"A bird whose wings have been plucked returns to the beast it was before it evolved into a bird and learned how to fly."
Vera Ronstadt to Angel, The Big O

Recommended Music:
Scene 1: "Caged Bird," D.N. Angel
Scene 2: "Sin," Big O
Scene 3: "Beautiful Fighter," Chihiro Onitsuka
Scene 4 through Scene 5, part one: "Harry's," Witch Hunter Robin
Scene 5, part two: "Open Your Eyes," Witch Hunter Robin
Scene 6: "At Dusk," Noir
Scene 7: "Tsuki Hitotsu," Gundam Seed

Black Wings
Chapter Four: "Plucked Wings"

Taiyou Tenshi—known only to the closest of friends as "Tai"—ran her hands over the strands of fiber optics on a lamp belonging to some long-forgotten refugee in the Digital World. White light became purple, then blue, then green, and finally the same passionate red as the T-shirt she wore underneath a black jacket. It was like some wonderful sea creature bathed in multicolored light and more magical than any crystal ball. Her back faced the door of her dormitory in a makeshift outpost serving as the Chiba Resistance Force's base, so she never noticed her roommate, seventeen-year-old Tori Amano, standing well a ways behind her. It was wise not to startle the eighteen-year-old Resistance fighter; if there was anything more notorious than her battle skills, it was her wrath. She lived off of anger and vengeance, and without someone to blame for the faults of the world, she was likely to lose the desire to live.

Tori knocked on the wood-and-thatch walls, making her friend turn to look at her. Some small part of Amano wished she hadn't. Taiyou's blue eyes were heavy, bloodshot, and circled by darkness. Her blond hair was unkempt, and her attention waved between Tori and the wall. At last, she just nodded her greetings and returned to playing with the lamp.

"That's the most pointless thing we've picked up in all our time here," Tori commented.

"What can I say?" Taiyou replied. "Sometimes I can be a sentimental sap. Just last night, I was depressed enough to eat like my brother does."

"Why were you depressed?"

"I'm restless—in both senses of the word. I can't sleep because I can't make myself stay her any longer. So many things have happened lately: the Kaiser's execution of his own family, he's stepping up his attacks here…"

"He admitted that Minamoto was his brother, if our sources back home are right."

Taiyou was noticeably stiffer with suppressed anger. "Yeah. That. All the more reason for me to feel like I'm not doing enough. Not to mention I haven't heard from Kage in two months, so I have no idea if he's alive or not." She laughed bitterly as she stared at the iridescent luminescence of the fiber optics. "It's funny, you know. This one light gives me so much comfort, yet another always haunts me. I ate an entire box of cookies last night." The subject change was abrupt, giving the first insight into her unfocused heart, but Tori hoped to use it to free her friend from these saturnine chains.

"I don't blame you. It's not something we always get in our food shipments."

"After I devoured three cans of stewed tomatoes?" Tori fell silent. Tomatoes were almost a staple in Resistance shipments: easy to cook with, canned ones didn't spoil as easily as ripe, and they supplied vitamin C and other important nutrients. Taiyou hated them, but she ate them only because she had to eat. Still, three cans…

"It's something Kage would do, not me," she continued. "He's the one with the large appetite. But then he goes around on his bike and burns it off. He doesn't have the curse of feeling sick because he's so full. He doesn't know what it's like to be confined and held back so he can't burn off that extra weight and emotion…" She fell silent after ranting mostly to herself. She didn't notice if Tori was even there anymore. Her eyes were on the fiber optics. "Amazing, isn't it? Those strands are each made individually of glass. In its normal condensed form, glass is so fragile. Yet when it's pulled tight like this, it somehow seems stronger."

Tori didn't speak. Something like this was highly out-of-character for Taiyou. If she was ever restless, she took care of it in battle. And with all of the chaos in the Forest Kingdom, it was no problem for her to go out and release her stress on some hapless Imperial who had the misfortune of crossing her. For her to be feeling this way, stress must have been piling up to the point she couldn't escape.

"Tai," she started, but she was soon cut off as a tall man of twenty-six years stepped in, dripping wet from the rain. He pushed his sopping black bangs away from his gray eyes and stared directly at them.

"Shinichi told me I'd find you here," he commented.

"Kin?" Taiyou addressed.

"Get ready," he ordered. "We're heading to help Beijing. They have an attack strategy to claim the crystal palace."

"Yes, sir," Tori answered.

"Taiyou?" Kin questioned. He studied her carefully for any weaknesses as she placed her lamp in a cardboard box. There were none. He nodded approvingly as she turned around to face him.

"Back to business."

Under the leadership of Kin Nishimura, the Chiba Resistance Force set out to relieve their Chinese brethren deep in the woods. The constant rain made travel difficult, and muddy paths slipped from underneath their feet. Still, they pressed on, ignoring all inconveniences. A brief meal of unfamiliar fruit gave some fighters the runs, and an ambush by a small encampment of soldiers killed a few and cost Kin the use of his right eye. Yet still, they pressed on.

Sometime later, the troupe came across blood-soaked earth and rows of burial markers—the first evidence that they were close to their brothers-in-arms. Without Kin even ordering them to, they treaded softly and respectfully kept silent as they searched for both allies and enemies.

Leaves crunched under the weight of some unseen foot. Taiyou readied her gun and quietly snuck over. Whoever had been planning on assaulting her by surprise here was about to get a surprise himself for even fathoming that he could catch her off-guard. She inched closer and closer until she was sure she could hear his breathing…

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, two small figures blundered into her from behind, throwing her off-balance and making her fall hard on upraised tree roots.

Seconds later, a bullet struck right where her head had been.

"Attack!" Kin shouted.

The first sensation that returned to Taiyou was pain. It pounded in her ribs as she breathed and burned in her closed eyes as lightning flashed. It throbbed in her left temple as she slept and bit into her stiff neck like some twisted kind of vampire. It was pain that flung her into consciousness as she slowly began to accept that she was alive. Through some miraculous twist of fate or a terrible oversight by some god somewhere, she was alive.

She was in a room somewhere, presumably not as a prisoner of war. Her surroundings were comfortable with high crystalline walls and a large stained glass window. Outside, the storm raged on, its winds snapping the necks of thin branches and its rain beating everything in sight. Lightning and thunder exploded simultaneously, as if infuriated by her luck to live.

She moaned loudly as she forced herself into a sitting position. Bandages covered her entire upper torso, concealing bruised or broken ribs. A piece of gauze was taped over a scratch on her temple. Her neck ached from her lying position on the bed. But being Taiyou, she paid little heed to these frailties of her body and wrapped and tucked her sheets around her like a dress so she'd have something halfway decent on when she left to find her clothes.

There were guards patrolling the hall, and while they didn't look Imperial, she didn't want to take any chances. After all, even if they were Resistance, whoever had bandaged her wounds would not want her out of bed. Either way, it was best for her to creep in the shadows and remain as discreet as possible.

Everyone around her was Asian, but Chinese or Japanese, she didn't know. Patrollers didn't speak; it was an unwritten rule. But considering the crystal walls of the base, she had to assume it was the crystal palace and she was in the hands of the Chinese Imperials or Resistance.

"Are you looking for something?" a masculine voice asked. She turned to see a man in his mid-forties to early-fifties standing behind her. Out of instinct, she tensed and prepared for a fight. "Not very polite, are you? All right, I'll try it your way, young warrior. Defeat me in a match, and I'll let you continue whatever it is you were doing uninterrupted. But if I defeat you, you must answer my simple questions."

Competition was believed to appeal to testosterone and other strictly male hormones, yet it appealed to women like Taiyou too. In years prior to the war, she would have been considered too masculine for a woman, perhaps a man trapped in a teenaged girl's body. But now she was what this man said:

A warrior.

"I accept your terms," she decided.

"Good," he replied, tossing her a wooden bo staff. She caught it and placed it under one arm so she could tie her makeshift dress more tightly, insuring that this man and no others would be treated to a peep show. When she was satisfied, she held the staff in a defensive pose in front of her, ready to fight.

He bowed before her, as per custom in the martial arts. She accepted his honorable gesture and repeated it. Both resumed their defensive positions and stared at each other's eyes, trying to read the subtle emotions behind them.

Taiyou advanced first, trying to spear her opponent. But he stepped aside easily and struck a soft blow to her back. She was momentarily dazed from the pain of her wounds, but she spun around quickly and rushed at him again. Again, he stepped out of the way.

"There is a sport in Spain much like this fight," he mused. "Have you ever heard of bull-fighting?" She ran at him again, missing. "The fighter, called a matador, holds up a cloth and taunts the bull into charging at him before he steps away." She tried a high strike, like in kendo, but he lifted his own staff to block it.

"This is no fight," she growled. "This is just an old man trying to humiliate me."

"And succeeding," he added. "You are too passionate in this; you try too hard. Control your emotions, and do not let them control you! Whatever has made you so angry—you must let go of it before it devours you entirely."

"And that is why this battle is over," a new voice observed. Taiyou risked a glance to see Kin standing off to the side, his eye sporting a proper patch while he held her clothes in his right hand. Her opponent took the opportunity to strike her ankles, knocking her off her feet. She held back a scowl as Kin threw her the jacket, but she put it on nonetheless.

"According to the terms of this match, you must answer my questions," the older man reminded her. "I have only one for you: What is it that has made you so angry?"

She pulled herself up. "My father's death and a boy named Kouji Minamoto."

"Captain Liu! Captain Liu!" called an unfamiliar voice from down the hall.

"Here he is!" a Patamon informed, having flown ahead. Taiyou stared at it oddly. She'd seen a few Digimon of that type before, but never any that wore a pink belt.

"Patamon, you shouldn't go straying off like that!" the voice from before scolded. Two Digimon rounded the corner next, a yellow rabbit-like one in red tights and a white one with a pink belt. Memory came surging back to Taiyou as she stared at the duo.

"I'm sorry," the Patamon apologized.

"This may have been your castle, but you can't go wandering around like that," the white one informed. "You'll get lost. Now, back in the belt."

"You!" Taiyou recognized, nearly lunging for them—nearly only because a well-placed staff thrust tripped her once more.

Completely ignoring the fact that she was on the floor again, Kin introduced, "Taiyou, these two are Bokomon and Neemon, along with their…child, Patamon." The hesitation in his voice implied that he was unsure of the latter's relationship to the two, or what to call it for that matter.

"And believe it or not, they are the reason you are still alive," the man behind her added.

"More like why I'm lying on the floor in nothing but bandages, my jacket, and a bed-sheet," she muttered, getting to her feet once more.

"Yes, they caused your injuries," Kin admitted, "but they also knocked you out of the path of a bullet aimed for your head."

"I'd say a few cracked ribs and a headache are far more tolerable," the other man remarked.

"And you are?" she asked.

"That man is Captain Jen-Tai Liu of the Beijing Resistance," Kin answered. Captain Liu placed his right fist into his left hand and bowed. "Ironically, his team saved ours when we meant to save them."

"That's just the way life works sometimes," Liu commented.

Kin threw Taiyou the rest of her clothes. "Get dressed and meet us in the innermost chamber."

"She doesn't know where that is," Liu reminded him. There was a cheeky glint in his eyes, reflected in Kin's smirk.

"You're right," he agreed, mockingly cupping his chin and looking up to the ceiling to think. "Let's see, who could possibly know their way around this palace well enough to guide her to the inner sanctums?"

Taiyou gave him a hard, cold glare. "I hate you."

"Bokomon, Neemon, and Patamon it is then," Liu agreed.

"We'll be waiting," Kin informed. "You'll want to stay with your guides. It's easy to get lost here." He continued smirking as she glared and walked away. When she and her guides were out of earshot, he announced, "You can come out now, Tori." No response. "Come on now, you're always shadowing Taiyou. Am I supposed to believe you'd leave her on her own?" From the darkness behind Liu, a black-haired young woman stepped out.

"Yes, Kin?"

"From now on, it's Liu you deal with directly," he warned. "When I'm around, I'm second-in-command." Liu raised an eyebrow at this.

"Yes," Tori replied. "Do you have any orders?"

Perfect little soldier girl, Liu realized grimly. He preferred Taiyou's fiery spirit, how she seemingly would do only what her heart said was right. "Yes. Tell me all you can about this Kouji Minamoto—but to Kin, me, and no one else."

"Yes, sir," she answered somewhat hesitantly. And so she proceeded to break her best friend's trust and divulged the events of the past.

"Hmm, very interesting," Liu remarked when she was through. "You may go now." She left and walked in the direction of the inner sanctum. "Did you know of this?"

"No," Kin confessed. "If I had, I would have kept a closer eye on her."

"Be careful not to let your personal feelings interfere with your work," Liu cautioned. "At least until this war is over, if it ever ends." He began walking toward the location of the meeting place. "So the Kaiser's admitted brother is in some way responsible for Dr. Tenshi's death."

"Of course, that's only one side of the argument," Kin noted. "With Taiyou, no truth is absolute."

"Correct."

"I think my wandering days suddenly have more meaning."

"Just as I was thinking. While you're gone, try and find any information about him or the Kaiser, even if it's just rumors. This boy may very well be the key to winning the war."

"For which side?"

Liu stared at him intensely. "That we shall have to see."

Bokomon, Neemon, and Patamon had remained with Taiyou even as she dressed, not that it bothered her too much. After all, war had hardened her and others in her team to the point that they were used to dressing in front of both genders, but whenever she had a chance for privacy, she took it. Her three guides unfortunately had to stand with their backs to her.

"So what makes you three so important?" she asked as she pulled on her shirt. "How do you know so much about this place?"

"I used to live here," Patamon answered.

"Live here?"

"Don't you know who he is?" Bokomon demanded. When he received only silence, he informed her, "Patamon is the reborn lord of this castle."

Taiyou paused. Normally, she had no trouble understanding complicated issues that came with Digimon, but either the drumming in her head or the irritation from the trio had changed all that. "Run that by me again."

He sighed in sheer exasperation. "Digimon don't die; instead they're reborn for a second chance to live a better life. Patamon had previously been Seraphimon, lord of the palace and one of the three rulers of the Digital World. He died trying to protect the Legendary Warriors and was reborn as Patamon."

"Legendary Warriors?" Taiyou repeated, pulling on her pants. "I think my brother mentioned something about them being on his team. Four of them, right?"

Bokomon looked down sadly. "I'm afraid so. There used to be six, but we lost them both."

"But—" Patamon interjected.

"No, Patamon, there's no hope for him," Bokomon replied.

Taiyou walked over. "How do you know so much about them?"

"We adventured with them!" Neemon declared.

"Believe it or not, he's right," Bokomon explained. "We recorded all of their adventures exactly as they happened while we saw it all."

Taiyou frowned. "In other words, you did the same to them that you did to me: ran into them and nearly got them killed, then followed them around nonstop."

"Yep!" Neemon answered. "That's it exactly!" Bokomon snapped his friend's waistband. Meanwhile, Taiyou groaned. This was going to be one irritating alliance.

The inner sanctum of the crystal palace was probably the most infamous chamber inside. There, Seraphimon had slept for ages, encased in crystal, waiting for five of the Legendary Warriors to set him free. It was also there that he'd made his last stand before his rebirth as Patamon. And it was in a small alcove nearby where the area's data had been kept, scanned during a battle between the Royal Knights and the strongest two Legendary Warriors. This was the story recited to Taiyou, and she'd listened with mild curiosity, going over the battles in her mind. But she eventually awakened to reality when Liu and Kin called the meeting to order.

"Members of the unified Chiba/Beijing Resistance Force, listen carefully!" Liu announced, quieting all chatter. "We have now claimed the heart of the Forest Kingdom. It will not be long before we have reclaimed this entire area." Wild applause soon followed. "And now I present Kin Nishimura."

"Thank you, Captain," he replied. "I regret that I will not be here to see this victory, but I know that you will succeed." Sounds of rejoice changed to murmurs of confusion.

"What's he talking about?" Taiyou questioned, seeing the calm expression on Tori's face. "What's going on?"

"Shh," she informed.

"Many of you may be wondering what I mean," he continued. "Sadly, I must inform you that I will be embarking on a private mission, and I don't know when I'll return. Captain Jen-Tai Liu will be in command during that time. When I do come back, I will be second-in-command." He looked at the Captain. "You need his experience.

"But don't think I'm leaving you alone. In addition to Liu's leadership, you will have the guidance of the companions of the Legendary Warriors. Bokomon, Neemon, and Patamon will not fail you. In addition, I leave you arguably the best fighter in the Asian Resistance, Taiyou Tenshi."

"What?" she exclaimed.

"Taiyou's success record rivals even the infamous Yokohama team, and I know she will serve you well."

Kin and Liu could have stripped down and sung karaoke for all Taiyou knew. Her concentration was gone. All she could think of was how hard she was going to throttle Kin for what he'd said. She had a fourteen-year-old brother who, despite his withdrawal from society—enjoyed playing pranks on other people. She knew humiliation even on the Cell 24 scale. This was far worse.

"Kin?" she asked, confronting him. He turned and just ducked the force of her punch.

"You're welcome," he replied.

"Of all the stupid things you've done to annoy me, that's it," she ranted. "You're making it very hard to believe that you're eight years older than me."

"Taiyou, before you lose it again, listen to me," he requested.

"I'll listen, but I won't guarantee I'll calm down."

"What I said back there wasn't to embarrass or glorify you. Everything I said was true, and you know it. You have never suffered any major defeat, and your determination to keep going makes you that strong. It was an honor fighting alongside you, but I think you'll do well—maybe even better—under Liu."

"After I give her a little battle training," he interrupted.

She stared at them both, letting this all sink in. In that span of a few minutes, she suddenly didn't feel like an eighteen-year-old orphan girl with anger management issues and an overwhelming desire for revenge. In that span of a few minutes, she didn't feel like a little girl who was only tolerated because she could occasionally be useful. In that span of a few minutes, she didn't feel any of that restlessness that had been plaguing her for so long.

In that span of a few minutes, eight years difference didn't feel like such a big deal.

"Well then," she answered, bowing. "I'll see you when and if you return." Kin bowed in reply before turning to grab his few possessions. He hefted them on his back and looked back at her.

"When this is over, maybe we can try for something more," he suggested.

She gave him a cheeky grin. "Don't think I'm going to be that easy. Start insinuating any more, and you'll go from wandering to running." He laughed and walked away.

"Tai, are you all right?" Tori asked. "What I mean is, will you be?"

"Why is it that every time something in my life changes, people automatically question my feelings?" she replied. "I'm fine, and I intend on keeping it that way."

Tori smiled. "I'm glad."

"All right then, Taiyou, I'll see you in a few minutes," Liu added. "There's still a lot of work to be done, especially in fortifying this castle."

"Right," she agreed.

The party ended, leaving her with her thoughts. She strayed around the room, acting out every battle she'd imagined the Legendary Warriors to have fought there, reconstructing the past to suit the needs of the present. She took note of the secret exits, where crystal covered brick, and the places where the walls were made of the fragile crystalline panels alone.

"Hmm," she commented, staring at the high walls.

"Is there anything we can do?" Bokomon questioned.

"We need surveillance," she remarked. "Until then, I need you three to keep an eye out for something for me. I'm expecting a box—not very big, but it contains something of mine." Without even waiting for their agreement or disagreement, she set off to wander the palace, searching for any and all lapses in security.

Daisuke Motomiya was the last to get up and leave his seat to go to lunch. It was a pattern repeating itself daily. When only the sixth grade teacher was left, he painfully stood up and limped over to his crutches while a black Velcro brace tried to hold his injured knee in place. He winced from the effort of bending it as he used the crutches as canes. The teacher held the door open for him as he hobbled out, carrying his lunch and Digimon partner, Chibimon, in his red backpack. He still required assistance until he got outside and sat on a low wall.

Keeping his bad leg stretched out in front of him, Daisuke placed down his bag and released Chibimon, who handed him the bundle of food. He smiled briefly and opened the napkin to reveal rice and fried shrimp, all cooked by his sister Jun.

"Your sister's been a lot nicer to you lately," Chibimon noticed, munching on a shrimp.

"It's because I got hurt in that battle. She pities me, that's all."

"I don't think so," Chibimon argue, devouring the last of his piece of shrimp before taking a fistful of rice. "She loves you. Always has, always will."

"Five months ago, she hated me," Daisuke protested.

"Psst, Daisuke, Chibimon!" called a deep, feminine voice behind them. Momentarily startled, the partners turned to see Tailmon hiding in a bush.

"Tailmon, what are you hiding for?" Chibimon asked. "No one else is here."

"Patamon's with me in here," she replied.

"What?" Daisuke questioned, trying to fight off the perverted thoughts that accompanied the idea of Tailmon and Patamon in a bush, trying not to be seen.

"We don't want Takeru and Hikari to know we're here," Patamon explained. "There's something important we need to tell you."

Patamon didn't have to tell them that, Chibimon and Daisuke determined as they stared at each other. One Chosen Child never had a conversation with another's partner. It was simply taboo unless both Chosen were family members. It had to be important if this unwritten code was being broken.

"What is it?" Daisuke asked.

"It has to do with the Crests," Patamon answered.

"What about them?" Chibimon questioned.

"Each Chosen Child's Crest displays an important quality he or she has," Tailmon explained. "It grants a power when that trait is expressed, such as evolution to the Perfect and Ultimate levels when the Chosen remembers that quality for which he or she was chosen."

"Hikari's was Light," Patamon added, "and she had shown some disturbing gifts with it."

"The gift—ESP, healing, and glowing," Daisuke remembered.

"Only now Hikari's gifts are limited," Tailmon replied.

"What?" both Daisuke and Chibimon exclaimed.

"It's true. Tailmon's noticed for a while that Hikari strains herself trying to reach that boy in the other world," Patamon reported.

"But he's in a completely different world," Chibimon protested. "It shouldn't be easy for her to sense these things in other worlds."

"She always could before," Tailmon informed. "If the powers expressed were Light or Darkness, they couldn't hide. And this Kouji boy has the power of Light."

"Maybe he's just lost it," Daisuke suggested, lying to himself.

"Or maybe she's the one who's losing it," Patamon responded.

"Shh!" Chibimon hissed. "I see her coming!"

Patamon and Tailmon slinked back into the shadows and departed while Chibimon and Daisuke resumed their old discussion as they ate.

"Jun loves you," Chibimon insisted. "That's why she's being so nice and why she treated you like crap before."

"Not a chance in Hell," Daisuke argued, his mouth filled with rice. Hikari walked past distractedly, never once suspecting a problem. "This is Jun we're talking about. She's always hated me."

"Impossible," Chibimon affirmed, crunching another shrimp. "Brothers and sisters can't hate each other. All siblings love each other—it's a fact."

Hikari halted in her tracks at his words. They stared at her in surprise. Without turned to look at them, she commented, "You'd be surprised how wrong you are," so softly that they wondered if it was meant for their ears. But before they could question her on it, she resumed her walk.

It was some three days after Kin left that mail arrived for Taiyou. She wore her bandages only because it still hurt to train, so the sight of her with bloody gauze taped to her head caused the messenger to stare with some level of fear. He silently handed her the package, and she turned to leave.

"Wait," he called, his voice shaky from surprise. He held out an envelope.

"I've got my package," she informed. "If that's supposed to go to the Captain or something, give it to those three." She pointed out Patamon, Neemon, and Bokomon.

"No," he replied. "It's got the same code address as the box." Sure enough, the combination of Greek, Russian, and Roman letters was the same: πрБΩR. The sender was DX943ΛΘ—a code address that rang somewhere in her memory.

She returned to her quarters and positioned the lamp next to her bunk. The shifting colors were caught in the iridescent crystal around her as she sat and carefully opened the envelope. Inside was a letter, written on plain notebook paper with disastrously scrawled kanji. Only one person in the world had handwriting that atrocious.

"Kage," she murmured.

Tai, I'd like to tell you everything that's happened, but I can't. You know me—your crazy paranoid baby brother stuck in a crazy paranoid war. I know now that's why you wanted me to keep out of it.

There's so much going on here, and it feels like you're the only one around I can turn to. We gained one teammate and lost the same day. The whole time we thought he was dead, but it turns out he was captured and enslaved. Now things are so bad for him that he's probably better off dead. We gained another ally too, but he's limited to recon. He can't fight. At the same time, a trusted friend of mine is dying because of some stupid mistake made by other teammates. I feel lost, disconnected, like the whole world around me just shattered to leave me alone among the pieces.

Tai, if you get this, please write back. I just need someone to tell me that it's all going to be all right, like you did when I was little. Please help—Kage.

She folded the letter and returned it to the envelope. Kage was advanced for his age and a recluse, but he'd never been this serious, not like this. The last time he'd ever come close to crying was when their father died. For him to be pleading for her help, things must have gotten unbearable.

With the image of him suffering in sorrowful silence burning in the forefront of her vision, Taiyou Tenshi took out pen and paper and began to write.

In addition to the Big O quote used at the beginning, another reference to that anime is the tomatoes Taiyou had been eating that night. In Big O, tomatoes are a metaphor for children experimented on forty years ago. The letter was inspired by the song "Emerald Green" by See-Saw—the end theme to .hack/Legend of the Twilight Bracelet. But the final plea from Kage came from Dragonlance—sort of like Caramon's "Look, Raist, bunnies!" whenever Raistlin was afraid at night. Chibimon's assertion that brothers and sisters can't hate each other came from a similar line from Jarod on The Pretender—I believe about parents and their children originally. And the line about the glass becoming stronger when pulled is directly out of the original "With Broken Wings," when Kouichi made the metaphor about how sand under pressure becomes fragile glass. He'd also commented that when you pressure it "it will become something you don't expect." I had been wanting to have Kouji make a remark about fiber optics later on, when the Kaiser revisited that metaphor, but I couldn't get it to fit. Luckily it managed to here. Well, you know what to do from here. Till the next!

Chapter Five: "Empty Prayers"
Will the gods listen to the prayers of those who do not believe? Who am I? What am I? These are the idle questions you ask them. Why do you always feel that you must run from the pain?