own device into his pocket and staring incredulously at the objects before him. Just when he thought things couldn't get any worse...he had to find more. And there was no doubt in his mind that they belonged to the ten children.

Running a hand through his hair, he pondered the situation he had been placed into. The trek to get to the Digitechs hadn't been very easy. He'd had to slosh through marshes, swamps, climb around trees, get himself dirty, tired...the only thing that had kept him going forward was the fact that he thought that they were something to control.

And instead, he had wound up with more than he could handle. There were three choices he could go with here: present the Digitechs to the voice, just leave them there and pretend he'd never come across them, or (his least favorite) give them to the children. It wasn't as if he had any use for them...and his conscious was sure to nag at him if he left them there.

He definitely wasn't going to take on the responsibility of trying to man them all by himself. One little annoying device was enough. No, he decided, he should probably give them over to the voice. Maybe he'd get a bonus or something. Like control a little bit earlier than he'd expected.

The one problem he had now was where to put them. They definitely wouldn't fit in his pockets; the max he'd be able to carry was four, and those would lug him down considerably. And there was also the problem of the other six. What would he do with those? There was no way he could carry them all in his arms. He needed those for a few tricky spots in the path ahead of him.

Going back and forth was not an option. It'd taken him hours to reach the Digitechs, and he wasn't planning on going back to this same spot more than once. It was too tiring for one, and who knew how long it would take him to retrieve all the devices? It certainly was an annoying situation he had put himself in, and it didn't look like it had an immediate solution.

Angrily, he glared at his pocket. His device had started repeating 'Digitechs' over and over. "Yes I know," He told it hastily, trying to make it shut up. To his delight, the phrase ceased to be repeated. Sighing in relief, he turned his mind back to what he was currently pondering: ways to cart the Digitechs over the same path he had traveled hours earlier.

After about a half an hour of sitting, thinking, and overall being frustrated, he'd figured something out. Stripping off his shirt, he began bundling the Digitechs in it. Rolling them into the now balled-up shirt securely, he began carrying it under one arm. So it wasn't the best solution, and it wasn't one he particularly enjoyed.

But it worked.

Making his way out, he laughed dryly, thinking about the bug bites he was certain to receive. But if he overthrew the voice, it was all going to be worth it.

---

Mornings were just as abrupt.

Sudden light glared across the field, causing many eyes to open irritatingly. Even though many of the children have different time zones, it didn't seem to matter in this world. Jet lag was not an option, nor had it ever been. In fact, jet lag wasn't even the right word to describe time differences. It wasn't as if the children had traveled on a plane to reach this strange world.

Meg groaned as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes. She definitely hadn't gotten enough sleep the previous night, if you could call it that. It was more just an abrupt transformation from day to night.

She had spent most of the darkness (the only proper term for it, she decided) thinking. It didn't help, however, that her thoughts were all jumbled at that all she had wanted to do was just break down completely. Not knowing where she was...that hurt. And not knowing when she was going to return to normality? Not knowing when she was going to get to leave this bunch of pathetic losers? That hurt too. She hated it, she wanted out, but escaping didn't seem to be an option.

So for now, Meg decided, she just had to tough it out. She couldn't be a crybaby; that was Computer Freak's job. Computer Freak had done a good job about it during the darkness...her sobs were another reason that Meg hadn't been able to fall asleep. Who cared if the girl was 'just a kid', as the male part of those twins put it? According to the way she carried herself, she was smart, and smart kids were supposed to figure out tough situations, not completely break down during one of them. That job fell to people like Tampa Bay lover.

Next to her, her digimon partner stirred. For a small moment, Meg allowed a tiny smile to pass over her face. She had thought it over a bit, and had decided that Minikimon was her ally in all this. Judging by her attitude, she seemed to be a good fighter as well, and that was good. If Meg was going to be required to having a partner, it was nice to have a strong one. They could beat up anyone that bugged them.

Meg's eyes wandered around the Field. Accosted by the sudden brightness, everyone else was slowly getting up. She heard some exclamations as a few of them realized that they were still there and the previous events hadn't been a bad dream, (mainly from Tampa Bay Lover, Meg noticed with a grimace) but after a few moments of this they started to accept the fact and a silence settled over the group of ten children. Meg took it all in with a smile of satisfaction.

That is, until objects began falling from the sky.

---

To put it plainly, he was ticked.

At himself.

Clenching his fists together in a sign of anger, he began silently scolding himself for ever getting wrapped up in the voice's plan. All it had been doing was using him, all along, and he should have figured that out. What kind of evil mastermind was he, if he couldn't understand when he was being manipulated?

He glared at the black Digitech in his hand, and then at the ten others that were scattered all over the ground. They should have warned him; they were talkative like that. Why was it that the things only worked when he least wanted them to? Couldn't they be useful for once in his sorry little life?

Breathing deeply, he allowed himself to reflect on the last few hours. It had all begun when he had made his way back to the voice's lair, intent on turning over the newest ten devices and hopefully gaining himself a slice of power in return. He hadn't intended to eavesdrop on a conversation. And he definitely hadn't intended in watching every single hope he had vanish it a metaphoric puff of smoke.

The voice had been talking to someone when he arrived. The room had been dark, however, so he hadn't been able to see to whom the voice was talking to. From the sound of it, however, it seemed to be someone who was in control of the voice. He smiled ironically, remembering how he had thought, at the time, that everyone was a pawn. He didn't know how right he was however, until he heard the voice boasting about the newest person it had taken under its spell-him.

He hadn't realized they were discussing him until he heard the voice relaying their entire conversation earlier. He had been curious at first, but then when the voice began laughing at his craving for control and how, if the voice got his way, it was never going to be fulfilled. Rage had taken over his body at that point, and he nearly dashed in and attacked anything in sight just so he could show that he could hurt something.

But then he remembered the Digitechs rolled tightly up in his shirt, and had decided that the voice needn't get its hands on them (or whatever it had; he had never actually seen the body belonging to it) and had quietly slipped away before he could be discovered by both beings.

Which led him to his current self-downgrading. He knew that he had to get back at the voice, but how to do that was currently escaping him. The only thing he could thing to do was to aid the ten kids he so loathed, just because they were in his path to full control. The voice had ordered him to tear them apart. He would do no such thing. Not if it helped the voice succeed.

He glanced down at the ten Digitechs spread over the ground, and a sardonic smirk crossed his face. What he was about to do could either make it harder for him or give him an upper hand. Stuffing his own Digitech in his pocket, he gathered up the rest in his arms and approached the cliff's edge. Far down below him, the ten children lay, each adjusting to the bright sunlight in their own way.

It wasn't going to be his fault if they broke, he reminded himself, glancing down at the ten objects it his hands. It was a very high height...he left this sudden train of thought, realizing that if they were destroyed, it might not be such a bad thing. Then no one would be able to get their hands on them.

But then, he reconsidered, the voice had wanted to destroy them for a reason, correct? Maybe it meant that the kids were the only link to destroying it, and that the voice was scared that that would happen. He grinned. If the kids managed to get this voice off his hands...well, maybe they wouldn't be too bad.

And with a final smile, he tossed the ten Digitechs down.

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Author's Notes: See how much the villian rocks? ::hugs him:: And in case anybody was wondering, he doesn't have a name yet. I'll think of it later, I swear. But for now, a name is not needed. As for a preview of the next chapter...I have absolutely no idea. Hey, we are writing this as we go along...

Remember to review, we like those.