Author's Notes: Nothing much to say except sorry for taking so long to update. School projects, tests and finals around the corner...enough of that stuff. Enjoy!
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon in any form whatsoever. Bandai, Toei and ABC own the rights and all that stuff.
Ascension – V 3.6
Emma-o did not say a word as he watched Gallantmon's reaction to this new situation. It was always the same. Self delusions, denials and usually lots of freaking out and screaming. Normally, a person would have done this immediately after coming to the conclusion that he or she is dead but the child has not done that. Perhaps his life as a Digimon tamer has altered him. After all, a tamer's life is quite dangerous and they face death on a regular basis every time they enter into a great battle. "I-I'm dead…" The God of Death heard the holy knight speak for the first time since uttering that 'eep' sound about a minute ago. Impressive that he's been able to keep himself together for this long. "If Rika finds out that I'm dead, she's gonna kill me…"
This caused Emma-o to blink in surprise. I BEG YOUR PARDON? Gallantmon looked wearily at the God of Death and started mumbling. "Wait…that doesn't make sense, does it? How can she kill me if I'm already dead? Heh heh…" That little chuckle degenerated into rapid breathing. "I'm dead!! I've bit the dust, taken the dirt nap and all of those other things!! Crap…crap…crap…crap…crap…crap…CRAP…CRAP…CRAP!!!!!" (AN: The way he said it was like on that X-Copper radio commercial. I don't know if many of you heard it but the guy says 'crap' nine times in a row in about four and a half to five seconds)
"For crying out loud!! Clam your mouth, dork face!! You're going to make my headache even worse!!" Gallantmon wasn't sure whether to be relieved or annoyed when he heard Shadowgallantmon's voice. "Oh, do go on!! Perhaps our associate will have a taste of what he puts us through every time he opens his big mouth!!" Whoa…he had never heard GCM snap like that before.
The ambience environment shattered leaving the God of Death, Gallantmon, a pair of arguing knights, a confused dragon and a woman in a kimono who looked familiar and appeared to be having a migraine. "Wait…now I'm totally confused. If I'm dead, shouldn't all of them be within me? And shouldn't I be in my normal body with Guilmon by my side?" The woman sighed. "You're not dead. I pulled the four of you out of the digital world before Daemon's attack hit. You still have a role to play in the scenario."
Gallantmon blinked once as he remembered the female's identity. Her voice not only caused his memory to trigger but also ceased the argument between GCM and Shadowgallantmon…at least on the crimson knight's part anyway. He fell down on one knee and bowed his head. "Amaterasu…" The other holy knight then remembered the woman who had kissed his forehead before sending him back to the digital world. She gave a small sigh. "You do not have to do that." She then turned to Emma-o with a stern look on her face. "What you did wasn't very nice. I thought you were better than that." He just blinked once and cautiously chose his words as he spoke to the sun goddess. WELL…YOU DID TELL ME TO IMPROVE MY SENSE OF HUMOUR.
Gallantmon just gave Emma-o a look of disbelief. "You mean that whole time you…you told me I was dead!!!" The God of Death regarded the holy knight calmly. I DID NOT SAY THAT YOU WERE DEAD. I MERELY INDICATED THAT TYPICALLY WHEN ONE MEETS WITH ME THEN THAT PERSON IS DEAD. YOU ASSUMED ON YOUR OWN THAT YOU HAD DIED. THE REACTION WAS QUITE HUMOUROUS.
There was a small pause before Gallantmon spoke again. "You said that you were trying to improve your sense of humour. Was that whole little conversation and you leading me to believe I was dead your idea of a joke?" IT WAS MY FIRST JOKE. HOW DID I DO? More silence followed as the four personas of Takato Matsuki were just baffled with why the God of Death was trying to develop a sense of humour. Actually, it was three personas who were baffled by this behaviour as Megidramon was confused about everything now.
Shadowgallantmon was the first to break the silence. "Well…if he gave a freaked out reaction to something that wasn't really true, I guess it would be funny. Now that I think about it, I would have probably laughed if I had seen his reaction to thinking he was dead." He looked at Emma-o and could have sworn that he was beaming with some sort of pride. THANK YOU. NOW I MUST GET GOING…LOTS OF INTERESTING FORMER PEOPLE TO MEET.
As he left, Amaterasu gave a small frown. "I told him to try out a few knock-knock jokes first." Under his breath, Shadowgallantmon muttered about how that was the lowest form of humour in the world, next to puns. The sun goddess gave a small shrug. "Enough about that. I have much to discuss with you." (AN: I understand that the previous situation is really messed up but then again, this is what I came up with after reading 'Shinji's Odd Jobs' by Raiden X as well as dozens of Discworld novels)
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"Hey…I can't see anything!!" Henry focused on placing his green shades on to help him see through the digital field. "Try putting on your goggles, Taichi! It might make things easier!!" There was a bit of noise as the boy placed his goggles over his eyes. Zero wasn't having too much difficulty adjusting to the field.
"What is this fog anyway?" asked the tamer from the Northern Realm. Before Henry could give an answer, Terriermon started to poke him. "Henry, I think there's something seriously wrong with Takato's horizontal tango partner…uh…I mean, Rika!!" The boy rolled his eyes underneath his shades.
Before Taichi could ask Zero if he sensed something wrong as well, the champion Digimon was already running into a direction. "Maybe Zero can find Sakuyamon. Terriermon, do you think you can try and catch some sort of scent? It could lead back to her and then we can start getting to the bottom of all this." The vaccine Digimon frowned. "What do you think I am? A dog?" Henry gave a small smirk and was about to give a reply when his Digimon interrupted him. "Actually, don't answer that question. I know I set myself up for that one but do me a favour and spare me the witty reply."
They tracked down their other two comrades, who were kneeling in front of a fading Sakuyamon in red armour. "She's definitely not in good shape. We've got to do something!!" exclaimed Zero. When the others knelt down to examine her, Terriermon saw a small movement by the cliff. He squinted his eyes to try and get a better look. "I think I see something…"
Henry blinked in surprise as he tried to see through the edges of the digital field. 'It's no use. I've got to get in closer!!' He ran towards the shape and gave a small gasp when he saw another Sakuyamon, in a kimono, also not in good shape. They noticed that Zero and Taichi had helped the crimson version up on to her feet. She seemed to be fading less as she walked closer to the other Sakuyamon. "If I…can r-recall, t-there are…two more…" She pointed a small finger up, meant for the top of the cliff.
Terriermon's eyes widened as he heard this new revelation. "Whoa…four fabulous digi ladies?!? Man, Takato's gonna freak out once he finds out that he has a harem!!" Henry glared at his partner. "At least we now know what's going on. These conditions seem to indicate that Rika somehow underwent Quantum Bio-Merge Digivolution. The digital field may have been created as a result of three extra digital entities coming into existence. Terriermon, are you strong enough to digivolve? We've got to check on those other two Digimon at the top." The vaccine Digimon hopped off of Henry's shoulder. Then the tamer took out a card. "Digi Modify!! Digivolution Activate!!"
DIGIVOLUTION…. "Terriermon digivolve to…Gargomon!!"
"Now if I only had a Hyper Wing card…" Henry flipped through his cards, searching for something appropriate. "Don't worry about it, Henry. Just hop on." The boy hesitated before wrapping his arms around Gargomon's neck. He didn't know what his partner had in mind thus the hesitation.
"This is your captain speaking. We are about to initiate the flight so please put on your safety belts. There shall be no in-flight movie as the flight will only take-" By now, Henry was visibly annoyed. "Gargomon…" The champion Digimon ceased his rambling and aimed his weapons on the ground.
"Gargo Laser!!" This allowed them to blast up like a rocket and soon they were at the top of the cliff. Henry allowed himself to drop to the ground while catching his breath. He went still for a moment when he saw Kuzuhamon and Sakuyamon going through the same thing as the other Sakuyamon he met earlier. 'Kuzuhamon…this could be trouble.' He didn't even notice Gargomon already approaching the dark shaman Digimon.
Normally, Gargomon would have been worried about Kuzuhamon trashing him all over the place but her strength seems to be depleted from other things. She barely even acknowledged his presence. "Black and blue…Shadowgallantmon has those same colours as well." The demented parts of Gargomon's mind then gave him a vision. "If a black and blue guy like him got together with a black and blue gal like you, then you would have little black and blue kids running around! The first two should be called Nathaniel and Superfly but the rest-" (AN: The names Nathaniel and Superfly were picked out from a Weird Al song. Pretty funny dude)
He was cut off when Kuzuhamon launched herself at his neck and started to choke him by wrapping her arms around his neck. Her grip wasn't too hard as her strength was not at full capacity but it was enough to start making his face turn blue. But she collapsed back on to the ground since she had used the last reserves of her strength to shut Gargomon up. He started breathing heavily. 'Okay…that was scary.'
As Henry was helping Sakuyamon get up, a large gust of wind nearly knocked him off balance as an Imperialdramon rose above the cliff. A pillar of light from the dragon Digimon's back swept through the area, picking up the two personas as well as Henry and Gargomon. The Digidestined children were standing behind Taichi…and for some reason, Ryo and Monodramon were curled up into balls and giving small groans of pain. Before he could ask, the Sakuyamon in the robes answered his question. "Kuzuhamon kicked him in the area between his legs." Both Henry and Gargomon winced. "Ouch."
"Now we have something even crazier on our hands. Four versions of Sakuyamon existing at the same time and we still have to deal with that tower problem," muttered Cody. Kari was the next to speak. "Since we don't have a plan of action, we should head back to Gennai's house to recharge ourselves and think up of something to reverse this condition."
"Wow, Kari! That's a pretty smart idea!" exclaimed Davis. Yolei, who was beginning to get tired of the goggle boy's attempts to score points with Kari, rolled her eyes. "Davis, it's just plain common sense. But I guess that's something you don't have much of." That comment initiated another argument between the two.
'What was that all about?' Rika's mind was still preoccupied with what had happened earlier and how she seemed to be fading in and out. It has stabilized now but it still bothered her. As she kept thinking about it, the crimson Sakuyamon had a concerned look on her face as she could feel the other consciousness residing within her deteriorate. 'This has to be resolved soon. Otherwise, Rika may lose a key part of herself.' She then noticed that Imperialdramon has not started the journey back. "Uh…where exactly do I go from here to get to his place?"
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"So that explains it…" By now GCM and Gallantmon were shaken up by the revelation about Daemon's origins. It was rather hard to believe that the current Daemon data line started with a corrupt Seraphimon. Back when the Digital God was in the process of scattering his special tags so that humans cannot enter his castle, this particular Seraphimon revolted against him. As a result, he was banished from the higher realms and his code had changed thanks to the flames of Purgatory coming in contact with him.
He vowed to reshape the digital world in his own image to spite the Digital God who had banished him. This type of plan would take a lot of time and because data can break down over time, he had implanted his code into the data stream to create Digimon with his evolution line who could share his vision. He also created an apprentice by corrupting a digiegg and began to instruct him in everything he needed to carry out his long term plan. Once the master had deteriorated, the new Daemon would continue with the work and create an apprentice of his own. This has gone on for generations.
According to Amaterasu, the Daemon that they had fought recently was the twenty fifth generation of Daemon. The reason for these late generations was because of the temporal difference that had been generated when the digital world was first created in the fifties when the first electronic computer was built. While only a half century passed in the human world, millennia had passed in the digital world.
Because this Daemon was a direct descendant of the original Daemon, he had a small bit of holy code inside of him. And it took Gatomon's tail ring to bring it out. The tail ring was not just a source of additional strength for the cat Digimon but it was a holy talisman as well. Once Daemon had slipped on the ring, he had to endure great pain because of his demonic tendencies in order to allow his holy power to surface. That along with his new powers from the Dark Spore as well as his natural abilities has made him a more dangerous foe.
"This changes our strategy then. We have to find a way to hack off Daemon's ring. Once that's done, we can finish him off…if he doesn't pull off any vanishing tricks," murmured Shadowgallantmon. Then he gave a glare at the sun goddess. "If he's becoming such a big threat to all Digimon and humans, then why aren't you doing anything to stop this? Is it because of your 'no interference' and 'this is a corporeal matter' policy?"
"The weakened barriers of the Southern Realm had been occupying our attention recently. I'm certain you know of all the strange visitors that you have been receiving because of Lunarmillenniumon's temporal incursion. We were making calculations in order to figure out how to manipulate reality precisely to complete the repair work in the shortest amount of time. Manipulating reality is extremely delicate work. Only those who are extremely lucky or extremely skilled can perform such work efficiently. And unfortunately, Millenniumon is one of those extremely skilled individuals," stated Amaterasu. The crimson knight frowned underneath his helmet. "Who exactly are you speaking of when you say 'we'? And what of Millenniumon? What is he planning this time?"
"There are many religions in your world, some which have been around for millennia and some which have died out along with its ancient civilization. With each religion, there are a group of gods and goddesses that the people believe in. In the planar community, each quantum plane is governed by the gods and goddesses of one religion. And as there are many religions in the world, there are infinite quantum planes. And the number of universes vary within each plane. When I say 'we', I am referring to the other gods and goddesses in the Shinto religion. We govern this plane, which only contains four universes."
She paused for a moment. "As for Millenniumon…his body had been destroyed but his consciousness had remained intact. You've already been told what the towers can do from Akiyama. But what he didn't know was that they was a backup function. Not even Monodramon could pick that piece of information up when he temporarily housed Millenniumon's consciousness."
"I'm assuming that we're going to have to deal with him again…great. Now there are two diabolical god-like villains that I'm worried about," muttered GCM. Gallantmon also had a dejected look on his face. "Does that mean that we're finished? Last time, we barely beat Lunarmillenniumon…I can't think of any power that could beat anything stronger than him."
Amaterasu gave a small smile at the four Digimon. "There is a power that could match his but you must discover that on your own. You've already been tapping into a part of it…and once you find your inner harmony to join together again, you will find it. There are also another such as yourself who also possesses a unique gift." Shadowgallantmon started to grumble. "Even more riddles…"
"Can't you at least give us some sort of clue about what you have in mind?" asked GCM. The sun goddess thought about that for a bit before saying a single word. "Kotoamatsukami…" All four Digimon blinked in surprise when she said that word. Before GCM could ask anything else, he could feel his mind slipping away as he surrendered himself to darkness.
It's been three weeks since I updated and this is what I could come up with. I'll try and make the next chapter more interesting. I may have to rewrite this if necessary to make it flow better. Hopefully, I can settle back into a simple schedule of getting out one chapter a week after exams are done but maybe not. I was able to get a summer job so I'll be getting money for cool things!! Nothing else to say so see you on the other side.