Emily leaned up against the construct, her arms crossed tightly as she patiently waited for Layla and Trevor to return with Adam. Tinkermon meanwhile laid above her, whistling carefree while staring up in the orange sky, attempting to kill the silence that Emily insisted on. From what Tinkermon gathered, her personality was chosen by Layla as a compliment to Emily's anti-social nature. On top of that, her Data was based on the whimsical nature of fairies, particularly Tinkerbell from Peter Pan. The image of Petermon appeared in the Digimon's mind, causing her cheeks to turn pink at the thought of her beloved.
"Petermon…" Tinkermon giggled, fantasizing about flying about through a wide valley full of colorful flowers and scenery, their hands interlocked with one another.
Emily couldn't help but hear Tinkermon, shuffling a bit where she stood. "What are you mumbling up there?"
"Oh, nothing…" Tinkermon continued to giggle.
Emily rolled her eyes. "Scary how you can act so human."
"Say…" Tinkermon leaned her head back so the world was upside-down, "…do you have a Petermon?"
Emily looked up. "Yes…? I have three in my deck."
"No silly! I mean…y'know…?" She continued to giggle.
It took a moment to understand what she meant, in which case Emily turned away. "Of course not."
Tinkermon flipped over and leaned against her arms. "Why not?"
"Why would I need one?"
"Because what's better in life than having someone you know you're destined to be with?"
Emily was growing bothered by how Tinkermon was going about this conversation. "What's gotten into you?"
"What do you mean? I'm just a girl in love, is all."
"You're an AI."
"An AI in love is all."
Emily exhaled, taking a moment to herself. "Sorry I can't relate."
"Oh, come on! I don't believe for a second that—"
"Tinkermon just drop it already!" Emily snapped.
Tinkermon got quiet, her initial enthusiasm deflated immediately. She clicked her tongue and turned her back on Emily. "Fine, be bitter."
Emily wanted to retort to that, but she didn't want to lose the little patience she had left. Instead, she focused her attention on the building breeze that came towards them. Looking in said direction, she could see MetalGarurumon coming closer towards them.
"Sorry, we took longer than expected," Layla said as her Digimon touched down. Emily approached as she and Adam jumped from the back.
"What happened?" Emily asked, immediately noticing Adam's despondent disposition.
Layla looked over at Adam and turned back to Emily. "Melissa Reinhardt is one of the Knights."
Emily digested the information, in an attempt to keep a calm state of mind. Granted she wasn't as close to her as the others, so it wasn't the hardest thing to accept. "I'm guessing Trevor stayed to buy you time?"
Layla nodded. "Fortunately, I don't think we were tailed. Otherwise, things would've gone very south."
"What should we do then? Trevor likely can't handle one of these Knights on his own."
"He told me before that no matter what happens, to get Adam back out into the real world."
"And? Why is he still here?" Emily asked, looking over in his direction.
"Melissa must've somehow restricted his login. He's forbidden from logging out of Babylon."
"But you did that before with Axel, right? Can't you use your permissions to force him out?"
"I tried that. I get the feeling that whatever she did, only she can undo."
Emily exhaled sharply. "Of course…"
"Sorry…" Adam murmured.
"No sense in apologizing," Emily replied, not wanting to think of it. "Honestly, I don't think any of us could've predicted this."
"I might go back and make sure Trevor's okay," Layla suggested.
"You just said that getting Adam out of here is our priority, right? Our best option is to get to Babylon and maybe get a local moderator to help."
"I thought about that, but what if Babylon Mods are on the lookout for us too?"
"So, we're stuck then?"
"I…" Layla shook her head. "No, we're gonna find a way out of this. I promise." She took a deep breath, anxiety building.
"One thing at a time." Emily reminded.
"God, I used to be good at this. Didn't realize Piedmon had that much a grip on me…"
"One thing at a time I said!" Emily repeated, sterner in tone.
Layla looked at her and nodded. "Right. Sorry."
Tinkermon meanwhile continued to lean over her perch, watching as the two girls tried to formulate a solution. All the while she didn't notice the person lie down next to her, mimicking her position.
"What'cha looking at?" Sydney curiously asked.
"Watching them come up with a plan. I would give my input but, you know, who cares about my thoughts?"
"Yeah…it be like that sometimes."
"I know, right? Especially—" Tinkermon turned over and saw the girl smile at her, along with UlforceVeedramon nearby. A shriek left her, causing the three teens below to take note.
"Tinkermon!" Emily exclaimed, causing the fairy to dart downward nearby her Tamer.
Sydney stood up and dusted her skirt. "Aww, and we were just getting along too."
"So much for them tailing us…" Layla muttered.
"Any ideas?" Emily asked out loud.
"Well, if you'd like my opinion I think—"
"I think you guys should just stop wasting time and give up Omnimon for us." Carlos' voice echoed from behind, cutting Tinkermon off. They turned and saw said Knight saddled on Kentaurosmon's back.
Before they could get a word out, Quincy and Craniamon appeared adjacent to the both of them, having the trio completely blocked off. "Don't make this any harder than it needs to be."
"Says the ones who blocked us in!" Tinkermon snapped.
"You're not helping!" Emily whispered sharply.
"I might have a way for her too though…" Layla said, raising her hand to her D-Com.
Emily heard a chime come from her D-Case, causing her to pull it from her waist.
"It's not much but it can buy us time," Layla explained.
Emily looked over to Tinkermon. "Any plan is better than none."
Tinkermon blinked, not understanding what she meant. It wasn't long before she noticed zeroes and ones falling from above like snowflakes. It was at this moment she got an idea.
"Tinkermon: Digivolve!"
Chapter 15: Trojan Strikes Back
Darcmon spiraled forward towards Craniamon, barely able to put a dent in its armor. Unflinching, it exerted the minimal effort to blow Darcmon back, MetalGarurumon leaping into the air to catch her. Saddling on its back, she directed the cyborg Digimon to charge ahead once more, the latter charging a Coctyus Breath attack to fire. As the ice beam unleashed, UlforceVeedramon intercepted, slashing the beam in half with its energy blade. From there, it went on the offensive, charging the pair.
Darcmon departed from MetalGarurumon as it went to clamp down on UlforceVeedramon's blade, binary swirling around her once more. Moments later, Angewomon appeared. She didn't hesitate to draw and fire a light arrow from her bow-shaped gloves, yet that was also intercepted by Kentaurosmon's who fired his own arrow from his crossbow. Angewomon turned all of her attention towards it, as the pair flew into the air, firing their respected weapons at one another in a skyward spectacle.
"We'll hold them off!" Layla stated, not taking her eyes off of her Digimon. "Make your way to Babylon!"
"Whatever you do, don't let them get Omnimon!" Emily added, equally as focused.
Adam was silent, watching the two clean up what he deemed was his mess. He didn't like leaving him to fight, for Trevor, to fight. This was his mess and yet others were cleaning it up.
"Why are you standing there?!" Emily screamed; her voice partially muted by the ensuing explosions that shook the area.
Adam snapped back into it and begrudgingly took off in a direction away from the commotion. He had no clue what direction Babylon was in, as he never bothered to look into the Wasteland Area. Though, did it really matter at this point? All he knew was that he needed to protect Omnimon. He needed to protect his friend from being taken away from him.
He needed to do something about the mess he caused.
His legs were jelly at this point. Even in a digital landscape where his physical abilities and durability were heightened, he was reminded yet again that he wasn't immune to his body's sense of stress.
He couldn't stop thinking about the others. Layla and Emily knew they didn't stand a chance against them. But regardless they gave him a chance to run. He couldn't waste it.
"Adam…" Agumon spoke through the D-Case.
"Not now!" Adam snapped, trying to endure the pain in his legs.
"Please, listen!"
"Agumon, no!" He snapped again.
After a few more steps he tripped over his feet and collapsed, hitting the shimmering floor hard enough to make him lie there for a moment.
"If…if this is it…"
"Agumon shut up!"
"If this is it…!" Agumon insisted.
"This isn't it, alright? I'll fix this, just like before! Trevor's wrong about me! I fixed my mess with Babylon, didn't I? I'm capable of fixing my mistakes! I'll protect you! I'll beat anyone who tries to take you from me…!"
Agumon didn't respond, instead, he materialized before Adam. While Adam tried to keep from breaking down, Agumon dragged him behind a construct. He then took a seat next to Adam and listened to him get his pent-up emotions out. "If this… if this is really it…know that I'm glad I met you. While short, it was fun."
"Why…?"
"Why what?"
"Why am I so impulsive…? I used to get on Trevor for being so reckless all the time, so why am I doing the same?"
Agumon looked up, the orange sky stuck in its eternal sunset colors. "I think it's because your honest."
The word rang in Adam's head reminding him of Emily's words.
"Your actions are motivated by a willingness to protect everyone. Every time you acted it was for someone's benefit outside of your own. Megan…Emily…me…even Trevor when you think about it."
"Because you guys are my friends…But still…"
"Emily and Layla are here because of you, you know." Agumon reminded. "Babylon is safe because you cared enough to step up. You came to Babylon, every day to search for Megan, you fought against Tyrone for the same reason…all because you care enough about your friends to act."
"But look where it got us!"
"And? I'm still here." Agumon reminded. "With you. If it means anything, I don't think your impulsive…just courageous."
Adam didn't say anything. Curiously, he looked at his D-Case and saw the small update notification appear. An idea sparked.
"OMNI, you there?"
Agumon took a moment. "He agrees."
Adam swallowed hard. "Alright." He stood up and held his D-Case in front of Agumon, the latter jumping back inside.
"No matter what happens…I know you'll make the right choice."
"Yeah." Adam nodded. He took a deep breath and bolted forward…
Melissa reached Trevor as the smoke cleared. With each step, another reminder that she was doing the right thing. She knelt, holding her D-Brace next to Trevor's limp arm. Moments later, a stream of blue data poured out from Trevor's D-Case and into hers. Afterward, a stream of purple data went from her case to his. Once this action was done, she rested his arm back on the ground and stood, opening a holographic menu before her.
And with a push of a few buttons, Trevor dispersed into data and floated upward as if he was never there, to begin with.
With a sharp exhale, she steeled herself and pressed on her D-Com. "One down."
"Excellent," Michael said. "I must say, you handled yourself better than I expected."
"I…" she almost didn't want to answer. "I appreciate that, sir."
"Mel, it's just me. And for what it's worth, I'm not crazy about this route either. But all of this is for the safety of Babylon and what's to come in the future."
"…Right." She nodded.
"As for your team, they seem to be holding the two girls back. Adam has escaped, but from what I've seen, he's in no condition to fight. Still, don't falter. You're almost there."
Melissa nodded. "Thank you." She then hung up her D-Com and took off in the direction Layla went earlier…
Adam could see the skyline of Babylon further up ahead. He was so close to his target. In the few minutes he took to get his head together, he realized that with everything that's happened, if Megan was a part of Trojan this whole time, then the knights would've long since attempted to arrest her. The only reason why they didn't was because that would risk confrontation of some sort. In other words, panic within a populated city.
So, either he could be like Megan, and hide in the city until they could figure out a plan…or he and Omnimon can cause some chaos that'll get them forced out. Either way, with the others holding them back there's no way they would be able to catch—"
"Give it up!"
Adam's heart stopped as Melissa's authoritative voice rang through the air. Without thinking he darted behind a construct to hide, hoping that she'd pass them by. Gallantmon's shadow extended like a dark cloud, tensing him further.
"I believe in you…" Agumon whispered reassuringly.
"Thanks, buddy…" Adam replied. He counted.
3…2…Go!
Throwing his decision-making to his impulse, he took off in a direction. Unfortunately, Melissa and Gallantmon were around the way.
However, Adam smirked as his eyes met Melissa's, throwing her off.
"Agumon, Digivolve!"
Agumon exploded from the D-Case in the most vicious state it could muster, a blaze of fire trailing him, and causing Gallantmon to shield his Tamer.
"Are you alright Mil—" the WarGreymon gauntlet socked Gallantmon clean in its armored jaw, sending it flying into several constructs behind them, and stirring up a storm of debris as a result.
As Gallantmon tried to regain his bearing, a bright blue light caught his attention, giving him little time to react.
"SUPREME CANNON!" Omnimon roared firing the blast point-blank and sending an even more massive explosion skyward. Smoke raced in all directions, shrouding Adam in the cloud. He threw his hand upward, and it hooked itself onto Omnimon as it broke past him, yanking him off the ground and onto his back.
"Be ready!" Adam exclaimed.
Omnimon nodded, keeping his guard as he moved ahead. Suddenly a blue blur shot past them, causing Omnimon to reactively draw his Transcendent Blade. Omnimon and UlforceVeedramon clashed blades through passing, after which the latter gave chase. Kentaurousmon stood in the distance, making it harder by launching an array of light arrows, all of which Omnimon dodged with sleek aerobatics. Adam was too focused on escaping to worry about his safety, putting all of his faith and focus in Omnimon at that moment.
"Hold on!" Omnimon shouted, flipping upside-down to catch Craniamon with his cannon, the latter of whom soared downward like a meteor to intercept Omnimon.
"Breath of the Gods!" Craniamon's thunderous voice called, his shield growing in a bluish-white hue.
"Supreme Cannon!" Omnimon charged and fired another blast towards Craniamon, however, the beam fizzled against the surface of the shield catching him off guard. Once Craniamon got close, its spear appeared from behind the shield and was able to knock Omnimon to the ground below.
Adam flew and tumbled, feeling the hard thuds of each of the knights as they landed. As he rose, he saw Gallantmon joining them, clearly unfazed by Omnimon's attack.
Adam shook his senses back into it and forced himself to stand, though the exhaustion was kicking in, making him uneasy on his feet. The sight of the three Tamers gathering to stare at Omnimon filled him with anxiety. As futile as his plan may have been, it stung horribly to fail regardless.
"…What are you going to do to him?" He felt it was worth a shot to ask.
The man in the yellow-accented uniform turned around. "Dunno. We were just ordered to take it back from you."
Adam blinked. "You don't know?"
Carlos turned around completely, scoffing as well. "What's there to know? You guys stole SAIBA Property. We're taking it back, simple as that."
"Yeah but…"
"No matter what you say it won't change things." Quincy stepped forward, taking control of the conversation. "You kids had no business with Omnimon, outside of your actions in saving Babylon. There's nothing past that."
"Yeah, what he said." Sydney chimed. "Trust us, we didn't want things to end up this way."
"Yeah, well you all have a funny way of showing it."
Sydney got quiet, feeling the sting of that comment. This must be what Melissa was going through in retrospect.
Adam clenched his fist, knowing he was powerless at this point. "Just promise me…that you do the right thing by him."
"Reliving you of him is already doing just that, Adam." Melissa's apathetic tone echoed as Gallantmon descended. She jumped from Gallantmon and turned to the unconscious Omnimon.
And Adam begrudgingly watched as Omnimon dispersed into data and flew into her D-Case. Each of the knights reacted to the moment in varying degrees, with Sydney clearly concerned, Carlos feeling somewhat victorious in retrospect, and Quincy feeling stoic and justified in the result.
Once Omnimon completely vanished, she turned her attention to Adam and slowly made her way towards him. Instinctively he slowly backtracked with each step, defensive in what was to happen next. He tripped back and fell, his legs finally giving in. Melissa reached him and knelt, and Adam could see nothing but a void in her eyes as if she shut away all of her emotion.
This wasn't the Melissa Reinhardt that he knew—at all.
"I'm sorry…" She uttered.
Hearing that lit a fuse in Adam. "Screw you…!"
And that likewise lit one in Melissa as well. Melissa grabbed and twisted Adam's arm in a quick motion, sending a shock of unexpected pain through him. As he screamed, Melissa set both D-Cases together and, similar to Trevor, orange data passed from his D-Case to hers, and likewise, the same purple stream transferred to him as well. She threw Adam's arm back to him as the teen clutched his shoulder.
"What…was that for?!" He hissed.
Melissa was too busy pulling up the same screen and typing away at the buttons.
"This better be worth it!" Adam snarled. "Stealing Agumon from me…!"
Melissa hesitated, her fingering hovering over the confirm button. She couldn't fight the lone tear that escaped her; however, Adam was too angry to notice it.
"…Goodbye, Adam," Melissa uttered, hitting the button.
Adam realized what she was doing and roared in anger towards her. Before he could get any words out, he blipped into a stream of data, disappearing after a few moments. Melissa watched as the stream rose, her arms growing dead by her sides. She took a moment, biting the inside of her lip until it near bled, all to resist the excruciating pain a bit longer.
With a deep shaky breath, she raised her hand into the air and motioned them to fall back. They were done.
Mission Complete…
Adam was unfocused and agitated throughout the school the next day. He only came to school just to be away from home. His D-Case absent from his person for the first time since he picked the game back up. He had no use for it.
As he approached the school building, he immediately noticed Trevor and Emily standing out front of the school. Trevor looked like how he felt, and Emily was quiet as usual, clearly not able to show empathy to this degree as of yet.
"What's up?" Adam asked, his monotone indicating a lack of sleep.
Instead of verbally replying, Trevor pulled out his D-Case and projected the holographic screen. A notification read as followed:
"YOUR ACCOUNT HAS BEEN BANNED FOR REPEATED VIOLATIONS IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS LAID OUT BY SAIBA ENTERPRISE. IF YOU BELIEVE THIS IS A MISTAKE, PLEASE INFORM A MODERATOR FOR FURTHER INSTRUCTIONS."
"You too huh?" Adam asked. He turned to Emily. "What about you?"
"Layla and I got off easy." Emily didn't know how to phrase it any other way. "Layla thinks they banned you two specifically because of your connection to Omnimon."
"That's exactly why," Adam replied. He almost didn't want to add on, but he knew he had to. "Melissa—"
"She took Gabumon too…" Trevor spoke up. "…I didn't want to believe it…but maybe Agumon was onto something after all."
"Even though you never used Omnimon in your deck?"
"There's obviously more to it than a quick use," Trevor said. "But what does it matter? It's over. SAIBA won."
"Yeah." Adam nodded. "After all the hell we've been through this is how it ends."
Emily looked at both of them and began to walk up to the doors. "You two are depressing."
"Easy for you to say; you didn't lose your partner in all of this!" Adam snapped.
Emily stopped. "Yeah, your right; I didn't. But it doesn't change the fact that we lost something in all of this!"
"What did you lose? Trevor and I lost our partners! You and Layla still have yours! Maybe if you were stronger you could've beaten at least one of the knights; would've made it much easier for us to run to Babylon and lay low!"
"Oh, so it's our fault now?" Emily snapped back. "Do you get how frustrating it was to get demolished by them?! To know that we tried our hardest to give you an opening to escape?! How do you think we feel knowing that we had one job and we screwed up?!"
Emily found herself shaking, staring at the boy with a sense of hatred she thought she abandoned back when dealing with Layla way back when. "You're an ungrateful idiot. All of this falls on you. And I'll be damned if you try to put it on anyone else."
Trevor felt as though he should've stepped in, but from what he could tell, Emily was holding that in for longer than she wanted. He looked towards Adam, who was apathetic in his expression, equally tired of the events. Megan's words rang in Trevor's head. He couldn't imagine what would've happened had they taken her advice all that time back.
Of course, Not that it matters at this point…
"Users have been talking about that pillar of light that popped up in Babylon a few days ago," Ben mentioned as he typed away. "I was wondering if it was part of some event that R&D is…planning..." he looked over, seeing Melissa was zoned out, her heels kicked off, side sitting on the office loveseat, buried in her phone. "Uh…"
She perked up, brushing the loose hair from her face. "Sorry, you needed help with something?"
Ben took a moment and sighed, "nevermind, just trying to make small talk."
"Oh." She nodded, slowly going back to what she was doing.
Another minute of silence passed before he tried again. "So…how's the new position coming along?"
"It's good."
"Anything exciting? Must be cool to be a superhero and all."
"Not really."
"…oh. Well, I guess I can cross off 'digital hero' off the list of future jobs…Get it? Because that's the…tagline…? I'm just gonna stop talking."
A knock at the door prompted Ben's immediate attention. "It's open!"
The door creaked, Sydney's blue bang entering the door first. "Is Mel in here?"
Melissa heard the voice and looked up. "What's up?"
"Oh nothing, just needed your opinion about something…"
"Okay."
"Privately." Sydney further implied.
Melissa turned to Ben who was already feeling a bit awkward as is. "I'll be fine, take all the time you need."
Melissa nodded, sliding the phone back into her jacket pocket and slipping her heels on. She got up and followed Sydney through the door, closing it behind them.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing, just need coffee and didn't wanna go by myself to Starbucks."
"That's it?"
"Wellll…there's more but coffee first!" Sydney got an arm behind Melissa and playfully pushed her forward.
"I trust you will put Omnimon to good use, Mr. Morris." Akiyoshi slid the drive that contained the AI across his desk. Morris leaned forward and retrieved it, his tired eyes examining it from front to back.
"Something the matter?"
"Even at this point, to orchestrate such a convoluted spectacle is something I didn't expect from a meticulous individual such as yourself. Or rather, I'm surprised I didn't catch on sooner."
"I am a man of many talents after all." Akiyoshi gave a small shrug. "Now that the first act of our show has come to a close, I await what you have in store on your end."
Morris closed his hand around the drive before looking up. "Something to compliment the insanity you're desperate to bring about."
This piqued his curiosity. "On the scale of Ground Zero perhaps?"
"Now why would I deliberately steal the spotlight like that?" Morris asked him, crossing his leg.
Akiyoshi smirked.
"What I have in mind is something small, but impactful to say the least. Those Knights you've employed are surely riding the high of retrieving Omnimon back. Which means that there's no better time to take action."
"In that case, I leave it in your hands."
Morris shook his head. "Her hands…"
"You know you didn't have to pay for mine," Sydney said, after taking a hard pull of the Java Chip Frappuccino she was happily anticipating prior.
"It's fine," Melissa replied, sipping the green tea she ordered.
Sydney turned to her as they walked back to the building. "Y'know, they say green tea is good for when you're stressed."
"Didn't know that," Melissa replied.
"And I know you've been under a lot of it recently."
Melissa stopped, and it took a moment for Sydney to realize it.
"For the last time, I'm fine!" She sternly stated. "You and Carlos need to be like Quincy and stop worrying about me."
"You do realize Quincy is the one who put me up to this, right?" Sydney thought for a moment and facepalmed internally. "That came out wrong…"
"To be honest, I really could care less whose idea it was. We had a job to do, and we did it. There's nothing to be discussed further on the topic."
"Yeah but—"
"I said drop it!"
Sydney got quiet and proceeded to watch as Melissa began walking past her. A few more seconds of silence passed before Sydney felt the urge to speak up. "They meant something to you, didn't they? The Beta Testers I mean…"
Melissa didn't stop walking, forcing Sydney to run up behind her. "Come on, we're friends, aren't we?"
"Co-workers at best," Melissa replied.
"Whatever! Point is—" She cut in front of Melissa to force her to stop. "Point is, I'm worried about you—we all are!"
"And that's none of your concern."
"And why not? You're our leader, right? If you're not in it how do you expect us to be okay too?"
Melissa couldn't argue with that. Still, she remained reluctant. After a few more seconds of silence, Sydney slouched and gave up.
"I…I was your age when I joined SAIBA Enterprise." Melissa finally spoke up. "I was an intern and…during my first week of work I met them."
Sydney made the connection rather quickly; the two boys that shared Omnimon's Data.
"We were part of the accident from five years ago," she continued, giving herself a boost for a more direct answer. "I left them in the room where the explosion happened. And they suffered for it. And no matter what I've done I could never get rid of that guilt. So, I made a vow to be there for them. I was an only child so the thought of having two younger brothers was almost surreal. I helped Trevor enroll in the Pro Circuit; I built Adam a deck using the same AI data from five years ago for his Agumon card. Sometimes I wonder if I spoiled them rotten, or not enough…"
"I get it…" Sydney nodded. "This whole experience…if you knew this was going to be such a burden why did you—"
"To protect them!" Melissa interjected. "Everything I've done was to protect them! I don't care if this is a burden, I don't care if they hate me, I'm doing it for them…!"
Sydney sipped her drink. "If you didn't care, why did you nearly rip that kid's arm off to get the data?"
Melissa got quiet, remembering her action when Adam rejected her. "They…they don't understand…"
"Have you tried explaining that?"
"Yes and—"
"They rejected you; basically, saying to 'mind your own business?'"
Melissa once again remembered both variations of those words between the two. Sydney's expression softened as the urge to hug the woman built inside. "Can I say that I'm a bit jealous?"
"Jealous?"
Sydney nodded. "I would've killed to have a big sister like you when I needed it. Not acting out on interests but rather on what's best in a given situation. Instead, I got stuck with Carlos."
That got a smile out of Melissa. "I was always curious, how do you two know each other?"
"Family friend. His family owned a local deli near my house. Used to give me free candy for every perfect score I got on a Spanish test. Can't speak the language for the life of me but I got candy out of it."
Melissa chuckled. "And Quincy?"
"Actually, I met him when I joined SAIBA. He and Carlos hit it off well enough, but he's…I don't know. He acts like he's in the military."
"Maybe we need to go out one night to get to know each other…" Melissa said passingly.
"Good Idea! How about tonight?! It's the weekend and I know a good bar where—?"
"Bar?"
Sydney nodded. "I'm 21."
"Really?" Melissa had to do a double-take.
"As of last month. Also, I lied, Carlos, is the one who knows a good bar."
"You know what, just to be safe, I have a better idea," Melissa suggested. "And then, afterward if you insist, we'll go to a bar."
Sydney giggled. "You sound more like a mom than a big sister."
Melissa blushed, "I'm not that old!"
"Whatever you say, Mom!"
"And don't call me that! That's weird!" her face flushed harder.
Sydney continued to laugh hysterically back to the office building, with Melissa contemplating what just happened. She took a sip of her tea, the taste giving her a sense of comfort and reassurance. Despite the method everything had to happen, she felt in her heart that this was the right thing. As painful as it was to do so.
Even so, their looks of disappointment and Adam's words… clung to the back of her mind…
"This better be worth it!"
Maybe if she said it enough times, she could get herself to believe it…
Adam skipped school the day Emily chewed him out. What started as an initial lie to his mother as to why he came back home, ended up with him breaking down in front of her. All of his emotions flooded his being and left him a crippled mess on the kitchen floor. As a result, she opted to keep him home for the rest of the week for the sake of his mental health. Being that both his parents worked; Adam barely saw them during the day. For the most part, his Uncle Lucas was the presiding adult, as he was home more often, depending on what his schedule looked like. It just so happened his mom took a personal day to run errands. Adam was hoping she would be gone by the time she came home but that didn't work out the way he planned. Regardless, the outcome was the same, nonetheless.
Adam forgot what silence sounded like. He grew so accustomed to Agumon's newfound voice and interactions in the last month, that not having him around was…bitter. Almost like a family member passing on, what should be their presence is absent and leaves the feeling of emptiness to fester.
Just a void of what once was.
He spent a lot of time thinking. And sleeping. And dreaming… about the things that plagued him. The desperate questions remained unanswered. The concept of an alternate reality where Melissa was still the community manager, where Trojan was defeated…where they were all happy.
"Why did SAIBA create Omnimon…?" was the question that summarized Adam's pain-stricken curiosity. Would it have just been easier to cooperate and hand it over? Was Melissa right after all? Now that they have Omnimon…
…what happens next?
Adam's phone buzzed in the late evening of that Friday. After ignoring it twice, the 3rd call became annoying enough for him to answer it.
Feeling groggy, he was too out of it to check the ID. "Hello…?"
"Get to a TV now!" Trevor exclaimed, causing Adam to jump.
"Dude! Why are you screaming…?" Adam yawned.
"Just do it! TV, computer, something!"
"Alright alright!" Adam snapped, getting up and pulling his computer out of sleep mode. He opened up the web browser and waited patiently. "What's so important that you have to—!" Adam froze midsentence.
Blue lasers rained from the Babylonian sky, igniting skyscrapers like candles. Screams of users erupted all across the affected area, as the silhouette of a massive dragon-like Digimon landed on top of the few remaining structures. It itself unleashed a blood-curdling roar, fitting for a rampaging beast.
ROGUE DIGIMON PROGRAM SETS CYBER CITY BABYLON ABLAZE
AFFECTED USERS REPORT HACKED AND BANNED ACCOUNTS. SAIBA MOVES TO TEMPORARILY SHUT DOWN THE SERVER AMID CHAOS.
"Don't tell me…" Adam's voice shook.
"It's not Omnimon," Trevor answered. "Still…"
"What do you expect us to do? Remember we're perma-banned."
"Megan's been spotted nearby where the Digimon reportedly spawned..."
Adam's heart stopped. His eyes grew as the image of her roaming the streets came back to mind. "She was scouting the area…"
"What's up?"
"Nothing." Adam cleared his throat. "Anyway, we can't do anything about it."
"Layla's been working on a way to recover our accounts."
Adam paused. "I can't win! Why? Why is it when you come up with a stupid plan it's fine, but it's different when I do?!"
"…I was wrong before…"
"Yeah, you were!"
"But so were you."
"I know that too! That's why—"
"That's why I wanted your input on this," Trevor interjected. "Layla's willing to find a way to get us back into Babylon to stop the chaos, but being that we don't have our partners…"
"That's why SAIBA has the Royal Knights, right? Let them fix this mess."
"That's my point. The rampaging Digimon and the safety of the users is one thing, but with Megan involved, what do we do about her?"
Adam took a deep breath, looking back at the live footage of the users running frantically in the streets as everything burned and broke down around them. Suddenly Tyrone crossed the screen for a split second, long enough for Adam to notice.
"I think I have an idea…" He said without thinking.
Melissa and Sydney both rode on the shoulders of their respected Royal Knights, gliding over the chaos below. The screams were on an endless loop between them, as they attempted to keep focused on getting to their target.
"Quincy, I'm leaving evacuation measures to you. Round up any available mods and instruct them to force eject anyone who has yet to do so. Reports we're getting is that anyone caught up in the attacks are having their accounts wiped completely."
"Understood." Quincy acknowledged without any further inquiry.
"Kinda scary when you think about it. It's almost like the user accounts are being killed off or something."
"Better here in Babylon than in the real world," Melissa replied.
"I'm close to the target. Permission to engage?" Carlos reported in.
"Negative. Stick with Quincy and help him evacuate—"
"Oh come on, you got to have fun with the last mission, let someone else get the spotlight."
"Carlos, don't be an idiot! We don't know what we're about to get ourselves into."
"It's rogue Digimon from the wasteland area. Something we've dealt with a dozen times over at this point."
"But a Wasteland Digimon has never set foot in the city like this before. Hence we need to exercise caution!" Melissa reiterated.
"Fine…I'll wait for you guys then."
Carlos hung up, causing Melissa to sigh. "Maybe it's not Adam and Trevor solely, but boys in general."
"Don't feel bad. Carlos has always been the hardheaded type." Sydney shrugged. "Fortunately, he's smart enough to back out of something if it gets too hot for him."
"Hopefully, it won't reach that point."
Carlos jumped from the back of Kentaurosmon and took a good look at the Digimon that paid him little attention as it fired shots out in the distance. He took his D-Case and held it out before him, scanning the Digimon.
"Imperialdramon Dragon Mode…Level 6, Ancient Dragon-Type." He read the information. He looked at the dragon and back at the image that his D-Case produced. Whereas the image showed it to be a dragon clad in black and gold armor over slim blue limbs, this version of it was a deep pinkish-purple and black in nearly all aspects of its being. "Sending this over to you."
He pressed a button and awaited a response. "It's been corrupted by a virus. That would explain the discoloration and the login errors the victims are suffering." Michael answered. "As Melissa stated, wait for backup before you engage."
"Yeah, I know already." Carlos rolled his eyes. He cut communication off and noticed a second figure materialize several feet away from the dragon. A young girl of average height with dark skin, dressed in a Trojan uniform. Her curly black hair was tied back into a ponytail and her eyes were hidden in jade-colored goggles.
Carlos snickered. His luck could not have been better. "Excuse me miss!" he called out.
The girl turned her attention to him. "I was wondering when one of you was going to show up."
Carlos jogged over. "Considered me flattered. Is this your dragon by any chance?"
The girl looked up at it. "What if it is?"
"Well in that case As a Royal Knight of the Babylon Server, I am under jurisdiction to place you under arrest for reckless endangerment of the users, including mass hacking of user accounts and property damage."
The girl crossed her arms. "Cute."
Carlos scoffed, "you think I'm kidding?"
She shook her head, "I believe you. But assuming you all are like this then you're more naïve than I expected; no offense."
Carlos licked his lips, trying to find the words to respond to that. "Well, aren't you a cheeky brat?"
The girl turned away from him and began to walk to the edge of the building. "It's not worth the effort. You may think you're living off of some power fantasy but I'll tell you from personal experience that all of this is bigger than you knights care to realize."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"Exactly what I said. You all captured Omnimon without even questioning why you were doing it, after all."
Carlos was taken aback. "How do you know that?"
The girl smirked. "Hit the nail on the head, didn't I? Guess that proves my point."
"That proved nothing except that I'm gonna sew your lips shut!"
"By all means." She accepted. Even the dragon stopped what it was doing to acknowledge him. "Don't hold back because I'm a girl, okay?"
"Oh, don't you worry. Kentaurosmon and I will make you and the rest of Trojan regret rearing your ugly heads out."
DIGI-GATE: OPEN!
After entering the elevator, Morris retrieved his Employee ID card and set it against the keypad, initiating the elevator to descend to the lowest basement of the building. This was a secret facility that Akiyoshi introduced him to once he had his full cooperation. It was also a room that was hidden to all of the staff in SAIBA Enterprise, only accessible between the two men. It was here that Morris was allowed to work in private, to orchestrate the activity of "Trojan" to Akiyoshi's desired extent.
Like every theatrical production, there would always be the protagonists, and antagonists; in this case: the Royal Knights of Cyber City Babylon, and the terrorist organization Trojan. With the success of the Royal Knights' first mission, they were to face their first major encounter with their archenemy. Who came out on top, depended on how well she could use the tools he provided her.
Assuming her drive to succeed was as strong as he believed it to be, then there was likely little issue in that regard. But that was but one of several things he had in mind. Reaching into his pocket to retrieve the drive, the very device contained a potential contingency plan if Akiyoshi went back on his word—which he wholly expected he would. Whether Akiyoshi gave the drive to him as an act of arrogance, or because he believes that Morris could find a way to utilize it for his endgame didn't matter. Morris was willing to allow himself to follow in step to Akiyoshi's desire if it meant reaching his goal.
At the moment, it was the smart thing to do.
