KEEPERS
Chapter: 8 "The Sea..."
Ryan looked out the window, watching as the sun began to finish the arc it traced through the sky. Some time had passed since Jeri and Leomon had paid him a visit, and it left him with much to think about. Not that it did him much good; he just didn't have enough information to really make even a halfway decent conjecture about anything.
I've never even heard of a digimon named Ahuramon. This was the fifth time that the thought had run its way through his mind. He looked back on his travels through the digital world, and nowhere could he recall any digimon he had met mentioning anything about Ahuramon's Shadow, or even alluded to anything remotely similar. All he had to go on were the two encounters with the Apemon and the Mammothmon.
He was sure however, that Leomon had said before that he had no idea what the deal was with Mammothmon.
Maybe he just didn't put two and two together until later on. I mean, he was worried about me when I was out of it. Probably too worried to think about what had happened.
But if so, why lie about it?
The thought of Leomon lying like that disturbed him. After all this time, fighting side by side there was now a breach in the trust between them.
Maybe there was a why he lied; something that he didn't want to tell Jeri. Hang on. Did that even make sense? Why would he not want Jeri to know if he told me…that…what…Aaaauuugghh! Now I've lost myself!
Ryan groaned and turned away from the window and stared at the television set. He had turned it back on after Jeri and Leomon had left, but he hadn't been interested enough to pay any attention to it. He groaned again and changed channels. The one that he had been watching had no subtitles for him to read. Not that it mattered if they did or not. In the end his mind drifted to Richoemon and worry filled his heart. Turning his head back to the window he watched as the sun sunk behind the building across the street. The sky was just starting to turn a lovely golden color. With thoughts of his partner dancing through his head, Ryan made a decision.
Throwing back the covers Ryan set his feet on the ground once more. His legs still trembled slightly, but the quakes that he had been experiencing during Chris's visit had settled down to mild aftershocks. Taking a deep breath he stood up and waited.
Okay, he could stand without the world swimming, and he didn't collapse right away either so that was good news. He still felt weak, but he was sure that he could leave the hospital on his own power. Walking slowly over to the chair that held his clothes, he pulled off the cheap hospital drape and started to get dressed. As he lifted his shirt off the chair, something small and hard hit the ground. Bending over he picked it up. It was a small green stone, chipped and worn in some places, and had a piece of black string tied around it to make a necklace. It was his good luck charm. He had found it while he had been in the digital world, shortly before he met Richoemon. In fact, Richoemon was the only reason that he had kept the thing at all, even though his partner had been confused as to the reasons why. Not that the thing had made much of a difference since that day; the way his luck had been running he probably could've done better by breaking a mirror or walking underneath a ladder.
Ryan scowled. I probably should trade it in or something. In the end however Ryan simply slipped it over his neck. Even though he considered luck a childish belief (despite being a child himself), he still preferred the comforting idea of having something that represented good luck to none at all, much like the crucifix that his father wore every day.
After pulling on his T-shirt, Ryan grabbed his jacket and headed for the door, shrugging on the last article of clothing as he did so. As his hand touched the door handle a gust of wind stopped him in his tracks. A second later a cool, measured voice spoke.
"Where do you think you're going?" It asked.
Turning like a schoolboy caught in the act of pulling a prank Ryan forced a smile.
"R-Renamon! Heh! Heh! Um…w…what're you doing here?" Ryan scratched the back of his head nervously, wondering just how she had gotten in without him noticing. The window? Well, it was open just a crack…
"Watching you. Now, again, where were you going?"
"I was…uh…just going to go to the bathroom…"
Renamon's eyes looked over to the door close by to where Ryan's bed lay.
"You're going in the wrong direction," she said dryly.
Ryan stiffened and looked away guiltily. "Yeah, I knew that." Renamon looked at him.
"You were going to see Richoemon weren't you?" Ryan looked up at the vulpine in shock. Either she was more observant than he thought or…well, it was probably a combination of both but still he thought that it was more likely that…
"Chris asked you to make sure that I didn't try and pull a disappearing act, didn't he?"
Renamon looked back unflinchingly. "Perhaps," she replied calmly. Ryan's shoulders sagged.
"All right, I admit, I do want to see Richoemon, and I'm not too keen on just laying around in a hospital waiting for news about him. I want to see what's wrong with him with my own two eyes." Ryan emphasized this by pointing two fingers at his eyes. "Is that so wrong?"
"No," said Renamon. "No, it's not. But you do need to rest."
"I'm feeling much better, Renamon. I can walk without falling over now."
"I promised your friend Chris…"
"What Chris doesn't know won't hurt him."
"You almost sound like Calumon."
Ryan blinked. "Who?"
"Never mind. As much as I can sympathize with your concern for your friend and partner, your health and safety must come first…"
"Why?" Asked Ryan.
Renamon was taken aback by this question. "Why what?"
"Why must it be the human that comes first? Where is it written in the instruction manuel that I can't step up to the plate for my friend? Is it because we make you guys' digivolve? Or is it because we can't cope with the same kind of punishment that you digimon dish out on a regular basis?"
Renamon was silent.
"Look Renamon," Ryan continued. "I'm sorry. I know that you want to uphold your end of things, but I need to see Richoemon. He's done so much for me and I've done so little in return. I thought you of all digimon would understand that partnerships of this nature is a two-way street."
"I do understand," said Renamon.
"So will you please let me go?"
"No."
"Oh, come on Renamon…"
"You didn't let me finish," said Renamon. "I will not let you go on your own. However strong you may think you are now, you still went through an ordeal. I don't know what kind of bond you have with your partner but it's plain that it has taken its toll on you today. I will take you to Hypnos so that you may see your friend, and afterwards, once your curiosity has been satisfied, I will return you here. Is that fair enough?"
Ryan nodded, surprised at Renamon and a bit touched as well. But he still had to know one thing.
"Renamon?"
"Yes?"
"What happens when a nurse comes in and finds that I'm gone?"
A small smile graced Renamon's features.
"We'll just have to cross that bridge when we get there, won't we?"
"…Amazing. Simply amazing."
Chris snapped to attention at the sound of Janyu's voice. He had been thinking about the brief conversation that he had with Ryo when he got back to Hypnos. Some very strange questions he had asked when he arrived. Questions regarding some person named Raven and something called the Aesir. He wasn't too sure about Raven but the Aesir thing sure sounded familiar, but for some reason he hadn't been able to pin it down. Oh well, it didn't matter at the moment, especially since Yamaki had paired Chris up with Janyu, one of the few people that he trusted with this sort of thing that he could immediately reach. Apparently he had wanted to get a hold of some guy named Shibumi, but at the moment was unable to reach him.
"What's amazing?" Chris asked.
"The data storage capacity in your digivice is quite impressive. There is however, something strange about the data code. Don't know what it is yet, but I will given enough time."
"I don't see how that's different from anything else in the digital world. Everything there was strange to me."
"Based on what my son has told me I can agree with you. It's just that I expected your digivice to be similar to the D-Arcs that my son and his friends use."
Chris looked at Janyu questioningly. "Why are they called D-Arcs?"
"That's what my friend Shibumi called them when Henry and Takato met him in the digital world. It's partly because of their ability to store data as in Noah's Ark which he had used as an example, but also because of their shape, which your digivice does resemble."
"I always thought that it resembled a Mjolner symbol."
Janyu arched an eyebrow. "A Mjolner?"
Chris nodded. "Yeah. It's an ancient Norse symbol for Thor, though more specifically it detonates his hammer which is also called Mjolner. I came across an image of one when I was doing a report on the Vikings back in school."
"Hmmm. Interesting."
"I'll say. It's kind of what hooked me on ancient mythology in the first place…" Chris stopped, his mouth hung open for a second before closing with a click. Janyu looked at the boy.
"Is everything all right?"
"A thought just occurred to me. Where's Ryo right now?"
"I'm not sure, but if you want I can check."
"Could you please?"
About a minute later, Janyu laid the phone back on its hook. "Ryo's currently staying at Takato's home until his father can pick him up. Do you want to contact him?"
"If it's not too much trouble," said Chris as he picked Caramon up from off of Janyu's computer. Mr. Wong nodded and after a brief consultation with his son Henry for his friend's number soon had the goggle-wearing Tamer on the phone, which he promptly handed over to Chris.
"Takato? This is Chris."
Silence over the phone.
"From the park last night."
"Hey Chris," Takato finally said. "No, I didn't forget about you, I thought that I heard my mom calling me for a second. What's up?"
"Is Ryo still there? He asked me some questions earlier and I think that I can give an answer for one of them."
"Yeah, Ryo's still here, but he's currently keeping an eye on his partner Cyberdramon. Making sure that he doesn't break anything or something like that. Um…hang on for a second."
There was a brief pause.
"Chris?" Asked Takato from his end of the line.
"Yeah?"
"Ryo's dad is going to be a bit late picking him up, and Ryo really doesn't want to leave his partner out of his sight. Seeing as how you'll probably be needing a place to stay tonight why don't you just come down here and you can talk to Ryo here in person? My mom says that it's okay."
Chris blinked. What is it with these people and giving Ryan and me a place to stay? Next they'll be enrolling us in the same school that they go to. That is, if school's still even on at the moment.
"You still there, Chris?"
The blonde haired boy snapped out of his daze. "Yeah, I'm still here. Um… yeah, that'd be great! Thanks!"
Takato chuckled lightly over the phone. "Great. How soon can you be here?"
"Well…" Chris looked over at Janyu, who was totally absorbed in his own world at the moment. "If no one has any objections here, I suppose I could be there pretty soon. Can't give you an exact time though…"
"That's all right. I'll get things ready on this end, you just bring yourself and Caramon."
"Uh, huh. Okay. Later then." After one last good-bye from Takato, Chris hung up the phone and turned to Janyu.
"Well," he told the adult. "I have a place to stay tonight, and apparently an appointment too. Do you think that Yamaki could let me go now? I don't know what else there is that I could possibly do here."
"There are still some things that I'd like to go over with you about your digivice."
"Like what?"
"Like, how do you activate them? The Tamers have a button and a card reader on their D-Arcs, while yours don't have anything on them except the screen and the coloring."
Chris shrugged. "Don't look at me. All I know is that they work when we needed them to work, and that's been enough for me. Though when Ryan and I were in the digital world, we met a Centarumon who told us that we weren't using them to their full potential or something like that, but he didn't tell us what that potential was."
Being deleted had a lot to do with that, thought Chris sadly.
"Anything else?" Chris asked as he stretched a bit. "No offence, but I wouldn't mind getting out into the fresh air."
Janyu nodded. "Well, both you and your friend have been through quite the ordeal. Tell you what, I can arrange for some transportation to get you to Takato's home since you're unfamiliar with the city. Save you some time."
Chris's eyes brightened. "That'd be great! That is, if it's no trouble of course."
Janyu chuckled. "No trouble at all. We have an agent here who has practically become the Tamer's very own chauffeur. He's gotten quite attached to them it seems. I'm sure that he'll be more than happy to give you a lift."
Sounds like one big happy family, thought Chris. Wonder how mine's doing? Chris took a look at his digivice that was still hooked up to the computer (that was something that bugged him. Where did that outlet come from? He had plenty of time looking the thing over in the digital world and he never once saw it or even found anything that hid it. Apparently it was another of the digivice's mysteries).
"You still need that?" Chris asked, pointing to his digivice.
Janyu looked at it. "No," he said. "I suppose not. I have all the data that I need from it, though if I didn't know any better I'd say that it's operating on a different line of code than what I'm used to. I was hoping that I could hold on to it a little bit longer and explore its functions a bit but if you need it…"
"I don't know," said Chris. "I probably won't, but I'd rather not be caught unprepared." Besides, I've carried it around for so long now that I feel almost naked without it. Heck, I wouldn't even feel the same if Caramon wasn't with me either.
Janyu nodded and unplugged Chris's digivice before handing it over to him. After making a phone call to give the Tamer's Chauffeur a 'heads up' Janyu turned back to the computer screen. Though he had wanted to delve further into the functions of the strange digivice, Yamaki had told him to focus on the information gathered on the digimon that it had scanned. It would take some time to sift through the data to find what he was looking for (despite the strangeness of the overall code, there were still some information that was readily familiar to him based on studies he had conducted on his son's D-Arc). Under other circumstances, Janyu would have seen it as a waste seeing as how they knew so very little of its other capabilities, but priorities came first. If these strange digimon that the others described represented a new wave of enemies attempting to breach into the physical world than they should know as much about them as possible.
After some time, Janyu found the file of the Apemon that had been scanned from this morning, and he began to go over its data patterns.
Ryan hopped out of Renamon's arms and steadied himself to make sure that there wouldn't be any last minute surprises that would give the kitsune a reason to change her mind for bringing him here (like throwing up for example). He had been a little disoriented from Renamons unique form of travel.
"You do this sort of thing every day?"
"Of course," Renamon said, sounding as though she were a teacher speaking to a slow student.
Ryan sighed. "Well, whatever floats your boat I guess." Pulling out his digivice Ryan activated the scanner program and quickly found his partner's signal. Or at least what he thought was his partner's signal. He still couldn't really tell what any of the signals meant except that one was white and the other was blue, but seeing as how there was only one blue dot in a sea of white inside of Hypnos it was a fair assessment that it could be Richoemon. Looking over his shoulder at the halo screen, Renamon saw the location and picked up Ryan before she phased out of existence.
"Oh, man. Not again…" was all Ryan said before he vanished.
All quiet so far, thought Tally as she monitored the connections of the network. At present, no 'Wild One' signals were making an attempt to breach the barrier between the digital and material worlds.
There was however, a minor energy spike in the net detected.
They had been making good time so far, or at least they were in Chris's point of view. Having never lived in a city quite the size of Shinjuku he couldn't make an accurate assessment as to what constituted as good time in these streets. For all he knew this could have been the equivalent of the New York Rush Hour that he had heard so much about…
Chris's digivice suddenly glowed and sounded an alarm. The blonde haired boy reached for it but stopped as he saw that four cars ahead of them, what had to be the immediate cause of its reaction, a small explosion erupted and a familiar fog like barrier materialized out of thin air. As Chris, Caramon, and the agent watched, a shadowy figure appeared within the mists and erupted from it as it took to the air, too quick for any of them to get a good look at it. Chaos seemed to be the buzzword for the world outside the Agents car, and people began to run every which way, and even some vehicles rear-ended each other. Caramon looked at his human friend.
"Chris? I take it that this is where we're supposed to do a little damage control?"
Although he didn't think of himself by any means as a Tamer, or even capable of being one, he decided that now was as good a time as any to 'jump into things' so to speak. There was a brief hesitation however, during which he thought that it would be best to chill out and wait for the cavalry to arrive before heading out there, but the moment passed swiftly.
"Couldn't have put it better myself," said Chris as he opened the door and leapt out with his partner in tow. The agent shouted something but Chris ignored him. Not that he would have heard him anyway over the sound of the car alarms and screams.
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