Reformation
888
The rumbles of the explosions filtered through the wooden cabin. Two figures pushed through the door. Flashes of light and a strand of smoke pushed itself in with the figures. One was leonine, a small cub with a barely started mane of fur on the top of its head; the other was more humanoid, but the clawed feet and hands and the wild, red hair gave away its non-human truth, along with the two ground down horns that barely poked from its head. The second figure was not more than the size of a child; its skin was reddish tan color. The lion cub turned to the second figure.
"Here, I have them here." the cub said as it padded towards a basket. The feline nudged the top of the basket opening the hatch revealing three eggs. "These were the ones I could get to before the attack started…"
The demonette of a child peered into the basket. His eyes fell upon two small devices next to one of the eggs. One was rectangular and gray the other was vaguely oval with a blue and white chassis surrounding a gray screen.
"What are those?" The tawny skinned demon asked.
"I am not sure, but they appeared in the bassinet with the blue egg…" the lion replied. "I have never seen anything like them before, not even Volcamon knew what they were…"
"Could they be connected to whoever is attacking us?" The demon asked.
"It doesn't matter now, I need you to take them, the island has fallen, it won't be long before those things are here…" the lion said, narrowing his eyes as its ears swiveled back to the sound of increasingly closer explosions. The lion looked up at the demon. "I have only known you for a short time, since you washed up on our shores but I have come to trust you. I am the caretaker of the babies born to this island, I am asking you now, take these eggs, flee this place. There is an island, not unlike this one on the far side of the world, called File Island, you will find a village, not unlike this one, there. These ones will be safe there…"
"Me…" The demon child asked pointing to himself with a clawed finger. "I can fight, I can stay here and help, you are the one that knows how to…"
"My disappearance will be noticed, if the attackers have come for the eggs and the babies they will search me out, undeniably, if any are to survive then I must stay here, and stand my ground, and fall…if necessary." the lion replied, closing its eyes. "It is my duty, it is my fate, it is the truth of my existence."
"But-" the demon started.
"Hurry!" The lion insisted. There was a loud explosion nearby, it rattled the cabin. The lion cub swallowed hard. "There is a false floor in the closet over there." The lion indicated a door on the far side of the room. "It leads to a tunnel that ends at a hidden bay on the far side of the island, there is a boat moored there."
"But we can-" the demon tried to insist.
"No, we can't!" the lion growled. He turned his head. "They are coming, I can hear them!"
The demon looked towards the door of the cabin. He could hear them as well. The electronic chanting. He looked down at the lion cub and then to the basket. He reached out and grabbed the handle and lifted the basket with the eggs and ran to the door. The lion nodded and the demon left the room.
The lion turned as the door to the cabin exploded off of its hinges. He growled the most menacing growl he could manage as a man walked into the room.
"How could you?" the lion growled as the man looked down at him, the man's hands clasped behind his back. His black robes flowed as the outside wind swirled into the cabin. The lion growled. "You were supposed to protect us!"
"I am protecting you, from yourselves…" the man said quietly. Two things glided in behind him. They were metallic and purple. They looked like floating spiders with tiny little tentacles vaguely flapping beneath them. A single electronic eye focused on the lion cub. The man took a deep breath as he looked around the cabin. "No eggs, no babies, yet here is the caretaker…interesting."
"What do you want?" the lion growled.
"You know what I search for, the eggs. The ones that are formed here. There are several specific ones I'm looking for." the man said as he looked down at the lion. "If you wish to make this easy, you will tell me where I may find them…"
"They aren't here!" the lion growled. "And even if they were I wouldn't hand them over to you!"
"I see then…" The man sighed quietly. "We're doing it the hard way then…"
The man lifted his hand and snapped his fingers. The two, floating, metallic spiders flew forward.
"Do not flee, do not defend yourself, resistance is useless!" the two spiders announced with metallic, soulless voices. "There is nothing to fear; the Gizmon will remove fear, the Gizmon will remove Attribute, Type and Level….you will become like us…"
Before the lion cub could respond the eyes of the two spiders glowed and a slicing beam of light stabbed through the cub's body. The little lion exploded into golden globs of data that the floating spiders sucked into small containers and then turned to the man.
"Locate the 7GDL subsection 1-7 eggs. Identify 7GDL subsection 1…collect it…the rest can be harvested." the man said with a tone that denoted boredom as he looked to the metallic spider things hovering in front of him. "Once you have retrieved subsection 1, return with it to the castle and make preparations for data transfer. Do you comprehend?"
"Command request is valid and understood, the hive network has updated all mission priorities to active drones and will execute command sequence immediately." the two metal beings replied and then hovered out of the cabin.
The man smiled slightly as he listened to the machines as they announced themselves to the world.
"Do not fear. We will remove fear and love and hate and joy and sadness, we will remove attributes, types and levels, you will join us, you will become like us, resistance is useless…"
888
"If what Hikari says is true we don't have much choice…" Sora said quietly.
The older digi-destined were sitting in an unused schoolroom after school. It had been a couple weeks since the wake. The auburn haired girl looked to the others and then looked to Taichi. Taichi didn't look back, his face frowning slightly.
"There's been weirder things-" Jyou said quietly. "I mean that whole thing with that Oikawa…"
"None the less-" Yamato started, the blonde looked up. "Are we really prepared to go back?" He looked to Koushiro. "Can we go back?"
"Well-" The cinnamon haired boy started. The other children looked up. The cinnamon haired boy looked directly at Mimi. "I don't want you getting your hopes up…"
"I thought you said you tried even up at the campsite?" Jyou said.
"I did…" Koushiro nodded. He looked up. "Things have changed though…in fact I noticed it the day of the wake…"
"Noticed what?" Mimi said clutching her hands together in front of her.
"Don't get excited!" Koushiro said lifting his hand. "It may not even be helpful, in fact it may just be frustrating…"
"Anything's better than nothing!" Mimi retorted. "Spill it!"
"Fine, but don't get excited!" Koushiro said with a warning tone. "I've been monitoring the Digital World and recently I noticed a oscillating fluctuation in the barrier between our worlds…"
"Oscillating fluctu-what's even that?" Mimi frowned.
"Basically every three days, at precisely twelve fifty-two PM the digital gate opens…very slightly before slamming shut about three minutes later…" Koushiro said squinting and pinching his fingers together as he said 'very slightly'. "When I noticed it I went back and looked at the data stream, it started on the day of the wake…and has happened four times since. The fluctuations start and it takes about three days for the gate to be barely cracked open and then almost instantaneously it shuts…"
"What's…what's causing it?" Jyou asked.
"I have no idea." Koushiro said. "I mean it's not like I can just shuttle over to a UNIT lab and do some kind of probe…I'm working from my home computer."
"It's just the timing…" Jyou started and looked over to Taichi.
The brunette's frown seemed to deepen.
"I know you're skeptical but what if it's true, Tai?" Sora asked.
"We know that digimon can manifest here even though they-" Yamato started.
"Once, one digimon did in a very peculiar set of circumstances, and then never again…" Taichi said quietly. He looked up at Yamato. "I don't want to get Kari over-excited chasing ghosts."
"Ken believes her…" Mimi said. "And the others…"
"They're kids and Daisuke is-was they're leader, they don't want to believe that he's-" Taichi stopped and took a deep breath, "that he's gone."
"After all we've seen though-" Jyou said. "Things work differently in the Digital World…"
"Not this differently and Daisuke isn't a digimon." Taichi said gruffly.
"But he might have found a way to survive." Mimi said, sitting up and looking at Taichi. "Maybe he's trapped between this world and the other, maybe he's fighting to open the gate to get back…maybe-"
"Maybe it's just a coincidence. Maybe some weird Digital World hiccup is happening and everyone wants it to be Daisuke sending us a message or trying to give us a way back into the Digital World." Taichi growled, his voice rising in cadence to almost a shout. "Chances are it's just a hiccup…we all have to accept that reality!"
"If he's out there, and we just ignore him…" Mimi started, tears were forming in her eyes. "Why can't you just hope that it's him, just for us!?"
"Because we have to grow up…didn't we learn anything from the dragons, from what happened with Daisuke…Destiny gave up on us, we're just kids…nothing special…not anymore." Taichi said firmly.
Mimi turned and ran out of the room, sniffles and hiccups echoing from the hall. Sora stood up and followed her but not before giving Taichi a glare.
"Dude, I understand you're worried for Hikari, but that was kind of harsh." Yamato said quietly looking over to the brunette.
"Yeah you were just as excited as we were when Koushiro said the Digital World had returned-" Jyou said.
"Yeah but look at what's happened, all Kari talks about is finding Daisuke…" Taichi said, the brunette looked up. "When, if we get over there and we don't find him, it's going to break her heart…and what if we get over there and are trapped again…a broken heart could get her or all of us killed."
"And if we go over there and Daisuke has the picnic table waiting for us?" Jyou asked.
Taichi's eyes flicked up to Jyou and his eyebrows narrowed. "Do you really believe that?"
"Well, I don't know but it's just as likely as-" Jyou started.
"No it isn't, the Digital World has never been so simple or kind." Taichi said quietly. "Let's say he is the one prying the gate open…what if he's trapped between this world and is the hitch that keeps causing these 'oscillating fluctuations'…what kind of shape will he be in hmm? And we still can't get to the Digital World, the D-3s don't work, so all of this hope is just…pointless!"
Taichi, Jyou and Yamato looked over to Koushiro. The cinnamon-haired boy blushed slightly and then lifted his closed hand to his mouth and coughed quietly.
"There's another thing…" Koushiro said timidly, as he swallowed slightly. "Something I didn't want to say with Mimi around…" Koushiro took a deep breath. "The first gate events lasted ten minutes, over the course of the last two weeks the moment of prying has dissolved to three minutes, the fluctuations are getting weaker…"
"Which means?" Jyou asked.
"That whatever is cracking open the gate, is weakening and the gate is slowly going to win…" Taichi said, leaning back. "How long?"
"Well, in two weeks, the fluctuations had degraded by seventy percent, at this rate, in two weeks' time the period of opening will be less than a minute…which if my models are right, wouldn't be enough time to do what I think we'd need to do to get into the Digital World."
"This is what I'm talking about.." Taichi said quietly lifting his hand towards Koushiro.
"So what? We're just going to ignore this?" Jyou asked, looking at Taichi. "I can't believe you'd be so afraid to ignore this? To just give in and quit? Are you really that scared?"
Taichi frowned and his hand balled up as he glared at Jyou. The bespectacled, older boy didn't flinch like he would've a few years ago. Taichi looked down at the ground and unclenched his fists.
"We can't just sit back and let this slip through our fingers." Yamato said calmly, the blonde grabbed Taichi's hand. "I can't believe you don't want to go. Even if you think this stuff with Daisuke is just a bunch of ghost stories, you can't want to just grow up…and give up on the Digital World, on Agumon…"
Taichi closed his eyes and growled. Tears beaded at the corners of his eyes. He sat forward, still holding Yamato's hand and turned his head to Koushiro.
"What would it involve to get over there?" Taichi said as he looked past Yamato to Koushiro.
"Well, the idea is that we use the D-3s at precisely the moment that the gate aperture is at its widest…to act as a crowbar to force the gate open." Koushiro said, he rubbed his chin. "The gate is basically acting like a broken automatic door, something is tripping its sensor, but just as the door starts to open a failsafe circuit's tripped and it slams shut. If we can send a digivice signal into the aperture it'd be like putting a crowbar in, holding the gate open for us to proceed through."
"I thought you said the digi-ports weren't operational…" Jyou said, as he narrowed his eyes.
"Yeah, we'd have to go up to the campground, and it would require all of us…" Koushiro said. "A single digivice wouldn't have the power to keep the gate open, it'd take us all…"
"That shouldn't be hard to arrange." Yamato said smiling, he still was holding Taichi's hand. "When's the next opening?"
"Saturday but…" Koushiro took a deep breath.
"But- what?" Jyou grumbled looking at Koushiro.
"Well, we're going to need some equipment…" Koushiro said quietly. "I'll need some specialized amplifiers and transmitters to boost our signals…"
"I've got amplifiers and we can pick up some antennas at like an electronics shop…" Yamato said smiling. "Stop acting like everything is a lethal flaw…"
"No, you see, while I appreciate the sentiment, we need specialized equipment; the kind of equipment designed to make contact with the Digital World with brute force…the kind of equipment that takes months to build, and potentially years to calibrate…" Koushiro said, shaking his head. "The kind of equipment that really is only available in one place…"
"Well, that's us not going to the Digital World…" Jyou sighed as he slumped down into a chair.
"Why didn't you start with that!?" Yamato grunted.
"I did say 'don't get your hopes up'." Koushiro returned a little annoyed. "We'd have to get into UNIT and acquire the equipment from one of the labs. I know where it is, for what it's worth, I was using it to test my digimon server…"
"Yeah but knowing where it is, and being able to reach it are two different things aren't they?" Jyou grunted.
"How big is this equipment?" Taichi asked.
"Not big; the size of a modem and a wi-fi box." Koushiro said.
"So if we could get in, we could get it out pretty easily…" Taichi said.
"Well you're saying that like getting in is easy!" Jyou yelped as he looked at Taichi.
"Do you want to go to the Digital World or not?" Taichi asked, as his dark brown eyes looked over to Jyou. His hand tightly gripping Yamato's.
"Do you?" Yamato asked, smiling as his blue eyes shimmered in the fluorescent light.
"If we get over there, we'll at least find our partners, we'll deal with the Daisuke stuff when it comes." Taichi said resignedly. He shook his head. "If he has managed to pull this off…"
"He'll be even more unbearable." Yamato said smiling.
"We still are talking about breaking into a secret international intelligence agency building, filled with guys with guns…" Jyou said trying to point out the obvious. "Which we have no legal access to!"
"Don't you still have a key card or something?" Taichi asked as he looked over to Koushiro.
"They'd have revoked my privileges by now, plus the lab has a its own code entry system…" Koushiro said quietly. "However, I am still in contact with the researchers…Dr. Schmidt may just be sympathetic…I might be able to get us in on a pretense. Getting past the front door is like ninety percent of the battle…the other ten is getting into the lab…"
"So you're saying it isn't impossible…" Yamato said.
"I'll have to think about it for a bit…but if we can get inside, I think I can get into the lab…" Koushiro said.
"We don't have much time-" Taichi replied as he stood up. "I'm going to go tell the girls, and then I'll tell the others. So we can get things coordinated for Saturday. We need that equipment by Friday at the latest…if we don't have it we don't go, got it?"
Koushiro nodded quietly.
"Right then…I guess we're going to do this?" Taichi said as he looked for reassurance from the other boys. He nodded mostly to himself and then left the room.
"We're totally going to get thrown into some kind of military prison camp; aren't we?" Jyou whimpered and then sighed. "At least, I won't have to worry about college entrance exams anymore…"
888
"Thank you, Dr. Schmidt-" Koushiro said as he walked behind the short man in a dark brown jacket. The man walked slowly his cane bracing every step. The man turned and smiled and inclined his head. His brown hair curling messily from under his beige Panama hat. "I know it's terribly inconvenient for you…"
"Winnie, was against it," The man said his voice had a slightly nasally Scottish tone to it, "but Winnie is against many different things. I told it was silly considering your considerable contributions, and your sterrrrling rrrecord. Plus we've all forgotten some personal effects in the past, and no one's used your office, it would be horrible of us to deny you."
"Yeah-" Koushiro said quietly. "It isn't many things you know. Just a couple of pictures and a some knick knacks…"
Koushiro looked over to Taichi. "Yeah, thanks for letting us come and help."
"Yeah it's really cool." Yamato said, smiling a little too broadly.
"I hope we didn't get you in too much trouble?" Jyou added clumsily as he blushed slightly. Taichi and Yamato shot him glares.
The four boys were still wearing their school uniforms save for Yamato had changed from the dress pants to a pair of jeans, which Taichi had ribbed him about for making him look too much like a ruffian.
"Trouble? No, I shouldn't think so, things have been terribly quiet since well, the incident." Dr. Schmidt said quietly. "Not much to do, there's been no incursions, no portals, quite frankly it's getting quite boring. I had to let Ace go back to the university laboratories in Glasgow, to complete her thesis, much to her displeasure. I dare say my Dean of Research will be expecting me back if things don't start heating up."
Dr. Schmidt stopped in front of a large gray building and walked up the steps, the boys following behind. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a plastic card and swiped it; there was a pleasant beep followed by a flash of green light and a click. Dr. Schmidt then opened the door and waved the boys ahead of him. Within the door was a set of turnstiles and a hulking man in a black suit, wearing sunglasses, a earpiece was in his ear. The man looked down at the gaggle of people entering the building suspiciously.
"They're with me, Sasuke." Dr. Schmidt said tipping his hat to the man. The man still appraised the four boys as they sidled through his shadow. One of the man's nostrils flared as if he smelled something devious in the works and then grunted, and turned his attention back to the doors. The tip of Dr. Schmidt's umbrella clacked on the floor tiling. Dr. Schmidt turned and looked back to the four boys. "He's been grumpy recently; his wife's pregnant, poor lad's not gotten any sleep in a week…"
"Oh, well, good luck then…" Jyou said turning back to the guard. The guard didn't respond any more than to turn and give him a glare through the black glasses.
"Right then, I think we're this way." Dr. Schmidt said as he pointed his umbrella towards a hallway.
They walked in relatively silence to the door of what had been Koushiro's office. Dr. Schmidt took out a key and put it in the lock of the door; as he opened the door Koushiro tripped slightly bumping into him. The two staggered until Yamato caught them, and they stabilized.
"I'm so sorry," Koushiro pleaded as he bowed to Dr. Schmidt.
"No worries, no injuries." Dr. Schmidt said as he led the boys into the room.
The process of the search was a quick business, the things on the list were gathered quickly and Dr. Schmidt was walking them back towards the exit, when all of a sudden Yamato started to fidget. The blonde stepped uncomfortably from one foot to the other.
"Dr. Schmidt…" Yamato grumbled quietly. Taichi and Jyou stopped as did Dr. Schmidt and Koushiro. They looked to Yamato who looked terribly uncomfortable and frankly embarrassed as beads of sweat formed on his brow. He hefted the bag he was carrying higher on his shoulder. "I hate to slow things down but…I have to use the restroom-"
"Hmm?" Dr. Schmidt looked at the boy and nodded slightly. "Yes, I believe there's one down the hall just before the labs…"
"Thanks…" Yamato said. as he turned and ran down the hall.
"Doesn't he want us to hold the bag?" Dr. Schmidt as he watched the boy go.
"Oh, jeesh I didn't even think to ask-" Koushiro said, frantically. The cinnamon haired boy looked to the others. The other two boys waffled slightly as Dr. Schmidt watched them a furrow forming on his brow. Koushiro then jumped up. "Dr. Schmidt, have you seen the new Klein Bottle configurations being proposed out of Switzerland!?"
"Oh, pah, the Swiss-" Dr. Schmidt grumbled. "Next thing you'll have is them saying they can put an entire universe in one-"
"Yeah, nuts, right, crazy Swiss, I mean they put holes in their cheese, right?" Taichi offered as he looked over to Jyou who simply shook his head.
888
Yamato rushed to the bathroom. He could hardly believe this was working. He reached into his jeans' pocket and pulled out the ID card.
"Who'd have guessed Koushiro dabbled in magic…" Yamato said to himself as he remembered Koushiro slipping the card into his hand during the 'accident' in front of his office.
Yamato took out a sheet of paper and looked at it. There was a room number, and two pictures. Yamato rushed past the restroom to a series of heavy metal doors. There was a card scanner that Yamato immediately swiped the card through. The door unlocked and he slipped in and cautiously proceeded forward. Dr. Schmidt was right it was very quiet. He ran to the door with the number written on the piece of paper and swiped Dr. Schmidt's card again.
He opened the door and went in. The room within was lined with computer terminals but the room itself was dark, only lit by the various blinking lights. He looked at the pictures on the paper and then found the two objects. One looked like an ethernet box, the other was a similarly small, rectangular black box. He quickly disconnected the boxes and slipped them into the duffle bag he was carrying. He turned looked around himself and then ran to the door. He opened the door and made to run out just as he ran into the chest of Mr. Nishijima, who was standing there with his arms crossed.
"Hiya, teach…fancy meeting you here…" Yamato gulped as he looked up at the frowning face of Mr. Nishijima. The older man's arms were crossed over his chest. Yamato turned to run only to see a few more men in black walking towards him.
"HEY!" Taichi's voice yelped. Yamato looked further to see Taichi, Koushiro and Jyou being pushed and dragged by another group of guards.
"I knew this was going too smoothly-" grumbled Jyou as he was being directed towards Mr. Nishijima.
Mr. Nishijima snapped his fingers and the guards deposited the three other boys with Yamato next to him. Mr. Nishijima then opened his hand and Yamato limply deposited Dr. Schmidt's key card in his palm. Mr. Nishijima pocketed the card quickly.
"You lot come with me-" Mr. Nishijima said tersely as he glared at the boys and pointed down the hallway.
888
An egg floated in a tube, suspended in some green liquid. The man who wasn't, stood there admiring the egg, a white ovoid with a golden, double-branched Y insignia on it. He turned to a metallic spider.
"Commence the engorgement-" the man said. "Feed all the harvested data into this egg."
The metallic spider twisted in the air and hovered off into the darkness. The man leaned in and looked at the egg.
"Remarkable how intricate this creation is-" the man said quietly. Something caught his attention and he saw the reflection. "Oh, you already know what is going to happen, hmm?"
A smirk played across the man's lips. Small little golden bits of confetti drifted into the tube and were drawn into the egg. The man leaned in and his forehead pressed against the cold glass.
"You all thought you were so clever, eliminate the digimon that could do what I wanted, destroy them, delete them…but all I had to do was spark a crisis so severe as to require a reset-" the man whispered against the glass, "and you played straight into my hands…and soon I'll have exactly what I want."
888
"Are you four insane!?" Mr. Nishijima shouted. The four boys flinched. Yamato, Taichi and Koushiro double flinched as they had never seen Mr. Nishijima angry, even when Katsuo's gang covered his desk in cling film which made it impossible for him to open any of the drawers.
"It's just-" Koushiro started.
"What?" Mr. Nishijima asked, it was more of a threat than a question.
"We need the equipment." Koushiro said impotently. "We need it to get back-"
"Back to the Digital World, sir." Yamato said sitting up straight. "We believe our friend is still alive, that he survived. We need to go back, to retrieve him."
"So you're opening gambit was to steal the equipment?" Mr. Nishijima growled.
"We couldn't exactly ask, could we?" Jyou said, swallowing as Mr. Nishijima's eyes flicked towards him.
"You didn't even try to-" Mr. Nishijima grumbled putting his fingers to his temple. "You realize the kind of trouble you could be in!? Breaking into a secure laboratory is bad enough, but then you steal equipment from a military laboratory…"
"Technically we didn't break in, we were invited by someone inside…" Koushiro stated quietly.
"And we were actually just going to borrow the equipment-" Jyou added. Nishijima flicked a look at him. Jyou gulped. "We-we always intended to return it…"
Mr. Nishijima tilted his head and looked at Koushiro Jyou as if the boys had just vomited upon themselves.
"INTERPOL won't care, the Japanese government won't care, the United Nations won't care if you got gold embossed invitations and brought it back with bells tied on. Since you-" Mr. Nishijima replied calmly and then slammed his hands on the table and shouted straight in Koushiro's face and then glared at Jyou, and then he shouted, "-STOLE EQUIPMENT FROM A SECURE MILITARY LABORATORY!"
"Sir, we're sorry, but if we could run the risk of you guys saying 'no'." Taichi said as he recomposed himself from shrinking back from Mr. Nishijima. "If we had asked, and you had said 'no' we'd have never been able to get as close as we did-"
"We saw you coming from the moment that you contacted Dr. Schmidt. We have everything on camera for crying out loud!" Nishijima replied pinching his forehead between his eyes. He shook his head. "I hoped beyond hope that it was innocent, but now I have to explain to Brigadier Bambera how four high school kids broke into a secured military laboratory…and also try and talk her down from having the four of you locked up on one of the secret military prisons we have on the moon…"
"Wait…you have those?" Jyou gulped as he looked to Nishijima.
"That's not the point, Jyou-" Taichi hissed out of the corner of his mouth.
"We were clearly desperate…" Yamato said quietly. "If we could've done it without doing this we'd most certainly would have-"
"You have to have seen the oscillations-" Koushiro pleaded. "You've also seen that the oscillations are getting smaller. We can wedge open a portal, we can get to the Digital World and retrieve Daisuke. I know it. But we have to act fast, our window is closing…"
"And if this works and the gate slams shut? Then you'll all be trapped there?" Nishijima asked, glaring at Koushiro. "What am I supposed to tell people then? Hmm? Eleven more kids disappeared into the ether, no explanation?"
"It's not like this isn't how this all started in the first place-" Jyou said, adjusting his glasses. "We had no control over it the first time…I think at least this time it'd be planned so we can make supplies and preparations…"
"Right, and if Mr. Izumi's plan works, and the gate opens but it works too well and the gate gets stuck open? And all of a sudden we have digimon wandering around all over the place and no Digi-destined to deal with them?" Mr. Nishijima quizzed, glaring at the boys. He shook his head and grabbed a chair and sat down on the other side of the table the boys were sat at.
"You have UNIT…" Taichi said quietly. "You guys shot DORUghoramon in the face…"
"Thanks for that, by the way-" Jyou said quietly. He shrunk back as Mr. Nishijima glared at him. "I just…I just couldn't remember if I had thanked you two years ago…"
"It's a matter of getting our friend back." Yamato said quietly. "If we can get Daisuke Motomiya back, what kind of victory would that be for you guys?"
"It's the kind of miracle that research funding is made of…" Koushiro stated as he looked into Mr. Nishijima's eyes.
"We're going over there, one way or another…" Taichi said firmly. The brunette's brown eyes glared at Mr. Nishijima. "That world is as much a part of us as we were a part of it, and if Daisuke has survived, and is there, don't think you can scare me with a little prison, on the moon or anywhere." Taichi reached down and put a red D-3 on the table. "I think you know well enough that we'll do something even more stupid and reckless without the equipment…something might crack the skin of the Earth open." Taichi narrowed his eyes and thinned his lips. "Now what do you think the Brigadier would say if we did that instead?"
"Damn stupid kids…" Nishijima growled. "You realize how impossible this is?"
"We're more than a little aware…" Jyou said as he nervously fidgeted, he took a deep breath and adjusted his glasses and then looked sternly forward. "But Daisuke's one of our own. If things were reversed, he'd already be there, we owe him the same response…."
"You have to know deep down inside, that if UNIT can take the credit for saving a kid from the Digital World, that you'd be able to leverage that into real capital…" Koushiro said, as he folded his hands together on the table in front of him. "But if you let the seal go one hundred percent and the Digital World gets completely cut off from us, this entire establishment disappears into cost saving smoke…we need to know what's happening over there. No better way to know than to go over there, and the twelve Chosen Ones are the most qualified candidates to go…you know this."
"Daisuke's our friend, if anyone is going to save him it should be us." Yamato said, the blonde looked up at Mr. Nishijima. "We're sorry for taking a drastic step, but it was necessary, and you know it."
"When's the next oscillation maximum?" Mr. Nishijima said finally.
"This Saturday 12:52 PM…" Koushiro replied from rote memory.
"You get ONE chance at this-" Mr. Nishijima said through gritted teeth. "So you better hope that you get into the Digital World, because if you don't you can sure as hell believe we'll be on you like dung beetles on shit." Mr. Nishijima pointed at the boys. "There won't be one minute we won't have eyes on you, at school, on your dates, at home, in your bedrooms, in the showers…we'll always have eyes on you. Got it?"
"So more of the same then…" Jyou grumbled slightly.
"WHAT?" Mr. Nishijima growled loudly, his eyes flaring towards Jyou.
"No-nothing…" Jyou whimpered.
"I don't want to see you within three blocks of his building ever again…" Mr. Nishijima said. "Do you hear me!?"
"Yessir!" the four boys said sharply.
"I'll contact you about Saturday." Mr. Nishijima growled. He lifted his hand and pointed to the door, and as he did a guard opened it. "Now go home…I'll deal with things here…"
The boys filed out of the room. As they did Koushiro leaned in close to Taichi. "'Crack the skin of the Earth'?"
"Shh, it sounded good-" Taichi hissed.
Mr. Nishijima shook his head and turned to a window behind him. The door of the room closed and a light turned on, illuminating another room behind the window. Brigadier Bambera and Dr. Schmidt were standing on the other side.
"See I told you the oscillations were something-" Dr. Schmidt said, nodding.
"None the less, we're rewarding them for a very grave crime-" the female brigadier said as she glared at the door the boys had left through.
"Ah, Winnie, they're just kids…" Dr. Schmidt retorted. "Boys will be-"
"Trust me, I know-" The brigadier said as she looked over to Mr. Nishijima. He didn't meet her eyes. The brigadier turned to leave. "They will be your responsibility of course, Mr. Nishijima."
"Yes, ma'am." Mr. Nishijima said straightening up as the brigadier left his sight.
Dr. Schmidt sighed slightly and looked over to Mr. Nishijima. "How is Ms. Himekawa?"
"Alive-" Mr. Nishijima said quietly.
888
Maki looked out of the window of her apartment. Half of the reason she chose this apartment was for the view of the bay. The other half being that part of that view overlooked the scene of the 'bombing' of the Hikarigaoka apartments. She half chuckled at the thought of being so naïve as to thinking that it had been a bombing, what bomb left massive dinosaur footprints? Even that mad fool that hung out with that police officer knew it wasn't possibly a bombing.
Part of her had always hoped maybe when the 'bombing' had happened that it was a sign. A sign that the others could come back. Now though she knew the truth, now she knew that it was in fact a sign that it was far too late. She narrowed her eyes as she heard her doorbell ring. She pursed her lips. She knew who it was.
She walked to the door and unlocked the door and opened it. He walked into the apartment bedraggled and harried. His hair was unkempt and his jacket collar ruffled.
"You will not believe what they tried to do!" He said without even saying hello.
She knew what he meant when he said 'they' it was the only 'they' he talked about, at least without reference. His dark hair was mussed and his boyish face was scrunched up into its most thorough attempt at looking adult it could muster. He dropped down upon the couch in the middle of her living room.
"They nearly blew up the world?" She asked sardonically as she found one of the stools that were lined along her kitchen counter that separated her kitchenette from the rest of her apartment.
"They used Dr. Schmidt, and walked bold as brass into the UNIT laboratory building, and tried to steal a signal amplifier and that network transmitter we have attuned to the Digital World!" Daigo replied as if he hadn't heard her response.
"Only that?" Maki said sighing. "I'm sure Brass Balls Bambera wasn't happy…"
"Actually she was surprisingly calm about it…" Daigo said as he laid his head back, "but what were they thinking!?"
"You really have to ask?" Maki said.
"I know, and that's what it is.." Daigo shook his head. "They think they can wedge a gate open…they want to go and retrieve the Motomiya kid…"
"And you informed them that they can't." Maki said. Daigo looked up at Maki and then away. Maki narrowed her eyes. "You told them 'no'…right?"
"Bambera thinks-" Daigo started.
"Forget Bambera!" Maki cut him off and stood up.
"Look, it's different this time, they have time, they're making preparations, they have a plan, there are eleven of them for crying out loud, and…" Daigo looked up at Maki as she glared over him.
"And it's not us!" Maki growled and turned her back on Daigo.
"We almost died, you were hospitalized…we were not in any condition to go but these kids…" Daigo tried.
"You're willing to risk someone else's life, but when it's your own…even for your friends…you can't even…" Maki growled, and glared at Daigo. "And you held that crest…."
"It's not like that!" Daigo retorted standing up, he grabbed Maki by the shoulders and spun her around. "I had to protect the friend I had left from herself. You don't think I didn't want to go just as bad as you…but I had to be the brave one that said 'no' when everything in me wanted to scream 'yes!'. Because I knew, I knew it would get us killed. It took so much not to be that person today. Those kids, the looks on their face, the things they said, sounded just like you. Only this time, it was different…"
"Because it isn't you going!" Maki shouted.
"No, because it isn't you…" Daigo returned.
"So you hold some kids in higher concern than me and your friends?" Maki asked acidly.
"It's different these kids have a network, they have each other, you know what that world is like…" Daigo said quietly. "If anyone has a chance of surviving it's them. We didn't have a chance, there wasn't anyone…you weren't awake for what happened after the dragons were sealed, when the darkness came…when our partners used the last of their energy to send us home and repel the attacks of the darkness's henchmen. If we had gone back they'd have killed us as soon as we hit the ground. I know you knew that deep down, and I knew that you didn't care. I knew then like I know now, that you would have sacrificed anything to fix what had happened, or worse, sacrificed the same even if it wouldn't have fixed it, just to escape the guilt. I had to be the one with the courage to deny you that, even though it meant hurting you and making you resent me, and hate me."
"So you told the kids they could go?" Maki asked, still glaring at Daigo.
"Dr. Schmidt thinks the Izumi kid's plan could work…" Daigo admitted. "I think they could actually do it, too. If I can save that kid, I'm going to do what I can to try to."
"That's definitely a change of opinion-" Maki said soberly, but it was the kind of sober that came with a shattered bottle in one's hand.
"I know." Daigo said. "I would like to think your opinion has changed as well."
"I have no reason to return to UNIT, Daigo." Maki said, curtly.
"I know, but I wasn't talking about that." Daigo said quietly. "These kids, they need all the moral support they can get…"
"And you think I can provide it?" Maki said incredulously as she turned away from Daigo.
"Yes." Daigo replied flatly.
Maki scoffed and looked at him. His face was fierce looking, yet boyish, like a child trying to act serious and tough to an adult. It was almost pathetic in its attempt.
"The last thing those kids need, is me…" Maki said quietly. "If you remember the last time I was involved with them, one of them didn't come home."
"They don't blame you for that-" Daigo replied. "If anything they are worried about you because of it."
"They should be worrying about themselves." Maki said quietly. "Wedging the gate open? They'll either blow us all up or trap themselves in the Digital World…"
"Which is why they need someone who's weighed those options in her head, in their corner." Daigo said quietly. "They see me as a babysitter…someone that keeps them following 'the rules'. You're that crazy lady that got them into the Digital World when everyone else told them 'no'…"
Maki closed her eyes and sat at her kitchen counter. "I don't think they need a crazy woman in their corner…"
"I disagree…" Daigo said. He walked towards the door of the apartment. "The operation is at 12:52 Saturday afternoon at the beta site in the mountains…I'll leave it to you…"
Daigo left the apartment. Maki sat there and looked back to the window over the bay. She stood up and walked into a short hallway that led to her bedroom. She walked across the darkened bedroom to a closet. She opened the wicker sliding door and reached up and pulled down a small box. She opened the box and pulled aside the tissue paper inside, revealing a small device, with a blank grayish-green screen. It was vaguely pinkish-white, with a small key chain attached to it. If anyone else had seen it, they'd have thought it was a classic tamagotchi, but Maki looked at it as if it were a lock of hair from a long-dead, old friend. She closed her eyes and closed the box and put it back up on the closet shelf, closing the closet and leaned against the door.
888
Jyou's brother, Shin, drove them up the mountain road to the campground in a van that Yamato's dad had let them borrow. A black van was already there. Dr. Schmidt and Mr. Nishijima were standing there in long coats. Taichi and Yamato jumped out and helped the girls down. Ken and Koushiro walked over to the two men from UNIT. Takeru hopped out next to Taichi and helped Iori down. Jyou and Shin were already unloading the duffles with supplies. The others were getting their own personal affects out of the van.
The kids started to file in closer to where Koushiro and Ken were talking with Dr. Schmidt and Mr. Nishijima.
"Are you very sure?" Taichi heard Ken ask.
"As sure as I can be…" Koushiro said with a level of assurance that seemed little uncomforting.
"Sure about what?" Jyou asked as he already started to look unsure.
"I think this digi-port program I've altered will communicate with the gate…" Koushiro said with a smile. "There's no way to actually test it but all the simulations suggest it should work…"
"Well, that sounds-" Shin started.
"The simulations are modeled on a system that does not currently exist." Ken said with a frown.
"It's the best data model we have." Koushiro retorted. "We have to assume that the basic structure of the gate is the same…"
"Do we?" Jyou asked in a wheedling tone.
"Wait, so what's the worst case scenario for us if it doesn't work right?" Miyako asked as she pushed forward.
"Either the gate won't open at all…" Koushiro said.
"Or we'll reverse the polarity of all the neutrons in the general area of the campground-" Ken stated, narrowing his eyes.
"Which means flipping all the quark charges that compose said neutrons-" Dr. Schmidt added.
"Turning said quarks and, by extension, the neutrons they make up into anti-quarks and anti-neutrons; creating a world shaking matter-antimatter annihilation reaction-" Mr. Nishijima said crossing his arms over his chest. He looked to Dr. Schmidt. "Are you certain this is safe?"
"Fairly, far more likely the gate will simply not even respond." Dr. Schmidt said waving his hand.
"What do we have to do?" Taichi said as he closed his eyes and tried not to imagine what a 'matter-antimatter annihilation reaction' looked like, largely because he didn't know what half of those things were and less largely because he knew those word combinations were bad; he'd seen Star Trek; there were lots of klaxons, red lights and steam when those words were spoken together.
"Right, well, this won't be that alien, I think." Koushiro said quietly. "Basically when the oscillation reaches its maximum we point our D-3s at the screen and activate the digi-port. The digi-port program is just a dummy program used to translate the D-3 signals through the amplifier which will then pump them out through the transmitter activating the gate, hopefully…"
"So just like when we used to just go back and forth." Mimi said smiling as she hugged her pink duffle bag close to her.
"Well, except we won't jump into the digi-port…" Koushiro said. He looked up. "If it works, the gate will open, it'll be more like when we first went to the Digital World…"
"We'll get sucked into the sky?" Sora asked.
"Yeah…" Koushiro said almost apologetically.
"Fun-" Jyou sighed. He turned to Shin. "Shin, go get that helmet in the van!"
"Talking of the maximum…" Yamato said as he looked at his watch. "Shouldn't we be…you know…getting into position?"
"Hmm?" Koushiro said, looked at his cell phone. "Oh, my yes…everyone quickly quickly…"
The eleven kids barreled together closely and looked at the computer screen. They watched as the clock in the bottom corner clipped over from 12:50 to 12:51. Koushiro held up his arm.
"I hope everyone went to the bathroom-" Takeru joked quietly but no one responded.
Hikari held her breath as the final two flashed into existence. Koushiro dropped his arm. The eleven kids lifted their D-3s.
"Digi-port OPEN!" the kids shouted in unison.
Dr. Schmidt and Mr. Nishijima backed away as the computer screen flared to life. There was a lot of buzzing and clicking. The kids looked up at the sky. There was a cold breeze. Clouds piled in from the horizon, twisting and swirling. There were flashes of lightning that glowed within the clouds.
"Is it working?" Iori shouted.
"Something's not right!" shouted Koushiro. "It's trying to open, but it's not enough…"
"Come on!" Shouted Yamato as he strained his arm forward. "OPEN!"
"Please!" Hikari shouted as she stepped forward out of the group. "I know you can hear us, Daisuke! Open the gate!"
"I can try to pump up the amplifier!" Dr. Schmidt offered over the wind.
"Not without shutting down the entire system!" Koushiro shook his head. "Come on….we're nearly there…we need just a little…."
The car brakes screeched. The kids looked up to see a small car skid to a stop in the drive of the campground. They squinted their eyes as they watched Ms. Himekawa push herself out of the car. The woman ran towards them. Mr. Nishijima ran towards her but she ran past him straight to the kids.
She was holding something in cupped in her hands. The lightning flashed. The thunder rumbled distantly. The wind tossed her auburn hair across her face. She brought her hands up to her face and whispered something that no one heard into her hands and then lifted her hand up. A small key chain fell from her palm. The kids only saw a little thing, tiny, compared to the D-3s even compared to the older kids' digivices.
"OPEN THE GATE!" Ms. Himekawa shouted as she pointed the small machine towards the sky.
Light erupted down from the sky. The D-3s burned in the children's hands. Ms. Himekawa grunted loudly as the small device in her hand exploded in a burst of fire. The children were enveloped in the light as it dropped down upon them and they were slowly lifted, rising towards a world revealed within the light.
888
Miyako grunted loudly, rubbing her head, feeling the gritty sand rubbing against her skin as the particles fell out of her hair. She stood up. She was still wearing the clothes she was wearing in the Human World. She looked over and saw Iori, he was standing with Takeru and the other boys. Kari was with Sora and Mimi and Miyako wandered over towards them.
"Did it work?" Miyako asked, and then was half glad that Daisuke was gone, because it was obvious that it had, and he'd have had a field day with that. Surrounding them were herds of glass telephone booths.
"Yes-" Sora said, as she hiked her backpack onto her back.
"So…now what?" Iori asked politely though his eyes suggested that he'd assumed this would be where all this would fall apart.
"Well…" Taichi said as he walked out from the group. "I guess…we go…"
Taichi sort of turned back and forth and looked up and down the beach. Then there was a light giggling in the distance. The children turned and in the distance near a large beach towel that had seemingly been spread out by an rocky outcropping they saw them, round, pudgy balls of life. All of them slightly different; one just little dumplings with tassel-like ears, another a dumpling with a horn, one with fringed ears, another a four-legged dumpling with insanely large teeth, a cat-like dumpling, a dumpling that had a leaf on its head, one that looked like a flower, another that looked like a Pacman ghost, one that was imbedded in a pine cone, one that looked like a hovering seal, one that looked like a blue, doughy dragon…. Miyako started to well up. She could feel the tears streaking down her cheeks as she saw the pink one that looked like a little dumpling bird, with a feather held erect on its head. She ran towards Poromon, just as the others had towards the little digimon. All of them. And the little digimon for all the excitement had to seeing them, responded with a loud terrified scream and immediately, reflexively took several bounding bounces backwards and yelped spewing painless bubbles towards the children.
"Who….who are you?" the doughy, blue dragon asked.
"Indeed, who are you?" A deeper voice asked from behind the children. Miyako turned and gasped. It was a reddish skinned digimon, human shaped but with its horns shaved down, and huge orange-red hair that trailed down its back. It was frowning and its fangs were showing. One of its fists was bathed in flame. It growled once again. "What do you want with the babies? If it's ill, prepare to fight!"
888
The man watched as the egg pulsed. It had grown triple its size as the golden nuggets of data were fed into it. Even now, the shell was cracking under its own structural weakness. He watched as the egg exploded open. The tube containing the egg ruptured, glass and fluid flushed past him as the new born digimon unfurled its wings. It opened two impossibly blue eyes. Its ivory-white feet touched down gently onto the wet floor of the room they were in. The digimon tilted its head left and then right, its blonde hair wetly flopping in concert.
"You have awoken-" The man said looking at the digimon with the closest thing, the man who was not could call as pride.
"Who are you?" The digimon asked naively. Its boyish face looking at the man with curiosity. "Who am I?"
"I am your greatest friend-" The man said quietly as he walked forward. The man reached out, his hand extending from the arms of his black robe. The digimon retreated instinctively as the man reached towards him. The man smiled an almost kind smile. "And you will be my greatest friend… I have given you life, I have resurrected you from oblivion."
"Why?" The digimon asked quietly looking down at its lily-white hands and arms, sliding its thin, nimble fingers over the white garment covering its torso.
"To gain your help-" the man said quietly. "So that we may end the suffering all things, in all ways, forever and ever…" The man reached forward. The digimon leaned back, trying to gauge the man's intention. "Trust me, I have done so much to bring you back from the deepest darkness. I am your only friend, only I have given you life…do you trust me, child?"
The wings that sprouted from the digimon's head folded slightly and then the digimon smiled brightly and the wings of its head as well as the twelve other wings flared open and it leapt into the man's arms hugging him.
"I trust you! Thank you! To live, to be this resplendent!" the digimon said cheerfully. "Only a true friend would give another this great gift!"
The man smiled as he leaned back and gently caressed the digimon's head before grasping it and staring straight into the digimon's azure eyes.
"Then know the truth, and be one with your only ally!" the man said.
Gennai fell backwards grunting as he skid on the floor. He winced in the gloom of the room he was in. He instantly knew he wasn't alone. He looked up. In the gloom the light only coming from some far off lighting. He saw that which he knew was the worst thing he could ever see. The shadow was famous, the twelve wings, the thin boyish frame and then the eyes opened with the bluest glint.
Gennai blinked his eyes and rubbed them and as his eyes came into focus his heart sank a little more. What he thought was the worst was only the beginning. The wings were black, the toga that hung on the childish frame was black, as was the hair. Even the bracelets that hung on the figure's wrists and ankles were black with gold etchings on them.
"Oh…buggery-" Was the only response Gennai could find that fit the situation.
888
AN: So the adventure advances….