Author's Notes: I don't want to say anything now because I'm way too tired. Just go and read already and I'll get back to you later. This chapter may be a bit weird so please forgive me.
Disclaimer: I do not own Digimon in any form whatsoever. Bandai, Toei and ABC own the rights and all that stuff.
Ascension – V 3.8
"Let's just get a bit of background information here…who is this person beside you, Gennai? And what were you doing with Suzie?" Terriermon had wisely decided not to make any wise cracks as his tamer did not need anything else to fuss about. The bearded man gave a small smile. "You have definitely taken some characteristics from your father. My name is Shibumi and I used to work with him back when he was in college and together with a few others, we created the first Digimon. We were known as the Monster Makers."
As Henry was having his discussion with Gennai and Shibumi inside the house, Taichi and Zero were having a midday meal, courtesy of Gennai. Ryo and Monodramon were resting in a guest room, trying to recover from Kuzuhamon's kick. The eight personas were still outside so that in case Kuzuhamon and Shadowgallantmon started another fight, they wouldn't damage the archives as well as the rest of Gennai's residence. "You worked with my father? I think I remember my dad talking a bit about it. So what are you doing here?"
"During the chaos that had erupted, I got seriously injured and I think that released a certain part of me that was able to explore the digital world. I'm not sure if I'm dead or if I'm in a coma. When I explored the digital world, I found out that Zhuqiaomon, the guardian of the Southern Realm, was slowly being decompiled as a result of running into a program called the D Reaper, which was originally designed to monitor and control the growth of computer data as well as eliminate programs that have gone beyond their original specifications."
Gennai nodded. "Indeed. What Zhuqiaomon needed in order to save his life was…a data graft. I'm not sure if that's the accurate way of explaining it. He needed a fresh infusion of his own data to replace the affected data. Lopmon was a Deva and therefore carried some traits from the Sovereign who had created her. She had both Azulongmon's traits and Zhuqiaomon's traits and so she was the only suitable candidate for this graft." Henry crossed his arms. "Perhaps that explains how there is a viral version of Kerpymon…"
"This meant that she would not be able to stay with Suzie since her data would have to be absorbed by the Sovereign before the replacement can begin. Shibumi here had been able to flush out the D Reaper program so that it would not continue to affect Zhuqiaomon. Suzie was very hesitant to do this but she eventually agreed to let Lopmon do this. We then focused our attention on the Sovereign and when we checked up on her, she was gone."
Shibumi placed a hand on Henry's shoulder. "I know it can be tough to watch her go through this pain but rest assured, once Zhuqiaomon has regained his strength, we may be able to resurrect Lopmon. You know the fact that Digimon in the Southern Realm absorb the loser's data to get stronger? Every time when that happens, there is a small mental battle to determine the dominant mind. Most of the time, the winner is the one who had absorbed the data but in rare cases, the dominant mind can be the one who had just been absorbed."
The boy blinked once to try and let this idea sink in his head while Shibumi continued. "Zhuqiaomon may be able to let Lopmon's mind remain active so that he can easily return the mind once he has healed. I'm uncertain of how he can do this but I suppose it could be similar to what your friends have had to deal with. With the personas being voices in their heads when they had no physical form…" Henry raised a hand to quiet the man. "Alright, alright…you slightly convinced me that Suzie can get through this. But how exactly did she disappear?"
"The most plausible explanation is that the digital world answered her silent plea. Remember that the digital world is a mix of both data and children's dreams. I think that Suzie may have wanted to go to a place where she can find something to help calm her troubled heart. Where that place is, I'm not sure. But-" Gennai yelped in surprise as Henry forced him to look him in the eye. "The next sentence I want to hear from you is a way that we can track her down."
Gennai paused before speaking. "We can try and make some sort of scanner. I guess I can ask the Sovereigns to keep an eye out if she appears in any of the other realms." Henry released his hold and gave a satisfied look. Moments later, a loud belch echoed through the air, signalling that Zero and Taichi were most satisfied with their meal. Taichi laughed. "Excuse me for that one…that was great!"
The Chinese tamer couldn't help but give a grin at the humorous duo. "You guys feeling alright?" Both Digimon and human leapt out of their seats, with their bellies full and their energy levels high. It didn't surprise Henry when the two of them struck a pose. "THE 100% COMBINATION IS READY TO GO!!!"
Taichi then got out of his pose as he thought of something. "You know, Neo is still out there. And he's pretty dangerous, especially with ArcaDemon on his side. We should start looking for them." Zero gave a nod. "I'm right behind you on this one, buddy!!" Gennai slowly followed them as the duo moved up the stairway, leading to the surface. As he walked upstairs, he could hear two voices arguing. At least they weren't fighting…yet. As the barrage of insults continued, GCM silently wondered where they had both learned such vulgar language.
Gallantmon blinked as Taichi and Zero were getting ready to move out. "Where are you guys heading off to?" A flash of light momentarily blinded him as Zero digivolved to ultimate form. Taichi then hopped on board. "We've got to look for Neo and make sure that he doesn't cause any more trouble with ArcaDemon. You can come if you want but I see that you have your own problems to resolve."
Kuzuhamon stopped her quarrel with Shadowgallantmon as soon as she heard the mention of ArcaDemon. "Count me in. Uploading ArcaDemon's data should be quite interesting. And I'll even admit that you seem to be better company than Mr. Sunshine over here, although you have the title of 'craziest gogglehead of all'." Shadowgallantmon snorted. "You're not going anywhere unless you can convince your other counterparts to go with you. And considering that you're a psycho bitch queen, they're not going to risk allowing you to roam throughout the digital world."
"Asswipe!!!"
"Flat chested-"
"FINISH THAT SENTENCE AND DIE!!!" That came from the golden Sakuyamons along with Kuzuhamon.
There was a cynical laugh. "I can't imagine why you of all people would be concerned about your looks. I thought you were some sort of tough as nails tomboy but I guess you are just another little girly girl. Besides, the most damage that you can do to me consists of a minor migraine." The personas, save for the crimson one, silently fumed, knowing Shadowgallantmon was right. He had an advantage in terms of armour strength and attributes. Zero and Taichi decided to take off as sticking around could result in many accidents. (AN: Just to avoid confusion, I'll refer to the priestess Sakuyamon as Sakuya, the normal Sakuyamon as Rika and the crimson Sakuyamon as Sakuyamon {duh}for the remainder of the story) Kuzuhamon started to grumble. "Can't even go anywhere with this stupid quantum bio-merge…I feel the pain of the others…this bites!!"
Shadowgallantmon gave a small smirk underneath his helmet. "Welcome to my world…YEEEOOOWWW!!!!" GCM and Gallantmon clutched their arms in pain as they saw Megidramon come out of nowhere and bite Shadowgallantmon's right arm. The bite, combined with the acidic saliva, was pretty painful. However Megidramon didn't seem to feel it as he was too hungry to care and Sakuya got the wrong idea. "Aw, how sweet! He must have wanted to hurt Shadowgallantmon after he insulted us twice!!"
The dark knight's voice was hoarse. "Lady, you are insane!! I…can't tell who's…wackier. You…or the psycho bitch queen!!" During the whole commotion, Sakuyamon had walked up to Megidramon. Then she spoke two words. "Release him." Nobody knew what was going through the dragon's head. Not even Megidramon knew what he had felt but there was something familiar behind that mask. Not another persona of the human…something else which had earned a hidden respect during their first meeting.
The group was baffled when the dragon released Shadowgallantmon's arm, especially Rika. 'Who is she?' Only then did he start wincing as the pain in his right arm finally registered in his brain. Gennai gave a sigh. "If you can behave yourselves, I'll let you in. I'll also have to see if I can fix that arm. And maybe I can fix something to eat for all of you, provided that Zero and Taichi didn't eat the whole fridge!" Kuzuhamon frowned as they went inside. "Damn. And just when it was getting interesting…"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
In the middle of the room, the D3s belonging to the new group of Digidestined children were connected to the main computer which held Izzy's experimental new program. "Well, let's see if this works." The computer genius pressed a few keys and started uploading the program into their Digivices. The whole process took about four minutes to complete. As soon as they had completed the final end phases, Izzy gave the Digivices back to the children. "Go ahead and try them out. But there still may be a few bugs in it. Just let it naturally happen…kind of like digivolution."
This room had state of the art equipment, dealing with data and other things relating to the digital world. The government had decided that more research was necessary and established a laboratory. Since Izzy was a Digidestined child and was more than computer literate, he was given access to the lab with certain safety restrictions.
Davis scratched his head before trying to focus on getting his partner back to normal. 'Come on…whatever you are! Let's get Veemon back up to full strength!!' As this thought process was happening, the screen on his Digivice started to display various bits of code, signalling that the program was running. All of the Digimon could feel strength flowing through their bodies. Veemon flexed his arms. "Wow!! I feel like a million bucks!!"
"What's a buck?" asked Armadillomon. Before Veemon could tell the other rookie that it was an expression that he had heard Davis say, Izzy took the Digivices from the children again and hooked them up to a terminal to scan the programs inside. The scanner program had been made thanks to certain templates from his own Digivice and the D3s of some of the other children that he had met during the final confrontation with Malomyotismon.
He had still remembered how the mega Digimon had just popped out of nowhere and openly taunted them. Tai would have tried to do something but Wargreymon was unavailable at that time. Izzy grew more worried as he checked out the status of the Digivices. "Oh dear…the Modify program is going to need some time to adjust being in your Digivices and has temporarily blocked off the digivolution program." Ken blinked once before speaking. "What? So our Digimon won't be able to digivolve?"
"Not for at least a few hours. You can still armour-digivolve since that relies only on a connection between your D3 and your D terminal as well as the Digieggs. Now that you guys are feeling better, we had better get you to America to resolve the growing situation there." The children remembered what Izzy had told them when they came in with what was happening in the country.
"Now, in order to get there as fast as possible, you'll have to travel through the digital world. Once you get to a television in a certain area, you can create a portal to any computer in America. I've talked to Mimi about it and she has offered to keep her laptop open for you guys to exit out of. As soon as you get out, you'll have to head to Colorado since that was where the army had last reported." The children gave a nod before they pointed their Digivices at a computer to open a portal. Moments later, the computer genius was alone in the room, save for the other technicians.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
"W-where am I?" Ryo Akiyama found himself in a strange room with his partner right beside him. Before he could continue to think about what had happened, the pain between his legs reminded him of just that. 'Man, I never thought that Rika would have done something like that. I guess, we all harbour dark feelings and urges within us.' He started to silently grumble to himself as he had a distinct feeling that he was going to be here for quite a while unless a miracle happened.
Outside of the legendary tamer's room, Megidramon was busy gnawing at a tough steak that Gennai had prepared. His lack of table manners has completely diminished the appetites of the other personas. In fact, as soon as they entered the house, GCM went straight to the archives and started doing some research on what Amaterasu had told him. 'What was the word again? Kotoamatsukami…'
While the crimson knight was busy hunting through the archives, Gallantmon and Rika were just sitting beside each other on the couch, with neither of them making a move. The holy knight was the first to speak since the silence was starting to drive him crazy. "Rika…I know there's nothing that I can say to make you feel better but I just want you to know that I'm still here for you. No matter what." He gave a soft sigh as he saw no reaction from her until she moved her hand to enclose his and squeezed gently. "Thank you," she whispered.
The next statement came out of both Kuzuhamon and Shadowgallantmon. "I think I'm gonna be sick." As soon as they had both said it at the same time, they glared at each other. "Hmmmmmm…the two of you said something at the same time. Maybe there's a bit more character chemistry between you two than either of you would like to admit," stated Terriermon as he was munching on some candy he had found.
Now a golden rule for those who like to make witty, annoying and occasionally inappropriate comments: make sure you can get away with it one hundred percent. No strings attached. A good example could be making a last minute comment when you are inside the subway car just as the doors close. In the case with Terriermon making that last comment, he thought that the comment that he had made wasn't too inappropriate or something. Perhaps in the perspective of some people, that may be true. However, this was the type of comment that could seriously land him in a world of hurt when it came to dealing with Shadowgallantmon and Kuzuhamon.
Just as he had swallowed that last piece of candy, Kuzuhamon had wrapped her hands around his neck and began to strangle him. "Me have character chemistry with this dumbass?!? Are you out of your mind?!?" Shadowgallantmon gave a small snort. "Let him go…your grip is much too weak!!" The two of them began a small tug of war on who would get to strangle the rabbit with Terriermon feeling like his life was flashing by.
"Stop this foolishness at once." The bickering stopped as Sakuyamon came over and forced both the dark knight and the dark shaman to release the vaccine Digimon. He was able to croak a small 'thank you' before moving as far away as he could from the dark personas. "Just who the hell are you anyway?!?" Once again, Shadowgallantmon and Kuzuhamon had spoken at the same time. This time, they didn't care that the other Digimon had said it at the same time as they wanted to know who or what was currently occupying the body of the crimson Sakuyamon.
At that moment, GCM had stormed out of the archives with frustration clearly raging in his eyes. "Nothing!! I've checked the entire archives and I can't find one mention of Kotoamatsukami!!" This caught everyone's attention, especially Sakuya's. Then she began to speak. "Why would you be interested in knowing about that?" The crimson knight looked at her in disbelief.
"Y-you know about…Kotoamatsukami? Can you please explain it to us?" asked GCM in a polite tone. Sakuya gave a small frown. "I don't know how much I remember. All I know is that my husband has talked about it a few times during our time together. What Kotoamatsukami referred to is the first five powers which came spontaneously into existence during the creation of the universe…"
* * * * * * * * * * * *
There was a loud rumbling as tanks and helicopters were moving in to the area where the monster had been reported. "According to the reports, we should be able to see something by now. But this blasted fog is making it harder to see!!" The sergeant was now grumbling about the weather. "Odd…the fog seems to be artificially created. I'm not detecting any natural weather conditions that could possibly create this."
As the sergeant considered what the technician had told him, one of the rocket infantry soldiers had gotten into position. "Can you see anything, soldier?" The soldier was looking through the eyeglass of the rocket launcher (AN: The one that I have in mind is one that can be carried on your shoulders while firing) and adjusting it periodically. "Nothing yet, sir. Wait…I have a visual target. Looks like a large bunny, sir." Another soldier took a pair of binoculars for confirmation.
The technician spoke again. "I would like to point out that this might not sit too well with those Digidestined kids if that bunny is a Digimon. This could completely jeopardize American interests in the digital world!! And the target doesn't seem to be exhibiting any hostile behaviour!" There was a small sound as the sergeant spat on the ground.
"As far as I'm concerned, any Digimon that have not been identified as allies are deemed to be hostile. If they are really concerned with keeping this Digimon alive, then they should come here and deal with it. But I don't see any of them around so…" He turned to the soldier. "You may fire when ready. Radio all vehicles to let that monster have it as soon as they are in firing range."
"The fog is starting to lift a bit…that should make your job easier." A finger was placed on the trigger button. Sweat was rolling down his cheek. The other soldier continued to look through the binoculars. "Talk about a rabbit with odd fashion sense. Wait…I think I see some children down there!" "What?!? Hold your fire!!!" The rocket infantry soldier would have complied if his itchy trigger finger didn't react first.
The boy heard the sound of a rocket launcher firing. When he noticed the white missile get closer, he grew frightened. "Gargomon, get down!!" The champion Digimon looked at his partner. "But Willis…what about the girl?!?" He gave a gasp as the small girl, who had appeared out of nowhere, was still standing in the line of fire, somewhat oblivious to the danger that was approaching.
And there you have it. I had to trim off a part and save it for next time but I'll eventually write about it. I can't believe that I got this done in between studying. I guess it's because of the rough outline I had in my head. A few things to say before I sign off.
Alex: I'm going to need to think of a way about how Henry comes to terms with his own dark impulses so please be patient. And why do you constantly assume that I'll get mad at you and hate your guts?
Taiora fans: Well, Tai's secret is out of the bag and I'll show how things resolve…in the epilogue. So you're going to have to wait until…maybe September? Who knows?
Yes, I'm using the third Digimon film as a miniature plotline so I can use Suzie more, finally use Willis and FINALLY have Ken use his Digiegg of Kindness!!!
That's all I can think of for now so I'll see you on the other side!