--o--o--o--

Chapter 16

Fallout

--o--o--o--

Rika immediately insisted that Istaqamon fill her in on everything that had happened to him since they had parted.

"First, just tell me how Susie managed to end up here!" he asked her.

"Who's the tamer and who's the digimon here?" she said pointedly.

Istaqamon threw up his hands and sighed dramatically. "Fine! If you're going to pull the tamer card on me-- but let's start walking, okay? I'd like to get you guys somewhere safer than this place. It's going to be night soon and it'll take us a couple of days to walk to the Southern Portal, so we might as well cover as much ground as possible."

The group spent a few moments arraigning themselves. Kayamon went to each injured digimon and gave them a burst of healing energy while Istaqamon picked up Susie, Lopmon and Calumon, who was still sleeping, and settled them in his arms. Kazu and Kenta rode on Guardromon's shoulders and lingered at the rear of the group, Kazu wearing a grim expression. Rika rode on Kyuubimon's back with Jeri sitting behind her.

"Okay," Istaqamon said when they began to make their way south, "I guess I'd better explain about Kayamon first. She hatched a few days ago-- sort of--"

"If Rika isn't going to punch me for asking," Terriermon interjected, "I'd like to know how you-- I mean she-- ah, you know what I mean! I didn't think digimon could--"

"Terriermon!" Henry said in a shocked voice.

Istaqamon made a gesture with his head to indicate Henry's little sister who was listening eagerly, though without a clue as to what they were talking about. "Later, pal," he said and winked. "I'll give you all the gruesome details."

"You won't. Not if you know what's good for you." Kyuubimon put in.

Istaqamon cleared his throat. "In general terms, of course." He said to Terriermon. "Moving on--" And he told them all the story of how he tracked down Kunomon and how his daughter had barely survived her hatching.

"Mega or not, I'd like to get my hands on that miserable Kunomon or Arisimon or whatever she's called now!" Rika growled. "How did this new Sovereign get Calumon away from her, anyway?"

"Ah--" Istaqamon said, as he waved Kayamon to silence, "that's the next thing I need to explain. You see-- um, look-- I know you're not going to like this but try not to over-react, okay?"

Kyuubimon stopped walking and both she and Rika turned to look hard at him. "What did you do now?" Rika asked, frowning.

He told them.

"Kunomon? Kunomon is the new Sovereign?" Rika yelled at him. "And you helped her to take over? Are you completely INSANE?"

"Funny--" he mumbled, "--she asked me the same thing."

Kyuubimon didn't say anything but was giving him a cold, hard stare. The rest of the group, unfamiliar with the renamon who had been Chatsuramon's spy, just waited in uncertain silence.

"Look, it's not as bad as it sounds--" Istaqamon began.

"This is the same Kunomon who you once told me was 'just like Renamon except she's a ruthless psychopath'?"

Istaqamon nodded, "and a bit shorter," he added.

"You stupid, brainless coyote!" Rika started in again, "How could you--"

There was a sudden blur of movement and Kayamon was facing Rika, her hackles raised in sharp spikes and her emerald eyes blazing. All traces of lightness and playfulness were gone from her voice and her attitude. "Don't you dare talk to my father like that," she growled, wisps of green energy beginning to form around her bared fangs.

Kyuubimon instantly raised her head and snarled at her daughter, the ghost fire of her paws and tails flaring brilliantly.

The two beast digimon were so intent on their sudden confrontation that Istaqamon's fiery lance slamming into the ground between them came as a complete surprise to both. "NO!" he bellowed, "Stop this right now! Kayamon, it's all right-- humans get some funny ideas into their heads sometimes and we have to make allowances. You could help me a lot right now if you would go ahead and scout out an easy route off this plain. Remember, humans can't easily cross any gaps wider than this:" he stretched out his thumb and forefinger to show her.

Kayamon hesitated, looking between her father and mother and then nodded. As she walked away she gave one last look over her shoulder and said quietly, "I don't think I like humans much."

"Rika, please," Takato said as he and Guilmon walked over to her, "Let's just hear the rest of the story before we try and kill each other, okay?"

"Fine." Rika snapped. "Kyuubimon, let's go!"

They began walking again. Nobody noticed that Jeri was silently weeping.

--o--o--o--

Yasuramon flew high above her realm, enjoying her new strength and freedom. Such a short time ago she had been a nearly helpless slave and now she ruled a quarter of all the Digital World. As she flew, she let all her long-cherished fantasies of revenge slip out of her mind. She had achieved the most important and seemingly impossible one-- and the others-- the others were unimportant now-- beneath her.

She would seek out the other Sovereigns. They surely had felt the change-- so much energy had been unleashed-- and would be curious at the very least. She would reassure them-- show them that she was a strong and worthy ruler.

She felt a bit of curiosity as she turned in a broad, sweeping arc through the sky and headed toward Azulongmon's realm. The battle of the Megas had ended a while ago and she wondered who the victor had been and if Istaqamon had taken a part in it. He was just foolish enough to poke his snout into a battle far above his capabilities and that thought caused her a brief moment of concern but she also knew how lucky he was and with the extra armor she had given him, he would, no doubt, come out of it well enough.

He would not return to her-- she resigned herself to that. He was too tied to the human world. Yasuramon opened her senses and felt the ripple and flow of the six primary levels and the newer worlds beyond. Such a vast and wonderful realm was hers to command and it seemed a shame, somehow, that she had no one to share it with.

--o--o--o--

"Why didn't you keep that gem?" Kyuubimon asked Istaqamon when he had finished giving them all the details of the Digital Dimension's first coup d'etat. "You could have made yourself Sovereign."

"You're kidding, right?" he laughed. "Me, in charge of this place? Despite the fun I had playing Captain of the Devas, I'm just not the sort to fit into a rigid structure, even if I'm at the top. The place would be in utter chaos inside of a month. Besides--" he smiled at Kyuubimon and winked, "--I want to go home with you, gorgeous."

"So, you think Yasuramon will keep her word?" Takato quickly asked to cover his embarrassment.

"I'm pretty sure she will," Istaqamon nodded. "I think she wants security more than anything else, and invading Earth would be a big risk."

"And if you're wrong?" asked Rika.

He shrugged. "We're no worse off than before-- no, actually, we're in a better position. We have Calumon back and you've got a partner who knows from first-hand experience exactly how to go about killing a Sovereign." He looked down at her, "That's assuming you still want a 'stupid, brainless coyote' as a partner."

"Hmph," Rika snorted, "Sorry about that."

"No problem."

"It might be for Kayamon," Rika said thoughtfully, "What do you plan on doing with her? I can tell you right now, I'm not interested in a third partner."

"Somehow, I think planning in regards to Kayamon will be a dynamic situation."

"Is that a fancy way of saying you don't know?"

"Pretty much," he sighed. "Now it's your turn-- what happened to you guys after I left? You'd better just give it to me as it happened to avoid confusion."

They took turns filling him in, Henry and Takato telling their story first. Istaqamon questioned them closely about their meeting with Shibumi, particularly about the role of the digignomes in creating digimon. "There's so much we don't know about this place," he grumbled.

Rika took up the story of her group's accidental trip to the Gekomon's forest. She hurried over the part about Leomon delivering the final blow that defeated Orochimon and Istaqamon looked down at Jeri, who kept her face turned away from everyone. He understood the Champion's absence, if not the details. He stopped himself from asking the question that automatically sprang into his mind and let Rika continue.

Kazu chimed in when she got to the part about Guardromon and the sake. "Hey! It was full of those energy balls! They're what made Orochimon so hard to defeat. It was only logical that they would do some good for Guardromon!"

Istaqamon nodded. "Makes sense," he admitted, "and you had no reason to believe that a machine digimon could get drunk."

"I'm telling you-- huh?" Kazu suddenly realized that Istaqamon was agreeing with him. "Yeah-- right. I thought it all out."

"And it worked out just fine in the end! That's all that matters."

There were a couple of coughs and throat-clearings from others in the group but Henry had his hand firmly clasped over Terriermon's mouth and none of the rest spoke up, so Rika continued the story. Kayamon came and went a few times, correcting the group's course to avoid some of the larger chasms. She spoke only to her father and gave just the necessary details of her directions. She avoided looking at any of the others except for a few wistful glances at Kyuubimon.

"She said what?" Istaqamon asked when Rika got to the confrontation with Yinmon. "Oh, man! She was really trying to rattle you, I guess."

"Her lies weren't worth the breath she wasted on them," Kyuubimon said. "It was when she hit Rika that I--"

"She attacked Rika?" Istaqamon gasped, his face going dark with rage. "If I'd have known that, she'd be a drifting cloud of data now instead of a Sovereign!"

Rika grinned. "Well, it worked out in the end. Isn't that what matters?"

Istaqamon leaned down to her, his enormous armored head blocking out the light from the sky. Rika's smile didn't falter at all-- in fact, it grew a bit. "You," the giant digimon growled at her, "are a very nasty customer, Ms. Nonaka, flinging my own words back at me! I don't know why I like you so much."

Then Susie told the story of her trip to the Digital World and how she acquired her partner. It was a bit confused, as might be expected from such a young child. Istaqamon looked around at the others. "Am I understanding her right? This," he pointed to Lopmon, "used to be a deva? The one that guarded the South Gate?"

"Yep," Henry confirmed his sister's story. "Incredible, huh?"

"I'll say." Istaqamon tactfully refrained from mentioning that the attack on the Sovereign's palace had gone much smoother than it might have because of her absence from her post. He reflected again on the unbelievable strength of the tamer-partner bond.

When they got to the battle with Beelzemon nobody wanted to speak first.

"Look," said Istaqamon, guessing at what might be the problem, "we're all pretty tired, so why don't we wait until we find a good place to sleep for the night and then whoever shares guard duty with me can give me the story." He knew exactly who he was going to pick for that job.

They all agreed to that and soon came to the edge of the shattered plain. Istaqamon left his passengers with the group and went ahead with his daughter, saying he'd find them a good, sheltered place to spend the night.

"Are you alright?" he asked Kayamon as soon as they were a good long distance from the others.

She didn't say anything for a moment and then stopped with her head hanging down. "My mother-- she-- she wouldn't really have attacked me, would she?"

Istaqamon sat down beside her and hugged her with a massive arm across her back. "Oh, sweetie! Don't take it so hard. The deepest instinct that a partnered digimon has is to protect their tamer. It's not personal and it's not something a digimon can really control."

"But you're Rika's partner, too and you didn't get mad at me."

"Uh-- yeah-- well, I'm sort of a special case-- and I did stop it from going any further. Nobody got hurt."

Kayamon looked up at him, not understanding.

"I do feel the instinct to protect her but-- aw hell, who am I kidding? It's pretty complex and I really don't understand it all myself." He shook his head. "All I know is that your mother loves you. How could she not? The tamer thing is just the way we're wired. Hell, Renamon even kicked the crap out of me for bad-mouthing Rika one time-- we got over it, no problem."

"Really?"

"Honest and for true!"

Kayamon gave him a wan little smile. "I want to hear that story."

Istaqamon laughed as he stood up. "Okay! Let's find a campsite and I'll give you the details as we go!" He changed his voice to a hollow, ominous rumble. "Once upon a time, there was a beautiful and noble digimon named Renamon who was enslaved by an evil and rude little human brat who was called the Digimon Queen. One day, a devilishly handsome and clever coyote came along--"

Kayamon giggled. "Are you making fun of me?"

"No, I'm making fun of the situation." he grinned. "But just wait-- I will. Sooner or later, I make fun of everybody."

--o--o--o--

Rika refused to let Kyuubimon join Istaqamon on guard duty.

"What's the problem, Rika?" Istaqamon growled. "We have a lot of catching up to do."

"Maybe you should just concentrate on the 'guarding' part of guard duty and catch up some other time." His tamer snapped.

Istaqamon had no idea what was going on in Rika's head but it was clear she was both determined and angry and he knew she wouldn't budge without a full-blown fight-- something he was in no mood for at the moment. He looked around at the rest of the group and was reminded that, for all their courage and perseverance, the humans were only children, after all. Henry was the only one who didn't seem unsettled by the situation and so Istaqamon turned to him. "Henry, do you want to join me? I need somebody sensible to talk to. You can bring Terriermon, too."

Rika snorted angrily at that little jab but he ignored her.

"Hey!" said Terriermon. "Are you saying I'm not sensible?"

"Naw-- I'm implying it. There's a difference."

--o--o--o--

Kayamon circled the camp, keeping well out of sight of the group. She had wanted to talk with her mother but she always had her tamer close by her side and Kayamon still didn't want to approach the girl, let alone have a conversation with Kyuubimon while she listened in. Her father had told her that Rika was a good tamer and not at all bad (as humans went) but it was hard for her to forget the rude and untrue things Rika had shouted at him.

She decided she would give the girl another chance because her father wanted her to but privately thought it would be much easier just to delete her. Her mother would get over it, she was sure.

--o--o--o--

Henry's eyes went wide and he stammered to a stop. If Istaqamon had bellowed with rage, it would have been less frightening than his sudden ferocious silence.

"He did what?" the giant digimon hissed through his dagger-like teeth.

"Momentai, big guy!" Terriemon said. "She's fine. Leomon stopped him."

"She was helpless and Beelzemon was going to gut her like a fish-- after all the times she tolerated his crap and even stood up for him?" Istaqamon's voice was still quiet but it was trembling with rage. "She saved his worthless hide from Indramon and she was still trying to save him from himself when he went to destroy her like-- like she was nothing! Oh, Tesla, I wish I had been there to kill him myself! I would have made it last--"

"He's not dead," Terriermon said before Henry could stop him.

"Wait," Henry said desperately, "you need to know the rest of it. "He killed Leomon but Jeri didn't want--" But he could see Istaqamon wasn't listening.

The massive armor plates of chrome digizoid clanked together as Istaqamon stood and the black runes upon them began to blaze with an eerie violet light. Streams of that light flowed down his arm and swirled around the blazing lance in his hand. "Where is he now?"

Henry shrank away from the burning hatred in Iataqamon's voice and Terriermon stepped in front of his tamer, instinctively trying to protect him. "Please!" Henry begged. "There's no need for more killing! We can just go back home--"

"WHERE?" Istaqamon roared.

Terriermon pointed to the East. "He went in that direction. Toward the mountains," he said hurriedly.

Istaqamon didn't hesitate for an instant but turned and leaped down the cliff in one motion, racing away in the darkness.

"Damnit, Terriermon!" Henry cried.

"I'm sorry, Henry," the little digimon said, "I really, really am. I didn't know he'd take it like that."

"I just want to get out of this place!" Henry dropped to the ground and put his face in his hands. "I want to get Susie home again where she'll be safe and now--"

"We should go tell the others!" Terriermon suggested.

"Huh?" Henry thought about it for a moment. "No, it'll just upset them. Go tell Rika. Do it quietly and don't let anybody else know if you can help it. Maybe Kyuubimon can catch up to him and talk some sense into him."

Terriermon scampered back toward the fire, thinking that Istaqamon didn't much care what was sensible at the best of times. Kyuubimon was going to have her work cut out for her.