Digital Collapse
Chapter 2: Dream a NEW Dream
The mid-morning sunlight was oppressively bright to Riley's eyes. Almost to match, was the silence of the observation room to the Medical Ward. She hurriedly made her way to Yamaki's side at the window. Mr. Wong, who followed her in, quickly made his way to his wife on the nearby couch.
Over her boss's shoulder, the red-head computer tech saw the ten children… no… teens and pre-teens laid out on hospital-style beds. On the right side of the room; Kazu, Kenta, Jeri, Suzie, Ai, and Mako were all resting peacefully. Over the past three years, the three youngest tamers had grown up a lot.
Suzie was now only a head shorter than her brother. Her pink Chinese clothes had become more feminine, complementing her new height. Finally the two hair-tuffs on top of her head had been grown out to become full Chinese Hair-buns.
Ai and Mako had also grown taller, with Mako being a hair-shorter. Mako still wore jeans and an orange windbreaker, but the jacket was open, revealing a white t-shirt with the Blue-card symbol on the front. Ai had changed a lot more. Her two pony-tails had been braided into one pigtail that reached her waistline, her face had lost its baby-fat and become more heart-shaped, and in honor of their partner, she wore a knee-length purple skirt and a dark red blouse.
Jeri had also changed her appearance. Instead of being in any form of braid, her hair was hanging loose at shoulder-length. She was wearing a blue skirt and yellow long-sleeve shirt with matching sandals.
Kazu and Kenta had barely changed at all. Kazu had stopped wearing his visor but had started wearing a contraption similar to 'Ryo's Gauntlet' that the legendary tamer had worn in the digital world. The only significant change in Kenta was the small tools that were sticking out of various pockets on his person. Over the three years he had gone from a shy, quiet, nobody to a shy, quiet, super-mechanic; being the one that the Tamers, and most of their parents, go to in order to fix anything.
The four resting on the other side of the room, however, were nowhere near as peaceful.
Henry was now closer to his father's height and replaced his vest and t-shirt with an untucked, blue dress shirt with a white undershirt. He was trashing from side to side with heavy perspiration rolling down his face.
Rika had defiantly grown into her mother's good looks; resembling a model despite her tomboyish style. She still wore jeans but her shirt was now a long-sleeve, solid blue, with a white heart on her left shoulder, and exposed a hint of midriff. Her spiky hair-tie had become undone when she curled into a ball in the lobby; not having moved from that position sense except the occasional twitch and shiver.
Takato, also taller, look almost identical to how he was before the final battle with the D-Reaper. Only now, his arms were crossed over his chest; his fingers digging into his shoulders, and occasionally you could see him mouth one word over and over… 'Guilmon'
Ryo was in the best shape of the four. Still wearing gray pants and rust-red shirt, Ryo was groaning in pain as a light sheen of sweat covered his forehead.
Despite all that was going on with the tamers, Yamaki's eyes were fixed on the nine digivices laid out on the table on the other side of the window. All of their screens had shattered with some of them issuing smoke from inside.
"Progress, Riley." The businessman said without even looking at the technician.
Also not moving her eyes from the devices, Riley spoke. "With Mr. Wong's help, I was able to send a message to Dolphin who was giving a lecture at Tokyo University, Babel will be reached within a day in Kyoto, and Curly arrived on her own accord before we could contact her; but Daisy is in Nevada so contact will be delayed an untold number of days and Shibumi, as usual, had disappeared with no known destination."
"Well done Riley," Yamaki said in his neutral voice. "Continue trying to reach Daisy and keep me updated on any improvements in reaching her. As for Shibumi, I have a feeling he'll be coming to us when he feels he is needed."
A few minutes passed where neither of them spoke, content watching the doctors and nurses move back and forth around the tamers.
"Sir," Riley asked with concern. "How are they doing?"
She watched as Yamaki effortlessly tapped window, catching the attention of one of the doctors inside. The doctor in question made his way over to the door connecting the two rooms.
Yamaki looked at him with a stern gaze. "Diagnosis, Doctor." The elder doctor looked nervous, idly flipping thru the clipboard in his hands; obviously stalling until he could piece his words together.
"Uh… well…" the doctor mumbled, "Truth be told, sir, we're still not sure. We are limited because not all of our equipment functions, but from what we can tell there shouldn't be anything wrong with them. The only thing that seems out of place is an increase in electrical impulses between their cells."
"What effect has that had on them?"
Looking back at his clipboard the doctor continued. "…a slightly elevated pulse rate and a heightened response in their reflexes. Unexpected, but harmless for now." With a curt bow, the doctor made his way back to the examination room and his colleagues.
Several minutes passed where Yamaki continued to stare through the window. Riley finally saw his eyes through the corner of his sunglasses. The bags under his eyes were only outnumbered by the wrinkles at the sides. "Sir, you should go to sleep."
"I rested last night, Riley."
"I doubt that Sir! I know you too well Yamaki. You take forever to fall asleep, and you've not had the time to do so sense the families showed up last night."
"I'm responsible for their care right now. I'm not going to rest until they are able to."
Riley smirked, turned toward the door, and whispered to her boss. "That can be arranged, Sir."
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Cold…
So cold…
Takato looked around. He was standing on the street in front of his family's bakery. The steady rain seemed to dampen the color of his normally bright neighborhood.
'What's going on here?' He began running around from store to store, hoping to find people that were not there. 'Where is everybody?'
Ta…ka…to…
Becoming nervous, the young tamer headed toward the only place he's ever felt at peace, the park. He tried to ignore the darkened buildings along his path and the ghost-quiet streets.
So much quiet, for a young man who grew up surrounded by the noise of modern Tokyo, chilled him to a point that the rain could never reach.
When he reached the edge of the park, he saw SOMETHING out of the corner of his eyes, 'What was that?' but by the time he turned to look it had already disappeared. All he could tell was that it was also heading in the same direction he was.
He ran thru a patch of tree and made his way to the clearing in the middle of the park. The clearing where their Digimon return to the Digital World. In the center, eight shadowy people stood, as if waiting for something.
Takato then noticed the figure he had seen earlier leave the woods not too far from where he was and head to the other shadows. Two had a dwarfish stature and seemed to hide in the darkness; one floated off the ground like an angel; the fourth groaned and creaked as he moved like an old car; the fifth just screamed confidence and pride with her posture; next to her was a man who's arms and fingers were wide enough to float on and had a small spike on his head; behind him, a shorter one with similar appearance, but had three spikes and a darker tan; off to the side, another one was built like a collogue of iron and scales; the last one, the one Takato followed, gracefully stood on her toes, balanced by a tail, and her motions were mimicked by the twitches of her ears. Soon, they began speaking, and Takato unknowingly spoke along.
Partners apart,
Survive thy cannot;
For divided thy fall,
And joined thy have soared;
But the die has be cast,
Fate will not be denied;
When the yang is lost,
The yin will partake,
And from which,
new saviors will create.
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Talley was silently enjoying a cup of ice-coffee in the viewing room. Someone might be concern that she was a little too relaxed. In fact, she was completely stressed out from long hours at a hectic pace. It was now 11:55 on January 1st, almost one day sense this new madness started, and she has yet to even try to get any sleep.
However, she was at peace.
She saw herself as having learned not to sweat the 'large stuff' when it came to the Tamers. In her view, everything seems to work out just fine when they're involved. No worries…
Which you could not see right now, as she did a spit-take when the Tamers started to glow… "Mr. Yamaki! Riley!"
A few prone blankets on the couch instantly sat up. "yawn Tal', this had better be a good reason for interrupting my nap." Came the droning voice of Riley.
Unable to do anything else, Talley just shakily-pointed to the window while stuttering, "D-Arks… kids…"
Riley instantly scrambled to her feet and ran next to her co-worker.
They both stood in shock as both Tamers and D-Arks were bathed in a heavenly light. Then in a bright flash the D-Arks flew to their respected tamers; one landing in Ai and Mako's outstretched hands and the others resting on the Tamers chests.
Bubum, Bubum
The digivices continued to flash, mimicking the Tamers' synchronized heartbeats.
"Ri-Riley," Talley stuttered. "Shouldn't we get Mr. Yamaki… Mr. Wong… SOMEBODY?"
"No good," Riley curtly replied.
Bubum, Bubum
"WHAT! WHY?"
"They're asleep."
Bubum, Bubum
"Then we should wake them up!"
"That can't happen for another 6 hours." Riley said while looking at a pocket watch; one of the few timepieces in the building that still worked.
Bubum, Bubum
"Huh?"
"Sigh Yamaki and the parents needed rest, so I slipped sleeping pills into their dinner."
Bubum, Bubum
Talley stared dumbfounded at her co-worker.
"They wouldn't have been able to do anything even if they were here." Said a new voice.
Bubum, Bubum
Both programmers spun to see the person in the doorway. He was wearing a wind-breaker and a baseball cap, which covered most of his features, but his curly blonde hair and rugged beard was unmistakable to the two girls.
"Shibumi…" they whispered in a mix of awe and shock.
Bubum, Bubum
The mysterious Monster-Maker casually made his way to the window, speaking without looking at either woman. "This was going to happen the moment the clock struck midnight last night." He said while taking off his hat, revealing a red triangle surrounded by three other triangles on his forehead.
"What's going to happen Shibumi?" Talley asked.
Bubum, Bu…
"Data infusion…" Shibumi whispered, as the red triangle on his forehead shone. "…activate."
With a renewed glow, the D-Arks broke into digital bits.
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