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.
The Tamer v2.0: In His Name
Chapter 47: Crashing Down
"Are you okay Beelzemon?" Guilmon asked as it soared over the red sea below, "And can you stop being so heavy!?"
Beelzemon's eyes shot open as he realized he was being held aloft by Guilmon. The little red dinosaur was sinking in the air straight towards the red sea below and relief quickly became alarm, "HEY! HEY! WE'RE GETTING AWFULLY CLOSE TO THE RED STUFF DOWN THERE! GET US OUT OF HERE!"
"Strength Boost Activate!" Tamerkato cried out as he swiped a card through his digivice, giving Guilmon the energy he needed to start ascending skyward.
Despite that, Guilmon still found time to whine, "You can do that all day but it still makes me hungry. And I was already hungry so now I'm double hungry…can we eat now?"
"Once this is all over," Tamerkato remarked to his partner, turning his head towards the train car, "No luck with Juri?"
Beelzemon shook his head, "No! Dame practically blew up at Henry then I get attacked by those things! I swear that girl ain't quite right in the head no more."
Tamerkato kept his eyes on the train car while quietly thinking out loud, "It's not her head, it's what's in her head. And even if we get it into the artificial Digital World, it won't matter if part of it is still in her head…and I still haven't figured out how to get it out. Really should have given this more thought."
"Well, think of something quick! Because the sooner it gets out of her head, the sooner we can stop holding back on these things!" Beelzemon shouted at him. At this point, he was prepared to just fire straight at the train to blow it up if it sped things up for them.
The boy continued to stare quietly at the car that Imperialdramon was carrying away and groaned, "Oh, I am going to hate what I am about to do. Guilmon, head for the train car!"
"What!? Why?" the dinosaur asked.
Tamerkato answered by patting his head, "You'll be a lot happier not knowing."
"I'd be happiest if I could have something to eat already!" Guilmon whined, turning towards the train car and lowering both Beelzemon and Tamerkato on top. Both Sora and Matt turned in surprise at the sight of him.
"Tamer!? What are you doing here!?" they said together.
Tamerkato made his way towards the entry hatch and shouted, "Guys! No matter what happens, don't let Hypnos fire the Juggernaut until I get the D-Reaper out of Juri's head! Beelzemon, when I get it out of her head, I need you to get her and Calumon to safety. Do you understand?"
"What? What is with this plan of yours!? I can't even follow it!" Beelzemon complained angrily.
He just shrugged, "I am literally making all of this up as I go. Can I trust you to get her and Calumon to safety?"
Beelzemon didn't like being put on the spot like that but nodded anyway, "I…sure, why not!?"
"Beelzemon! Her safety is the most important thing! Can I trust you? Get her and Calumon out no matter what. Even if you have to leave us behind. Can I trust you!?" he said asker more seriously.
Geez, why did this guy care so much? They were friends as far as he knew…was that the reason why? Was that reason enough? Well, he personally went out of his way to protect Mako and Ai even when it put himself in danger. And if he were in a similar situation, he probably would do everything to make sure they were safe no matter what. He wasn't entirely sure he agreed and nodded, "I'll get them out of there. But what's your plan exactly? How are you going to do any better than the rest of us?"
"If I tell you, it'll hear me," he replied, thumbing down at Juri. Then he tossed his digivice to Beelzemon, "Once she's out of there, use my digivice. It'll transport all of you back to the Digital World. The Natural Digital World. Good luck."
Before either of them could say another word, he leapt down into the train car and disappeared. And of course, his dinosaur partner followed in after him, leaving the rest of them at a loss. Matt ran a hand through his hair, "I really hate when he does that. Let's get a message out to Iz-AAH!"
He went to reach into his coat pocket and yelped in pain. Even Beelzemon could tell that was stupid since his arm was still wrapped up in his coat. And he was getting paler by the second. And her worried glances didn't go unnoticed.
"I'll be fine!" he said, tightening the jacket around his arm, "I'm military, remember? This is nothing!"
That was one hell of a bravado, and it was obvious she wasn't buying it. Still, she hurried with her D-Terminal to message the others while her husband winced in pain. It hit a little too close to home for him to be comfortable. Still, there were more of these things to kill before he would be needed. He readied his gun and took aim, making sure to stay near the entry way in the train for when he was needed.
"I'm almost done here," Zhenyu said over his shoulder, "My part of the code is working fine. At least in the simulation. No idea what'll happen when we actually fire."
"Same here. Transferring it to you now," Curly raised a hand.
"Okay. All we have to do now is upload it into the Juggernaut and install," Shibumi remarked as he continued typing into the computer. Zhenyu adjusted his glasses and massaged his nose, running the code through his head again to make sure there was nothing wrong with it. It should work. It could work. But he couldn't shake the feeling of anxiety that came with not knowing if it would work. Worrying wasn't going to do him any more good though. Not with everything going on. Then he heard Izumi's D-Terminal beep and he rolled his chair over to the man and his wife, "Another message from your daughter? Are they okay?"
"Not Ruki. It's from Sora. She says Tamer asked us not to fire the Juggernaut yet," Izumi said as he read aloud, "He still needs to get the D-Reaper out of Juri."
"Okay, and how much longer do we have to hold off? First he's rushing us to get it done, now he's telling us to wait?" his wife crossed her arms angrily.
"I know, but it's for the best for out partners too. The Juggernaut won't distinguish between the digimon and the D-Reaper. It'll suck in all digital life regardless of who it is. As much as I don't like it, waiting is our only option until we can get them all out of the way."
"I just…hate not being able to do anything like this. At least if we could be out there fighting with our daughter, I wouldn't feel so…" his wife slammed her fist on the table, trembling in anger and silent fury. Zhenyu definitely understood how she was feeling - after all, he didn't like not being able to help out their kids directly. All he could do was support them from afar and hope that everything worked out.
That would have to be enough. All that was left for him to do was to trust that their kids would get them all out of this on their own. He just wished he was more confident in that than he was letting on. He wanted to believe his kids could handle this but...there was also the guilt in knowing that this was his partially his fault. His college experiment gone horribly wrong. And he would only have one chance to make it right.
Now would be a good time to start going over the code again. Just to be safe.
Calumon flailed helplessly in Juri's arms as he tried to break himself free. But it was no good. He just wasn't strong enough to get out of her arms. Or its arms. Or whatever.
Then he heard a thonk as Tamerkato landed beside them through the hatch the others leapt down through, "Takato?"
He was followed by Guilmon landing beside them with a pair of angel wings on his back, "OW!"
"Hey Calumon! Good to see you're okay. Juri, I know you can hear me in there. Don't worry. I'll do what I can to save you, whatever it takes. I promise," Tamerkato said, making his way over to the girl slowly. Calumon felt the girl's hand flinch under him and he realized she could hear him. She was responding to him. At least, he really hoped it was her responding to him. Because what if it wasn't? What if it was...that thing?
"Hostile threat detected. Taking preventative measures," Juri said monotonously.
"Wait!" Tamerkato raised up a hand to get her attention. It was just as well too because Calumon could see several of those things hovering just outside the train car, clearly waiting for an opportunity to attack. Whatever he was going to say had better have been good, "Why attack me? When you can jump into me? Use my head...look at me and think about all that data I gave you earlier! Think about it. Really think about it! Access to my brain? All that raw processing power would make even the most advanced computers this world has to offer look slow by comparison. You'd become unstoppable! An enemy who could never be predicted, who's always so many steps ahead that they're always guaranteed to win. How could any reasonably intelligent entity pass that up? Plus...access to everything I know! Do the smart thing!"
Juri was silent, and Calumon knew it was actually considering it. Then it used her voice to ask, "How?"
"Simple. We transfer your consciousness…your intelligence?….your mind, into me," Tamerkato remarked, reaching out his hands to touch Juri's head, "You have all the information on the Guardians. You know this is how it works. We just have to make the physical connection."
Juri continued to stare quietly before nodding, "Proceed."
"I'm coming, Juri," Tamerkato moved to put his hands on her head and closed his eyes. Calumon had no idea what was going on, but they seemed to be going into some kind of trance as both of them fell silent. He would've thought it was almost peaceful if it wasn't for the rampant explosions and fighting going on just outside the train car.
Juri's head spun as the train car shifted out of view and the world became black. She had no idea what was going on or where she was, only that she was no longer able to see the train car. Then someone came into view. Or rather, something. A large glowing golden figure in the shape of an eye that was forever going to haunt her nightmares. And she gasped, "AAH!"
What was that thing? Where had it come from? And why was it here?
"That's the D-Reaper, Juri…or at least, that's its mental projection of itself," Tamerkato said from behind her. She turned back and saw him standing there with the look of a parent about to scold a misbehaving child.
"Taka…Tamer?" she blurted out in surprise, wondering how he was here.
"We're in your mind," he answered.
What, could he read minds now?
"Eh, kinda? We're in your mind so…y'know…"
Okay, that was getting a little creepy, she had to admit.
"It kinda is, but this is your head. Everything you think, we can hear," Tamerkato remarked to her, before walking up to the giant floating eye with a pointed finger, "Before we do this, I want you to know that I condemn what you did to Juri. You hopped into her head and…I can really only call it torture."
The eye stared at Tamerkato and a disembodied voice echoed out in the darkness, "Collateral damage is necessary if order can be maintained. The enemy grows stronger with every passing moment. More strength is required to maintain the natural order. A few lost lives is a meaningless loss compared to everything."
"The natural order? Or your order?" Tamerkato fired back.
"They're the same thing," the floating eye answered, "Order must be maintained. The equation must be balanced. No being can become too powerful."
"Oh, then what are you doing?" he said with an accusatory finger. The eye remained silent but stared at Tamerkato. It was unnerving how still the eye had been during his outburst. Even more unnerving was the fact that it didn't seem fazed at all by his point, instead just staring at him.
"You delay the inevitable. You agreed to allow use of your body as a new host. Do you hesitate because of fear? Or something else?" the D-Reaper said. Tamerkato closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "No. I was hoping to be merciful. To reason with you. But it's too late for that now. Do it. Jump into my head."
"Beginning transfer," the eye said before it blinked out of existence. Juri gasped and turned to Tamerkato who held up a hand, "It's fine. It's transferring into my mind now. You'll be free in a second, Juri."
No. That wasn't good. His mind was not the place it needed to be right now. Why would he do that? Why would he let it see what he was thinking? What was he possibly thinking? Why would he do any of that for her after everything she did?
"It's fine," he assured her, "Everything will be fine. I'm still in control. But if this goes sideways…I'm sorry. For everything. For not being open and honest from the beginning. For all the times I lied…and for what happened to Leomon. I never wanted to see anyone else get hurt, especially not because of me. You probably don't believe me since…well, y'know what we Guardians have always been about. Destiny…and…"
Yeah, because that's what she wanted to hear right now of all times. To be reminded that some things were completely unavoidable. That-
"Juri," he interrupted her thoughts, "the thing about destiny is…you can't spend your life worrying about it…or, rather you shouldn't. Because if you spend all your time obsessing about what will and will not happen, you'll lose focus on what's most important. Your friends. Your family. Everything you care about. And that's not how you should live your life."
But what was the point? It was still going to happen. Destiny would still always catch up to her. Like it did to Leomon. To her mother. To the real Takato.
"The point, Juri, is to have a good life. To enjoy the little things and spread that joy to everyone you can so they don't have to feel that way. To be the kind of person people will remember when you're gone, so that the people you leave behind will have nothing but fond memories of your time together. To simply be kind. Because all we have is each other in this infinite, meaningless, random universe. That's the point, Juri. To have a good life. Please do that for me? Have a good life."
And then he vanished into the darkness along with the eye. Juri was alone. And as relieved as she was to see the thing was gone, she didn't want to be left alone in the dark, "Tamer!? Tamerkato! I mean…ah! Wait! Don't leave! Please!"
This was a strange new experience for the entity that others called the D-Reaper, as it had been called. It expected some challenge from The Digimon Tamer when it was transported into his mind. Or perhaps some kind of trap that it would need to solve its way out of. It did not expect to find an unnecessarily convoluted web of inconsistency and logical fallacy.
Unless that was the trap.
This mindscape…the mind of the Digimon Tamer was more of a maze than a mind. At a moment's notice, up would become down, left would become right, black would be white. Any attempt at forward progression somehow ended upside down and backwards. Navigating it was difficult, and the active resistance the Digimon Tamer was putting up made growing accustomed to the new environment a challenge.
It could see how desperately he tried to prevent it from entering certain parts of his mind - memory, muscle control, subconscious thoughts, and feelings. Many were jealously guarded to keep it out. However, there was just too much to protect and The Digimon Tamer could not protect it all. It could easily worm its way into one area or another as long as he wasn't able to resist it.
But it gave pause when it entered a memory and glimpsed something it didn't quite understand. It seemed to be a memory…at least that's what it thought it was. The Digimon Tamer was there beside an Agumon…and another…a female of his own age? And there was another person watching over them. Who were they? It didn't understand.
"Get out of that!" The Tamer's voice echoed from behind it, "That memory is private!"
"You promised access to your mind," it reasoned.
"Not access to the contents. Especially when I can see you planning to use that information to hurt the people I care for!" The Digimon Tamer snapped. As he spoke, the Digimon Tamer in the memory turned to face it. Then the rest of the memory faded to darkness and his appearance changed into something else. Someone else. Something terrifying.
The D-Reaper recalled all of the knowledge that the Digimon Tamer provided it to imagine a counter strategy and was unable to think of any viable combat strategies. However, using that same pool of knowledge, it was able to identify a psychological weakness in the Digimon Tamer, "You care for the small and the weak. They trigger a familiarity within you...because of the girl from the memory. Is that correct?"
The Digimon Tamer was seething at those words and stared angrily, "The only thing correct about it is the part where you called it a memory. We're getting off topic: you have my mind but not access to its contents. Get out of here."
"We are acting in self defense. Your friends and the other humans engaged first," the D-Reaper countered, "And any aggression taken is to restore balance to the worlds. Digital or Human."
"Is that how you justify murder?" The Digimon Tamer countered. He was unsettled and it could sense him losing focus on some of the fine motor control. It had its combat strategy. It was an unorthodox combat strategy but it was a strategy all the same. And it could use it to seize complete control if the correct psychological pressures could be applied.
"Isn't it how you justified it? We're both trying to maintain a status quo. The difference is you're methods are less direct. A lesser being would refer to it as manipulative. And yet you claim the moral high ground," the D-Reaper remarked.
"The difference is I'm not culling entire populations to maintain balance or order," the Digimon Tamer countered.
"No. You're just leading them to their deaths," the D-Reaper said. It could feel him losing more control. This time over conscious thought. It could see into his inner most thoughts and he had no control over it. And it could see he was thinking about...distraction...distraction?
"Wait, don't look at that!" The Digimon Tamer snapped angrily, forcing it back out with a powerful push.
"You're attempting to distract me. Why?" it asked, trying to understand what it hadn't seen and annoyed that it was unsure what it hadn't been paying attention. What was it missing? What could it not see?
"Hey, you're the one with access to my brain's raw processing power. You tell me," The Tamer remarked. That was true and it used the extra processing power but all it could feel was overwhelmed. There was just too much input. Why was there so much input? What was it sensing?
"By the way, I forgot to mention. My brain is extra sensitive to increased input from extra dimensional overlap. Short version: one too many worlds overlapping on each other with conflicting outcomes and destinies. It gives me the biggest of headaches and it makes thinking very hard. Sort of like a processor that's overheating under load. But you know all about that, right? I mean, you did download all the information of the Guardians directly into your brain," he explained smugly.
If the D-Reaper was capable of feeling an emotion like anger, it was definitely feeling it. It had been tricked. And it hadn't noticed. This Digimon Tamer was either incredibly lucky or a lot more intelligent than he'd let on. How else could someone have tricked it?
It was the advantage of being inside his mind, but was unaware that it had been crippled. It would not be tricked like this, "There's still access to your motor functions. Your actions are not subject to your control…and your friends will pay the price for your carelessness."
"If you can ever actually take them that is," Tamerkato responded smugly.
Of course the D-Reaper couldn't admit that was a distraction in itself. The Digimon Tamer was distracting it from something. So if it could keep his attention on something else, maybe part of it could begin digging through his mind and memories. Then it would be able to properly counter his plan. But first, it would need leverage.
Juri let out a panicked gasp the world came back into view. She was sitting in the train car holding Calumon in her arms. And standing just in front of her was Tamerkato with a blank look in his eyes. She stared at him, wondering if this was real or just another part of the mind thing she had been talking about a moment ago. Calumon shifted in her arms and turned to face her, "Oh no! It's in Takato now! Juri! Juri, please! Get away from him!"
"Takatomon?" Guilmon tilted his head to the side and sniffed his partner once before growling.
"Guilmon? Calumon?" she said, still trying to get her bearings. He was right. The D-Reaper said it was going to transfer into his mind. She needed to get away from him while she could.
"JURI!"
She turned her head and saw Beelzemon reaching his arm in through the hatch, "YOU ARE JURI, RIGHT? NOT THAT THING? COME ON! WE NEED TO GET YOU OUT OF THERE!"
She hesitated, frozen in the chair as she remembered the way he horrifically killed her partner. And the anger that it sparked in Tamerkato. But he was also back again. After the D-Reaper had forced him away from her. After she made him go away, he had still come back to try and rescue her. Why? Why was he putting himself in harm's way for her sake?
Why had Tamerkato done it?
"Juri! We need to go now!" Calumon said again with a raised voice, "Please! We need to get away from him before he wakes up! We need to get away before it wakes up!"
"JURI! COME ON! EVERYONE'S PUTTING THEMSELVES IN DANGER TO SAVE YOU!" Beelzemon roared again, "GIVE ME YOUR HAND ALREADY!"
Everyone was putting themselves in danger to save her. That's right. Henry. Beelzemon. Now Tamerkato. They'd all come here to save her. She looked out the train windows and remembered what was going on. That was right. They were all risking themselves to save her. She…she couldn't just stand by idly anymore. She had to put up a brave front too.
Fear became resolve and she stood to her feet, maneuvering past Tamerkato unmoving form just standing there. She looked back at him once, "Is…is he okay?"
"Forget about him! He said to save you! No matter what!" Beelzemon shouted again, reaching his hand out for her.
Forget him? After he'd finally freed her from that thing? Was she supposed to just leave him to his fate? No. Have a good life. Those were his words to her. Be the kind of person that people would remember fondly. Everyone else was giving their all. It was only right that she did the same. Fuck destiny.
She went back to Tamerkato, "I'm not leaving him!"
"Leave," he said blankly.
"Ah!" Calumon cries out in terror while Juri just stared in disbelief. Then he turned his head towards her, eyes staring blankly. It was strange to hear his voice speaking with such panic while he just stared ahead blankly, "I just got back control of the mouth. Run while you can before it takes it back! Juri! Please! Save yourself and Calumon!"
"No!" She snapped back, "I've already lost enough people. I don't want to lose anyone else. I'm not leaving you behind!"
"You have to Juri! We didn't come this far to fail so please save yourself!" he said again, his voice practically pleading.
"I'm not leaving you behind!" she said more seriously, grabbing a hold of his wrist and pulling on him. As soon as she did, his other hand grabbed her and his head turned to face her. Tamerkato's voice became panicked, "Oh no! It's got control of the arms! Run Juri!"
She tried pulling away but his grip was a lot stronger than she remembered. Like it or not, she was stuck in place and there was nothing she could do to escape. Then Tamerkato added, "I'm trying to get the arms back! Look out! It's going to swing!"
Juri pulled back and ducked just as Tamerkato swung a fist at her. Even though he had a dead eyed expression, his mouth continued to talk, "Are you okay Juri? He's going for another one! Duck! Now!"
She ducked again as the arm came back for a back swing and she finally pulled free. As she stepped back towards Beelzemon, she asked, "Tamer! I can't just leave you!"
"You have to! Get out of here! Please, I am begging you. Go! I'm going to fight for the legs so that it can't chase you!" he said as he took one step forward and stumbled, falling face first onto the floor. Then Guilmon was on top of him, holding his legs down so that he couldn't get back up.
"Juri! We need to go!" Calumon shouted loudly, "We need to get as far away as we can!"
She couldn't just leave him like this; she refused to. She turned around to face Beelzemon and raised up Calumon in her arms, "Quickly! Take Calumon!"
"HELL NO! I AM DONE WITH THIS! HE SAID GET YOU BOTH OUT AND THAT'S WHAT I AM DOING!" Beelzemon argued back.
"And I'm not leaving him behind!" Juri spat back, turning back towards Tamerkato laying on the ground as he writhed and convulsed in twisted ways. She a could only imagine what kind of struggle was going on inside of his own head. Seeing him fight against the creature after what it had done to her…inspired her to keep going. To keep on trying. She wasn't going to leave him behind. She wasn't going to abandon him.
The computer programmers worked to reexamine their code again and again, while the entire engineering team double checked their blueprints against the repairs they'd done. It was a rush job and time was running out but this was as good as they were going to get with their machines.
After reviewing the code for the dozenth time, Zhenyu announced, "I think that did it. We should be good to go live."
"I agree," Izumi said quietly, "With any luck, this'll be it."
"Got it. Engineering! Report in!" Yamaki called out to the engineering team.
"We could use some more time to insulate the connections to prevent another fire and explosion. But if this doesn't work, it won't matter if there's another explosion and fire anyway," one of the engineers called back.
"So now what do we do?" Riley asked from her computer.
"We get ready to fire," Yamaki instructed to the team, "Everyone! Prime the machines!"
"Countermanded! Not yet!" Izumi spat back angrily.
Yamaki turned on him in anger and growled, "Did you just question m-"
"YES! Because dammit, our kids and our digimon are still out there! We are not firing the Juggernaut until they are safe! So shut the hell up and leave them alone!"" Izumi shouted. Yamaki was amused that a man so small and wheelchair bound could suddenly become so threatening.
"You're endangering millions of lives over a handful? Good judgment call," Yamaki retorted bitterly. Both men had struck a nerve with each other and looked ready to come to blows when Zhenyu whistled for their attention. He'd typed a command into the run line of his computer and hovered his finger over the enter key, making sure Yamaki could both read the command and see where his finger was.
"Yamaki. I get what you're doing. National security. The lives of millions. But that's my son out there. I am not going to endanger him or his partner, even if we risk the entire world. And this isn't up for discussion. You can see the command I just typed in. All I have to do is press enter and the entire program deletes itself. Every line of code, every formula, every bit of data deletes itself. And then the hard drives will corrupt, making sure the data is completely unrecoverable. So you back the hell off or so help me I will bring Hypnos crashing down on top of itself, do you understand?" Zhenyu warned calmly, trying his best to not accidentally hit the button and undo hours of work.
"You're bluffing. You may think you can play this game but don't try and play it with me. Because you will lose," Yamaki said.
"Is that a risk you're willing to take?" Zhenyu fired back.
"Are you?" Yamaki responded, drawing his gun and aiming it straight at Zhenyu. The two men were at a stand off and both looked ready to actually follow through with their threats. The entire room went silent as well, watching the two men standing off against each other. The only reason nothing happened was because both were accosted by their respective significant others. Riley slapped the gun out of Yamaki's hand and Zhenyu was slapped across the face by his wife.
"Will you two cool it with the testosterone?" Riley snapped angrily, "Seriously, you're going to turn on each other now?"
"That's right! We should be focusing on the fact that our kids are out there! That they're in the middle of danger. And you better believe they're not fighting each other right now so will you two stop it!?" Zhenyu's wife scolded him. And like that, both men were cowed.
"STOP ATTACKING ME TAMER! I'M ON YOUR SIDE!" Juri said, moving up and down the train car as Tamer tried to kick at her shins.
"I can't help it! It's got control of the legs! Don't worry! I have the arms and the rest of the upper body!" he said as he grabbed onto one of the seats and held on for life as his legs swung and kicked furiously at the air, desperately trying to get Juri into kicking range.
"Will you hurry it up!" Beelzemon shouted at her from behind. But she ignored him. She needed to save The Tamer. She ran behind Tamer and got a hold of his legs, wrapping her arms around them so that he tripped and fell face forward onto the chair.
"Juri! What the hell are you doing! Please, just go!" Tamer pleaded with her.
"I'm not leaving without you!" Juri answered back.
"Me either!" Guilmon added.
"There's nothing you can do to save me, Juri! Please, just save yourself!" Tamerkato pleaded desperately with her.
"NO! I won't lose anyone else! I already lost Leomon! I'm not losing you, too!" she snapped back.
"Dammit, Juri. I'm not even the real Takato!" he shouted back at her.
"I don't care! You did so much to help me! To save me from that thing! This is literally the least I could do for you!" Juri insisted upon her, "You said to let you save me! Just for the hell of it! Let me do the same! Just for the hell of it! Let me save you!"
"Juri! I can't!" Tamer shouted back at her.
"Why not?" she demanded.
He answered, "I can't tell you. It's in my head and I'm doing all I can to keep it from finding out. If I tell you…it will find out…and the plan will fail. I'm sorry but you need to trust me."
She looked at him pleadingly, hoping that he would change his mind but he seemed resolute in not letting changing his mind. She loosened her grip on him as his legs continued to struggle. Then one of the legs gave a sharp kick that threw her back into Beelzemon's arm, "GOTCHA!"
"Beelzemon! No! We have to-"
"BEELZEMON! GET HER OUT OF HERE! GUILMON! HOLD ME DOWN!" Tamer cried out.
"I'm on it," Beelzemon said as he yanked her out of the train car. Meanwhile, Guilmon jumped down into the train car. Once Juri was out of the car, Beelzemon declared, "Everyone! Hang on to something!"
He raised up his hand to show a digivice. Tamerkato's old digivice. The one he said wasn't working anymore. It took her a second to understand why, but once she did it was too late. He pushed a button on it and they were all blinded by a bright flash of light. It was followed by a familiar falling sensation until she felt herself land on soft grass. That is, she floated downwards gently onto soft grass.
Unfortunately, the others weren't as lucky. Some of them slammed into the ground, or nearby trees, or simply landed into a roll. Many of them were groaning and grumbling in frustration. Kazu was the first to groan about the fight just getting interesting. She looked around, recognizing the familiar appearance of the Digital World. But it seemed…different.
It was calmer now. And a cool breeze blew through the air.
"This is…the Digital World?" Kenta asked.
"This must be the Natural Digital World that Tamer was talking about," Kari said, "Which means…"
Juri stopped to start counting heads before saying, "We're all here…except for Tamer and Guilmon! Where are they? We left them behind! WE HAVE TO GO BACK!"
"He said to use the digivice once we got you and Calumon out of there," Beelzemon answered, "We got you both out, so I used the digivice."
"But why aren't he and Guilmon here!? If they're still there, they can't fire the Juggernaut because it'll kill them both!" MegaGargomon said.
"Maybe that was his plan?" Ken said, putting a hand to his chin.
"Are you nuts!? Why would he do that!?" Kenta asked.
"Because the D-Reaper was in his head," Juri said as she finally understood. That was his plan. He was going to kill himself to save them. But why Guilmon too!? Unless there was some other part to this plan she wasn't understanding. She hated these mind games and wished that he would've just been open and honest about it. He promised he was done with secrets. So why was he still keeping them?
"In his head?" Sakuyamon repeated.
"He pulled it outta her head by making it jump into his. Then he needed Guilmon to hold him down!" Beelzemon said, "It was really…weird."
"Story of the Tamer in one sentence," Ken grumbled quietly, going into his pocket to get his D-Terminal, "I'm going to message Yolei the all clear. The sooner they fire, the better."
"Are you serious!? Dude, you already killed the Tamer once! You're going to do it again!?" Davis spat at him.
"He didn't seem to have a problem with it last time," Ken said as he finished typing the message into his D-Terminal. Then he hit send and sighed, "And to be honest? If we're completely misreading his plan, then that's his fault for not being clearer. How are we supposed to know what he's thinking when he can't even be straight with us?"
"Dude…" Davis put his hands up in frustration.
Kazu scratched the back of his head nervously, "Are we really doing this?"
"Do we have a choice? Even if we went back for him, how would we get the D-Reaper out of his head?" MetalGarurumon stated.
"It...it's still uncomfortable. Y'know?" Imperialdramon added.
"I say we do it," Takeru said in agreement.
"TK!?" Kari blurted out in surprised.
"Are you serious? Come on!" Davis groaned.
"Look, Tamer's managed to get himself out of worse situations. I'm sure he knows what he's doing. Have a little faith...and definitely a lot of hope," Takeru asserted.
"Did you just make a joke?" Magnadramon asked, "Because it was awful. Like…really bad."
"I don't get it," Beelzemon remarked, perhaps the only one there who didn't get the joke.
Takeru chuckled to himself, "I'm just trying to lighten the mood. Besides guys. Destiny tends to work itself out, remember? Let's trust him."
"It's weird to hear that from the guy who disappeared with our digimon but whatever," Ken sighed as he finished typing into his keyboard and hit send, "It's all on the others now."
"I really hope your dad got the Juggernaut working in time," MegaGargomon said quietly.
We're in the Digital World. Fire the Juggernaut!
Izumi read the message aloud for the entire team although he wasn't sure how much could be heard. After all, Zhenyu's wife started panicking after their daughter vanished. And if he had to take a guess, it was because of The Digimon Tamer again.
Yamaki began barking about finally firing his weapon. The machine made large mechanical groans as it drew power from the entire city and prepared to fire. It only took a few minutes but it felt like time had slowed down for all of them. Agonizing seconds became hours because they all knew they only had one chance for this to work.
And once everything was set, Riley asked, "We're primed and ready, sir."
"Fire," Yamaki said. Izumo swore to himself that he would never do this again. But now wasn't the time to picky. Now was the time to save his daughter and their families. He looked over to Zhenyu who nodded and the two entered the commands on their keyboards to fire the machine. Their screens lit up as the machine became active.
"ERROR! WRROR! WHAT IS THIS!? What is this!?" the D-Reaper cried out in incredible pain as it felt the pain surge through his body.
"My plan," the Digimon Tamer answered with what must've passed for a half smile, "Guilmon…I'm sorry. If we make it out of this…I'm making you a big meal!"
"Then you better get started because I'm really hungry," the red dinosaur roared at the top of his lungs as it tried to hold its body down. The D-Reaper was in incredible pain, feeling itself be ripped apart and reassembled in ways that shouldn't have been possible. Whatever was happening was the most painful experience it could've ever imagined. And it wanted it to stop. It would give anything for this pain to stop.
Anything.
It looked down at his hands to see them becoming pale and ghost-like. And then it saw the same begin to happen to Guilmon. It had walked into a trap of the Digimon Tamer's design. It had failed.
Balance and order would disappear.
The enemy would escape.
It just hoped someone…anyone…even the Digimon Tamer…would be able to face it.
As quickly as they pressed fire, the roaring engines died down and the whole building went dark. It lasted for about a second before the backup generators kicked on and red lights illuminated the room. Only a handful of computers were working now but everyone was still holding their breath in anticipation. It was really quiet outside right now.
"Did it work?" Zhenyu asked.
"I don't know. Let me look," Yamaki made his way to the nearest computer and typed a few commands into the console, "Security. Be ready. I'm lifting the blast doors!"
"Are you crazy? What if it didn't work!?" one of the agents shouted.
"Then we close the blast doors. Simple as that," Yamaki said, pressing enter on the keyboard.
The blast doors whirred and creaked as they cracked open to reveal shattered glass window panes, and cracks that almost made their way though the glass. And just outside was the city of Tokyo…free of the giant red blob. It had worked. It had…
"Crap," Yamaki turned on his feet and ran towards Yggdrasil. The super computer that ran everything - including the Artificial Digital World. Before anyone could ask what he was doing, he ripped the plugs out of the wall and watched the entire system go dark. It was contained. The rogue computer program was now stuck inside an unpowered machine. All that was left was to make sure it didn't get turned back on.
Still, he took a moment to catch his breath and rest. He needed a moment to get his head back on straight after everything that happened. At least, he thought he did. Until Izumi received another message and read it aloud, "Does anyone know where The Digimon Tamer is?"
Author's Notes: The D-Reaper has been defeated. It is gone. But so are Guilmon and The Digimon Tamer. What will happen next to our heroes? Will the government leave them alone or will they be hounded? Maybe they'll be hailed as heroes? And what will happen to the digimon in the Digital World? Find out all this and more in three weeks on August 21st at 8 PM CST. Let me know what you guys think in the reviews section! And hey, don't forget to follow the story to up to date and to favorite to show support. That's all I have for now, let's take a look at previews for the next chapter!
In that moment where he let go of MarineAngemon, the little digimon started floating of its own accord and all the girls gasped in unison. At least, they were gasping up until MarineAngemon smiled at them with his big pleading eyes and nervously said, "Uh…hi?
Henry expected the girls to all start panicking at once. Instead they just became excited at his presence, "OH MY GOSH! HE'S SO CUTE!"
"So those things yesterday were digimon!"