Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.
Digital Manifest
KeepersChapter 11: Of Other Things.
Chris lay on the floor of Takato's room, a blanket borrowed from the boy's parents wrapped around him as he stared up at the ceiling, listening to the rhythmic breathing of the two Tamers that lay in the room with him. He thought over the things that had transpired over the course of the day and of last night, starting with his and Ryan's re-emergence into the real world from the digital, the meeting with the Tamers, the battles against the Apemon, BlackKnightmon and NightmareBlitzmon, Richoemon's dark digivolution and Ryan's subsequent hospitalization. On and on, from Hypnos to the battle with Snimon. And the information that Ryo had shared with him and Takato had certainly been… enlightening… for lack of a better word. Especially in regards to the Raven character that Ryo had asked him about ealier. According to the Legendary Tamer he had had a private conversation with Ryan before telling the others that he was awake, and it turned out that Ryan did know the person, or rather, the girl. When Chris had asked for a description he too found that he knew her; dark hair, grayish-blue eyes, and wearing dark clothing. If what Ryan thought was right then the girl had to be one by the name of Jane Dawn.
From what Chris knew from school gossip (little of it he paid attention to anyway) the girl was something of a loner. Not that she was cold or antisocial; she just preferred to keep to herself. She didn't bother anyone and in return no one bothered her. Since she was a newcomer to the school that Ryan and Chris attended (she had been there for about a year) people liked to talk about her. Jane, nicknamed Raven because of the bird drawings that she doodles during class (though they could hardly be called doodles by any stretch of the imagination), was something of a mystery, and everyone loved a mystery. A lot of the stories were most likely made up, and a lot of them focused on her life at home. No one ever saw her family, at least, no one who went by her house on the school bus. The only thing that everyone could agree on was that she liked birds. Especially Ravens.
Why didn't I make a connection earlier? Wondered Chris as he frowned. Probably because I was in the digital world for too long. Spent so much time running and fighting the environment and digimon that I guess that being asked about someone named Raven and having it be a human was the last thing that I expected.
Chris was intrigued by the idea of Jane being in the same boat as he and Ryan. Mostly because he felt that she might have a clearer understanding of why they were chosen for… whatever it was that they were chosen for (which, at present, seemed to consist of getting attacked regularly by crazy digimon).
I wonder what she's doing right now…
After a few minutes, nothing came to mind, so Chris's thoughts turned to another subject. The Aesir.
Ryo had been interested in hearing Chris's take on what he had called the Aesir. Having heard about it from Jane after he had apparently saved her (though from what or why, Ryo was rather vague about) the Legendary Tamer wanted to know more. While Ryan knew nothing about it, Chris had an inkling, though to be fair, what he knew about the Aesir was based more on some books that he had read prior to his jaunt to the digital world.
Chris had told the Tamers about how he liked history. This is true, but it's not where his true passion lay. He did like reading stories about the past, especially the stories told by cultures long gone. Ancient mythology, to be more specific, was what he liked. History was more like a hobby, or just an eventual consequence of his amour for the subject.
The Aesir, as Chris understood it, was a representative name meaning the pantheon of the Nordic gods. Odin, Thor, Loki, Tir, etc… etc… all of which Ryo found interesting, seeing as how digimon themselves were also based off of human dreams, myths, and legends. However, when Ryo had pressed Chris for more details, he wasn't able to provide any. Sadly, his mythology knowledge extended only to the limited texts found in basic encyclopedic references and definitions without going very far into any details. The only time that Chris had gotten any decent amount of information had been when he had done a report on the Vikings for school. Beyond that, his public, private, and educational life didn't allow for much time to use Internet resources unless it was for a school project (of which his school and family was quite strict about). His parents had gotten him some books on his favored subject for his birthday, but that had been a couple days prior to his trip to the digital world. Not really a whole lot of time to do any light reading.
Happy birthday, neh?
Chris sighed and turned on his side, pulling out his digivice as he did so to take a look at it. It wasn't any different from when he had first gotten it; it was still the same T shape with red trim around the screen. A gadget from the digital world that he used to help Caramon digivolve.
Right?
Except… Janyu Wong had said that it shared similar data to digimon. Data codes that made them walk and talk, and throw fireballs at you. Did that make the digivice alive?
Chris stared at the digivices screen as though it could give him an answer.
The screen winked to life, stayed lit for a few seconds, and then turned itself off.
Oh, ha, ha, thought Chris, feeling a little spooked. Setting the digivice on the floor, Chris rolled over and, eventually, fell into a fit, but troubled sleep.
Yamaki lowered the report onto his desk before looking up at Janyu.
"Interesting," said Yamaki slowly.
"You do realize what this means, don't you?"
Yamaki settled back in his chair and raised an eyebrow. He had an idea all right, but he wanted Janyu to say it, if only to confirm his suspicions.
"Enlighten me."
Janyu sighed. "Ryan has part of the viral algorithm in him. It must have happened after he merged with his partner."
"Any idea as to how or why that could have happened?"
"I can only base this on the theory that Ryan and Chris's digivices share the same survival mechanisms as the digimon. From what I can guess at, the digivice knew that it had been invaded by foreign data, and as such the link between the partners was being corrupted. As the infection progressed, the link between all three of them, digivice, digimon, and human, began to show physical symptoms that something was wrong, so it did the one thing that it was capable of doing to purge the virus from its systems."
"By merging them together?"
Janyu nodded. "I believe that Ryan's purpose in the biomerge was to be used as substitute data for what was already corrupted, as well as to use his memories of his partner's true Ultimate form to purify his partner and then later to filter out and fragment the virus."
"I see. Is Ryan in any danger from having that data in his body?"
"It doesn't look like it at present. The test that I put him through today seemed to indicate that the fragmentation process is continuing, so the data may dissipate given enough time and leave him none the worse for wear. Can't imagine what might happen though if he went to the digital world with it still in him."
Yamaki pondered this development for a moment. "Continue to keep him under observation, and put him through whatever tests you feel are necessary to make sure that that data is just dissipating. In the meantime I'm going to get some people to track down those kids families."
"That could take some time."
"Yes, I know. But that's time we can also use to identify their assailants and their reasons for pursuing them, as well as to find ways to combat them. Perhaps Ryan and Chris can be of some help on that end."
"I don't know," said Janyu, unsure. "From what I've been told, they didn't seem to know any more about this mess than we do. I'm not sure just how much help they can be for us, but I am curious about their digivices. The algorithm is… unusual."
"Are you any closer to breaking their code?"
"Sadly, no. Some of the data shares qualities with Henry's and his friend's digivices, but then there are other aspects that are different. And then there are some that I can't make heads or tails of. At least not yet anyways. I might know more tomorrow after I've had a decent nights sleep."
Yamaki nodded. "I think we could all do with some rest."
The digital world…
The Earth hung in the night sky as data streams swept across the landscape, casting a light that illuminated everything that lay below it in a soft, but cool glow that was akin to the light of a moon. Beneath the glimmer of silver and blue strode two figures, one tall and humanoid while the other was short and bird shaped. The taller of the two was a girl around the age of twelve with long, dark hair tied back into an arching ponytail, and gray-bluish eyes that held a focus and maturity in them that made her older than she really was. She wore a plain white t-shirt topped by a black fleece jacket that she had left unzipped and, to complete her wardrobe, she wore a pair of dark colored jeans. Next to her walked the bird like creature whose colors complimented the girl's. Black feathers with blue and white markings decorated her body, focusing primarily on the ends of the wings as though they were blades. Despite the obvious difference in height between the two, their movements were that of long companionship.
The girl brought out a T shaped device with black trim, and it displayed a holographic image of the surrounding landscape. A white line was clearly marked on the map.
"We're almost there Munnimon," said the girl to the bird. "We should still be on their trail."
The bird that had been referred to as Munnimon simply nodded, and the two continued on their way.
A/N: Sorry for the short chapter. This was more to change gears after a month of writing my other fic (Unbroken Hearts), as well as to set the stage for the next arc of the Digital Manifest story line, which will feature some dealings with Leomon, Jane and Munnimon, Ryan, Chris and their partners, as well as some more on the nature of their digivices and the enemy that's pursuing them. That's all for now. Later.
-Crazyeight
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