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 50: Mephistomon
Imperialdramon flew at top speed towards the Hallowed Bastion, the decrepit castle of a mostly dead race and set down in the courtyard for the others. It wasn't the architecture or the age that stood out to Zhenyu. It was the fact that the interior was somehow larger than the exterior would allow and that the inner workings operated on senseless logic. And that was before he marveled at the technological advancements left behind.
Light projections that could become solid mass.
Four dimensional architecture in a three dimensional space to keep out intruders Who wouldn't understand its intricacies.
Devices that could open gates to other worlds and just as easily remove them from existence.
And that was just what he understood.
The possibilities of the technology here were limitless. So much good could be done for the world - instant transportation of food and medicine to places in urgent need, solving city planning problems by allowing people to fit more things in small places, instant assembly and disassembly of buildings for homes and business.
But worse were the applications in the wrong hands - instant transportation of whole armies, weapons that could unmake a person so they never existed.
It was enough to terrify anyone back into blissful ignorance.
"Do you guys ever think its weird that we keep coming back here to this place?" Gatomon asked, snapping Zhenyu out of his awe.
A chorus of yes's rang out from the others. Xiaochun giggled at their sing song answers, "That was funny. Do it again!"
"I take it you've been here a lot, then," Zhenyu stated. He was answered with another round of yes's and sighed, "Okay, so let me ask you all this then: if this place is so important, why not just destroy this place? Or guard it to make sure no one nefarious just wanders in and takes it for themselves?"
"Because as much as we hate this place and it gives us the creeps, we can't just destroy it because there could be something we need to come back here for one day," Ken explained.
"Well, why not just…take anything here and reverse engineer it?" Zhenyu asked.
"Because the last thing we need is anything here falling into the wrong hands in our world. Our world is already pretty screwed up enough without it," Takeru answered, "The only reason no one hangs around to guard this place is…well, the only ones we could trust are the digimon and they're creeped out by this place."
"Yeah, the architecture is very…evil," Zhenyu agreed as they proceeded further into the darkness. Dark halls illuminated only by dim lights, blood splatters on the walls, a miasma of black clouds that hovered in the air. If he didn't know better, he would assume these guardians of destiny or whatever they were calling themselves were the true villains of whatever sordid story this place had. Or worse.
"So he doesn't know about the fog?" Gatomon asked. That peaked his curiosity because he had noticed a fog around the place that made it unsettling, but he thought it was just the atmosphere. Now he was concerned it was something else. But the others were determined to keep him in the dark.
"He's got his daughter here, Gatomon. Let's not spook them," Miss Kamiya reprimanded her partner.
"So where exactly are we going?" Zhenyu asked the others, who were now trying harder to avoid the question.
Thankfully, Ichijouji chose to answer, "To the gate. We'll brute force open a way back to our world this way if we have to."
"And this is safe?" Zhenyu asked, uncertain of whether it was a good idea to tamper with technology they didn't understand.
"Probably not but the alternative is we sit here and wait out our deaths. I mean, we have no way of actually communicating with the others so who knows what's going on back in our world. I want to think they know we're in trouble but with no way of getting through, who knows?" Ichijouji replied. Zhenyu groaned at the detective's choice of words because now his daughter was shaking and cowering behind him.
"Watch it with the death talk, Ichijouji," he scolded.
"You've become a very dark person, Ken. I don't think I care for it," Wormmon pointed out.
Ken could only laugh, "Sorry. Just thinking out loud. We'll probably be alright."
He led the way through the twisted halls winded up and down and went further in than the castle should be until they entered a large chamber marked by a single stone gate before a pedestal with marking on it. He took a deep breath and blew away the dust had covered on top of it. Then he began tracing symbols into the pedestal with his finger, "I'm going to apologize in advance because I'm not entirely sure this plan will work. But it's all I've got."
"And what plan is that?" Miss Kamiya asked.
"I'm going to program this gate to open to another world. With any luck, we can open up a gate from there to a world that we can use as a jumping off point back to our world. Assuming we don't all die when we get there," he answered.
Xiaochun squeaked in terror, burying her face into his jacket while Zhenyu grumbled, "Can you please stop scaring the crap out of my daughter? She's only six!"
"I'm just being realistic," he replied. He finished tracing the last symbol and the stone doors groaned open. Through it came a howling wind followed by a blinding blast of shining bright light. Ken announced, "This is it. I have no idea where we're going to end up but we'll have to jump as soon as we get there. Get ready everyone! GO!"
Zhenyu hugged his daughter, watching hesitantly as everyone ran through the gate and into the light. He sighed, staring down at his daughter and her digimon partner. They couldn't stay here. He picked up his daughter and said, "Hang on tight, okay sweetie."
"Yes, daddy," Xiaochun said back.
"Don't worry! We're in this together!" Lopmon said. They nodded and ran together for the door.
The SUVs came to a stop outside the largest building in the small farming village of Kunigami. Everyone stepped out of the SUVs right away as the digimon assembled at the front. All the while, Minami clung to Ryo, "This is it. This is where dad works. This is where that goat is."
"Anyone got any idea what we're up against? This place is giving me very bad vibes." Terriermon asked from the front, shivering nervously.
"Same. Seriously, who has an office building in a town like this?" Kenta pointed out.
Kazu took out his digivice and the screen came to life with the image of the goat digimon again. And once again, there was no other information to go off of. He sighed, "Nope, nothing. Just the same image of this goat digimon and nothing else."
"We're not going in completely blind," Rika's father declared, taking out his old laptop and typing away at it, "If you guys ever read Takeru's book, you should know that I have a copy of the Ancient database on my computer. Just a few button presses and cross references and...here!"
He turned his laptop to face them. It displayed an image of the goat digimon that was on their screens. But the rest of the screen was blank save for a few words that Izumi read aloud, "Mephistomon. Ultimate Level. Standing order: Flee On Sight. Do Not Engage."
"I don't get it. Was that supposed to tell us anything?" Monodramon grumbled, scratching his head in confusion.
"It means even the Ancients were terrified of Mephistomon. We should exercise caution if we are to face him," Guardromon clarified.
"Not the biggest deal in the world, we've gone up against and beat the D-Reaper! What could Mephistomon throw at us?" Kazu said confidently, pausing before he turned to Minami, "That's the thing that happened up in Tokyo, by the way. No need to thank us!"
"I'll give you all the thanks you want. Just please save my dad!" Minami answered.
"Alright! What are we waiting for!? Let's go!" Renamon said, taking the first steps towards the office building.
The D-Reaper took a moment to take in its surroundings. This world...it was its world. The Digital World.
And yet, different.
It had changed. And it was hard to place either how or why. All the D-Reaper knew with unquestioning certainty was it didn't like or care for it. It was trapped in some kind of gross mockery of the world it had spent so much time trying to safe guard and cultivate. And all it had left were the ruined remains of its perfection. A world of broken earth, shattered like a pot across the floor.
"Shame, isn't it?" the Digimon Tamer's voice rang out in its head, "I didn't want it to come to this but I couldn't exactly reason with you. And not for lack of trying. You didn't want to listen. You just kept fighting and insisting on trying to fight for order or whatever you call it. But now we're here. Stuck in infinite nothing. Nothing else to do but talk."
"I'm hungry," Guilmon moaned sheepishly, appearing beside him and whimpering, "When can we eat? Is there even anything to eat?"
"Sorry buddy. It looks like it'll be a while before we can eat again," the Digimon Tamer said apologetically.
Guilmon whimpered and sank to the ground, "Oh, but I'm hungry now."
"Your relationship is odd and lacks any mutual benefit," the D-Reaper observed, watching as the Digimon Tamer petted the little red dinosaur apologetically. What exactly was the purpose of their relationship anyway? What benefit did either receive - one promised food that he never delivered and the other just whined about food all of the time.
"It's called friendship," Tamer replied matter of factly, "Guilmon is my friend and I'm his. That's all there is to it."
"A trivial chemical reaction triggered by the presence of another living being," the D-Reaper replied quietly. The Digimon Tamer just laughed, "Everything is just a chemical reaction. Don't over think it. We're stuck here anyway so you might as well learn about compassion and empathy."
Those were meaningless things to learn, so the D-Reaper quickly returned to making sense of the Digimon Tamer's mind.
It was strange to see the world through the Digimon Tamer's eyes. Not because of any eye opening changes on world view but simply because the Digimon Tamer's thoughts weren't clouded with concerns of threat levels, power, and maintaining balance in the world. Rather, it was filled with loud endless noise and scatterbrained thoughts as he made one observation or remark before moving on to the next. Yet through it all, there was one thought the D-Reaper was able to weed out. Buried beneath the noise as if the Digimon Tamer was determined to keep it hidden. It seemed he was determined to maintain...something other than balance.
Order?
That didn't seem like the right word. So what? What was he hiding deep inside his mind?
"Hello!" someone else's voice echoed. Another person. A boy with fiery brown hair wearing a blue hooded long coat, sweatband, goggles, and an all black attire underneath. If the Digimon Tamer hadn't provided an advanced encyclopedia of knowledge and data, the D-Realer would've been taken aback by its presence. His presence.
"You are the Digimon Tamer's last life. A previous incarnation," the D-Reaper said.
"And you're the red blob thing that tried to eat me. Nice to meet you!" the teen boy said with an extended had that he quickly retracted, "I just realized you have no hands to shake. Sorry about that. Although how do you wipe your butt?"
"This shouldn't be possible," the D-Reaper remarked.
"It can and is. I'm the last bits of my own thoughts. The part of me that the current me can't let go of," he shrugged, "It's all very angsty. So, I hear you're trying to get deep into my head and figure me out. I wouldn't recommend that."
"Where did you hear that?" the D-Reaper asked.
"You! Y'know, since we share a head? I can hear your thoughts," The old Digimon Tamer pointed out with a big toothy grin, "Just like I can hear yours. Or are you so stupid that you haven't noticed my mouth isn't moving?"
"You're being rude," the D-Reaper pointed out.
"Since when did you care about empathy? Yes. I know. I said it so you could hear it. Actually, I thought it but that's irrelevant. Speaking of rude, you're the one in my head," the Digimon Tamer replied, before squatting down to take a seat, "Our head? Whatever. So, why are you trying to dig so deep in my head? What do you think you'll find?"
The D-Reaper needed a moment to clarify its thoughts before responding, "Your end game, as the vernacular goes. After all, you provided us with all the knowledge and information of your people. But that does not equate to everything you know. Otherwise, you wouldn't try so hard to keep it secret. What are you so determined to keep hidden?"
Everything went quiet. It was strange how everything could become so still in a mind so rampant with thought, and it left the Reaper curious. Then the Digimon Tamer replied, "Have you ever considered that some things are better left unknown? Imagine waking up tomorrow knowing everything that's going to happen. It may be amusing at first. But then you know what'll happen the day after that. And the day after that. After a while, it becomes quite boring."
The D-Reaper considered this point. Foreknowledge would make it much easier to manage life and maintain balance. What was so wrong with that? The only conceivable danger it could foresee was altering any events after an unfortunate day would come into play.
For example, if the D-Reaper could foresee its own death. Would the actions it would take to avoid its fate do more harm than if it simply accepted its fate?
"Now your thinking on the same question the Ancients spent an eternity debating. And they didn't even have an answer to that," the Digimon Tamer chimed in, interrupting its thought processes.
The D-Reaper stopped, mostly annoyed from the distraction, before continuing on. There was some logic to what the Digimon Tamer was saying. However, that train of thought derailed when it remembered one key thing. The Digimon Tamer could and would stall if he needed to, "You're attempting to stall, again. That won't work a second time. What are you hiding?"
This remnant of the Digimon Tamer's past scoffed, throwing his hands up in a mock surrender before going on, "I'm not stalling anything. Heck, what would be the point? It's just us. Well, us and Guilmon."
"Takatomon? You've been quiet for a long time. Are you hungry too?" the little dinosaur asked.
The remnant of The Tamer sighed at the sound of his partner's voice, pausing before continuing on, "I just want to be sure you're ready to accept the consequences of learning the information I haven't told anyone else. Come on, you're smart…ish. Okay, I can't really judge because I was stupid by the standard of the Ancients but that's not the point. The point is…if you find out what you want to know…how would you react to the new information? Would it shatter you? Drive you insane? To know the future? To know there's nothing you can do to change it, even if you tried? If you knew your own death was coming?"
That was definitely a lot to think about. But no. Knowledge was power. Power it needed to defeat the nemesis. And if it was to maintain balance and order in the Digital World, it would need every advantage it could get its hands on, "What are you hiding?"
The remnant just stared back quietly. He was mocking it for wanting to know. It could tell without having to read his thoughts. And that mockery was beginning to frustrate the D-Reaper.
"You really are narrow minded. Although I guess a lesser person would call it laser focused," the remnant remarked.
"Stalling," the D-Reaper replied.
The Digimon Tamer laughed, "The truth that I'm hiding is-"
Guardromon led the way at the front of the group with the cannons on his arms ready to fire at the first sign of trouble. Of course, that didn't do much to calm down the rest of the group. This was, after all, an office building in the middle of the night. An office building that looked like it hadn't been used by anything other than ghosts in a long time.
The silence was broken only by Tentomon whimpering, "Your dad sure works in a creepy place. This kinda looks like the place Izzy would work in if Mimi wasn't around to clean up!"
"Tentomon! Not in front of the kids!" Rika's dad protested but it was too late since his wife was also mocking him now. The woman patted his shoulders and reminded him the only thing he ever bothered to clean in his office were his computers. This just further embarrassed the man as he tried to change the topic, "Look, can we focus on the main problem at hand? The digimon that apparently hijacked Minami's dad or whatever it did?"
"Sure, once you all quiet down! For all we know, this Mephistomon has no idea we're here yet and we have a chance to get a jump on the digimon before he knows what hits him!" Kazu complained loudly, missing the irony of his loud proclamation. Thankfully, Kenta covered his mouth and whispered, "How about you take your own advice and pipe down."
"Do we even have a plan here? Because we're already past the door and I still haven't heard one," Terriermon pointed out.
"Yeah! We're in an office. So we talk to this digimon and see if he'll just go back to the Digital World on his own," Henry answered, "And if that doesn't work, Rika's parents use their digivices to send him back to the Digital World that way."
It sounded like a good plan, until Kenta pointed out, "Okay, I like that plan and it's a good one but it leaves out one problem: the digimon got here on its own. So what stops it from doing it again? And what about the other digimon? What happens if he summons more? And how do we know he hasn't already done that?"
"Only one way to find out and that's to find this guy," Ryo said from the front, "I'll go in first. That'll hide our numbers and let the rest of you get the jump on him if we need to."
"You do mean we, right?" Monodramon complained, "Because I'm not going to sit a fight out while you go get your ass handed to you!"
"Well, duh. Where's your dad's office Minami?" Ryo asked, trying not to notice the fact that Rika was grumbling under her breath. He just couldn't get her. What did she have to be so upset about anyway?
"On the second floor in one of the cubicles," Minami answered sheepishly, pointing the way to the stairs. It was a tight squeeze to fit into the stairwell and creak the door open quietly. It was especially hard for Rika's dad because of his handicap, requiring Renamon to carry him up the stairs once again while Rika's mom brought the wheel chair. The upper floor was just as empty and dead as the main floor, with the office dimly lit and appearing abandoned. The only evidence there was anyone here was the soft glow of a computer monitor coming from one of the cubicles.
"That's his work station," Minami whispered.
"Okay. You guys spread out to get the jump on him," Ryo said.
"Who died and made you the leader?" Kazu complained.
"The Digimon Tamer did when he disappeared again!" Ryo hissed back, gesturing to them to just go along with it.
"Temper," Rika reminded him with a flick across the back of the head, "Last thing we need is Monodramon going crazy again."
She was right. He almost let his anger get the better of him. And he couldn't let that happen. Ryo took a few moment to calm himself down, taking a few deep breaths before nodded, "Sorry. Okay. Let's go."
They nodded and went their separate directions, moving silently through the cubicles to avoid drawing attention. Ryo and Monodramon went straight towards the glow of the computer, followed by Minami just a few steps behind them. There they found a man with a graying hair typing away on the computer, his eyes seemingly transfixed on the words on the screen. He typed away at the keyboard busily, barely looking up from what he was doing or registering that they were there. Then he stopped, catching them by surprise.
Did he know they were there? Had they been too loud?
Ryo tried to calm himself as they watch the man turn in his chair to face them. And immediately, Ryo could see something wrong with him. His eyes were unfocused and dazed - he was facing them but he wasn't looking at them. Still, Minami squeaked in terror and grabbed hold of Ryo's arm. And he was pretty sure Rika was quietly grumbling somewhere.
Then the man titled his head, "Minami. Where did you run off too, sweetie? You know I don't like when you wander off."
"Is…it still here?" Minami squeaked out.
The man chuckled, "Minami, didn't I raise you to speak politely? Come now, dear. Did you bring my work computer?"
"Dad, it's not safe here!" she protested, her voice gaining confidence despite the fact that she was still behind Ryo. Her dad stood up, "Oh, sweetie. Is this one of your games? You know I don't have time to play with you right now. Speaking of, did you meet a new friend? Who are you?"
Ryo felt a lump forming in his throat but swallowed it and stammered out, "My name is-"
"The Digimon Tamer," another voice interrupted. A cold chill ran down his spine as he felt something behind him. Ryo spun around, making sure to put himself right beside Minami so that she wouldn't be in front of him, and found himself staring at Mephistomon. The goat digimon that had appeared on their digivices the day before. The reason they were here.
He was a lot bigger in person. In fact, it was a miracle he was able to fit inside of the office given that he was hunched over to keep his head from hitting the ceiling.
"Who are you?" Ryo asked the digimon.
"It may have been countless ages since we last met, Digimon Tamer, but I could never forget who you are. Fiery brown hair, glaring eyes, body of a child, ridiculous clothes-"
Ryo glanced down at his clothes. Sure, they weren't what he was wearing in the Digital World. It was some clothes his parents got for him once he came back. He was unsure what was wrong with the way he was dressed but he was sure Monodramon wasn't the only one snickering at him quietly.
"-And an attitude that makes anyone who meets you just want to punch you repeatedly in the face. There's no mistaking who you are, Digimon Tamer," Mephistomon replied, followed by gesturing at Monodramon, "And I see your partner isn't Agumon anymore. What happened? Did he eat himself into a coma?"
"Hey! Did you just call me fat?" Monodramon complained, and now it was Ryo's turn to snicker at his partner's expense. Although that didn't exactly do anything to stop Ryo from seeing an advantage when he had one. This digimon actually thought he was the Digimon Tamer. And he could exploit that to his advantage. He would be an idiot not to.
"Okay…you got me. You still haven't answered my question: who are you?" Ryo asked.
Mephistomon frowned, or did something close to a frown given the fact that he had a goat's head for a face. The digimon sighed, "I see you've become forgetful in your age. Or you're feigning forgetfulness. It's hard to tell with you. Speaking of, what face is this for you? Second? Third? It doesn't matter. I am Mephistomon! Lord General of…why are you still paying attention?"
Ryo blinked, "Did you not want me, too?"
"Normally, you would have said something about being bored or…I don't know, you'd have wandered off," Mephistomon stated rather bluntly.
"I didn't want to be rude. New face. New brain, y'know how it is," Ryo stammered out quickly, trying his hardest not to give himself away before he had to. After all, they could resolve this quickly and peacefully if Mephistomon thought he was Tamer. Then the digimon might just leave of his own volition. And that would solve so many problems at once without having to resort to violence. But that depended on so many things going right in their favor and there was no reason to think that it would. Not with their luck anyway. He went on, "Anyway, we have more important things to talk about right now. You don't belong in this world. You know it and I know it. So how about we go back to the Digital World where we can settle this as violently and horribly as you want?"
Mephistomon just started silently at the boy for the longest time before grumbling under his breath, "You aren't the Digimon Tamer, are you?"
"No, I am," Ryo lied. Quite badly if he had to be honest.
Mephistomon wasn't buying it either as he sighed, "If you're going to lie to me, boy, at least try to be more convincing. The real Digimon Tamer always quips. Always. And he definitely would not have asked."
"Maybe I had a change in personality? You don't know what I've been through," Ryo retorted matter of factly.
Mephistomon growled at his reply, his hands curling into fists of silent fury, "I know an Ancient's base personality never changes. And after our history, the Digimon Tamer would never have thought to politely approach and talk to me. He would've attacked me on sight."
"Way to blow it," Monodramon said under his breath. Ryo hated when his partner quipped at him but he at least had a card up his sleeve, "Oh yeah? Well, what do you have to say to this!?"
Ryo whipped out his digivice to create a beam of light that he cracked like a whip at Mephistomon. It wrapped itself around the Ultimate, cracking like shattered masonry but he grumbled, "Did you just try and whip me? Yeah, the real Digimon Tamer would have never even thought to try it. Y'know. Because it's so stupid."
"Oh, that was just the distraction," Ryo answered.
Mephistomon smiled, "Oh, you mean the distraction from this?"
As he spoke, Renamon appeared behind him ready to strike. As quickly as she appeared, Mephistomon turned to face her and punched her out the window. Then, the other digimon rushed in - Tentomon, Palmon, Terriermon, Guardromon, Monodramon, and MarineAngemon. In this enclosed space, their numbers became a serious disadvantage. Mephistomon simply retreated into a corner of the office to bottleneck them so only two of the digimon could attack at a time. And he took his time jovially knocking them around while cackling, "Is this it? Is this all you could muster to stop me? Oh, how the times have changed. Compared to the Reaper, you are just child's play."
As he boasted, Renamon leapt back in through the window to Rika's cheers. She joined the attack, with each of the digimon trying to take their chance at attacking him while he knocked them away. At this point, it looked less like a fight and more like the world's strangest game of tag. Where everyone except Mephistomon was 'it'. As it dragged on, Mephistomon's tone became bored, "Okay, now this is just getting annoying. Are you actually going to do anything Tamer or am I actually going to have to kill some digimon?"
"I mean...I think we're still just distracting you," Ryo said again.
Mephistomon blinked again, "Oh? From what? Do you have a plan that could actually stop me or are you just stalling again?"
"No, we're setting things up until we're ready," Ryo replied.
Mephistomon paused, scanning the darkened office, "Ready for what?"
"DIGIPORT OPEN!" Rika's dad shouted, pointing his digivice at the nearest computer. Nothing happened. No gate. No bright flash of light. No transportation to the Digital World. Nothing.
Just Mephistomon's uproarious laughter, "Did…did you really think you could just send me back to the Digital World!? I SEALED THE GATE THERE!"
"You're the reason my dad and sister are stuck there!" Henry shouted from a corner of the office, his tone catching everyone there off guard.
Somewhere in the dark, Terriermon stated, "Huh. I never knew Henry could get mad."
Henry produced one of the cards from his deck and shouted, "NOT THE TIME TERRIERMON! DIGIMODIFY! DIGIVOLUTION ACTIVATE!"
"Digivolution activate? What the hell kind of declaration is that?" Mephistomon repeated stupidly, seemingly stunned by the statement he'd just heard. Still the shining light from the digivice gave Ryo the time he needed to produce his own deck and shuffle out the cards he needed, "Digimodify! Digivolution Activate!"
It was just as well as Rika did the same thing, "Digimodify! Digivolution Activate!"
"Terriermon! Digivolve to! Gargomon!"
"Monodramon! Digivolve to! Strikedramon!"
"Renamon! Digivolve to! Kyubimon!"
The three new champion digimon charged at Mephistomon at the same time, pushing him out of the building and onto the road below. More accurately, onto the SUV below that was crushed under Mephistomon's weight. The drivers backed away from Mephistomon, retreating into the nearby buildings while screaming into their radios about making contact with a hostile wild one.
Everyone raced back outside to continue the fight. Ryo went to join them but Minami held on tight to him, "Wait! What about my dad?"
Ryo looked back at her father who was slumped to the side of his chair now. It seemed that without Mephistomon here to exert any kind of influence on him, he had collapsed from either exhaustion or overwork. In either case, they were free to rescue him now. But that was a lot easier said than done given that were smaller and he was heavier. But they couldn't just leave him here. This building was probably going to collapse on itself from all the damage it took. Ryo rushed behind him and said, "Here, we'll push his office chair. Let's go!"
"Is he...alive?" she asked.
Ryo put a hand under his nose and felt the warm sensation of air passing through, "He's still breathing. He's probably just passed out. Come on. We should get out of here!"
They hurried up until they got to the stairs, which presented the problem of actually having to carry his limp and unconscious form down. Still, they didn't have they didn't have time to think of a better solution, "We're going to have to carry him. Take the left side, I've got the right. We'll sling his arms over our shoulders and carry him down that way."
"...have...have you done this before?" she asked.
"Not by choice," Ryo replied, trying to leave out the fact that he had in fact gone through countless time in the Digital World, fighting for his life against all kinds of hungry digimon, the elements of nature, and starvation. They made their way down stairs one step at a time and were half way down the first flight when Rika came in looking for them, "What are you guys doing back here? You better not be making out while we're fighting for our lives!"
"We're trying to save her dad, Rika!" Ryo protested, "What is your deal, lately!?"
"My deal? My deal is..." Rika stopped herself from saying another word, leaving Ryo to wonder just what exactly was going through her head when they heard another loud bang from outside. Rika shook her head, "Never mind! Just hurry up! This guy is way tougher than the D-Reaper! We can't even land a hit on him, even with the power up and digivolution! Dad has an idea but we need to distract him!"
"Y'know this would go faster if you helped!" Ryo pointed out to her. She scoffed and grabbed the dad's legs, "Fine! Let's go already!"
With her aid, they were able to get out the door faster and rushed outside to the fight going on. Rika's dad working furiously on his laptop while the others cheered their digimon on. Henry, Kazu, and Kenta were trying to coordinate the digimon's attack on Mephistomon while Juri hid off to the side with Calumon. They hurried to join Juri, setting Minami's unconscious father down beside her with Minami.
"You guys are okay! Where were you?" Juri asked.
"Rescuing Minami's dad," Ryo answered before turning back to Minami, "Stay here with Juri. We need to get out there and help out our partners!"
"I'm not sure there's much else you can do," Minami pointed up quietly, as Kabuterimon and Togemon circled around to take Mephistomon in a pincer attack. Mephistomon just grabbed them both when they came close and bashed them together like cymbals in a musical orchestra, "Is that all you have?"
"No, because we still have one more trick up our sleeve!" Rika's dad announced, turning his laptop to face Mephistomon, "Get ready everyone! Digiport OPEN!"
A bright flash of light appeared from his screen and Ryo felt himself getting pulled in. As well as all the others. He tried to scream but it was drowned out by the roar of whatever the hell gate Rika's father had opened. And wherever he had programmed this gate for felt different than the gate to the Digital World.
"The truth that I'm hiding is-"
Whatever secret the Digimon Tamer was going to tell the D-Reaper was drowned out by a sudden bright flash of light accompanied by screams. The Digimon Tamer, the one who's body it inhabited, not the one who was currently conversing with it in his mind...which was a ludicrous now that the D-Reaper had time to process that statement, turned its head head in the direction of the noise to see what seemed to be a tear in the world. Followed closely by a blinding bright light and several dozen figures falling through it. They crashed into ground beside them. Some the D-Reaper recognized as the enemies it had spent a good while fighting. Others the D-Reaper didn't recognize at all. But there was one it knew.
The goat demon.
Mephistomon.
"-going to have to wait. It's I never thought I'd see that ugly mug again," the Digimon Tamer's past remnant echoed, "We go way back. I hate to admit I'm part of the reason you were locked in an eternal stale mate with that guy."
"You?" the D-Reaper repeated.
"I mean…to be fair, I didn't think either of you would ever escape," Tamer admitted sheepishly, "But between the two of you, Mephistomon scares me more. Because I know what his end game is. And we're going to stop him, you and I…well, you and the current I are going to have to work together. Speaking of which, I think it's time I head out. Give current me the controls. Good luck, you two. Bye!"
"Bye? Where are you going?" the D-Reaper asked.
"Where's who going?" came the other Digimon Tamer's thoughts. The current Digimon Tamer's thoughts.
"You! The other you!" the D-Reaper replied.
"Other me? There's only one me," he replied, "Look, I know you don't like me. But to be honest, if either of us is going to get out of this fight alive-"
"We need to cooperate," the D-Reaper finished, "Our chances of survival double through cooperation."
"Glad to hear it," the Digimon Tamer replied.
Author's Notes: The D-Reaper and the Digimon Tamer have come to an agreement. Can they work together to defeat Mephistomon? Will the others be able to escape the Digital World? What sparks will fly now that they're all together again? Find out all this in the next chapter of The Tamer v2.0 - In His Name! Due out in three weeks on Friday, October 23rd at 8 PM CDT. I'm sorry again for these continued delays. This pandemic has left me exhausted and worn out. I really wish I could've stuck to my regular weekly updates but all I feel is tired most days. You guys deserve better, especially after sticking with this story for so long. Anyway, don't forget to share your thoughts in the reviews section! And hey, favorite to show support and follow to keep up with the story. That's all for now, let's look at previews for the next chapter!
Mephistomon stretched out his hand and concentrated his energy to force a gate open, tearing a hole in reality.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"
More humans and digimon came flying out of this hole, barreling towards him and crashing straight into him. Humans and digimon he recognized fighting in the Digital World.
He was thrown backwards from their combined weight landing on top of him.
"Watch it, Davis!"
"You watch it, Ken! Oh, wait. Sorry Kari. Please don't tell my wife."
"I'm not telling anyone, Davis. This didn't happen."