Infinite Obsession
Part 2 - Disturbing Occurrences

Disturbing Content Warning: So yeeeeaaahh, there's some kinda disturbing content for the faint of heart this time around (or... well, compassionate people in general). So, you are fairly warned.

Part Written by Mabis

Picodevimon was a virus digimon. He knew this and he knew this well. He also knew that the digimon he worked for, Antiramon, was a data type, but that did not matter. His boss had given him some fairly nasty assignments, but he always did them without thinking. He knew it was his job to carry out his master's orders, no matter how destructive they were.

Right now Antiramon had no orders for him, so Picodevimon was free to do as he pleased for the moment. Back in the Digital world, Picodevimon usually spent his free time abusing vaccine digimon, and perhaps the occasional data types. Of course, now that he was in the real world, picking on digimon was not an option. He looked down from his perch on a telephone pole and watched with some amusement at the humans, as they were called, scurried along below him. From what he could tell, these humans would be almost too easy targets. But that would cause a scene, and Picodevimon was told not to make a scene unless it was specifically ordered. It would cause too much trouble.

Which left Picodevimon without much to do. He mentally sighed, and looked around for living things other than humans. After all, nothing was said about the other, smaller creatures that inhabited the real world. Without much trouble he spotted a creature that looked a lot like a tailmon. Curious, he flew over to the creature. The creature made some sort of hissing noise when he approached, and waved what looked like a paw at him, scratching his foot.

"If that's the best you can do," Picodevimon said to the creature after examining his foot, "then you should be even easier prey than those humans." He picked up the creature with his claws, and flew several feet in the air. He threw the creature at a nearby wall, heard some sort of crunching noise as it hit the wall, then watched as the creature landed with a thud on the ground. Picodevimon waited for the creature to get up and start attacking, but instead, it continued to lie there, now with red fluid coming from its body.

"You mean you're done already?" Picodevimon asked when he landed next to the still creature. He kicked it a few times when there was no reply, but the creature still did not stir. With caution, he looked right in the face of the creature. There was no movement of any kind, not even the faint sound of it breathing.

Picodevimon was now extremely curious. The creature was not moving, nor was it breathing. The thought of death occurred to him, but digimon always got deleted when they die, and their data was sent somewhere to be reconfigured. If this creature was dead, why wasn't it being deleted? Perhaps it wasn't dead, but merely playing dead so that the attacker would leave. Picodevimon gave the creature a large slash with his claw, but the creature still did not move. Instead, more of that red liquid came out, now forming a puddle and staining the creature's fur.

"So this is what death is in the real world," Picodevimon finally said. How different it was. He wondered what would happen to the body, as it seemed like it wasn't going anywhere. It would eventually disappear and form something else, right? He waited for a few minutes, but the body remained there. A few insects were now starting to fly around it.

Picodevimon started feeling a little anxious. Dead bodies didn't disappear and turn into something new in the real world. That discovery made him slightly uncomfortable. "Death is final in the real world," he muttered to himself. He looked at the dead creature, now soaked in its own blood. If he had known beforehand, he probably wouldn't have thrown the creature so hard. But then again, the creature was so weak compared to the digimon he was used to. Such a throw wouldn't have even knocked out a child digimon.

But none of that mattered anymore. He made a mental note about how weak creatures were in this world, and flew off. As he perched on the same telephone pole as before, he once again wished he knew how weak the creature was before he started playing with it. After all, he really wasn't intending to kill it.

Picodevimon shook his head. "It doesn't matter if I killed it or not. I am a virus, after all." With that, he flew off in search of something else to do while he waited for his master's orders.

Part Written by Meimi no Kage

Takato had enough presence of mind to look both ways before crossing the streets and to avoid running into people, but the majority of his concentration was focused solely on following the blinking compass of his D-Arc. It had taken him out of the small residential business district his family called home, into another strictly residential area and then again into another business district. He was starting to get tired. He had never been used to this much running, but his excitement was still too great to slow down yet. The blinking compass could only mean one thing and it had been quite a while since the last time he had seen Guilmon.

With the upcoming reunion in the forefront of his mind, Takato looked down to check the directional arrow again and plowed into a girl who had just rounded the street corner. Takato pinwheeled his arms to keep from falling over and somehow managed to succeed in keeping his balance. The girl he had run into wasn't so lucky though. She practically bounced off of him and fell backwards, yelping as she landed hard on her rear.

"Ow! That hurt! Why don't you watch" She cried out angrily, then trailed off in surprise as she finally got a good look at the person who had run into her. "Takato?"

"Eh?" Takato blinked blankly down at her for a moment, noticing the Chinese style clothing and the shiny black hair caught up in pigtails before he realized who it was. "Shaochung, what are you doing here?" he asked curiously as he offered her his hand.

"We're looking for Lopmon," she answered as she took his hand and pulled herself up. Once she was back on her feet she brandished her D-Arc proudly and continued, "The direction was pretty steady for awhile there, but now it's jumping all over the place. We can't keep up." Frowning, she asked him hesitantly, "Do you think he's looking for me too?"

'We? We who?' Takato thought in confusion. "I'm sure he is," he said reassuringly when he noticed her frown deepening. She smiled weakly at that and he patted her on the shoulder before asking, "What did you mean by we?"

"Oh! Jenrya's right behind me," Shaochung said brightly as she pointed behind her at an empty street. She blinked at it and then laughed weakly in embarrassment. "Oops, I guess I ran too fast."

"Eh-heh." Takato rubbed the back of his neck and mentally sighed. Part of him wanted to go ahead and ditch Shaochung and get back to his search, but the rest of him was telling him to be polite and at least wait for Jenrya to catch up before deciding on what to do. Besides, he'd never forgive himself if he up and left her alone. He knew she could take care of herself, and she wasn't such a little girl anymore, but she was still more like a baby sister to him than anything else. 'Hurry up Jen.'

"Shaochung?"

Takato frowned and glanced around for the speaker. That didn't sound like Jenrya. The pitch was too high, and speaking of which, it had sounded like it had come from... above them?

Shaochung tilted her head back and glanced up at about the same time Takato realized where the query had come from. Floating several feet above them in the air was something that looked like a cream colored cross between a dog and a rabbit. "Terriermon!" Shaochung yelled gleefully as she waved her arms up at him.

"It is you," Terriermon said in surprise as he floated down towards the pair. "You're... bigger."

"Of course I am," Shaochung said matter of factly as she put her hands on her hips. "I grew up. That's what people do, you know."

"If you say so," Terriermon muttered, sounding slightly unconvinced. Then he grimaced as something occurred to him. "Jen didn't grow twice as big did he?"

"No," Takato chuckled as a mental image of Jenrya grown to the size of Godzilla popped up in his head, "The older a person gets the less they grow."

"Oh." Terriermon seemed to ponder upon this odd fact for a moment before he shook his head and asked, "Where is Jen anyway?"

"Right here," a winded voice muttered sourly behind them. Shaochung eeped as they all whipped around to see Jenrya eyeing his sister in a reproachful manner. "You shouldn't have run off Shaochung."

"Sorry," she murmured, skuffing the toe of her right shoe on the sidewalk. "I was just excited... and you were being too slow."

"Running off in the middle of a traffic light when we know there are digimon around is not smart," Jenrya growled, scowling fiercely down at Shaochung as she pouted. "What if you had gotten hit by a car or if you ran into a bad digimon? What would you do then?"

"Okay okay, I'm sorry," Shaochung apologized, hanging her head meekly hoping that would appease her big brother. She peeked up at him to see whether he bought it or not and giggled when Terriermon took his silence as the chance to pounce on him.

"Jen!" Terriermon crowed exuberantly as he latched onto the front of Jenrya's shirt and wrapped his ears around his partner's neck. "Did you miss me?"

"Of course." Hugging the little digimon tightly, Jenrya forgot about his annoyance at and worry about Shaochung for the moment. "You shouldn't even have to ask. You know I did."

Takato stood off to the side, feeling like the proverbial third wheel. There was a bit too much moisture gathering in the corners of his eyes, so he looked around for anything to distract him from his friends' happy reunion. He wanted to be the person hugging his own digimon, and it would happen soon, just not soon enough for his liking. Noticing a bank of television set up as an advertisement, he stopped and stared at the news flash.

Takato now had his distraction, but he was fervently wishing he didn't. He watched dazedly as the news continued, showing a rather large and gangly looking rabbit type digimon scooping someone, who looked far too familiar for his taste, up off of the street and then bounding off to who knew where. That couldn't possibly be...

Shaochung stepped up beside him, her mouth agape as what they all now saw on the tv screens. "What is he doing!"

Part Written by Ajora

It was only a job, Antiramon reminded himself as he bounded away from the area where he had picked up Akiyama - no, his prey. Just a job to keep Shaochung safe. In hindsight he realized that it had been really stupid to have caught the attention of a nearby camera crew that was reporting on a death caused by one of the scouts, but he hoped it would alert the other Tamers to the matter, even if it meant losing their trust once and for all. It was regrettable, but there was no other option and he didn't trust PicoDevimon and the others under his command to handle the young man safely. Maybe they would understand. Hopefully.

Antiramon lost whatever cars were following him easily, and soon enough the trees of Shinjuku Gyoen hid him from any aerial pursuit. It would be enough of a hint for the others to pick up on. And, thanks to his formidable speed, the large rabbit soon found himself plunging into the digital gate that ShinMillenniumon had ripped open there. The transition that followed in the jump between worlds was greatly disorienting, but he managed to get through well enough.

Allowing himself a moment's respite, Antiramon paused to gaze down at the human in his hands. Akiyama was completely unconscious now, looking paler than any human Antiramon could ever remember seeing. That was bad, he was sure, but surely Akiyama's current state was not his fault. After all, the human had looked this way before Antiramon caught him and ShinMillenniumon couldn't very well blame him for that, right? With a disgruntled sigh, Antiramon shook out his ears once before making his way towards one of the telltale circles that marked the teleporter network. It was a long journey to get to the one teleport pad that led to ShinMillenniumon's crystal palace.

-.-

ShinMillenniumon paused on the way to the palace's entrance when his eyes caught sight of a polished mirror. His form was monstrous once, a hideous conglomeration of two digimon whose original personalities were lost in the Jogress that birthed him. No trace of either Chimeramon or Mugendramon's personalities could be found in his, yet until recently he could not rid himself of the physical reminders.

Oddly, the Jogress with Monodramon did not deprive either of their original identities. He wondered about that at times, but considered it of little consequence. So long as he remained himself, he had little care for the dragon whose body he was forced to cohabit for a while. Letting the little dragon have control for a while allowed him time to focus on other matters he kept locked away in recesses so deep that even Ryo could not find them while they were linked as Justimon. After all, before that little dragon came along he had already been working on creating a body to house a spirit whose grotesque original form was killed long ago.

The clones of Taichi and the others that he sent against Ryo so long ago, those were merely successful byproducts of a long period of experimentation. He had come to loathe other digimon more than he hated himself for what he was, and from that came a desire to be something else. Humans had created digimon, thus in their own way they were gods greater than the Holy Beasts. As a self-styled evil god, he sought to take the form of a true god. A human.

Restless red eyes glanced back at him, set in a dark-toned face and framed by even darker hair. The body he constructed for himself had not always looked this way. Originally it had been fair of skin and hair, with eyes that were a lighter shade of blue than Ryo's. But somehow, once he loaded his data into the artificial body, it began taking on the coloration he had before Ryo killed him the first time. Dark. Everything was dark. He had yet to figure out just why it had turned out this way, but surely he would fix it in time. At least he had a body that was fully operational now, perfect in every way except for that particular pigmentation flaw and better by far than the grotesque monster he had once been. Smirking at that, he passed the mirror and resumed his walk. He was quite pleased with himself and it was nice to have a body to himself again without having to put up with that little dragon vying with him for control. A body that could feel everything that life could offer.

Digimon of all data types and growth levels that had sworn their allegiance to him parted from his path with quick nods or bows of respect, unaware of how he hated them all. They learned to fear him first, but fear could only work as a tool for governing for so long. For several years he had Kurumon to reward the loyal ones with evolution, but now he had to either recapture Kurumon or figure out something else to use for that purpose. So far it didn't seem as if there was an immediate need. Regardless, it would be prudent to send a few of the scout parties out to look for Kurumon now that their main purpose had been accomplished.

ShinMillenniumon waited patiently for Antiramon's arrival, and it wasn't long before the giant rabbit materialized on the teleport pad. With a small breath of relief, he stretched out his arms. "Give him to me," he commanded when the rabbit hesitated.

Antiramon cocked his head at that and gently handed the unconscious Tamer over to ShinMillenniumon. He watched quizzically as the digimon with a human body actually smiled and embraced Ryo. Maybe he would get away with screwing up after all.

The evil god allowed himself only a moment to enjoy the reunion before he realized that his partner was completely unresponsive. Ryo's skin felt far too hot for his peace of mind and was slick with sweat that didn't seem healthy. He had always imagined it to be different, led himself to believe that Ryo had been fine without him and that when they would reunite there would be one of those delightful arguments and he would be able to convince Ryo that it was for the best. Then he'd make Ryo forget all about that bitch and things would be as they were meant to be. But now the reality was far from reflecting the fantasy. The more he thought on it, the more it stoked his rage. First the rabbit had gotten caught on video, then this. Oh, it probably wasn't the rabbit's fault, but the frustration and anger turned on itself like a snake devouring its own tail. ShinMillenniumon was quite familiar with this unhealthy tendency to allow such things to fester, but never did anything to still it.

It began as an almost inaudible growl deep within the dark god's throat that Antiramon only heard because his ears allowed for excellent audio reception. It was enough to make his skin crawl and set off a sense of alarm. Then the growl built into a very sinister snarl as ShinMillenniumon's feral red eyes fixed on him. Antiramon turned and bolted towards the digital gate the moment he recognized the look of mindless rage on the evil god's face. Time seemed to slow as Antiramon raced to the portal, then...

"Event Horizon," roared the bestial voice. Antiramon fell as the attack hit with the force of crushing gravity that would have killed a human. It was unbearably painful to move and his body felt as if it was made of a far denser substance than lead. But the digital gate was so close by that he would have made it if he had taken just a few more steps. Antiramon closed his eyes as the attack ground away the last of his strength, forcing him to devolve. Lopmon let out a pathetic whimper as the effects of the attack faded, waiting in terror for the blast he was sure would follow. A new tremor shook his small body as he heard ShinMillenniumon stride up to him. He quaked even more when he heard the evil god suddenly give a low, throaty chuckle and stopped behind him. Oh no, ShinMillenniumon was going to do something even worse to him. Therefore, it came as a complete surprise when he felt a sharp pain in his side that sent him flying into the digital portal.

With a huff of annoyance, ShinMillenniumon turned to walk back to the palace with Ryo in his arms. It would have been easy to kill off Lopmon and cannibalize the data, but he had a certain amount of integrity and didn't believe in killing someone who had achieved the goal he had set. Well, not really. The rabbit should be grateful that it was getting away with its hide more or less intact.

ZOMG, will there be more? Hopefully! We're working on it at least.