Chapter 31 - Explanations
*Takato.*
*zzzzzzzzzzz.*
*Takato!*
*zzzzzzzzzzz!*
*TAKATO!"
*ZZZZZZZZZZZ!*
*… This isn't working.*
*I told you it wouldn't. You can't wake him up this way, you need to actually be there.*
*What am I supposed to do then? Wait? I don't have that kind of time!*
*Yes we do.*
"No… So I'm impatient. You would be too with Zhuqiamon breathing down your neck.*
*We could try BlackJyarimon.*
*I'm not sure he has the capacity to relay the necessary information.*
*I meant that he could wake Takato up.*
*Oh. BlackJyarimon!*
*Takatomon digivolve to… zzzzz*
*Damn it.*
*Move over Azulongmon, let me try. BlackJyarimon, I've got something to eat…*
*… Ha! You didn't have any luck either!*
*Wait for it… 5… 4… 3… 2…*
*FOOOOOOOD!*
*Not so loud please.*
*Huh? Grani? Where's the food?*
*… Ask Takato. While you're at it, tell him Azulongmon wants to talk to him.*
*Okie Dokie!*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I yawned. It had taken less effort than I had thought to get out of the house this morning, given that Ken and Yolie were asleep on the couch. I had smiled at this, then ducked back into the room to open a portal here. I focused on Azulongmon, the other sovereigns still around him.
"You wanted to see me?"
"Yes. I wanted to discuss recent events."
Oh boy, here it comes. Probably gonna throw me to the wolves or something.
I wonder if the western quadrant needs someone?
"Fine."
"First, we have confirmed that it was indeed Daemon who locked us away."
I arched an eyebrow.
"Just where were you locked away?"
"The Digital Holy Land. It and the Dark Ocean are opposites, sort of like digital heaven and hell. Or you could simply think of them as two more digital quadrants, as digital quadrants reflect the minds of their respective sovereigns."
I thought of the barren wasteland that was the southern quadrant.
"That explains a lot."
Zhuqiamon narrowed his eyes.
"Watch it boy."
Azulongmon moved on before we could get into an argument.
"Next on the agenda - Impmon."
I redirected my attention.
"What about him?"
Azulongmon smiled encouragingly.
"He's not dead Takato. The only way into the Holy Land is through four special… well, in the southern quadrant you refer to them as data streams."
My mind went back to the bright pink light coming up from the fortress.
"There is one in each quadrant, and by having a constant stream of data flowing through to that side through all four, he was able to keep us trapped. The excess data is being redistributed as we speak."
"And Impmon…?"
He smiled.
"Back in the human world of the Southern Quadrant where he belongs."
I nodded.
Well, at least he's safe…
Then I frowned.
"Wait. Does that mean there's an entrance from each quadrant into the Dark Ocean too?"
Azulongmon nodded.
"There were. After Daemon came to power, we destroyed them to keep him in. He can still open small gateways, but they cost him much of his strength. Rarely can he gather enough power to open one large enough for himself."
"Okay, anything else?"
"Yes. Your use of BlackMegidramon."
Crap. I knew this would happen…
"You chose wisely."
Huh?
"Say what now?"
Azulongmon sighed.
"While BlackMegidramon is a little unreliable, he was also the only way out of the situation you were in. Desperate times call for desperate measures."
"Just don't make a habit of it boy."
Azulongmon glared back at Zhuqiamon.
"While I would not put it in quite that fashion, he is right. Try not to do it again. You were suitably provoked by the circumstances this time, but don't learn to rely on him."
I nodded. The other Sovereigns began to drift off. I held off a hand to hold them back.
"Wait. There was a strange, almost catalyst like beam that came down and digivolved Imperialdramon. What was that?"
Azulongmon flickered his tail, telling the others to continue on their way.
"Did you really think that the Calumon you knew was the only catalyst?"
I frowned.
"Well, I guess I never really thought about it. But if that's true, why do you need me?"
He smiled.
"As you have no doubt learned, Calumon are unreliable at best. I would prefer to depend on you than them."
I nodded slowly, then turned and waved.
"Well, I'd better get back to the real world now. No telling who wants to talk to me about yesterday."
He nodded.
"Good luck."
"Thanks."
I'm gonna need it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How the…
Beside me, Yolie gaped in shock.
"Where did he go Ken?"
My mind worked pretty fast.
"He must have slipped out while we were asleep…"
Yolie cringed.
"Oh no…"
"What?"
"How am I going to explain that to my parents?"
"Um, try to get one of the girls to cover for you. But that's not really the issue here. We have to find Takato. Fast."
She nodded.
"Where do we look first."
I frowned.
"Well, the first place he'd probably go is to the digital world."
Then there was a knock on the door. Yolie and I shared a look.
Oh no…
I cautiously opened the door to find every one, including a seriously tired Tai outside the door.
"Um, hi everyone…"
"Well, can we come in or not?"
Kari shot him a venomous look and I blinked. TK was never usually this rude…
Oh right… forgot about that.
"Sure…"
I backed away from the doorway, letting them all pile in. There wasn't much room to move with all of them here. TK started again, his voice still harsh.
"Where is he? Get him out here. We have questions and we want answers."
This time Tai and Matt glared at him along with Kari. Everyone else was just shocked.
I pulled nervously on the collar of my shirt.
"Uh, funny you should mention that…"
Davis groaned.
"He left, didn't he?"
I nodded sadly. Then, the door to my room opened, and Takato stepped out. He looked around, eyes widening in surprise and fright.
"Uh… hi?"
TK looked like he was about to blow up again, but Kari disrupted him by pushing her way through the crowd to him.
"Takato? Where were you? We were worried about you! Most of us anyways…"
With that last sentence she glared at TK, but quickly turned back, focusing all her attention on him, notably ignoring the fuming TK.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was something going on, I could tell. I just didn't know what. Kari's support was nice, as it was a little bit of reassurance that I wouldn't be tossed out of yet another dimension, but everyone here obviously had questions. But there was a notable absence.
"Uh, I know you all probably want to ask something, and I'd like to get all this out of the way at once, so I was think maybe we should wait for Joe?"
They blinked and looked around suddenly. Tai spoke up.
"Where is Joe anyways?"
TK butted in.
"We can tell him later. Start talking Takato."
My turn to blink. I thought back to how Kari glared at him.
What happened while I was out of it?
"Well, I guess I was thinking you could ask a question. I'm not really sure where to begin."
Tai stepped in before TK could be any more offensive.
"I guess the biggest question I have is what was that back there? It's no ordinary digimon."
"You mean BlackMegidramon."
He nodded, and I sighed.
"All of the forms of BlackGuilmon are abnormally powerful. Tai, I'm sure you remember me saying once that most southern quadrant digimon are more powerful than the ones here. For most of them, it's because they load data, but BlackGuilmon is different even from them. I can't go into exactly how…"
"Figures…"
I ignored TK's comment, as did everyone else, except for a few more sharp looks from people and digimon alike. Even Patamon was starting to look appalled.
"…but I guess I can tell you about how BlackMegidramon came to be. The funny thing is, that both times now have been because of Beezlemon, but for the opposite reasons. The first time, back then, Beezlemon deleted and loaded my friend Jeri's digimon, Leomon.
"I got so angry then, that I just lost control. And eventually, I just ended up creating Megidramon. Megidramon deleted and loaded Beezlemon pretty easily. After that, when things had calmed down, Jeri started screaming at me to go. After a while I just ended up in the Dark Ocean."
Tai nodded slowly, TK was just silent at this point.
"That's fine. For now. I just want to make sure it won't happen again."
I looked him right in the eye.
"Not without suitable reason or provocation."
He sighed.
"Well, that's good enough."
Kari spoke up from where she still was at my side. It was getting a bit disturbing.
"So, where were you just now?"
I shrugged.
"Going over some things with Azulongmon. It's okay."
Tai cleared his throat.
"Okay. Now that this is over with, I suggest we go looking for Joe. We called for every one, and if he isn't here by now something's wrong. Split up, but keep on your toes."
We nodded, and I was grateful to get out from under TK's glares. Cody dragged him off, and I ended up getting dragged off by Kari.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Um, Tai? I really don't think we'll find Joe around here…"
I blinked and looked around.
Oops. Was so wrapped up in my thoughts I hadn't realized where I was going…
Most of my thoughts were actually on my letter to Sora.
"Sorry. Wasn't paying too much attention to where we were going, heh heh…"
Matt and Izzy just shared a look. I grumbled a bit about it, but silently agreed. This wasn't a place Joe was likely to frequent. This was the seedier side of Odaiba, and Joe tended to steer clear of places like this. I nodded to them, and we started heading out. A slight groan from outside a bar caught my attention and I glanced over for half a second as I was walking.
Huh. That guy kind of looks like Joe…
It was a few seconds before it hit me.
"GUYS!"
They turned, and I motioned for them to follow me as I rushed back towards the alley. In it lay Joe, unconscious, unshaven, and from the smell of it had gone to the bathroom in his pants. We just looked at each other.
What the hell is going on here?
We silently helped Joe up, Matt and I supported him moving out of the alley while Izzy ran for the car. Within a minute or two we were driving back to Joe's apartment. Izzy spoke.
"What do you guys think…"
Matt interrupted, shaking his head.
"Let's wait for him to tell us. He'd better have a hell of a reason though…"
I nodded.
"I'm e-mailing the others. I'm just going to tell them that we found him, not to worry and we're taking him home."
A round of nods was all I received. The rest of the drive was silent. When we reached the place, we pulled out his key and opened the door, laying him down on a couch. We just sat there for a while. Then Izzy sighed.
"I… I know this really isn't the time or place, but I was wondering if I could get some advice…"
Matt and I perked up.
"This isn't really the time or place for anything, but we need to do something before we go crazy here. Go on."
Izzy looked at me, and I nodded.
"Well, it's about Mimi…"
Matt and I shared a look. Slightly amused this time.
"Oh?"
"Yeah… I keep having these weird thoughts around her, and I don't know what to do. I mean, I like her, but what if she doesn't like me back? And then there's the whole thing with Michael… I just don't know if it's the right time…"
"THE RIGHT TIME?! THE RIGHT TIME?! IT'S NEVER THE RIGHT TIME! JUST TELL HER BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE! BEFORE-before… she leaves you for good… over some stupid misunderstanding…"
This was followed by sobbing.
We gaped. Joe was now both conscious and crying. We just looked at each other for a long moment, then I moved to get a bucket or something for Joe to puke in.
*Takato.*
*zzzzzzzzzzz.*
*Takato!*
*zzzzzzzzzzz!*
*TAKATO!"
*ZZZZZZZZZZZ!*
*… This isn't working.*
*I told you it wouldn't. You can't wake him up this way, you need to actually be there.*
*What am I supposed to do then? Wait? I don't have that kind of time!*
*Yes we do.*
"No… So I'm impatient. You would be too with Zhuqiamon breathing down your neck.*
*We could try BlackJyarimon.*
*I'm not sure he has the capacity to relay the necessary information.*
*I meant that he could wake Takato up.*
*Oh. BlackJyarimon!*
*Takatomon digivolve to… zzzzz*
*Damn it.*
*Move over Azulongmon, let me try. BlackJyarimon, I've got something to eat…*
*… Ha! You didn't have any luck either!*
*Wait for it… 5… 4… 3… 2…*
*FOOOOOOOD!*
*Not so loud please.*
*Huh? Grani? Where's the food?*
*… Ask Takato. While you're at it, tell him Azulongmon wants to talk to him.*
*Okie Dokie!*
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I yawned. It had taken less effort than I had thought to get out of the house this morning, given that Ken and Yolie were asleep on the couch. I had smiled at this, then ducked back into the room to open a portal here. I focused on Azulongmon, the other sovereigns still around him.
"You wanted to see me?"
"Yes. I wanted to discuss recent events."
Oh boy, here it comes. Probably gonna throw me to the wolves or something.
I wonder if the western quadrant needs someone?
"Fine."
"First, we have confirmed that it was indeed Daemon who locked us away."
I arched an eyebrow.
"Just where were you locked away?"
"The Digital Holy Land. It and the Dark Ocean are opposites, sort of like digital heaven and hell. Or you could simply think of them as two more digital quadrants, as digital quadrants reflect the minds of their respective sovereigns."
I thought of the barren wasteland that was the southern quadrant.
"That explains a lot."
Zhuqiamon narrowed his eyes.
"Watch it boy."
Azulongmon moved on before we could get into an argument.
"Next on the agenda - Impmon."
I redirected my attention.
"What about him?"
Azulongmon smiled encouragingly.
"He's not dead Takato. The only way into the Holy Land is through four special… well, in the southern quadrant you refer to them as data streams."
My mind went back to the bright pink light coming up from the fortress.
"There is one in each quadrant, and by having a constant stream of data flowing through to that side through all four, he was able to keep us trapped. The excess data is being redistributed as we speak."
"And Impmon…?"
He smiled.
"Back in the human world of the Southern Quadrant where he belongs."
I nodded.
Well, at least he's safe…
Then I frowned.
"Wait. Does that mean there's an entrance from each quadrant into the Dark Ocean too?"
Azulongmon nodded.
"There were. After Daemon came to power, we destroyed them to keep him in. He can still open small gateways, but they cost him much of his strength. Rarely can he gather enough power to open one large enough for himself."
"Okay, anything else?"
"Yes. Your use of BlackMegidramon."
Crap. I knew this would happen…
"You chose wisely."
Huh?
"Say what now?"
Azulongmon sighed.
"While BlackMegidramon is a little unreliable, he was also the only way out of the situation you were in. Desperate times call for desperate measures."
"Just don't make a habit of it boy."
Azulongmon glared back at Zhuqiamon.
"While I would not put it in quite that fashion, he is right. Try not to do it again. You were suitably provoked by the circumstances this time, but don't learn to rely on him."
I nodded. The other Sovereigns began to drift off. I held off a hand to hold them back.
"Wait. There was a strange, almost catalyst like beam that came down and digivolved Imperialdramon. What was that?"
Azulongmon flickered his tail, telling the others to continue on their way.
"Did you really think that the Calumon you knew was the only catalyst?"
I frowned.
"Well, I guess I never really thought about it. But if that's true, why do you need me?"
He smiled.
"As you have no doubt learned, Calumon are unreliable at best. I would prefer to depend on you than them."
I nodded slowly, then turned and waved.
"Well, I'd better get back to the real world now. No telling who wants to talk to me about yesterday."
He nodded.
"Good luck."
"Thanks."
I'm gonna need it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How the…
Beside me, Yolie gaped in shock.
"Where did he go Ken?"
My mind worked pretty fast.
"He must have slipped out while we were asleep…"
Yolie cringed.
"Oh no…"
"What?"
"How am I going to explain that to my parents?"
"Um, try to get one of the girls to cover for you. But that's not really the issue here. We have to find Takato. Fast."
She nodded.
"Where do we look first."
I frowned.
"Well, the first place he'd probably go is to the digital world."
Then there was a knock on the door. Yolie and I shared a look.
Oh no…
I cautiously opened the door to find every one, including a seriously tired Tai outside the door.
"Um, hi everyone…"
"Well, can we come in or not?"
Kari shot him a venomous look and I blinked. TK was never usually this rude…
Oh right… forgot about that.
"Sure…"
I backed away from the doorway, letting them all pile in. There wasn't much room to move with all of them here. TK started again, his voice still harsh.
"Where is he? Get him out here. We have questions and we want answers."
This time Tai and Matt glared at him along with Kari. Everyone else was just shocked.
I pulled nervously on the collar of my shirt.
"Uh, funny you should mention that…"
Davis groaned.
"He left, didn't he?"
I nodded sadly. Then, the door to my room opened, and Takato stepped out. He looked around, eyes widening in surprise and fright.
"Uh… hi?"
TK looked like he was about to blow up again, but Kari disrupted him by pushing her way through the crowd to him.
"Takato? Where were you? We were worried about you! Most of us anyways…"
With that last sentence she glared at TK, but quickly turned back, focusing all her attention on him, notably ignoring the fuming TK.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
There was something going on, I could tell. I just didn't know what. Kari's support was nice, as it was a little bit of reassurance that I wouldn't be tossed out of yet another dimension, but everyone here obviously had questions. But there was a notable absence.
"Uh, I know you all probably want to ask something, and I'd like to get all this out of the way at once, so I was think maybe we should wait for Joe?"
They blinked and looked around suddenly. Tai spoke up.
"Where is Joe anyways?"
TK butted in.
"We can tell him later. Start talking Takato."
My turn to blink. I thought back to how Kari glared at him.
What happened while I was out of it?
"Well, I guess I was thinking you could ask a question. I'm not really sure where to begin."
Tai stepped in before TK could be any more offensive.
"I guess the biggest question I have is what was that back there? It's no ordinary digimon."
"You mean BlackMegidramon."
He nodded, and I sighed.
"All of the forms of BlackGuilmon are abnormally powerful. Tai, I'm sure you remember me saying once that most southern quadrant digimon are more powerful than the ones here. For most of them, it's because they load data, but BlackGuilmon is different even from them. I can't go into exactly how…"
"Figures…"
I ignored TK's comment, as did everyone else, except for a few more sharp looks from people and digimon alike. Even Patamon was starting to look appalled.
"…but I guess I can tell you about how BlackMegidramon came to be. The funny thing is, that both times now have been because of Beezlemon, but for the opposite reasons. The first time, back then, Beezlemon deleted and loaded my friend Jeri's digimon, Leomon.
"I got so angry then, that I just lost control. And eventually, I just ended up creating Megidramon. Megidramon deleted and loaded Beezlemon pretty easily. After that, when things had calmed down, Jeri started screaming at me to go. After a while I just ended up in the Dark Ocean."
Tai nodded slowly, TK was just silent at this point.
"That's fine. For now. I just want to make sure it won't happen again."
I looked him right in the eye.
"Not without suitable reason or provocation."
He sighed.
"Well, that's good enough."
Kari spoke up from where she still was at my side. It was getting a bit disturbing.
"So, where were you just now?"
I shrugged.
"Going over some things with Azulongmon. It's okay."
Tai cleared his throat.
"Okay. Now that this is over with, I suggest we go looking for Joe. We called for every one, and if he isn't here by now something's wrong. Split up, but keep on your toes."
We nodded, and I was grateful to get out from under TK's glares. Cody dragged him off, and I ended up getting dragged off by Kari.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Um, Tai? I really don't think we'll find Joe around here…"
I blinked and looked around.
Oops. Was so wrapped up in my thoughts I hadn't realized where I was going…
Most of my thoughts were actually on my letter to Sora.
"Sorry. Wasn't paying too much attention to where we were going, heh heh…"
Matt and Izzy just shared a look. I grumbled a bit about it, but silently agreed. This wasn't a place Joe was likely to frequent. This was the seedier side of Odaiba, and Joe tended to steer clear of places like this. I nodded to them, and we started heading out. A slight groan from outside a bar caught my attention and I glanced over for half a second as I was walking.
Huh. That guy kind of looks like Joe…
It was a few seconds before it hit me.
"GUYS!"
They turned, and I motioned for them to follow me as I rushed back towards the alley. In it lay Joe, unconscious, unshaven, and from the smell of it had gone to the bathroom in his pants. We just looked at each other.
What the hell is going on here?
We silently helped Joe up, Matt and I supported him moving out of the alley while Izzy ran for the car. Within a minute or two we were driving back to Joe's apartment. Izzy spoke.
"What do you guys think…"
Matt interrupted, shaking his head.
"Let's wait for him to tell us. He'd better have a hell of a reason though…"
I nodded.
"I'm e-mailing the others. I'm just going to tell them that we found him, not to worry and we're taking him home."
A round of nods was all I received. The rest of the drive was silent. When we reached the place, we pulled out his key and opened the door, laying him down on a couch. We just sat there for a while. Then Izzy sighed.
"I… I know this really isn't the time or place, but I was wondering if I could get some advice…"
Matt and I perked up.
"This isn't really the time or place for anything, but we need to do something before we go crazy here. Go on."
Izzy looked at me, and I nodded.
"Well, it's about Mimi…"
Matt and I shared a look. Slightly amused this time.
"Oh?"
"Yeah… I keep having these weird thoughts around her, and I don't know what to do. I mean, I like her, but what if she doesn't like me back? And then there's the whole thing with Michael… I just don't know if it's the right time…"
"THE RIGHT TIME?! THE RIGHT TIME?! IT'S NEVER THE RIGHT TIME! JUST TELL HER BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE! BEFORE-before… she leaves you for good… over some stupid misunderstanding…"
This was followed by sobbing.
We gaped. Joe was now both conscious and crying. We just looked at each other for a long moment, then I moved to get a bucket or something for Joe to puke in.