Dark Future: A Digimon Tale
By. Liahgeron
"All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single flame.
Disclaimer: I unfortunately do not own Digimon. If I did, 03 would have continued.
Prologue:
Somewhere
A large flock of strange, big-eared creatures circle a great beacon of white light that seems to soar into a strange, red sky from a shallow crater in the blue ground. One by one, the sprite-like creatures begin to glow with an eerie, golden light that spreads to form a large ring around the tower of energy. Suddenly, there is a great flash that annihilates the presence of shadows from the area. Slowly, the crater again becomes visible. All of the strange faeries are nowhere to be seen. In fact, the only remaining presence, at the center of the crater, is a small white egg marked with 4 triangle, 3 black, and one, at the center, red. The egg begins to shake, first a gentle rocking back and forth, then more and more intensely. It began to slowly crack, an intense white light shining through the breaks, not unlike the blinding beacon that had once stood in its place. With a great CRACK! the egg shatters, sending fragments in all directions, releasing a strange form made of what appeared to be liquid light in the shape of a ball. It slowly dripped down, like viscous oil, forming one large drop. Suddenly, the form sprouted large, oblong feet and two tiny arms. On its "head," large wings...no, ears spread, each easily as large as the rest of the proto-creature. A symbol faded into view at the center of the head, identical to that on the egg. The glow begins to dies down as the edges start to darken to purple. Ears retracting, the tiny, purple-white creature is dropped unsteadily to its feet, no longer held up by their buoyant force. After stumbling for a few steps, it regains its footing, standing up and slowly opening its eyes. Blinking its insufferably cute baby blues a few times and looking around, it declares in its squeaky voice,
"W-Where am I?" It blinks a few more times, and then continues, "For that matter who am I?
In its infinite wisdom, the universe decides not to answer the innocent creature, preferring, rather, to watch it stumble through the steps of development. It was after all far more amusing that wayÉ.
(Fade to black, hearing a faint "Really! Tell me! Anybody?")
Begin Intro
Coming Soon (I hope, song suggestions welcome)
End Intro
For many years after the fall of MaloMyotismon and the public announcement that digimon, strange digital-based creatures hailing from cyberspace, not only existed, but were generally human-friendly, bonding with their specific "partners," the world had prospered with the new wealth of potential the digimon promised. The environment had even begun to recover from the terrible damage the previous centuries of human development had done to it. Many economies thrived with an influx of new, digimon-related industries. Cars and planes quickly became, for the most part, obsolete, especially after the source code of the Armor digivolution program was cracked, allowing mass distribution of "patches" that gave any digimon, regardless of age (though it still only worked in rookie form) to digivolve into a more useful form, generally capable of transporting its partner to wherever his or her heart desired. It truly was a great new Age for both Human- and Digimon-kind But it was not to last.
One dark stain remained upon both worlds, unaffected by the purifying events of the Second Sunrise event that unified the power of digidestined children of the world to defeat the resurrected evil of MaloMyotismon. Though sealed by the world's most powerful digidestined team, called the 02 Odiba Digidestiend, Japan into the Dark Ocean, the lowest sublevel of the digital world, nothing lasts forever and, in the year 2006, on June 6th, after nearly 7 years of imprisonment, HE broke free with a vengeance, leading hordes of supped-up viral digimon. Unfortunately, the years of peace had left the majority of the world's digidestined weak and unable to put up much of a resistance against the mostly Ultimate-leveled army, let alone the super-powered Mega at their head. The Dark One, whose name has been stricken from history in superstitious fear, cut a large swath through Japan before moving on to China, "cleansing" the world of all traces of organic life as he went. Millions perished from, not only the battles, but also the natural disasters this Dark Army set off.
At last, the Champions of both realms rallied, led by both Odiba digidestined teams. Using guerrilla tactics, they took a fair chunk out of the Swarms, as the Dark Armies were termed, with comparatively minimal casualties. Unfortunately, the vast difference in numbers quickly forced the battles to a head, putting the Ôdestined at a serious disadvantage. Simply put, the Dark One had enough forces to spare for suicidal charges across the Asian continent, even into the other World, just to take out the small bases the destined operated out of. Realizing the current fighting method was a guaranteed loss for mankind, Tai Kamiya ordered one last stand for humanity. The chosen site was the recently destroyed Three Gorges dam in China, where He was massing his forces for a strike into the last major population center in the Far East, Hong Kong.
The titanic battle stretched across miles. Izumi, "Izzy," devised a "divide-and-conquer" strategy spearheaded by 4 of the only 5 Mega-leveled digimon humankind had access to: WarGreymon, MetalGarurumon, Magnadramon, and Seraphimon. The Fifth, Imperialdramon, led a small team of agile Ultimates to keep the Darkness distracted whilst His army was quartered and destroyed. For awhile, the strategy worked, one team, led by Seraphimon and his partner, Takashi, "T.K.," managed to wipe out their assigned section of the army and move in to aid the interference team, having been reduced to it's last member, who was having difficulty despite having taken the data of two other Megas, effectively removing them from the battle, to unlock his Paladin mode just to keep up with his opponent. Together, the two Holy Knights seemed to have the upper hand against the Demonic beast. Then, the unthinkable happened, the Child of Hope fell. The few remaining minutes of footage of this scene record the horrible events that followed:
The Evil One played he trump card, calling upon the bulk of His power, hidden in the form of His army. Using a previously unknown ability, He absorbed the data of His defeated soldiers, growing several magnitudes stronger, then deleted the rest en masse to gather even more power. With a blast of hellfire, the Demon blew away both of His opponents, then sank into the shadows, reappearing behind the Child of Hope. A sadistic grin pasted on His features, He drove His long claws through the stunned teen, instantly slaying him. Without his partner to sustain him, Serphaimon fell out of Mega, all the way back to his rookie form, Patamon. Turning next to Imperialdramon, He blasted him with a torrent of fire, eventually deleting one of the partner digimon that made it up and leaving the other barely alive. Stricken with grief, the Child of Light, Hikari Kamiya, could only stare in horror as the monstrous digimon calmly marched toward her. In a tragically final attempt to save her partner, Magnadramon charged, blowing Holy fire, only to smash into His impenetrable Barrier, then be blown apart into lose data by its power. Turning back toward His original target with a cruel laugh, He continued His march. This undoubtedly was the 2nd darkest moment in human history. The few survivors watching the scene fell to their knees in resignation. Yet, in this darkest moment, when both Light and Hope were absent, a single light of hope flickered into existence, and shown like a star in the black.
Daisuke "Davis" Montoya, the oft-disregarded leader of the 02 Odiba digidestined, refused to give in to the fear and stood, shouting his refusal of this fate, his refusal of the darkness. Though more than half dead, his partner rose from the crater he had fallen into stand by his side. Ignoring the shouts of the Child of Light to flee and save himself, Davis slowly marched to intercept the Evil before He could fulfill His dread desire. The Dark One was happy to oblige, watching with Satanic amusement at this pitiful effort. Taunting his futile attempt, He tossed a blast of energy at the Child of Light, knowing Daisuke would leapt in front of it. Time seemed to slow as the ball approached the defiant Digidestined, who roared in frustration at his weakness. Then something strange happened: a golden light began to spread from his body as the attack impacted, covering the area in smoke. The Demon laughed in amusement at the end of the annoying "gogglehead," before teleporting past the smoke to taunt the Child of Light some more. He managed to gloat for a few seconds before He noticed that the Child of Light's eyes had focused again, and a gasp had entered her lungs. Curious, He slowly turned, His own eyes widening at the sight. In place of the defiant Child and Digimon, now stood a large figure. Standing at nearly 4 meters tall, the armor-clad Knight was nearly dwarfed by his own broadsword. Easily a third again his height, the double-edged weapon was constructed of a semi-translucent, sky blue crystal and looked VERY sharp. The armor glowed faintly with a blue-green light and wrapped tightly to the Knight. His helmet was roughly egg-shaped, not unlike a streamlined version of Magnamon's helm. Decorated by 6 crystalline blue spikes sweeping backwards from where the faceplate joined the crown, it almost looked like a star-shaped mane. The warrior's blue skin was visible through a rectangular slit in the faceplate around deep brown eyes, which narrowed at the sight of the Beast. This was the first time.
The Demonic Mage quickly recovered from His shock to demand the being's identity. It replied in a strange dual voice that it was called Pendramon, formed by the fusion of Digimon and Human partners. It slowly lifted a gauntleted hand to grasp and draw the titanic weapon, shouting that His time on this plane was over and the Crystal Calburn would be the instrument of His banishment. Leaping forward, Pendramon immediately began his offensive. It quickly became obvious that, despite the tremendous boost in power that Veemon had received from bonding to Daisuke, that the two Megas were evenly-matched in raw power. Despite the devastating explosions of energy that resulted from their attacks canceling one another, neither managed to deal any significant damage. However, they were far from evenly matched in other areas. The remaining Digidestined watched in horror as the Devilish intellect of the Dark One went to work as He took to the air and began to strafe their dwindling numbers. It soon became obvious that Pendramon, despite his impressive jumping ability, could not fly, and was forced onto the defensive, deflecting the rain of fire blasts from his friends. Despite his valiant and successful efforts, such devious tactics proved very effective. After several hours, Pendramon's impressive power reserves ran dry and he fell to his knees, dropping his sword. Gloating at his impending victory, the Devil took his time charging His final attack.
The weakened Mega tried to raise himself and meet the impending attack, only to fall back. Cursing whatever gods would listen, Pendramon demanded more power, enough to destroy the Beast once and for all...and someone listened. A surge of golden power shot from the fallen Digivice of the late Child of Hope, followed shortly after by the other digivices belonging to the fallen. This energy catalyzed a new change in the fighter, and a new strength. Rising to his feet with a roar, bursting at the seems with a golden light, two wings, resembling those of an angel, burst from his back and 3 symbols appeared before him: that of Courage, Friendship, and Miracles. Pulsing with renewed vigor, the light focused on these runes, drawing them closer and closer together, at last fusing into a single Crest. "Valor, " whispered the titan and the symbol was stamped onto his chest. Looking up at his stunned opponent, Pendramon lifted his sword and began to draw in power for one final attack. Babbling insanely, the Dark One launched His ultimate attack, Hellfire Inferno, at His opponent. Pendramon leapt toward the attack, meeting it head on with his golden aura. Gold and Dark energies conflicted only momentarily before the light shattered the dark. Desperate, the Evil One launched volley after volley of hellish fire at the incoming arbiter of His fate, only to have them detonate harmlessly on this protective aura of light. Roaring his attack, "Final Justice," Pendramon rapidly closed the distance between them and brought the painfully bright blade down on the Demon, annihilating Him in a blast whose radiance was like a second sun in the darkened sky.
Landing heavily, the victorious titan landed to the ragged cheers of the army's survivors and the teary-eyed face of his beloved. Alas, this happy ending was not to be as this pyrrhic victory had exacted one final cost. As he began to disintegrate into floating data, Pendramon wiped Kari's tears away with a finger, whispering a final farewell and a promise to protect the Real and Digital Worlds forever. With that, he burst apart and was blown away by a strong wind, his data eventually integrating itself into the very fabric of the Digital World, becoming a firewall against high-level, non-partnered digimon. And so the world was filled with celebration and began to rebuild with renewed confidence and strength. But soon, mankind yet again proved to be its own worst enemy.
Eager to gain an edge over one another, nearly every world power plunged billions into research to reproduce this powerful new "Biomerge Evolution." Though none succeeded, most unlocked a number of algorithms dealing with Mega digivoutions and began vigorous recruitment of Digidestined Children whose digimon had strong martial potential. In actuality, conscription was a more accurate description of their actions. Brutal training methods and psychotropic drugs were common treatments applied to the "recruits" in order to artificially induce the heightened emotional states observed to be tied to digivolution. Techniques applied to their respective partner digimon included direct infusion of power (see "Shock Treatment") and forced hacking of their source code, the digital equivalent of vivisection. No matter the morals involved, there were marked successes, with nations amassing armies of Mega-leveled digimon.
No one is quite sure who fired the first shot, but, inevitably, the world broke out into conflict once again. However, the increased firepower digimon allowed created a rapidly escalating conflict as casualties mounted on all sides. Eventually, after months of "little" conflicts, allies formed into two sides: one led by the US, consisting of most of Western Europe and the remains of Both China and Japan, and another led by the Middle-eastern countries, consisting mostly of countries heavily damaged by the Dark Times. The Arabic countries making up the core of this coalition were especially smarting from the loss of business as cars and other gas and oil dependant industries became independent of the "Black Gold." Initial skirmishes generally involved border disputes as countries, particularly in Asia, began preying on their neighbors. The conflict rapidly developed into a full-scale war, decimating the populations of many areas. In fact, most casualties were civilians caught in the crossfire. Urban combat became the norm with Digital Gates being used to penetrate even the strongest of defenses. Yet such tactics only invited worse retribution, and nearly a quarter of the planet's remaining population was wiped out in the initial exchanges. The DigiDevil had thinned the population of a mere 100 million: Mankind wiped out billions of its own. Such carnage and destruction soon overflowed into the Digital World, calling the attention of one who could do something about it: Kamiya Hikari.
After watching the two men who held the strings of her heart be massacred, Hikari had retreated into the heights of the Digital World, supposedly never to be heard from again. However, as the massive armies of Earth prepared to meet on the plains of Africa, the last unclaimed continent of strategic value, the world had divided into two sides of allies to be victorious or devastated as the case may be. While both sides had had their numbers thinned by the war, they managed to amass the 2 greatest armies ever assembled in history to do battle, each numbering over 2 million strong humans, not counting partners. As the sides were to begin their charges, a great flash of light was seen, blinding all on the field. Their sight returned to see a lone pair standing between them, one human, one digimon. The armies ground to a halt at the sight of a beautiful young woman standing between them, pausing in their headlong charge. A few vaguely recognized her, a handful knew who she was, and fewer still survived what happened next.
Angry tears pouring from her large eyes and her voice projected around the world through various electronic media, the lady denounced both sides of the battle, calling it a pointless feud that caused only death. Both sides angrily protested, demanding to know what she had lost, what she had sacrificed, what she had lost. Many threw insults, some threw attacks. Yet this angelic woman did not flinch from her approaching doom: she only lifted her left arm, the one holding her pink D3. She shouted an activation phrase, the exact words drowned out in the ensuing series of explosions. The armies shouted their approval, already deep in battle frenzy, and leapt forward to continue their charge. The titanic forces collided...with a barrier of holy light. This was the second time.
From the cloud of debris and dust, a figure wreathed in divine light emerged. Stretching her wings, she rose into the sky, emerging from the obscuring cloud. Later identified as Orphanimon, the biomerge of Gatomon and Hikari Kamiya, the angel flew high into the upper atmosphere, her holy aura glowing brighter than the sun. Reaching the apex of her flight, Orphanimon began her final and most powerful attack. Her aura began to expand into a series of rings, forming a representation of the legendary Tree, Sephiroth. The attack detonated in a brilliant flash, annihilating the bulk of both armies, but it did not stop there. The attack produced the most massive EMP ever recorded...after the fact. The energy flux fried every active electronic device on the planet, and nearly all of the inactive ones, throwing the world into darkness. In desperate fear of retribution, all the declared nuclear powers and even a few undeclared ones launched their entire arsenals. About a quarter were aimed at the same country, the one deemed to be the greatest threat, the United States of America. It's flaunted missile shield disabled, the US was nearly wiped out, but not before it launched about 60 percent of the total number of missiles launched, raining destruction on enemies and allies alike as the guidance systems failed in the aftereffects of other warheads going off. In less than a day, mankind had all but undone the work of the last millennia, yet more was to come. Another consequence of the events on that dark day was noticed several months later as the expected spring did not come. For the 3 years of prosperity and growth that had preceded the war, there were 3 years of winter. Millions starved and the survivors were driven to extreme lengths just to survive. If not for the digimon, who were miraculously still able to exist along with their world independently of the devastated Real World, mankind would not have survived. Both worlds became savage places where the strong survived and the weak obeyed. Warlords dominated large areas, demanding tributes from small communities living near or in the ruins of the old civilization. Such were the state of things for nearly a century.
Over time, the population of the world rebuilt itself to respectable levels above 1 billion inhabitants, and with the restored numbers came restored governments. Kingdoms emerged as the warlords became entrenched. Democracies developed as the newly-made monarchs were toppled. Then oligarchies developed where companies held sway, and Alliances formed where more power was necessary. Above all of these, the TransOceanic Alliance of United Sovereignties is the largest and most powerful. In it's great wisdom, the government has incorporated much of the American continent and parts of the Asian Wastelands, headquartering itself in the one place on earth completely secure from digital invasion, Odiba, Japan. From here, it negotiates wisely with allies and deals harshly with its enemies. It fights to protect the freedom and rights of its citizens for the good of all mankind, promoting equal rights for all mankindÉat least that is what we are told in books.
In reality, the world is a fearful and dark place. Though all-out wars are rare, numerous, small battles break out across the world with regular frequency, though the government makes sure "casualties were minimal and the enemy was annihilated." Although no official policy on population control exists, in a world where liveable, let alone arable, land is a premium, the costs of living are prohibitive in and of themselves. The few major populations centers that survived the nuclear holocaust are packed to a ridiculous density. Those who live outside certain protective areas must wear, at the very least, particle masks and take special supplements to break down toxins before they reach fatal levels. Much of the world's food supplies are now grown in protected valleys and carefully controlled areas of the Digital World by autonomous means. Meanwhile, certain types of digimon that feed on radiation roam the wastes, slowly reclaiming the land. They should be done in a century or two.
The government, working from measures put in place during the early 2000s in America, has given itself the right to observe its citizens for "dangerous" tendencies, claiming the availability of firepower in the terms of partners is so easily accessed. They use the processing power of the Digital World to monitor various forms of communication and data storage. In fact, according to rumor, an entire level of the digital world, once called "File Island," where the data of the world's computers manifests, has been converted into a massive data processing center for this purpose. This system involves a massive command structure that has been partially subcontracted out to powerful conglomerates, a few of which actually own and govern sovereignties within the TAUS.
Access to the Digital World is restricted to military personnel, save for a few parks, which are carefully isolated by powerful firewalls. This oppressive command is one of the few things the world superpowers agree on. Partners are registered by the central government and carefully watched for battle prowess. Those who are thought to have the potential for biomerge evolution are recruited at an early age and given better and more specialized education and training in Academies based in the Digital World. Patches, once the lifeblood of digital industry, are given a government monopoly, and civilian "Tamers" are granted a maximum of 1 patch to use. The patches also cost an exorbitant amount and have limiter codes included. However, it is possible for some digimon to generate patches by "loading" bits of data from deleted foes(though this does run the risk of denying them the possibility of being reborn.) such actions are quasi-legal at best and the military often locks them under password if they are deemed too powerful for civilian use.
Though most adults have the ability to get their digimon to their Champion or "Adult" level, a social hierarchy has developed among children and teens dependant on the level and battle strength of their partners. Such competition is encouraged even among adults as an outlet for "unconstructive" tendancies. Ultimate or "Perfect" levels are rarely reached by the normal populace and all are under government supervision if not direct control, especially since the so-called "Matrix Digivolution Patch," developed from the study of the remnants of the crest codes used by the 01 Odiba digidestined, is a military only program. Megas are almost unheard of, and all are promptly drafted with their partner once they hit that level. However, this system of rankings has produced other, though not entirely unintentional results.
The system produces division amongst the populace, preventing the development of any coherent "rebellion," as well as producing 2 obvious "sub-castes" who can often be used as scapegoats by any angry mobs that do form, Those misfortunate wretches bonded to viral digimon are considered the scum of the earth, guilty by association as one's partner was said to reflect your true self, and everyone knows that viruses are evil by nature. Wasn't after all always a viral Digimon that the old Digidestined fought? Wasn't a viral Mega that so devastated the world? (Most tend to say the war counts as being virus caused, though no solid proof exists.) This widespread prejudice has continued unchecked over the centuries with no attempt to curb its spread as it so conveniently provides a group of individuals to take the blame. Every year, some poor saps have their partners deleted and the living daylights beat out of them (though none have OFFICIALLY died from their injuries) by angry mobs blaming them for whatever crime. Of course this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy as such children often grew into bitter adults, denied many opportunities in life and, logically, tend to be much more likely to turn to crime as a way of survival. Many never see their partners more than a few times as it is rare for viral digimon to survive in the digital world long enough to get to their partners. Yet even lower than these are the unpartnered. Though less than 1 percent of the population, such people were considered crippled in the worse way possible, a way un-repairable by modern medicine. In a world where the blind can see and the quadriplegic can walk, the unpartnered are treated much like lepers in the medieval times with many believing that the only reason they don't have a partner is that they are partnered with a virus who committed some horrible crime and was deleted or, even worse, they try steal other people's partners for their ownÉfeh. Like I would want one anyway. With my luck, my partner would be a whiney brat who gets beat up all the time...just like I used to be. Oh, I guess I haven't introduced myself. The name's Xi'an Kaze, the outcaste, unpartnered nerd of Hikari High in outer Apple and this is my world, this is my story...
Well, what do you think? Sorry about all the background. I always feel the need to set up my world first then work it into the story, but I figure I might as well use it, even as a prologue. This is my first Digimon fic and the worlds its set in are quite a bit different from the peppy ones of 01, 02 and Frontier, though 03 was my original inspiration. As to those who liked my pokemon fic, "Brother, My Brother," I'm rewriting chapter 2 now. I had it done and ready to post after another revision last summer, but it got lost when I switched computers and it's been a pain getting my muse back to rewrite it. Anyway, I hope you like it so far. The action starts promptly in the next chapter.