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"Loyalty is still the same,
Whether it win or lose the game;
True as a dial to the sun,
Although it be not shined upon."
Samuel Butler
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Review. Lots. Please.
Summary:
Okay, so, the story so far. Something bad had been attacking the monster makers, and many anticipated Henry's father to be the next on the list. Yamaki confirms this in confidence to Takato, informing him of a nearly exact date and time when the attack would occur. He convinces Takato to keep the information to himself, to allow Henry's father to be attacked so the others can be saved. Yamaki enlists Takato's help in an investigation of who or what is behind the attacks, and what their goal is.
Yamaki's plan almost works perfectly—Henry's father and the other programmers are all saved. Mr. Wong confides in the Tamers that it was their identities which were being sought by the attacker. The attacker itself was described behaviorally and physically as almost like a digital monster. The Tamers decide that none of them should be alone, and some new living arrangements are made. Rika, whose mother and grandmother would not be nearby, moves in with Ryo, whose house is in a decidedly more desirable location. Jeri, also presently living alone, moves in with Takato.
Rika and Ryo are on their way to Takato's place when they first see the creature itself, which prepares to attack them. A police officer attempts to protect them, and gets completely eviscerated for his efforts. Rika and Ryo are convinced it is a digital monster, but without any partners to fight with, they take flight. Takato sees this, and calls Yamaki, who tells them that the creature is much too slow to be able to catch his friends. He also informs Takato that he has some information that needs to come into light: the monster is specifically after Rika.
Yamaki confesses to Takato that he has analyzed samples of the attacker collected from Mr. Wong's rescue, and confirms that it is—or was—human, not a digimon. Specifically, it is Rika's father, an old colleague of Yamaki and another scientist, Dr. Alexander Valn. Yamaki suspects that Valn turned their bio-organic research against Rika's father, and has mutated as a result of the infection. Yamaki gives Takato his only remaining piece of research from his past work: a serum which can kill the infection early on. If someone were to contract the virus that Rika's father carries, they would in all likelihood turn into a bloodthirsty monster as he has.
Takato's been given a weapon with which he may be able to protect his friends, but may come at the cost of a human life. While Yamaki and his team come up with a way to stop Rika's father once and for all, Takato must hide the secrets from his friends who trust him.
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Reviews:
The-3-Amigos: I'm really glad you're enjoying this! I put a little summary above, since it looks like some people aren't getting that Takato's serum isn't a virus, but a way to kill someone who has it. Hope to hear from you again soon!
Saith-chan: I'm happy you don't mind me making more terrible things happen to Rika. Poor girl! I'm sure something good'll happen to her one of these days.
Fluffeh the Great: Wooh! Someone who likes Takato! I read some reviews for Crescendo, and when I saw that some people wanted him to get infected, I was like, "Oh, crap." I hope I'm not making him unlikable. At least when he's forced to do something he doesn't want to, he's the kind of guy who'd at least try to get some sort of redemption afterwards. About Frontier, I just couldn't get into it after Tamers. I think Tamers was just too good, that it makes other things just look bad by comparison. Tragic, no? Well, I should probably let you guys get to reading the story.
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Jeri wiped the sweat from her brow as she found herself both trying to sleep, as well as struggling to stay awake. The dreams she'd been having weren't as bad as one's she'd had in the past—the D-Reaper haunted her for months in her sleep after it was defeated—but they were still unnerving enough to disrupt her much-needed rest. She'd had a lot on her mind lately—some pretty mixed emotions about her decision to live with him. The decidedly most important reason that she did was that it would be safer for both of them. Two sets of eyes are better than one, and she hoped—she knew that he wasn't just patronizing her, not just trying to protect her. She wanted to protect him. She didn't know how she would, but she was sure that if she had to put herself in danger to protect him, she would. Without question.
The complications, however, concerned not her opinion of Takato, but Takato's opinion of her. She'd been worried lately that he didn't trust her. He'd phoned her almost a week ago sounding completely distraught. For the first time that she could remember, he wouldn't tell her what was wrong. The pain of that ate at her. Caring about someone—trusting someone who may not trust her back—it hurt her to think about. So she tried not to. She trusted him, and that was the most important thing. So there she lay, resting in her own bed after their recent move, thinking of the boy in the room next to her. Of course she wanted answers, and she was certain that Takato would tell her if and when he was ready to.
He'll tell you. Someday he'll tell you.
Jeri smiled to herself a little bit. She knew she wasn't an especially confident person, but she trusted her thoughts on that. It was weird, though: she wasn't scared. She was somehow certain that everything would be okay. They'd make it through this.
Always did before.
She smiled a little wider. She glances an eye towards the red display of her clock near her bed. It read that it was 6:03 am. She knew that she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep if she tried, and she wasn't going to waste the time. Takato got back from his drive with Yamaki late the night before. Jeri had pretended to be asleep, but she wasn't sure why. Maybe because Henry had volunteered to stay with her while Takato was out, and she was worried she might blurt out something she or Takato wouldn't want said. She'd heard Henry ask Takato what was said, but it didn't sound like Yamaki had any new leads. She'd also heard Henry say that his mother would be picking him up shortly, which relieved Jeri, who would no doubt be worrying herself sick about his well-being had he been walking home alone.
She pulled herself out of bed, not bothering to glance out the window as she knew there wouldn't be anything worth seeing. She carefully crept out her room and down the stairs, taking special effort to avoid the creaky spots on the floor she'd become so familiar with. She wasn't particularly hungry or thirsty, but had a craving for cereal, so she was on her way to the kitchen. She almost jumped out of her skin when she realized there was someone in there already, and raced to think of a way to hide the embarrassing squeaking sound she made after she realized it was Takato. She took notice as he stuffed something yellow into his pocket.
"Sorry, I wasn't expecting you to come down." Takato said. "Couldn't sleep?"
"It's alright, Takato." Jeri replied honestly. "You know me, I'm jumpy. And no, just not tired. What about you? You were up late."
"Nah, just a little distracted. You know, 'and miles to go', and all that." He said with a weak smile.
Do it.
"How was your talk with Yamaki? Any great, startlingly-brilliant new plans?" She asked both playfully and hopefully.
Not that.
"No, nothing solid. But he's got some ideas. He gave me these." Takato said, suddenly a little excited, as he indicated a small grey box on the table. He opened it, and Jeri saw inside five small glass needles. Vials, each with a faintly-colored liquid inside.
"What are those?" She asked plainly.
"Yamaki thinks they might slow that thing down. You know, weaken it, so maybe something else might be able to stop it. He's got a good feeling." He smiled at her, and though she didn't completely believe he was as hopeful as he sounded, she smiled back. But just for a second.
"Wait, how are we supposed to use those? He can't expect you to go right up to it—" she suddenly realized.
"Oh, he's working on that. He's thinking some kind of dart gun. You know Yamaki, with the triple-checking. Good for us, though, I guess. He'll get it to us." He said confidently. His voice then took a turn towards sounding worried. "But please don't tell the others about these. I don't want to get their hopes up—"
Hm.
"I promise, don't worry." Jeri said truthfully. She wondered if she should be hurt that he didn't want to get her hopes up, but was too busy being happy that he was trusting her with something. Jeri liked being trusted. A lot.
Ask.
"Takato," she began, "are you okay? You've been acting pretty distant lately."
"Oh, y-yeah," he stammered, obviously taken aback. She frowned a little.
"Come on, I know there's stuff you're not telling me, and that's okay. It's fine to have secrets. But you know I'm here for you, whether you need me to be or not, right?" Jeri suddenly questioned herself on whether or not Takato actually was hiding something, incredibly concerned of how ridiculous she'd sound if he wasn't. But she was too caught up to stop now. "It's okay if you don't trust me enough to tell me about—about whatever, but—I want to help, Takato. I know you're upset, and I don't like seeing you that way. So just—keep that in mind, okay? I'm—we're all here for you, Takato. I'll be there for you." She concluded, almost in a whisper.
Always.
The seconds that followed might as well have been minutes, as the silence slapped Jeri around painfully. She couldn't think of a situation that'd been so awkward. It'd been a long time since she'd let out as much at once as she had just there. She usually had more control over herself than that. She supposed the silence was her punishment for that. So when Takato opened his mouth to speak, she found it to be a relief, even over her uncertainty of whether or not she'd like what he was going to say.
"Jeri, of course I trust you." He said as he looked at her in the eyes, something she'd missed lately. "I told Yamaki that I wouldn't tell anyone a lot of things, and I've been wanting to. Lots. I'll tell you some of them now, if you'll hear it."
Jeri hadn't been expecting that. She expected him to either deny everything, or be upset with her, or something, but not offer to confess something. She wondered just what it could be that would cause someone as great as Takato to break a promise. Jeri'd usually never condone that, but she promptly labeled this as an acceptable circumstance. She suddenly felt guilty that she pushed him into telling her. She still wanted to know everything, but refused to let herself ask for it all. She made herself settle.
"Just—something. Anything. Anything you're comfortable with telling me. And I'm sorry if I yelled at you there, I just—" she trailed off.
"It's okay, I had it coming." He said with a coy little smile on his face, and relief in his voice. If anything, she was glad that she could share whatever burden it is with him. She waited for a moment as Takato thought something over. Thought of what to tell her. She knew he wouldn't lie. Maybe he wouldn't tell her the whole truth, but he wouldn't lie. He wouldn't.
"Okay." He began. "Yamaki thinks that the monster isn't a digimon. He thinks it's human. He says that there were three scientists who were developing some kind of virus. It turned people into monsters. So, Scientist 1 runs away after he sees how dangerous it is what they were doing. Scientist 2 and 3 go crazy, and 2 infects 3. What Yamaki thinks is that Scientist 2 is controlling 3, who's now that monster. So we don't want to just attack that thing, we want to find a way to cure it. 'Cause it's a person that can't help what they're doing."
Jeri let what Takato said sink in. Her eyes watered. Not because she was happy to be trusted by someone she cared about, not because she was scared of something going bump in the night, and not because she was upset about something else. Because she knew. She knew what it was like. Not being herself, becoming something else. After the D-Reaper—nobody else knew, none of the other tamers. They couldn't understand what it was like. Jeri was crying because she sympathized with the thing that had forced to kill. Like she'd been. She understood. She knew. And she wanted to help.
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Takato instantly questioned whether or not he did the right thing in telling Jeri the truth.
The truth?
Well, even the partial truth. He knew Yamaki would be furious if he found out, and suddenly remembered him telling Takato that he was prepared to detain him if he wasn't willing to keep the information he was shared with confidential. He wondered if he just put Jeri in danger. He trusted her not to tell, but he still worried. Lately the only things in Takato's life he was able to count on were being mind-numbingly uncomfortable and guilty around everyone, and Jeri.
He'd told her about Dr. Nonaka, Yamaki, and that Valn guy. He didn't use names, obviously. The one thing he minded the least about lying about everything was that he would not tell Rika that that thing was her father. If he told Jeri, it'd put her in a position where she might be tempted to confess it to her. Besides, Jeri was even better friends with Rika than Takato was; he wouldn't put her in that position.
Rika can never know.
Takato paced around the guest bedroom of Jeri's house. He put his hands on his cheeks for a second, stopping after the process brought him nothing but an uncomfortable chill to his face.
She thinks her dad is dead. And he is.
He repeated the thought over and over, gradually convincing himself. There was no way that there was anything left of Dr. Nonaka in that thing. He turned his attention back to his broken promise to Yamaki.
Jeri can be trusted.
Takato knew it to be true, but couldn't help but have regrets. She'd almost broken down when she'd practically begged him to talk to her. He'd barely noticed how little he'd seen or actually talked to her lately.
Too tangled up in your own crap—
Then he told her. Not much, but more than he knew he should have. And then she actually did break down. And Takato knew why, too. Jeri'd confided in him once how the worst part about the D-Reaper experience was losing her free will. He knew she identified it right away, but he didn't realize just how much she could sympathize with it while he was telling her. He wondered what will have changed now that she knows something. He contemplated telling Yamaki, but decided against it. He looked towards the grey case of various serums that Yamaki believed to be worth trying against the virus. There was virtually no chance any of them would stop that thing. Yamaki'd made these from scratch, based purely on his memory of his previous research. Valn had had seven years to modify the virus to the point that it was beyond Yamaki's recognition. He frowned a little at having to lie to Jeri about using something to inject them from a distance.
Days passed. Almost two weeks, actually, and Takato actually was happy for a few moments. He'd forgotten how good it felt to be honest with someone, even if only a little. He didn't talk to Yamaki or his friends much in that time. He found it easier to lie to them when he didn't have to speak with them. Rika was the only one of them he said absolutely nothing to. He just couldn't bring himself to. He'd phoned to speak with Ryo once, and hung up the phone when it was Rika who answered.
He'd even gone out with his friends a few times. Saw a movie with Jeri, too. It was almost like life had gone back to normal. But he knew it hadn't—and he wouldn't let himself forget that. It reminded him of life returning to normal after the digimon. He wouldn't let himself forget about them, either.
The thought of Guilmon passed through his mind, and almost on queue, his phone rang. He glanced at the display, and saw that it was Yamaki. And what he had to say Takato had only dreamed of hearing.
"We've opened a way to the digital world." Yamaki said firmly.
Takato was sure his heart stopped. Even through all the guilt and shame he'd been carrying, he smiled. He couldn't help but. He'd get to see Guilmon again. He knew Yamaki had been trying to open a gate in hopes that the digimon could help them fight Dr. Nonaka; it was Takato's idea. But Yamaki'd said the chances were slim-to-none. But he did it. Yamaki came through. Takato snapped out of his blissful trance when Yamaki spoke again.
"Takato!" he almost yelled. "The creature is on its way to Rika and Ryo now. Get everyone to the park immediately."
"What about Rika and Ryo?" He demanded.
"There's been a few digimon that have emerged already, we're trying to veer them towards those two. That's all we can do."
Takato couldn't believe what he was hearing. He knew Yamaki wasn't being cold-hearted, he knew that Yamaki loved all the Tamers. But hearing him say those words, saying that Rika and Ryo couldn't be saved—
No.
Not a chance. Clicking his phone shut, he stuffed the grey box in his right pocket, and he already had the yellow one in his left. He grabbed a third and final thing, something he was certain he'd need—his D-Arc. He ran downstairs to find a startled Jeri looking at him with confusion.
"Jeri, Yamaki can get us to the digital world. I need you to phone everyone and get them to the park right now, okay?" He told her frantically. "Call them and get them to the park, okay? I'll meet you there soon." He turned and almost ran to the door.
"Takato!" Jeri shouted after him. He stopped, turned, and looked at her.
I love you.
"I'll be there, Jeri." He said too quietly for her to hear, before he ran.
Takato was certain he could be at Ryo's house soon. He'd often gone from Jeri's to his, or his to Jeri's, and knew all the little shortcuts. Yamaki didn't say how much time he had before that thing got there—possibly because Takato didn't give him the opportunity to.
All the more reason to hurry your ass up.
He pushed harder. Takato was in good shape, and was a very good runner. He was finally thankful for all those soccer practices he'd complained about so much years ago. He kept his focus on what had to be done. Saving Ryo and Rika. He didn't want the possibility of being saved by a stray digimon to be their only defense.
He finally arrived at Ryo's house to hear the sound of breaking glass. He quickly set down the grey box, and took out two of the needles, and removed their caps. He grabbed a nearby metal baseball bat from the front step that him and Ryo had deformed from hitting rocks into the water in their eternal boredom, and held his breath.
Not gonna let this thing—
The door then crashed open, and Ryo flew out, almost dragging Rika beside him. He wasn't sure if he was glad or not that they weren't looking back. He put the thought aside, gripped, the bat tightly, glanced in the window, and swung as hard as he could. It made a strong contact, and the backfire almost knocked Takato down. Still, he could tell he at least pissed the thing off enough to get its attention. He dropped the bat and grabbed a needle in each hand as it dove at him. He jumped clumsily, but still managed to avoid being hit. He spun around and slammed both injections into its tail. He looked up from the needles to the creature's face.
Shit.
No good. Two down, two to go. Takato moved backwards in a motion that was a mix between a jump and a roll. He was ready to go for the grey box with the other two needles in it when a large black blur tore through the wall and knocked the creature down.
Digimon.
He wanted to be relieved, but knew it didn't have a chance. He scooped up the box in one hand, and was going for the bat when he heard the digimon speak.
"Get out of here! Go now!" it growled.
Gonna get deleted. Gonna die.
But Takato couldn't help. He looked it in its eyes as he turned to run. He knew there wasn't anything he could do, not then. At the very best he could make sure that saving his life wasn't a mistake. He pulled out his phone and called Rika. It rang twice before she answered.
"Look, really bad time!" she snapped.
"Rika, I just talked to Yamaki," Takato said clearly as he ran after her. "Get to the park, fast!"
He was sure he heard an affirmative grunt, and hung up the phone. He was sure he'd be able to make it to the park before they would, Takato knew the way around the forest far better than Ryo did. He quickly veered left, taking cover behind a large tree.
Need to get behind that thing.
He didn't see it. He suddenly wondered if the first two injections had done something. It might have just taken a little bit to kick in.
Don't get your hopes up.
He looked eagerly for the thing trying to kill his friends, and finally saw it a few seconds later. He waited for it to run past him, and then began chasing it. He was faster than the monster, and managed to stay behind trees, keeping out of sight. But when he was certain that the lump he saw on the ground in the distance wasn't a rock, but Ryo, he threw caution to the wind and ran harder. The thing was heading straight for him. Takato clutched a needle in each hand, leaving the now-empty box on the ground. He'd managed to get behind a tree that was between Ryo and Dr. Nonaka.
Just a little—
He waited for his moment.
—bit—
The creature got within range. It readied to dive towards Ryo, and Takato spun out from behind the tree, and drove the remaining two serums into the monster's side. He looked on in terror as it howled and dove at Ryo.
Oh god, no—
But Ryo moved. He dove out of the way, and was back running again. Takato knew that one of those injections had done something, it was definitely moving a bit slower. Sluggish, even. He inhaled sharply, and headed not towards Rika and Ryo, but to the park. He knew from the route that Rika and Ryo were moving that they were going to take longer, but they'd definitely have more cover. Takato ran full-speed through one of his own personal favorite shortcuts, forcing the worry out of his mind, letting his adrenaline carry him.
When he got to the park, he saw Jeri waving at him from the top of the hill that had Guilmon's house on it. He ran in, and saw Henry, Kazu, and Kenta as well.
Takato was worried sick. Rika'd sounded so anxious over the phone, out of breath, and he could hear the wind blowing into the phone. He knew she could take care of herself, and that she'd be fine, Ryo was with her, but-
-But even the Legendary Tamer couldn't kill that thing himself.
Trying to stay focused, he turned his attention back to Henry, an unsure look on his face as he followed his father's instructions over his cell phone into a laptop computer, hooked neatly up with his Digivice. Kazu and Kenta were busy pacing around outside, and Jeri was sitting on the wall adjacent to the entrance to their old hideout, her knees pulled up to her chin, staring out at the park as if she'd never seen it before.
He started towards Henry, but quickly turned around and looked back outside for a sign of Rika and Ryo. Although it was unsaid, it was a certainty among the group that they may not be coming back home for a while. They had to go to the Digital World if they wanted a chance of killing the creature that had been hunting them, and there was still so much they didn't know.
Like why it's after us, and why now. I think I should go alone... This was my idea. The responsibility of everyone else ends up at me. How could I live with myself if I knew that one of them died to the hands of that-that thing. It's not going to just roll over and die, and we don't even have enough firepower to make it turn an eye.
He shuddered, feeling the weight on his shoulders push down threefold. Just thinking about it made him want to break down and cry, but he just couldn't let that happen. Inhaling sharply, he refocused and went back to lookout.
The minutes passed. Yamaki had phoned him, telling him that they'll be transported to a mountain when they enter the gate. Takato replied with monosyllabically, too worried about his friends' safety. Finally, there was a movement in the distance.
Rika.
He jumped and shouted and waved at her to hurry up. He turned his head back inside for a moment as he saw the portal open up.
"Everybody, in, now!" he barked.
There were no objections, and they entered, leaving Takato outside.
Rika was a little closer, and Takato was still smiling—
—but he stopped smiling when he saw that she was limping, and that thing was closing in on her.
He ran down towards her, but she'd fallen, and it was on top of her. It raised a foot—
Foot?
The thing was definitely different. It'd evolved—
—and it didn't slam it down. In fact, nothing happened. Takato didn't even blink at the scene. There he was, paralyzed with fear. Rika was on the ground, cowering, and some unholy monster was in the position to stamp her out. But it didn't.
Instead, it ran. Away. It was moving faster, but it wasn't coming after them anymore. Rika got up, and Takato stared with her into the trees in the distance behind which it ran.
"What just happened?" he asked quietly.
"Who knows? Maybe it had to get back to its wife and kids." Rika said in her usual tone.
Ugh.
Takato felt sick at the irony that Rika sure as hell didn't see. Then felt sicker when he realized that Ryo wasn't there.
"Where's Ryo?" he asked suddenly. He hadn't even noticed he wasn't there.
"Digital World by now. Renamon and Cyberdramon are with him. That thing beat him up pretty badly, but I imagined it would be easier to deal with in the Digital World, away from that thing."
"Good call. We ready?"
"Whenever you are, goggle-head." He walked her inside, and entered the portal. The shift was faster than he remembered, maybe because he had so much on his mind.
"..Where is he?" She asked.
"He should be right in that cave up there..." Takato replied while staring into the device his hand. "Away we go."
"Whee..." She whispered hopefully.
The climb up the mountain could have been worse. Takato was too numbed with being overwhelmed with everything to pay much attention to any pain he might have been in. They eventually reached the top, which consisted of a giant flat plateau with large cave. Renamon and Cyberdramon were standing guard outside of it. He knew from the looks on their faces that Ryo was alive. Rika ran inside, the only one having enough energy left to do so. Takato just lay there, staring up at the sky. He closed his eyes for a few seconds. Not to get to sleep, but because he could.
Maybe he did go to sleep. But it couldn't have been long before he felt—no, smelled the disturbingly familiar process of Guilmon licking his face. His eyes shot open and he threw his arms around his friend. He squeezed him tightly, his eyes clenched shut. He hadn't been this happy in a while. He let go of his friend, and only looked him over for a second before he hugged him close again, laughing. Things finally felt right.
He looked around to see Henry, Kazu, and Kenta reuniting with their partners as well. Jeri looked on, but didn't seem sad. She'd dealt with Leomon's death, and Takato knew that she was just happy to see everyone as together as they could be. He still had an arm around Guilmon when his phone rang. He didn't look at the display, as he knew it was Yamaki.
"Hey, we're okay Mr. Yamaki." Takato said, not particularly caring if anyone knew who he was talking to.
"No you're not." He said coldly. Takato stiffened a little bit. "I've gone over the readings, Takato—Ryo is infected."
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I hope you enjoyed. So, this chapter here covers from the second half of Crescendo's chapter 4, through the end of 8. I didn't expect this chapter to be so ridiculously long, but I didn't think I had many opportunities to end it. Anyways, after the next chapter, I'll start resuming work on Crescendo and Atlas concurrently, since it should bring them up to the same point in time.
Peace, and I beg of you to review.
N