Disclaimer: Digimon is a franchise owned jointly by Toei Animation and Bandai, and conceptualized by Akiyoshi Hongo. Doctor Who is a property owned by the British Broadcasting Company created by Sydney Newman. The concept of The Tamer v2.0: In His Name is a fanfiction idea. Please support the official properties.
Pre-Author's Notes: So way back in the first chapter, I said I was going to try and keep this as much of an isolated story as possible. That is, I wanted it to be able to stand on its own two feet without relying too heavily on the canon of the previous stories. But because of what I wanted to do with the story, I realize it might have been hard to follow what was going on. At least, it was going to be very confusing. So I started reworking the story a few chapters back to help it make more sense. There's been no major divergence from the story I wanted to tell, I'm just trying to adjust the narrative to make it flow better and easier to understand. Hopefully the story won't be as confusing going forward. Let me know what you guys think!
The Tamer v2.0: In His Name
Chapter 14: Snake By A Train
Rika made her way back home in silence, contemplating everything Takato or Tamer or whatever had told her. There was no way here mom was Mimi. No way her dad was Izzy! It just didn't make any sense! She would've noticed something like that before! She had noticed before, but she didn't want to believe it. But it brought another concern to her mind. One that she hadn't paid too much thought to since now. She stopped just outside her home and called out to her partner, "Hey, Renamon!"
"Yes, Rika?" she appeared beside the gate into her home. Rika hesitated, unsure she wanted to know the answer to this question. No, she needed to know. This was how she would find out. It was time to face the music, "Back when we first met, you called me Tamer. Was that because you thought I was this...Digimon Tamer person Takato is talking about?"
Renamon didn't answer right away and that made her nervous, "That is what I believed at the time. I thought you were The Digimon Tamer because you were the one who so many digimon appealed to. But I see now that I was mistaken. You are just an ordinary human like your peers - but that doesn't mean we aren't partners nor does it mean that I don't care about you."
Her answer hardly made Rika feel better. She didn't want to be a part of someone else's problem - whether it meant saving the Digital World or their world or whatever. There was one other thing bothering her, "How did you show up in my room that one night? You all just sort of appeared."
"That is difficult to answer. I felt a calling in the Digital World - an unseen force pulling me towards you. Before I knew it, I found myself in that place with those other digimon. I don't know how I got there. I simply was," Renamon answered, "Is something the matter?"
"Just a bad feeling," she replied quietly, "I should head in. Good night Renamon."
"Good night Rika," her partner bowed before disappearing to wherever she went when she wasn't around. As she got inside, she found her grandmother busy preparing dinner while her mom talked on the phone, "I can come by as soon as tomorrow. I'll be there. Okay, I'll talk to you then. Bye."
She tried to convince herself her mom was just taking another work call. Nothing more. But part of her couldn't help but wonder now if her mom really was the Mimi and if that phone call was from one of the other digidestined calling about last night.
Kari awoke the next morning to ready herself for another day teaching a bunch of kids who were obviously going to miss out on her lesson because they were too busy being kids. She loved teaching, she really did. But there were times when they made her want to pull her hair out. It drove her nuts. Especially since she warned her students not to wander the park at night, only to find them doing exactly that. But more than that - she'd found a digimon wondering the park late at night too. And that made her anxious to think about who or what else could've been in their world.
She readied herself a mug of coffee and some eggs for breakfast when someone knocked on her door. Half awake and not really caring for her appearance at the moment, she checked the peephole to find a man in a black business suit and glasses waiting for her on the other side. She latched the door chain to make sure they couldn't force their way in before cracking it open, "Hello?"
"Kari Kamiya?" He asked. Kari kept the chain latched, anxious that this man she'd never met knew her name. Sure her family name was on her mailbox but how did he know her given name. More specifically, how did he know her nickname, "Who are you?"'
"Mitsuo Yamaki. I'm with the Ministry of Defense. Is it alright if I come in?" he asked rather calmly. That was a definite no. She had no idea if this guy actually was with the ministry or not and she didn't care to find out. She didn't want anything to do with those government types. Not after what happened in France. Not after what she saw.
"Whatever you have to say, you can say it from the other side of the door," Kari replied sternly. The man seemed annoyed, but it was hard to tell with those sunglasses on his face. He reached into his coat pocket and she prepared to slam the door shut in case a gun was pulled only to see him produce a badge with an identification card. For the Ministry of Defense, "I'm sorry to alarm you but it is urgent that we speak. In private."
Those could've easily been forged and she didn't exactly want to talk to him anyway, "Whatever it is, I'm not interested."
"It's about the digimon," he said in a hushed tone. She didn't like that last word because it was an obvious ploy to get her attention. But part of her wondered if he had some way to get Gatomon - some way for her to see her partner again.
"Give me a minute," she said after thinking it over. She closed the door and took a moment to straight out her appearance. Then she made her way to her dresser to the kitchen to retrieve a knife, taking care to slip it into her sleeve so that he wouldn't see it. It was a small measure of defense in case he tried anything. After taking another few seconds to calm herself, she opened the door and let him in. He made his way inside quietly, observing the apartment while she slid the door shut. Everything about this guy made her uneasy as he began, "Thank you for letting me in. The ministry has a national security issue at stake and we-"
"Get to the part about digimon," she interrupted. Yamaki nodded, "That's right. I'm sure you've seen them on the news despite our best efforts to keep things under wraps. Someone like you should've been able to see through all our cover stories. Last night, one appeared inside the Metropolitan Building and nearly destroyed the whole building. Which brings us to you. After last night, we've seen fit to bring as many of you back together to-"
She already knew where this was going, "The answer's no. I'm not interested."
The man seemed genuinely unfazed by that statement and proceeded as if she hadn't said a thing, "-defend our country's interests in the event of further incursion from these creatures. You will be compensated for your-"
"Are you deaf? I'm not working for you," Kari repeated more sternly. Yamaki fell silent but stared at her for a long time. His expression only broke when a small frown appeared for a second before he continued, "You do understand that this is a national security issue, correct?"
"I know. And I also know how people like you respond when things like this happen," Kari pointed an accusing finger at him with one hand on her hip, "Kids! Shot at! By soldiers! I'm not going to be a part of that. If digimon are appearing, then I'll take care of it on my terms. And my terms aren't working with you. Now get out."
Yamaki's face remained impossible to read but he took the hint and made his way to the door. He stopped just before he walked out and calmly stated, "I don't know what you mean by soldiers shooting kids. But I do know what those things are capable of. You already know too. Our generation...our age group. It's the smallest age group going five years in either direction. I don't know what you remember. But I remember the Odaiba Incident. Count the names of the dead kids you're so worried about. I'll be back again in a week. I hope you'll have changed your mind by then."
Kari was glad to slam the door on the man once he was out. The nerve of him! But she couldn't deny his point. Kids had died. They died because of her. She had to hurry to school but she knew what she was going to use the lunch break for. She had calls to make...to as many of the others as she could.
Juri walked along the quiet sidewalk to school, pondering everything not-Takato had said the night before and wondering what exactly she could do. Obviously, she wouldn't tell anyone but she didn't like the idea of being a huge drain on the group by just sitting around and doing nothing while they were all risking their lives. She wanted to help out too! But how could she do that? She wasn't like them, she didn't have a partner or a digivice. So what else was there?
She supposed she could bring drinks and snacks. But that wasn't going to be particularly useful until the fight was over. Walking along, she stopped at the window to a game store and saw booster packs for that digimon card game they were always playing. Of course! She could provide these in the heat of a fight! What else was there? It would suck that she'd have to spend some of her allowance but she had no problem with that if she could use it to help out. Not right now though. She still had to get to class.
When the bell rang to let out school for the day, Henry hurriedly grabbed his bag and made his way down to Takato and Juri's classroom. He'd had all night to think about what not-Takato had said and, regardless of if any of it was true, the fact was that he and Terriermon were partners now. He had a responsibility to help as many people as he could and he had no intention of doing nothing while innocents were hurt. Especially if more of those Devas were going to be on the way.
He arrived to their classroom to see Kazu, Kenta, and Juri waiting outside the class as their classmates hurried home. Kazu complained, "Man, leave it to Takato to get into trouble again."
"Shouldn't we call him Tamer now?" Kenta asked quietly, although he was ignored by the others.
"What happened this time?" Henry asked, adjusting his backpack carefully. Kazu thumbed inside where their teacher was busy scolding Takato, drearily explaining, "The guy set off a smoke bomb in class for some reason. He had a bag full of 'em!"
"Where'd he even get that smoke bomb in the first place?" Kenta asked curiously, trying to peer back into the classroom. Juri shook her head, "Who knows. What's taking them so long? Last time she just had him write an apology letter. What do you suppose she's doing in there?"
"Maybe she's going to make him stay after class for the rest of the year and clean up by himself?" Kazu mused, only to be punched by Kenta, "Don't joke about that, man!"
Henry peered into the classroom while they kept talking. It was hard to miss now that he was looking at her - that teacher looked like an older Kari Kamiya. In fact, now that he was looking at the name plate over the classroom, he noticed the name kept...shifting. Changing. One second he would read it as Asaji, the next it would read Kamiya, and sometimes it would appear like a jumble between the two. It was still hard to believe that a digidestined had been a few steps away from him all this time.
Kari looked down at Takato with his open bag on her desk. Full of smoke bombs and baggies of what looked like day old bread. She massages her temple in confusion while trying it understand what would possess one of her students to even have this kind of thing. She wasn't even sure where to start with punishing him, on top of all the other stuff that was happening right now. But she couldn't let this slide - it was her responsibility as his teacher to make sure he was properly disciplined for this kind of behavior. Still, the annoying part came first. He had to explain himself and she prepared herself for whatever ridiculous answer he had, "So...what is your reason this time Takato?"
He looked up innocently enough as he began offering his justification, "Would you believe I'm trying to protect this world and another world from monsters with the help of some friends, some of whom are also monsters?"
She wasn't prepared for that answer. And with so many of his obvious lies in the past, she wasn't exactly sure how to accept that answer. Then again, with all the stories running on the news lately, she was sure he was just trying to get away with his prank by using one of the plots from TK's books as an excuse. But perhaps it was the familiarity of that made her second guess her usual compunction to just slam him over the head with the rule book, "What?"
"Yeah, I didn't think that would work," he frowned sheepishly, "It was for a prank that I was going to pull in the park. Sorry, it was me. I'm the one sneaking around the park at night causing all the problems. I'm sorry."
That lie was somehow less believable than the first. Especially between the kids she caught last night and the digimon. She groaned at the realization that he specifically might be involved in all of this. Still, she couldn't let him know that, "Takato, is this something from one of those digimon books and shows that you and your friends are so hooked on?"
"Would it be any less damning if I say no?" Takato asked, looking at her like he was trying to read her. She made it loud and clear through her grimace that it wasn't and she began, "Takato, I don't care why you brought it in - you can't have smoke bombs in school. And...look, what are you really up to?"
"Cleaning up a mess I think I helped make," he answered nonchalantly. Once again, Kari had no idea how to take that but a suspicion began to grown on her. One that made her uneasy. She asked calmly, "Takato...is there something you're not telling me?"
He looked up at her, scratching the back of his head nervously, "If I said digimon are real...would you believe me?"
"No," she said sternly to avoid suspicion. He nodded, "Didn't think so. So let's go with my second answer: I'm the trouble make responsible for all the problems at the park."
She wasn't going anywhere with this. And she still had other things she had to do. She massaged her forehead, "Look...just don't do it again. Now get out of here."
He nodded, zipping up his bag and heading for the door. Before he even walked out, he stopped and asked, "By the way, Miss Kamiya?"
Kari looked his way, half expecting him to be making some kind of mocking face at her. Instead he pointed at her brother's old coat hanging off her chair and asked, "Where'd you get that coat?"
"It's a memento from my brother," she answered calmly, "Why do you ask?"
"No reason. Bye!" he said, turning on his heels to leave the classroom. Kari thought about it for a minute and scratched her head. Then it hit her like a ton of bricks to the face. He had started wearing those damn yellow goggles of his. She didn't think much of it at the time but was it possible that...no. It couldn't have been? Could it? No, he was...but he said she may not recognize him the next time she saw him. But...no...unless...
There was only one way to be sure. She reached for her brother's old coat and threw it on, packing her work bag and quietly waiting for the students to leave. It would be bad if she was caught so she threw up the hood too to keep her face hidden. If her suspicions were right, the phone call would have to wait. Because it seemed the solution to all their problems was sitting in her classroom.
"So what did Miss Asaji...I mean Kamiya say, Takato...I mean, Tamer?" Juri asked as soon as he got out of the classroom, still struggling with all the right terminology. He shrugged, "Made me promise not to do it again and told me to get out. And just Takato is fine."
"Why'd you bring all of this stuff anyway?" Kazu asked, pointing at his bag. Takato frowned, "I was trying to see how much of this altered reality she was aware of. If I just flat out tell her, her gut instinct would be to ignore it as a form of self-preservation. Lower life forms don't like to accept things they don't understand. Especially if it'll fry their brains. No offense."
"None taken?" Henry asked more than said. Takato went on, "So I tried to present her with a strange scenario to see how she'd react. I didn't realize until after the fact that she may be so used to me doing so many weird things that this wouldn't surprise her. I'll need to rethink my approach. Speaking of...we probably shouldn't talk about this out loud. Park?"
"Park," they all said in agreement as they started their way out of the school building and towards the shed. Kazu cheerfully added, "Man, you must be really wearing her down if she's just making you promise not to do all this crazy stuff anymore."
Then he ran in front of the group so he could wag a finger at him, "Shame on you. Better hope she doesn't change her mind and call your not-parents."
"Don't make me think about that," Takato frowned, adjusting his backpack and asking, "So...have you guys made up your minds?"
"You bet and you better believe we're not sitting this out for anything, Takato," Kazu cheered excitedly, "We still haven't even got to see a real digimon fight! You can count us in with whatever stupid thing you've got going on."
"That's right. We may not have digimon, but don't count us out," Kazu added cheerfully. Juri nodded in solemn agreement, reaching into her pocket to produce a couple of booster packs, "I don't get how the game works but...I can still bring spare cards to all the fights. Anything to help!"
"What about you, Henry?" Takato looked over at the boy from the other class who nodded solemnly, "I'm still not sure."
"That sucks," Takato folded his arms, "Tomorrow then?"
"Tomorrow," Henry repeated with a nod. Juri turned her head, "Why tomorrow?"
Kazu slapped her back, "Don't you get it? Those crazy digimon could show up any minute to do who knows what! We need to be ready for them no matter what!"
Now it was Henry's turn to chime in, "Speaking of that, Mihiramon said he was after the Catalyst but I don't remember if you ever said: what's the Catalyst?"
Takato scratched his head again, his face looking like it was trying to remember but that only made him have to massage the side of his head, "It's an energy source...something to do with...a firewall. It's supposed to be able to...grant unbelievable power to...sorry, I'm having trouble getting my head straight."
"Headaches?" Juri asked sheepishly, "You could take an aspirin."
Takato waved it off quietly, "Doesn't help. But I think we'll know if another one shows up. Our digivices go crazy any time one of them tries so that's a good warning system."
"But if the digivices warn you, why bother with the patrol?" Juri pointed out. Kazu and Kenta jumped on that right away, although they looked more like they hadn't even considered that, "Hey, that's right! Why are we patrolling?"
Takato turned on his heel, walking backwards while still talking, "Because there are plenty of digimon we've run into who didn't set off the digivice. Which means it doesn't always detect them. I don't know if it just can't detect smaller ones, if some digimon are too weak to be detected, if they just showed up too far away, or if anything else is the reason. All I know is we need to be ready in case another one does show up. I mean...who's to say that Mihiramon was the first Deva to come through. There could be more already running around."
"Okay, so where should we start this patrol then?" Juri asked, noticing Takato suddenly start beaming proudly, "There's this old neighborhood called Highton View Terrace. If we go by the book series, that's where the most digimon show up. So I say we start there!"
"You're getting your information from the books," Kazu repeated quietly, sharing the disbelief the others had. Takato nodded, "Yeah, that's right. Why? Because if you're getting skeptical, Kari is our teacher."
"Well, you guys have fun with this. I need to get going," Henry answered, checking his watch before hurrying off to go meet with his dad.
"What should we tell Terriermon?" Juri shouted after him, realizing his partner while still with Guilmon.
"Moumantai!" Henry shouted back.
Rika sat in the subway with her mom, awaiting their train. As much as she hated it, her mom was dragging her off to another photoshoot. Part of her wondered if her mom actually thought bringing her to work would help them 'bond'. Because it wasn't working. And the fact that her mom kept trying to make it work was driving her up a wall. She hated modeling. Most of all, she hated having to wear all those frilly pink clothes in front of all those people. The fact that many of them said she looked cute that way also didn't help. But part of her also realized that this was another point in the favor of her mom being Mimi. As she recalled, Mimi went on to be a model for her friend in the books. If only she could remember the name of her mom's friend - then she'd know if the friend was the same person.
She was sure her mom was too busy on the phone to notice she was staring, rattling on about work, "We're waiting for the train. We'll be there in about ten minutes, how does that sound? Sure, and then we can get ready for the shoot. Oh definitely! Ruki will love the new clothes! Oh, I'm sure. Because I'm her mother, that's why."
Rika rolled her eyes and began shuffling through her digimon cards, examining each one carefully to make sure she understood what each did. Then her attention was caught by her digivice going off at loud intervals. Before she could even reach for it, she noticed a thick fog roll into the subway station from one end of the tunnel, "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."
She stepped towards the platform, noticing her mother didn't even seem to care that she had gotten off the bench and joined everyone else in the station now peering down the tunnel at the oncoming fog where two red lights slowly made their way closer. Then faster. And it hissed. Rika jumped back just as a giant silver cobra slithered past at full speed. Her jaw fell open in disbelief. A digimon here in the Shinjuku subway station. At rush hour. She could hear her mother panicking behind her, "What the hell was that? Ruki! Ruki? RUKI!?"
Her mom started panicking, looking for her in the crowd. Oh, now she cared. She groaned and hurriedly leapt onto the tracks, chasing after the serpent. Her mom could panic a little longer. Maybe then she'd stop thinking about fashion for a few minutes to think about her. Once she was far enough way from the station, she quietly called out, "Renamon?"
"I'm here, Rika. Or should I say Ruki?" her partner said from behind her, making her jump. Rika wanted to smack her for using that name but they had bigger fish to fry, "We need to get after that digimon. Do you think you can digivolve again?"
Renamon took a battle stance and declared, "I can try. Renamon! Digivolve to!"
Nothing happened. That was just her luck. Rika would have to think of something else and she had plenty of time to do that while they chased after the thing, "Damn! Don't worry. I'll think of something."
"Again!" Henry's sensei called out. He closed his eyes, took a deep breathe, and repeated the motions he'd performed a dozen times. One foot forward, then another, arms up, fist forward, keeping balance at all times. When he reached his finishing step, he looked up at his sensei and awaited his judgment. He was sure he got the motions right this time and that he'd kept good form. Until he felt a sweep kick strike his leg - knocking him flat on his back. His sensei sighed, "You're still keeping all your weight on one leg. It's far too easy to knock you over."
"I'm sorry, Hida-sensei," he apologized. Cody Hida - his martial arts teacher. By some miracle, the guy was a master of kendo, tai chi, karate, and aikido while also finding time to be a lawyer. And somewhere along the lines, he and his dad became friends - bonding over their mutual enjoyment of tai chi. Something his dad was hoping he would start to enjoy. In all fairness, most days it felt more like a chore than a hobby for fun. He took Hida-sensei's hand and bowed, "Thank you."
"Go take a rest," he answered, calling out the next student. Henry joined his father who'd been watching with a small smile from the side lines, "You still favor the left."
"I'm trying to unlearn a bad habit," Henry answered, watching Hida-sensei guide another student through the same set of motions. His dad asked, "You've been a little distracted lately, Henry. Is something the matter? It's not about that girl, was it?"
Henry hated how his dad was good at reading things like that. But he didn't want to tell him the truth. The real truth about the digimon. What was he supposed to say? Digimon are real, there's an army of them coming, and now he and some kids from school are the only ones who could stop it. Yeah, that'd go over well. His dad patted his head, "If you're frustrated about that technique, I wouldn't worry about it. It took me a while to learn the final stance properly."
"It's not that dad," Henry frowned, "I was just thinking…well, have you ever been in a position you didn't want to be in? Like...you knew what you had to do, but you didn't want to do it? Or...um...well, that you didn't have to?"
His dad didn't answer, suddenly finding the training a lot more interesting than anything else. After a long pause, he answered, "Yes, I did. In the end, the decision was made for me. There are times where I think about what could've been. But there's also the chance that your mother and I wouldn't be together. And I don't regret that for a second."
Juri watched from the side as Takato began feeding Terriermon and Guilmon bread with jam and peanut butter. Guilmon devoured the food like it wasn't going to disappear, but Terriermon ate more slowly. Juri patter his head and asked, "What's wrong, Terriermon?"
"Just wondering where Henry is," he admitted quietly, "And wondering why he's not here."
Kazu threw his arms behind his head and answered, "He had Tai Chi practice. If you ask me, he just chickened our and didn't want anything to do with this."
"Don't listen to him. He still can't hear Miss Kamiya's name," Kenta pointed out. Kazu rolled his eyes, "If you guys don't stop with that Miss Asaji thing, I'm going to deck someone."
Terriermon set down his loaf of bread, "I wanna say I'm surprised. For some reason, he just doesn't have his heart in fighting for some reason. He says it's because he doesn't want to see anyone get hurt."
"He's a pacifist," Takato spoke up quietly, handing more bread from his bag to Guilmon, "Makes sense. He probably doesn't want to cause any one harm. I don't either."
Terriermon's frown stayed on his face, "Is that's supposed to make me feel better?"
"Just making an observation. Give him time. He'll figure it out. Besides," Takato turned to look Terriermon in the eye, "Moumantai."
The little digimon's ears perked up and he returned to eating his bread. It was a relief to see the little guy smile again, especially eating like he normally would. Just as Takato went to get him another slice of bread, Guilmon peered into the bag and retrieved a smoke bomb, "What's that, Takatomon? Is it food?"
"These are smoke bombs!" Takato said cheerily, holding up the bag for all of them to see. Kazu asked, "So why did you bring all that to school anyway? I know you said to test Miss Asaji but that can't have been the only reason."
"We can use these when we have to fight more strong digimon like Mihiramon," Takato answered knowledgeably, "Throw them to make distractions, even cover an escape if we need to get away. Because the last thing we need is to get stuck in a fight like we did with Mihiramon."
As he spoke, Juri noticed Guilmon grab one of the smoke bombs from out of the bag and give it a sniff. Kazu and Kenta were so busy listening to Takato explain that they hadn't even noticed. And before Juri could even try to warn them-
BAMF!
Guilmon threw it in his mouth and took a bite, coughing and gagging as the white smoke poured out of his mouth, "EW! Nasty! It doesn't taste like bread! Water! I need water!"
Terriermon giggled at Guilmon's mistake, even as smoke filled the shed. Memories filled Juri's mind of earlier that day, recalling how the entire class had to run outside in a panic when one of these went off earlier. This was no different as she, Kazu and Kenta hurried outside to get clear of the smoke filling the shed. Terriermon trotted outside casually with Takato just behind him trying to drag a flailing Guilmon. Then Takato groaned, "Guilmon! You're not supposed to eat them!"
"They looked better than they tasted," the red digimon whined, "It's not my fault! Takatomon!"
As Takato helped the digimon with a bottle of water, his digivice went off like a loud fire alarm. Takato threw his goggles on and inspected his digivice, "It's another one: a snake. Oh, that's not good. It says it's moving towards us. Everyone get clear!"
They all scattered in different directions and waited, only to see nothing but smoke billowing out of the shed. Juri looked from the direction Takato point to him, wondering what was taking so long, "Where is it?"
"That's weird. It says it passed us," Takato said, pointing in the opposite direction, "And that it's...still going."
"But there's nothing there," Kazu pointed out, "Your digivice is on the fritz! Give it a couple of good hits and it'll be back to working in no time!"
"I don't think that's the problem," Kenta pointed out, peering over Takato's shoulder to look at the screen, "Remember last night? The digivice only pointed in the direction of the monster, but it was several stories in the air."
"There's nothing up there, doofus," Kazu said, scanning the skies. But Juri was sure she understood what Kenta was trying to say. It wasn't above them. It was beneath them. She shook Takato and pointed at the ground, "What about below us? The subway!"
"Oh. Oh boy. Crap," Takato spat out, running towards the stairs, stopping and running back into the shed. He came back out with the box for his partner and his backpack, throwing the box over Guilmon and stating, "We're going to find the nearest subway entrance. Kazu, come with me, I'll need your help. Kenta! Juri! Can you guys go get Henry? We'll need his help!"
"On it," Juri nodded, happy to helpful in some way. She scooped up Terriermon and hurried off with Kenta, hearing Takato say, "Kazu, take some smoke bombs. He moves fast so we'll need to move even quicker if we want to stay one step ahead of this guy."
"Got it!"
Calumon hopped along the subway platform, amused by the various tall humans going about their day in such a rush. A few of them stopped to look at him, mistaking him for a rabbit and trying to pick him up before he ran away. Some even chased after but he always lost them in the crowds. The humans could be so odd at times. They all looked like they were in such a rush to go wherever they were heading, but none of them looked like they were having fun. They looked miserable.
It just didn't make sense to the little digimon. Why bother doing something if you hated doing it? He just couldn't understand them.
It didn't help when they all started screaming at the top of their lungs and running in one direction. That only affirmed to him that they were strange. They ran as fast and as far as they could away from something, but Calumon could hardly see what with all the legs running past him. One even kicked him over before he had a chance to ask why they were all screaming. He just rolled along until he came to a stop by one of the soda machines the humans loved and hid behind it to get out of the way of the mad panic.
Staring through the crowds, he finally got an idea why. There was a large, pale serpent moving through the subway station and hissing at everything in sight. Maybe that was why they were so freaked out. And maybe he should hide for a minute.
Henry came out of the locker room dressed in his casual clothes, just a bit ahead of his dad. His sensei was already bidding the remaining students farewell as they left. His sensei had always been so willing to help his students whenever they were in trouble. Maybe he could ask him for advice on this? Especially since his dad hadn't exactly given the most helpful advice. He looked back over his shoulder before approaching his sensei - he didn't want his dad to hear about any of this. He wanted to wait until all the others had left, but it didn't matter because his sensei had already noticed him, "Is something the matter, Henry?"
"Sensei, I wanted to ask you a question, if that's alright. If…you found yourself in a position that you didn't want to be in…and you knew what you had to do but it was something you didn't want to do, what would you do?" Henry began. He probably sounded like a stupid little kid for asking that question. Especially asking it that way. To his amazement, his sensei was surprisingly understanding about it, "I'd probably ask what brought this up Henry? Is something the matter?"
Henry's mind raced, trying to come up with an answer to his remark, "I was just thinking, sensei. You know the digimon show right? What if it were all real? They'd be dangerous, wouldn't they? But what if it was in your power to help stop it? And you were the only one who could? Would you stop it. Even if you didn't want to fight…or see anyone you care about get hurt?"
His sensei closed his eyes. He was expecting a lecture about being a delusional little kid, not that he could blame his sensei for it. He probably sounded insane right now. But his sensei continued to surprise, "First, I'd try to remember that digimon are living, breathing creatures with their own wants and needs. They have hopes, fears, and goals. Second of all, I'd hope they could be reasoned with but I'd try to remember that more harm can come from inaction than actual action."
"What?" Henry asked, unsure of that answer. His sensei scratched his head and chuckled, "I suppose it would be hard to wrap your head around. Let me try explaining it like this: if it were in your power to help someone else, then doing nothing would be worse than to do something if it wasn't in your power. You may not want to see anyone get hurt, but would you be more comfortable watching them get hurt anyway? Your decision to do nothing, may result in harm to the people you care about anyway. In the end, the intention is what's important. Do you understand?"
"Not really," Henry shook his head, still trying to make heads or tails of what he was saying. His sensei laughed, "I'm sorry, I've always been better at being contemplative than explaining moral quandaries like this. Let me borrow a phrase from a comic book: with great power comes great responsibility."
"What?" Henry repeated flatly. What did that even mean?
"Henry!"
Juri and Kenta came running up to the dojo entrance, panting for breath as they stopped. Henry was surprised to see them here, especially since he didn't think they knew where his dojo was. And even more surprising was Terriermon in Juri's arms, looking jostled but trying his hardest to pretend to be a doll. Juri looked up first and exclaimed, "Thank goodness we found you."
Kenta whispered in his ear, or tried to as he heaved for breath between words, "Digimon. Subway. Help."
"Crap," Henry said aloud, realizing the decision was going to be made for him whether he liked it or not. Then it occurred to him he probably shouldn't have sworn in front of his sensei. He bowed to his teacher, "I'm sorry sensei. I have to go."
"I'm sure you do," he nodded with a smile, staring at Terriermon curiously. Henry nervously hoped his sensei wasn't a fan of digimon, or at least wasn't trying to piece together anything he'd said. He felt bad for ditching his dad since he was still wasn't out of the lockers but he needed to make his excuses quick, "Could you tell my dad Im sorry but I had to leave early?"
"I'll be sure to tell him. Now get going," his sensei nodded towards the door.
Rika and Renamon caught up the giant serpent in time to see it slithering out onto a large terminal station. People fled in a panic to escape the monstrosity slithering onto the platform, coiling on itself and hissing, "Where isssssss he? Mihiramon, you incompetent…you were ssssssupposssssed to herald ussssss. Where did you go?"
It knew Mihiramon. Was this another one of the Devas? If it was, they weren't going to stand a chance alone. But she couldn't go find the others without leaving this thing by itself. And then who knew what it was going to do. It went against every instinct she had but they were going to have to face it alone. She whispered, "Can you digivolve Renamon?"
"I can try...hurgh," Renamon made a noise like she was constipated before grunting, "It's not working. Do you have any other plans?"
"Just one," Rika ran behind a pillar and opened up her card holder to examine her deck. But she had nothing that would be useful in a straight fight with this new digimon - speed wouldn't do much good in such an enclosed space, and a strength boost would do nothing to close the difference between them. Accuracy maybe? Maybe an item that Renamon could use? No. Without digivolving to the champion form, there was just too much of a gap.
"I know you're here, human," the serpent hissed, "I can...sssssssmell you and your friend. I hunger."
"Rika, run!" Renamon called out in a panic. It was too late. Despite his size, the serpent moved surprisingly fast and had already coiled around her, leering down at her from above. Rika pressed against the pillar, realizing her last moments may be the smell of this things breath. Thankfully, Renamon charged in and fired a barrage of diamonds, "Diamond Storm!"
The attack did nothing, and the snake seemed to just shake the attack off. Scared for her life, Rika stepped back from the ever enclosing mouth until there was a loud pop and smoke. Rika covered her mouth and nose, watching the serpent hiss angrily before it retreated away. Then Renamon appeared, took her arms, and pulled her to safety through the smoke, "Are you okay, Rika?"
"I'm fine," Rika coughed, feeling the smoke burn her throat, "Did you do that?"
"HEY! SAN…SAN...what was it? Forget it. HEY! SANDY! OVER HERE!?"
That was the goggle head's voice. What was normally contempt was instead replaced with relief.
"That thing's name is Sandy?"
And then it became annoyance. It was Takato and his friend Kazu, standing at the stairs as with Guilmon charged straight in for a fight. The serpent hissed at them, "I am SSSSSSSandiramon, and you will tremble at my power human. Who are you to addresssssss me assss anything elssse?"
"I dunno, I think Sandy works better," Kazu chuckled, "EAT THIS!"
He lobbed another smoke bomb at the serpent, blinding it but also giving Renamon the opening she needed to pull Rika to their side on the platform. Rika scowled at that, "What do you think you're doing!? Are you trying to make him angrier? What took you so long any way?"
"It took us a while to realize it was underground, and even longer to find a subway entrance," Takato answered sheepishly. There wasn't any more time to berate him though, as Sandiramon emerged through the smoke with his mouth wide open. Everyone leapt out of the way of its massive maw in time for it to crash head first into the subway wall, shaking the entire structure in the process. Kazu pointed out, "Maybe we shouldn't fight this thing in the subway tunnel? It'll come crashing down of us if it's not careful!"
"Kazu, you genius!" Takato shouted ecstatically, grabbing the boy by the face and pulling it alarmingly close to his own. Rika looked away in sickened disgust but she could tell what was happening. Especially when Kazu blurted out, "DUDE! WHAT THE HELL!?"
"What? Is that weird?" Takato asked sheepishly as Kazu berated, "Yeah! Don't pull any of that girly stuff on me!"
"What is that supposed to mean?" Rika turned on him angrily, noting Kazu's face shifting from disgust to absolute terror. He stammered, "I'm just saying, that he's acting weird! You're acting more like a guy than he is and he's not- why are you walking this way? Please don't."
Rika made sure she kicked him as hard as he could between the legs, taking great joy in watching him fall over backwards on the ground. Takato immediately covered himself and said, "I'm glad you call me names instead."
"Are you quite done, humanssss?" Sandiramon hissed, reminding all of them that he was still present. Takato frowned, "Oh right, you're still here. Right...um...anyone have a plan?"
"I have one: eat you, digest, and then go find Mihiramon," Sandiramon answered. Rika cursed her luck, wondering what they should do next and realizing she didn't have any. Not without Renamon able to digivolve. This didn't stop Takato from running his mouth though, "Sorry to burst your bubble but Mihiramon's gone."
"Why would you tell him that?" Rika snapped angrily, not wanting to know what Sandiramon was thinking now. Then Takato managed to bungle his way into making it worse, "I thought you'd like to brag about how you did it."
"WHY WOULD YOU TELL HIM THAT!?" Rika became even angrier, trying to ignore the violent roaring hiss that Sandiramon had just made in their direction. She wanted to throttle this kid more than Kazu at that moment, shaking him by the collar of his hoodie, "What's your plan!? To get him to eat me?"
"I wanted to make him angry," Takato said, looking over at the giant hissing digimon just as it prepared to strike. He readied another smoke bomb in his hand and winked at her, "RUN!"
Rika noticed Sandiramon about to strike and let go of Takato. He dropped the smoke bomb and they scattered in different directions. Rika stuck close to Renamon so that they wouldn't get separated, following her back out onto the tracks and asking, "What is that goggle head thinking?"
As the smoke cleared, she could see the dent Sandiramon had made in the wall of the platform and the cracks on one of the pillars. No. He couldn't be that stupid. He wanted to bring the station down on top of the giant snake. The idea was genius, sure - they couldn't out power Sandiramon so this could work. There was the just a tiny problem in the form of they were stuck in the subway with Sandiramon! And bringing the subway down would probably open up a giant sink hole in the city above. She shouted, "GOGGLE HEAD! ARE YOU TRYING TO GET EVERYONE KILLED!?"
"DO YOU HAVE A BETTER PLAN!?" Takato's voice echoed back. She could vaguely make out his outline throwing another smoke bomb and a flash of red light illuminated the smoke, "PYRO SPHERE!"
All she could make out now were flashes of the outline of Sandiramon. Then another voice called out. Henry's voice, "We're here! Sorry we're late!"
"We hurried as fast as we could!" Juri's voice added.
"It's crazy out there! We had to sneak past cops just to get in here!" Kenta's voice joined them.
Oh no. They were running straight into the mess that the goggle head had just made. And there was no way to warn them of the danger they were in. Rika shouted, "GUYS! BE CAREFUL!"
Then Terriermon's voice shouted, "Careful of wha-AAAAGGGHHH! THAT IS A BIG SNAKE!"
"GUYS! LOOK OUT!"
There was too much smoke. Rika couldn't see clearly any more. All she could see was the vague outlines through flashes of red light. She grunted, "Renamon! You have to help them! Get Juri and the dweeb out of there!"
"Right," Renamon was about to charge into the smoke but stopped, "Which one's the dweeb?"
Rika shook her head, "Does it matter? They both suck! Just get them out of there!"
"Got it!" Renamon disappeared into the smoke and ran off to rescue the others. It was impossible to see through the smoke but then she saw a bright flash of light mixed into the smoke. The light was so blinding that Rika had to close her eyes, but she couldn't miss the cries of their digimon.
"Renamon! Digivolve to! Kyubimon!"
"Guilmon! Digivolve to! Growlmon!"
"Terriermon! Digivolve to! Gargomon!"
Their digimon digivolved? How? She hadn't done anything...but it'd just happened. But there was no denying what she saw when the smoke cleared. All three of their digimon were now at the champion level. But there was something else - something small scurrying away from the fight. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she hadn't imagined it but something small scampered off into the darkness of the tunnel. She blinked, "Was that Calumon?"
"RIKA!" Kuyubimon shouted, now carrying Juri, Kazu, and Kenta on her back, "Stay safe! I'll be back in a moment."
She disappeared up the stairs and out of the subway station, leaving her with Sandiramon. Unfortunately, the serpent didn't see Kyubimon disappear up the steps and instead charged her. Rika yelped and dove out of the way, hitting the nearby railroad tracks and groaning even harder. It hurt, but it was nowhere near as bad as having to be in front of that thing's fangs. She picked herself up and ran through the smoke, seeing Gargomon and a hunched over Growlmon run past. Somewhere in the thick of it, Takato shouted, "GUYS! TAKE OUT THE SUPPORT COLUMNS!"
Still with that plan? He had to be crazy. There was no other explanation. Gunfire from Gargomon and fire from Growlmon erupted behind her as she limped her way through the smoke. Debris fell all around her: light fixtures, pieces of tiles and cement, and even dirt as the ceiling started to give under the weight. She hurried to get out of the way and rejoined with Henry and Takato. Henry gave her a hand to help her keep steady and asked, "What exactly is he doing?"
"The idiot wants to bring the entire subway tunnel down on top of us!" Rika explained angrily just as she heard Sandiramon hiss again through the fog. Takato lopped another smoke bomb straight into the station, clouding the fight even further and then silence followed by foot steps. Kyubimon galloped out of the smoke and stopped beside them, "I'm glad you're alright."
"Where are the others?" Henry asked anxiously and Kyubimon answered, "I took them out of the subway. What now?"
"This," Takato said, walking ahead of the group and shouting into the smoke, "Growlmon! Gargomon! Come back!"
More footsteps. Rika felt Henry tense up as he turned like he was getting ready to run when their partners emerged through the smoke. Growlmon whined, "Takatomon, it's too hard to move in here."
"Hang in there, and take out this pillar on my mark," he gestured towards the pillar beside him. The smoke was clearing now and Sandiramon was just ahead of him. He hissed, "I tire of thesssssse gamessss, humansssss. You will pay for your crimessssss againsssssssst Mihiramon. Sssurrender now or sssuffer my wrath."
Takato interrupted its warning, "First things first: Why are you looking for the Catalyst in this world? It should be in the Digital World at all times but you're looking for it here. Why? Second, and this is important, tell the other Devas to stop attacking everything as soon as you come through. It's not helping. We can help but first you need to stop-"
"THE DEVASSS DO NOT TAKE ORDERSSS FROM YOU!"
"-attacking everything you see when you show up. It's freaking people out. Also, don't interrupt me. It's rude," Takato finished with folded arms. Sandiramon paused, examining Takato carefully, "Who are you?"
"The Digimon Tamer," Takato paused as he scratched his head, "But I guess you can call me Takato. The point is I'm a Guardian. Or an Ancient if you prefer. I want to know what's going on in the Digital World."
"The Guardiansss of Dessstiny are a dead race, human. Dusssty politicianssss from a bygone era. Do not pretend to be one. We digimon mussst protect ourssselvesss. And humansss needn't concern themssselvesss with our affairsss," Sandiramon hissed, "You've been a nuisssance enough. Now you die."
"I'm warning you, Sandy!" Takato said with a pointed finger, "I don't want to destroy you but I will if I have to. And I really don't want to. We want to help. We can. Let us. But first tell us what's going on!"
"DIE!" Sandiramon roared, flying at them.
"Growlmon!" Takato shouted. On command, Growlmon broke the last pillar and the subway shook. Sandiramon stopped in its tracks, looking up in time to see a large chunk of ceiling come crashing down on top of it, along with more rubble and dirt. They didn't stay to see all of it though as they retreated away into the subway tunnel to get away from the collapsing debris.
Rika couldn't believe it. The goggle head actually did it. Worse, he probably did so much worse to everything above. She turned on him and shouted, "What were you doing, goggle-"
She paused when she noticed the defeated look in his eyes; a familiar face she'd only ever seen in her mom. Some kind of regret that he was trying his damnedest not to show to anyone. He looked at her and said, "I didn't want to do it. I wanted to reason with him. I..."
"Well that killed the mood," Gargomon commented, "Now what?"
"Takatomon, I'm hungry," Growlmon whimpered. Takato kicked some dirt under his shoe and answered, "Yeah, you guys probably worked up an appetite. Mom and dad throw out all the old bread that didn't sell today. I'll grab it and you guys can help yourselves."
"YAY!" Growlmon cheered excitedly, his voice echoing down the tunnel. As they all turned to leave, Gargomon commented, "So it's just stale bread?"
"Better than nothing," Henry answered, pointing ahead of the subway tunnel, "Come on. The next station is a mile that way."
Kari felt her heart skip a beat in delighted surprise as she looked on from the other end of the collapsed tunnel. The last thing she saw before the tunnel collapsed was another large digimon hissing at something through the smoke. But there was no mistaking that in the confusion, she'd heard the words Ancient and Tamer. Short for Digimon Tamer. What else could it mean?
She wanted to believe that she wasn't mishearing. That her brother was back. But she couldn't just go off hunches or echoing voices in the tunnel. She needed more concrete evidence. She sighed and turned to walk back the way she came, intent on keeping an eye on her most troublesome student in the future. Just the thought that her brother might've been back sparked something she hadn't felt in a long time. A light hearted feeling.
Author's Notes: Two Devas down, lord knows how many more to go! Can they continue their fight or will they be over run by the Devas? Is Kari realizing who Takato is? And just what is going on in the Digital World? Find out all this and more on the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name due out next week at 8 PM CDT. If you loved it show your support by favoriting the story and let me know what you guys think in the reviews section! I try to reply as soon as I can. And hey, don't forget to follow to keep up with the latest updates! That's all for now! Let's look at previews for the next chapter!
"You want to smuggle Guilmon onto the school field trip. I'm not asking, I'm repeating it back to you because I want to be sure you hear how crazy that sounds."
"How hard could it be?" Juri asked, turning head towards Kazu and Kenta who simultaneously answered, "VERY!"
Kazu added, "Maybe you haven't noticed, but he's a giant dinosaur. He's not going to be easy to disguise. And it's not like we can just put him inside one of the boxes. Everyone's going to ask what we're doing with a box that big!"
"Not if we sneak him in on a bag," Juri said with a great big smile on her face.