Chapter 29: Reanimation
"AAARGH!!!" Blackwargreymon shook, his armor moaning and creaking. He held his arms across the foot wide hole that had been blown through him. "H… How?" A steady flow of data began to stretch from the open wound, off into the distant east. "How can I be done already?" Jennifer didn't care; she felt like her heart had been ripped out. Blackwargreymon noticed this. "Don't worry."
"What?" Her voice sounded distant and weak.
"You'll all join him soon enough." Blackwargreymon let out a laugh, chopped and mixed with hacking and coughing. Finally, he relaxed, and his data completely fell apart, flying into the distance. Jennifer watched her enemy float away into the distance, paying no heed to his last words. She climbed out of the column and sat down on the steps leading up to the doors of the statehouse, staring emotionlessly onto the white, stone steps as sirens approached from what seemed everywhere. Patrol cars quickly zoomed to the statehouse, trying to see if anybody had been hurt by the dark, warrior digimon.
"Young lady, are you okay!?" The first officer out of his car ran up to her, looking her over for injuries. "Oh my god, can you hear me?" The officer's eyes widened at the sight of Jennifer's bleeding arms, face, and back, amazed that she sat there as if there was no pain at all. Jennifer didn't say anything. "I need a stretcher!" The man yelled to another officer. He leaned into his patrol car and spoke quickly into the radio. He emerged a moment later.
"They'll be here in five minutes!"
"Why so long? I thought they were already on their way!" The cop turned and looked at his partner, surprised that there wasn't already a stretcher to him.
"They found some kids beat up pretty bad on the interstate! They stopped to pick them up!" The officer looked away from his partner, back at Jennifer's wounds, worried that she might bleed to death. However, the cuts already seemed to be clotting.
"Young lady, I need you to tell me what happened here." The cop tried to speak in the calmest voice he could, but it was still shaky.
"He's… gone." Jennifer spoke without emotion, her voice still as weak and distant sounding as before. It was as if she was somewhere else, somewhere far away from her body. Her eyes were glazed, their colors dull.
"Who's gone? Tell me, is somebody else hurt?" The officer began to get excited again as a handful of others ran by into the statehouse, seeing if anybody inside was injured. Jennifer didn't answer the officer's question, but repeated her last statement.
"He's gone." The officer's partner ran up to him.
"Don't ask her anything else, she's probably still in shock."
"But what if she knows something?"
"We won't get anything out of her like this Rob. These things have wiped out entire nations; I'd be in shock too if I survived one." The partner turned around and bent over picking up what looked like a small, black and white, hand-held computer. "Hmmm… what's this?"
"Ohhh… where am I?" Consciousness slowly returned to me. I tried to open my eyes, but there was nothing to open. I felt like I was floating in space.
"What's going on?" I couldn't speak, move, or do anything except think.
"You're in the Data World." A familiar voice seemed to surround me.
"What? I'm not dead? Oh come on God, if this is a joke it isn't funny, just show me the light please."
"No James, you're dead, but you aren't in purgatory, not the type you're talking about at least." I finally recognized the voice as Gennai's.
"Gennai? Where the hell am I? If I'm dead, then… what's going on?" I began to panic, but other than the pitch of my thoughts, there was no way to tell. "How can you hear my thoughts?"
"Calm down James." Gennai took a deep breath as he always did whenever he started a long, confusing explanation that brought more questions than answers. His voice echoed from everywhere, loudly, but like it was from far away. "Like I said, you are in the Data World, the world that links the Digital World to yours."
"Why am I here?" The darkness began to be replaced by a faint light all around me. I saw as if I had eyes, but I had no body. It was really weird.
"The worlds have finally become so close that the Data World is nearly completely covering yours. When you pulled your little sacrificial stunt, you were blown into data and brought here. For digimon, and now for you, this is a sort of 'Digital Limbo'. The original digidestined were brought here by Apocalymon. Whenever digimon die, they either immediately become digieggs, or they are brought here as pure data."
"So why am I here? Why aren't I in heaven?"
"Well why not hell? You did kill yourself."
"That's like asking if people who take bullets for the president are sent to hell." I retorted, angry that Gennai thought I should be in hell.
"Whatever. Anyways, I don't know why you aren't. I'm not exactly a religion scholar, but maybe you aren't done yet. You know… the whole unfinished business thing."
"Yeah, I'm gonna get a whole lot done dead." I thought sarcastically as the light grew brighter, revealing chains of changing ones and zeroes everywhere. The light was foggy, blocking sight of numbers in the distance.
"Ah, there you are. Don't think, I don't want to risk losing you while I do this." Gennai spoke firmly, but nervously.
"You aren't going to try and swat a fly off me with a brick are you?"
"Damnit! I said don't think!!!" I tried to as best I could. The light faded away and everything went black. I felt a sudden rush, surprised that I had felt something. Finally, light began to come back, and I shook my head. I was in Gennai's house.
"You brought me back to life!? OH GENNAI YOU'RE THE…" I ran up to hug Gennai, only to go right through him.
"I'm sorry James, but resurrection is out of my league." Gennai sounded depressed.
"What… what am I?" I turned around, watching Gennai slowly walk over to his couch. He sat down and let out a painful sigh of exhaustion. "Are you okay?"
"James, you're a ghost. I was able to locate your data, or what's left of it at least. It doesn't take long for data to change back to nothing, let alone all the data you destroyed with your attack. I brought that data back here and organized it as best I could, letting you resemble yourself in a digital form." I looked down at myself. He was right, I only resembled myself. I was translucent; I could see through to the floor somewhat. Every few moments, my thoughts would scatter and I would have to think hard to stay with a single one as a wave of static rushed through me.
"If I'm a ghost, then how can you see me? Can everybody?"
"No, only other ghosts can see you." I thought about it for a second and my eyes widened at Gennai.
"Then that would mean that you…" Gennai smiled weakly and looked away.
"I want you to listen to me James, and listen closely. Those who die in the Digital World have a choice if they can't be changed into a digiegg." I stood and looked intently at Gennai. "The first choice is to finally, truly, die. One's data is completely wiped clean and reconfigured for other purposes, containing no trace of its previous user. I don't know what happens to those who choose that. The second choice is to remain a ghost until the end of time. The third choice is for your data to be reconfigured, either as it is or along with new data to become a digimon."
"Well doesn't my choice seem obvious?" If I could be reconfigured as I was now, then I was ready whenever.
"It isn't that easy James. If you can't be reconfigured as a digiegg, you can't be reconfigured as you once were. The data is taken and used to reconfigure you as a "Digital Agent", which is what I am. I do not resemble my former self in any way, which is why nobody in the real world would ever recognize me except as 'Gennai'." It was like Gennai had taken my hopes and jumped up and down on them.
"So I can't be me again?"
"I'm afraid not." I turned away. "I chose to become a Digital Agent so that I could help my…" Gennai stopped himself short, catching himself before he said something. "I chose to become a Digital Agent. I am neither human nor digimon, but a digital life-form dedicated to maintaining the existence of the digital world. Mentally, I'm the same as I used to be, but physically I am completely different."
"What happens if I become a digimon?"
"Your data is broken back down and combined with new data to create a new digiegg. When you hatch, you are a new digimon. I know that at least some mental capacity of your former life remains, but I'm not sure how much. It might just be a sense of deja-vu. Or, maybe you'll just know that you lived a previous life as something, or someone else, like Patton."
"You mean he really did live previous lives?"
"Oh god no, I just used him as an example. I think he was nuts." I rolled my eyes.
"Do I have to choose now?"
"No. So long as you are a ghost the choices remain open." Gennai looked at me. "You should wait a while before making any hasty choices. This will probably be the biggest one of your… well… after-life." I shot Gennai a dirty glare for his cheesy joke. "Normally I would suggest that you become a Digi-Agent, but because of current events…"
"What?" I went over and sat down beside Gennai. I was more so floating than walking or sitting; I passed through everything.
"Digi-Agents take care of the Digital World, maintaining its existence. But as you can see, we hold no power over major problems such as Daemon, we're just operators, helping data between the two worlds and doing what we can for the digi-gods. When the Digital World's status becomes poor and weak, so do we. We are directly connected to it."
"But then how were you able to defeat that Meramon?" I still hadn't forgotten about Gennai saving Chris, Joey, and I in the desert.
"Because we are physical, we hold some power, but nothing to shift the tide of Ultimates or Megas." We sat in silence for what seemed like an eternity. I finally broke the question.
"So what do we do? What about the others? I can't stand just sitting here!" I floated up and forward, turned around, and lost my balance, flipping upside down.
"Well, you can't go to the real world, not yet at least. It is only a matter of time before the worlds collide, then, it won't matter. We will be able to exist on both wastelands. As for the others, well, you probably will be seeing them again soon. Daemon is crossing the Atlantic as we speak. His army has already smashed the rest of Europe and Africa. He used the data from the humans he killed in Africa to make more Devimon and they're headed towards South America to join the ones that have cleared the Pacific Islands. His main army is poised to cross over to Greenland, and then swarm down from the north."
"So what you're saying is that… it's hopeless." I spoke coldly, not looking at Gennai.
"Yes. It was really over before we began. You all were a last ditch effort, but we never really expected you to stop Daemon, let alone the army we didn't know he already had."
"You make me sick." I clenched my fist, whirled back upright, and floated down so that it at least looked like I was standing on the ground.
"What?"
"You're giving up on them already? You're giving up hope so fast!?" Gennai looked at me in shock as I yelled at him. "After all we've been through, after all the power and strength we have found in ourselves you're willing to just give up!? Hell, we beat his generals, all that stands in their way is Daemon's army and Daemon himself! Agumon has already reached Mega and the others are bound to reach it soon, too! Once they're mega, it won't matter how many Devimon that jackass Daemon can amass!"
"James, I'm sorry, but…"
"Really Gennai, I thought you better than that." Gennai sighed and rolled his eyes.
"I'm surprised. I had expected that dying would make you depressed."
"There is too much at stake right now to be depressed Gennai. I can worry about me later. Right now the entire world is resting on my friends' shoulders and we need to be doing all we can to help them, if it means only cheering them on."
"Let us in there!" Chris screamed at the man in the white lab coat. Chris always hated medical professionals, be they physical or mental doctors.
"I'm sorry but she's under close observation right now and I can't let you break the last strands of sanity she has left." The old man spoke calmly to Chris' rage.
"Break her last strands of sanity? Where's yours!? We'll snap her out of this before you can yell 'psychology'!" Kristen almost made a sarcastic comment about Chris being able to pronounce 'psychology' correctly, but stopped herself short. None of them had seen me since Blackwargreymon, Lucemon had disappeared, and Jennifer hadn't spoken a word. They were completely in the dark about what had happened at the statehouse; the only evidence of my presence was the M3 and my digivice, found on the path up to the statehouse by the police. "Out of my way!" Chris shoved the psychologist out of his way and kicked the door down into the room. There was only a bed, two cushiony armchairs, a door to a bathroom, and large windows opening to the courtyard of the mental hospital. "Jennifer!" Chris ran up to the girl, who sat in one of the armchairs facing the windows. "Listen, you've got to… holy shit!"
"What's wrong?" Agumon ran after his partner. "Is there… oh no."
"Get out of there right now!" The old man had gotten to his feet with Kristen's help. "Do you hear… what did you do to her?" A thin dark cloud surrounded Jennifer. She could be seen clearly, but it was like a shadowy, black outline. She gazed out of the window, her eyes completely gray. The screen on her digivice was blank.
"Jennifer!" Chris yelled at her, but she didn't move. "Can you hear me? Wake up!" He yanked on her arm and fell backwards, falling to the floor. She didn't budge, stiff as iron. "Ow!"
"Look!" Joey pointed up at the ceiling. It seemed to be disappearing, being replaced by a dark, stormy sky. "What's happening?"
"It's a Memoriamon, feeding on her depression." A dark voice echoed from behind the digidestined as the environment around them changed to reflect Jennifer's feelings. They all turned around to find Daemon, floating menacingly. "I planned on killing you all, but I think she's found a much better way to get rid of you." The sky turned dark, the floor unstable. Daemon's presence had changed what the Memoriamon did. Instead of changing the environment, it began to rip them away from the real world. The old doctor stood back and watched as the digidestined, their digimon, and Daemon began to phase in and out of existence, their images becoming static. "You damned digidestined banished me to this world for a millennia. Welcome to the Dark Ocean."