Digital Monsters: Back In Action
By Charles Xavier
…
The Trial
…
"Help!" Hikari screamed once Belial Vamdemon grabbed her with his giant hand and lifted her up. "Somebody please help me!"
"Mwa! Ha! Ha! Ha!" The evil Digimon laughed. "None of you children can stop me now! Even your strongest Digimon have proved worthless compared to my almighty strength. Now you shall all suffer!"
"AIIIEEE!!!!" Trunks dropped his sword and started jumping frantically around like a frightened school girl desperate for the toilet. "What'll we do? What'll we do? What'll we do?"
"There's nothing we can do." Ken said, stepping back from their unstoppable enemy. "We've tried everything so far, we'll never be able to beat him!"
The situation for the Chosen Children was growing hairier by the seconds, and the fate of Earth and the Digimon was turning grim. Thousands of children, whose Digimon had also attempted fighting Belial Vamdemon and failed, started to back away fearing that the worst was going to come. But little did they know that their bad luck was just about to change.
"Never fear, my unfortunate companions! I am here!"
Everyone looked up upon the thunderous clouds to see a tall, muscular, and handsome figure in a red caped uniform flying courageously through the thunder, and distinctly showing his clean shiny teeth and dashing white smile.
"Look up there!" Miyako cried out astonished at their mysterious visitor. "Up in the sky!"
"Is that a Garudamon?" Said Armadimon.
"Is that a WarGreymon?" Added Iori.
"Is that my mommy?" Trunks whined.
"NO!" Hikari screamed at the top of her voice while a smile surfaced on her face at the same time. "IT'S SUPER DAISUKE! OUR HERO!"
However, before anybody could start cheering, and before Super Daisuke could come down to beat the living daylights out of Belial Vamdemon, a voice from the studio crew shouted out to whole cast.
"CUT! CUT! CUT!" Ginji Fukusaku, director of the Digimon episode being filmed at this moment, stopped everything at once. "This is all wrong! Lose the lighting, stop the music, clean up the set, actors get back to your original places!"
It was clear that he didn't like the scene at all. Actually, he hated it.
"What the hell is this all about?!" Ginji marched angrily towards Daisuke, descending to the ground and detaching himself off the strings that held him in the air. "Just when could Daisuke fly, huh? And why has he become some random super hero?"
"And when did Trunks suddenly turn into a super chicken?" Trunks was complaining about how sissy his role in this episode was. He took out his script and read through it. "Who's the idiot who wrote this stuff?"
"He's right." Ginji said with full agreement. "Whose lousy idea was this, anyway?"
"Why, mine." Daisuke kindly replied.
"WHAT?!" Ginji gave out a big reaction and looked at the front cover of Trunks' script. His name was clearly printed there, and Giniji started shouting at Daisuke silly. Trunks, not surprisingly, threw his script down and cut it in half with his sword.
…
Hollywood
…
"Ah, I've seen this Digimon rerun before." Bugs Bunny sat lazily in the living room on the couch. Alongside him were his friends Porky Pig, Mickey Mouse and Goofy. The four of them were sharing a bowl of popcorn while they watched Ginji and Trunks arguing endlessly with Daisuke on the television. "These episodes just ain't getting any better these days."
"Yeah. And whatever happened to Takeru?" Mickey Mouse said as he continued to watch closely at what was going on within the argument; it seemed that it was turning a bit violent. "And who's that look alike pointing his sword at Daisuke's throat?"
"Ah, who c-c-c, uh, ca-ca-ca-cares?" Porky Pig moaned. "These J-J-J-Japanese cartoons are really getting d-d-d, er, d-d-d-dull, not to mention too c-c-c, ah, co-co-co-complicated."
"Let's see what else is on." Bugs Bunny took out the remote control and skimmed through the channels, until he tuned into the Toei News Channel. "I wonder what Toei Animation's been cooking up recently, especially after what's his name got killed."
"Didn't you hear?" Said Goofy. "Toei's been on a total standstill since the owner died. And come to think of that, I also heard Eddie Valiant's over there trying to solve who done it."
"No kiddin'." Bugs Bunny replied, but attention was drawn more to what was going on the TV screen. "Check out what's happening on TV!"
Everyone set their eyes back to the television to see a young Japanese woman and an anime hosting the latest new broadcast in Tokyo.
…
"Ohayo gozaimasu. My name is Nakama Yuchie."
"Ohayo gozaimasu. My name is Ryo Akiyama."
"And welcome to the Toei Animation News Network. Just two days after Mr. Yamazaki's sudden death, Toei Animation has still been suffering gravely after a wide majority its shows had been halted. But now, authorities believe that they may indeed have their main culprit: eleven year old Takeru Takaishi, former actor and writer in Toei Animation. Earlier this morning, police had discovered a hat located inside the piano that killed Mr. Yamazaki. When inspected, there was a label clearly marking Takeru's name. With not a minute to waste, police rushed towards the Takaishi residence, where Takeru was found asleep in his bed, wearing nothing but his underpants. After shaking him up from his sleep, police insisted that he put on some clothes before arresting him. Natsuko Takaishi, mother of Takeru Takaishi, did show some resistance when police escorted Takeru out of his room. When questioned, she denied any knowledge about Takeru's whereabouts on the night the murder took place. So we now go live with reporter Izumi Orimoto at the Takaishi residence…"
"Ohayo gozaimasu!" Izumi waved at the screen with a microphone in her hand. "I am here reporting live outside the door of this apartment, where I am waiting for Takeru Takaishi to come out with the police. Though beside me here I have his mother, Natsuko Takaishi. Now Miss Takaishi, if I am correct, is it true that you had no involvement in Takeru's crime?"
"Of course not!" Natsuko cried, looking most distressed on the screen. "There has to be some kind of mistake here, honestly. Takeru wouldn't do anything bad like this, why, I'm his mother for God's sake!"
"You know what they say, Miss Takaishi, tell it to the judge." Izumi stopped when she saw two policemen dragging an uncooperative and cuffed up Takeru out from the door. Izumi at once turned around and placed her microphone at Takeru. "Takeru, there you are! What do you have to say to all your fans out there right now?"
"Get these damn cuffs off of me!" Takeru said furiously. "I don't know what's gotten into you guys, but whatever this is about, I can tell you that I had nothing to do with any of it!"
"Move out of the way!" One of the policemen rudely pushed Izumi aside and Takeru was taken down the steps of the apartment and into the police car waiting down on the road. Once everyone was in, it drove away.
"There you have it, folks. One of Toei's finest and most beloved anime, gone bad…more about this, this afternoon, when we'll go live in the trial that will decide Takeru's fate. Back to you, Nakama. "
"Thank you, Izumi. As she had stated, the trial on Mr. Yamazaki's murder will take place at 1 o'clock this afternoon in central Tokyo, where friends and relations of Takeru Takaishi will be attending. This has been by far the first case in Japanese history of an anime having been known to kill a human being. Authorities are both shocked and baffled about this, and many others have found it hard to believe. A similar case had once occurred in the United States three years ago when Maroon Cartoon star Roger Rabbit was thought to have killed owner of Acme, Marvin Acme. However, charges against him were dropped when he was clearly proven innocent in court. Despite that little was found at the scene of Mr. Yamazaki's death, rumors are spreading that the trial will reveal the evidence police have found that may very well defy Takeru as the killer. Over to you, Ryo."
"Thank you, Nakama. In other related news, the search goes on at its fourth week for Nanahara Yamazaki, son of Hayao Yamazaki, who mysteriously disappeared at his home without any trace whatsoever. A man with a wife and two daughters, all three family members were away in Hokkaido on the day Nanahara Yamazaki left them. Even though evidence is skeptical, the family believes that he may have in fact been kidnapped, though others suspect the worst. Whether this is related to the case of Takeru Takaishi remains a mystery…"
Tokyo
…
"All rise!"
Policemen, anime and worker from Toei all rose as human Judge Takeshi Kitaro walked into the court room and went to his sitting place. In front, there stood Takeru Takaishi, dressed smartly in a black suit and tie. Next to him there was his defense lawyer, Gennai, who was also properly dressed for the occasion, but he couldn't stop combing his spiky brown hair since he wanted to look fancy. Opposite them sat the prosecutor, Archnemon, along with her assistant, Mummymon. They appeared in their human forms and they too were in very formal dresses. On the front row, Natsuko Takaishi, her father Michel, Hiroaki Ishida, Yamato, Gabumon and Patamon were there, all with concerned faces and all with anxiety. Behind them sat all of Takeru's friends and various Digimon that knew him so well. Among them, was Hikari Yagami, who wasn't feeling too good about this situation. Tailmon had been trying to calm her down ever since they came into the court, but she obviously couldn't help.
"You may take your seats now, the court is now in session." Judge Kitaro spoke out and sat down comfortably onto his seat. Everyone else followed.
…
Three hours had passed. Many of Takeru's friends, many of the Digimon and every single member of his family had been summoned by Archnemon and were asked to answer everything they knew about him. And in every end, all of them had positively felt that Takeru had no actual reason why he would commit such a horrible act that would disgrace his whole family. Even when they knew that Mr. Yamazaki had fired him, they still disbelieved it because Takeru was simply not that kind of crazy person. However, Archnemon always kept in mind about why exactly Mr. Yamazaki had done what he did to him. She knew that the real reason behind that would have eventually motivated Takeru to murder…
"Thank you, Millenniumon. I have no further questions, so you may take your seat now."
"Thank God for that. This chair's seriously killing me." Due to his huge size, Millenniumon couldn't stand sitting on his small wooden chair for much longer. But it was a relief that he didn't have to go through that again. He returned to the benches with the other Digimon.
"Now, then. The court is…"
"One more second, your honor." Archnemon stopped Judge Kitaro from speaking out. "I have just one last witness to call."
All looked with surprise.
"I call upon Miss Hikari Yagami."
Whispers were heard everywhere. Tailmon held onto her hand, trying to give her pal some comfort. Hikari was shocked to hear that she was being called up to talk about Takeru. Slowly, she rose and walked forward past the rows of Digimon and friends looking at her with troubled looks on their faces. She then took her seat and sat down quietly in front of the whole audience.
"Now Miss Yagami. My first question…how long have Takeru and yourself known each other for?"
"I'd say, between nine and ten years. We've been friends ever since we first met in school."
"I see. And could you tell us what he is like whenever you are with him?"
"Well, he is always very friendly, but sometimes a little shy…usually that's when he asks me out to go out with him. He seldom gets angry, he is very sincere, and he never turns down on me when I'm in need of help. Though occasionally…um…" Hikari bit her lip and fiddled with her fingers. "I have a feeling that he does think about me a lot, when we're not together."
"Oh, how so?" Archnemon raised her brow. It looked like things were getting somewhere for her. "Would you mind explaining this to us please, Miss Yagami?"
"Um, well, I could see this because during the time he worked with us, he always tried to put in several scenes of the two of us with each other in the show as many times as possible. And the finale especially…oh, dear."
Hikari covered her mouth and wished she hadn't mentioned that last part.
"Yes, what about the finale?"
"Takeru…Takeru wanted a touching finish…and…he wanted us to finally get together. But none of us at Toei thought it was such a great idea, and his attempts made Mr. Yamazaki kick him out for good."
"And do you remember how he felt at that time?"
"He…he was mad."
More whispers began to surface among the audience.
"He was even mad at me for not being there for him….I'd never seen Takeru so upset before like that. I didn't think I'd mean so much to him…so much that if he couldn't see me anymore, it would possibly drive him…"
"Insane?" Archnemon finished her sentence.
"What? No, that's what I meant, I…"
"There you have it, people. Miss Yagami has just pointed out that Takeru did indeed have some grudge against Mr. Yamazaki, inspiring him to resultantly kill the old man by taking him into a warehouse and dropping a piano ten feet above his head."
"That's not true!" Hikari exclaimed. "Takeru would never do anything like that."
"She's right." Natsuko stood up and joined in with the argument. "As my own son, I know that Takeru wouldn't have done anything so beastly to kill a man of great importance to Toei Animation. It just wouldn't be in his blood to do something so cold-hearted like that."
"Order!" Judge Kitaro struck his hammer. "Let Archnemon finish what she has to say."
Natsuko silently sat back down.
"I have no further questions to ask, Miss Yagami. You may take your seat." Archnemon said in a polite tone and allowed Hikari to leave. "Your honor, I have no more witnesses. So I leave everything else now to you and the jury."
…
Another hour had passed. The jury was to return any minute now to state their verdict upon Takeru. The Digimon and people from Toei were gossiping to each other, expressing how much they thought Takeru was more innocent than guilty. Takeru's friends thought that it was out of Takeru's personality to even kill somebody, for surely he would be smart enough to know the dire consequences. Hikari and Patamon didn't even want to believe that Takeru was responsible for any of this; it was like some nightmare they couldn't wake out of. Gennai was hoping that the tables would turn for them, but whether his prayers would be answered was unknown. Archnemon really got some information out when she had talked to Hikari, and had a great effect upon the jury. Mummymon and herself were perhaps the only ones not looking so troubled. Meanwhile, Takeru's family were constantly hoping for the best; it seemed that a miracle could only save them now.
As for Takeru himself, his mind was becoming weary as too many problems were circling around his head.
"Takeru, don't you lose hope." Gennai patted him on the back. "Remember, I'm by your side, and there's still a chance that we might get through this. So we mustn't give up now."
Just then, the jury came back inside and returned to their seats.
"Jury, have you come to a verdict for Takeru Takaishi?" Judge Kitaro asked them.
All set eyes towards the jury. The jury was conceived of ten anime, who suspiciously looked very much alike. It wasn't a surprise, however, since they were in truth technically one and the same person; the Agent Smith clones raised their arms at the same time and pointed their fingers at Takeru, saying:
"Guilty!" (1)
Loud gasps began erupting, followed by mumbling that echoed around the whole room. Natsuko burst out crying while Hiroaki took her into his arms and Michel rubbed her back. Yamato felt nauseous and Gabumon held onto him with fright. And Patamon, he was completely speechless.
"Takeru Takaishi." Judge Kitaro said boldly. "In all my life, I had never thought it would ever come to this. But due your intolerable crime, you have given me no choice, but to offer you the highest penalty that any anime has ever received…on behalf of anime, humans, our fellow Emperor and the entire nation of Japan, I hereby sentence you to be executed…by the DIP."
At that second, the whole of the courtroom almost turned into a riot. Anime and Toei people began moving about aggressively against the police who did their best to secure them back. Shouts and pleads were delivered towards Judge Kitaro's decision by Takeru's family.
"This is unacceptable!" Hiroaki shouted. "DIP has been banned in the United States for the last three years and is still counting. Why must you bring this kind of horror into our country now?"
"Please, your honor! Don't you think this is too much?" Michel cried out. "Takeru is just a kid! Insist on something else!"
"WHAT KIND OF MONSTER ARE YOU?!?!" Screamed Natsuko. "THIS IS UNHUMANE!"
"Who's the yellow bastard that made YOU the judge, anyway?!" Yamato insulted.
"One more word out from any of you and you will all be put behind bars!" Judge Kitaro threatened the family. "I will cope no more with your squirming in my courtroom!"
"I can't believe this! What the heck is going on around here?" Takeru was growing increasingly upset by this time, and uncontrollably furious. He obviously couldn't take this anymore. "This isn't a trial, this is some screwed up demented hell hole! You stupid people will believe ANYTHING you see, and that's what makes you so gullible! Can't you even understand that I've been framed here? Weren't you even listening to what my family and friends had to say about me, Judge Kitaro? And that goes for you too, jury! Just because a little hat with my name on it was found at the scene, doesn't mean I have to be the only one poked at! Do you really have to believe that because of one puny hat, I had to be the one responsible for Mr. Yamazaki's death?"
"Indeed, Takeru." Archnemon replied. "But may I inform that we recently obtained fingerprints found on the rope that dropped the piano on Mr. Yamazaki's head…and they just so happened to be yours." She took up a sheet of paper from her table to show him the sheet that claimed the fingerprints matched Takeru's perfectly; on it were photos of the fingerprints themselves. "Here I have the confirmation papers that strictly conclude that the fingerprints found at the crime scene belonged to none other than that boy you see over there."
Silence filled the room.
"Is it really true?" Natsuko asked meekly. "Honey…is what Archnemon saying really true?"
For the first time ever, the anime started to feel doubtful about Takeru's innocence.
"Takeru…why? Why did you do it?" Gennai leaned carefully away from him.
"No…" Takeru shook his head with utter denial, even when he wasn't so sure himself. Tears were flowing down his cheeks, and his body was trembling as if he had seen a ghostly apparition. "…no…this has to be somebody's sick joke; it can't possibly be true. I did not kill Hayao Yamazaki…"
"Takeru! As judge of this court, I must say that this is the most appalling kind of behavior I have ever seen. You ought to be ashamed of yourself!"
"I DID NOT KILL HAYAO YAMAZAKI!!!!" Takeru jumped out of his seat and slammed his fists onto the table, making Gennai nearly tip off his chair. "How many times do I have to repeat myself?! I did not kill Hayao Yamazaki!"
"Judge, I don't think he killed him either!" Patamon came flying towards his friend, willing to support him. "I'm his personal friend, and if he said he didn't do it then I would know he didn't do it, no matter how strong the evidence may be. You, on the other hand, are a son of toad who just doesn't have any sympathy towards us anime. All you expect us to do is entertain for you people…YOU should be the one who ought to be ashamed of yourself!"
"How dare you! Don't you know who I am? You have no right to argue with me about my decisions!" Judge Kitaro was highly enraged, and signaled police to come forward. "Police…take Takeru and his unmannered Digimon into a cell at this instance!"
Though before the police could take action, Takeru hastily approached the nearest policeman and snatched his pistol gun from his trousers pocket. Taking the weapon into his hands, he pointed it first to the group police in front of him, who quickly backed away. He then turned around and pointed it to the other group of police coming up from behind. The Toei people and anime, except Patamon, ducked down for cover underneath their benches. Gennai took cover underneath the table. The Judge sat still like a statue, petrified.
"Everyone stay away from me!" Takeru cried while his fingers began shaking around the trigger of the gun. "This has gone long far enough…and I'm not going to take this anymore."
"Takeru, you don't have to." Patamon said to him. "Because I'll be right beside you, all the way!"
"Then let's get out of here." Takeru answered. "Let's get out of here now!"
Within a flash, Patamon quickly morphed into Angemon, and Takeru got onto his back.
"Mom, Dad, Yamato, the rest of you guys, I'm sorry for doing this, but I have to go out and clear my name for you and every anime in Japan. Otherwise my name isn't Takeru Takaishi!"
Tossing away his gun, Takeru held on tight onto Angemon as they went sky high towards the ceiling, crashing through it like a rocket powered ship. Seconds later, they were up sky high above the clouds and nowhere to be seen.
Right after that, unfortunately, anime and people grew rowdy and started another riot again in the courtroom. Police ran over to prevent any one of them from getting near to the judge, who was trying to recover himself from his shock. The workers of Toei pushed and shoved, and the anime were shouting bad things at the judge about how cruelly he and the Japanese law were currently treating them, after seeing what he had decided to do with Takeru. The place soon turned into mayhem, and everything was out of control.
Archnemon and Mummymon, in the meantime, were hiding under their table and staying out from the madness occurring before them.
"I'm sorry to report this to you, sir." Archnemon said speaking on her cell phone. "But I'm afraid Takeru has gotten away from us."
"What shall we do?" Mummymon asked.
"I'll tell you what to do." The voice muttered to them on the phone. "Find him! Find him and make sure he doesn't ruin our plans! Do you understand? Find him quickly, or else I'll be giving you two the DIP!"
While Archnemon and Mummymon were having their sides of a problem, Izumi Orimoto happened to be present in the room, and boy, how much she was struggling to get some footage here.
"Quick, Grottomon. Turn on the camera!"
Grottomon did what she said and pointed his camera at her.
"Konnichiwa! Izumi Orimoto reporting here live in central Tokyo, where a riot has suddenly broken out during the trial of Takeru Takaishi. I personally had been able to sit through everything that had happened, and judging by the state of how things are looking now, I can say it's absolutely pure bedlam! After many of us were stunned to hear that Takeru Takaishi was found to be…hey! Give that back to me, you slob!"
"TURN THAT CAMERA OFF!" A policeman took away Izumi's microphone and placed his hand onto the camera screen, switching it off instantly.
…
(1) Okay, I admit it that was badly timed humor there, since this is supposed to be quite a serious moment. But I just couldn't resist it! I had always thought it amusing to have Agent Smith act as a jury. Hee! Hee!
Author's Note: I'm always enjoying reading all your reviews, thank you so much! Let me know what you think…and by the way, have any of you noticed anything funny about the names of some of the people? Examples: Nakama Yuchie, Takeshi Kitaro, Ginji Fukusaku?