Chapter Eight: Let Sleeping Demons Lie
(Another Long One!)
AN: Quick note; the lobster reference from the last chapter was from Friends, Season 2. Just want to clear that up so Kauffman and Crane don't fly after me. Oh, and did anyone catch the Doctor Who reference in the last chapter? Brownie points for whoever did…
Snap! Hiss!
Glugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglug
"Aaahhh…"
Snap! Hiss!
Glugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglug
"Ohhhh…that's good."
Snap! Hiss!
Glugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglugglug
"Mmmmmmmmm…."
The Digidestined stared in blank face shock as Beelzemon went through half a six pack of beer in less than twenty seconds, pausing only to cram another pastry in his mouth before washing it down with another bottle of alcohol.
"How many has he had by now?" Matt asked, leaning over the coffee table and whispering to Tai.
"I lost count a little while ago…he should be dead by now; ten twelve packs of beer in sixteen minutes…" Tai breathed in awe
"Not to mention the hard liquor he went through before." Izzy mentioned, "I don't want to even guess his blood alcohol level…"
"Well I'm not riding on his bike after this!" Davis said, crossing his arms. "He'll wrap it around a light pole!"
"I just wish he'd save some for the rest of us…" Veemon sighed, sadly watching Beelzemon pack in another loaf of bread. He polished the last bottle of brew, tossing the bottle through the window and leaning back, picking his teeth with a satisfied grin.
"Ahhh…one thing I will give you humans is that you sure know how to cook!" Beelzemon scanned the shop, grabbing a watermelon from behind the counter and eating it with gusto, rind and all.
"How did you even get here, Beelzemon?" Henry asked, raising a menu to shield himself from the flying seeds.
"Yer fthre snt meh!" Beelzemon said, spraying chunks of watermelon as he did
"Oh, Man!" Rika cried, picking a seed out of her hair. "We wanted the news, not the weather!"
Beelzemon let out a raucous burp. "Sorry. What I meant to say was your father sent me…" he indicated Henry
"Henry's dad?" Yolei asked, looking over the young man. "He knows about Digimon?"
Beelzemon threw his head back and laughed. "Knows about them? KNOWS ABOUT THEM?! Janyuu Wong helped create us!"
Instantly there was silence and all at once Henry felt twenty pairs of eyes staring at him like he was some kind of freak.
"What do you mean, created Digimon?" Ken asked, trying to process what Beelzemon just said. "How can anyone do that?"
"That's silly!" Gatomon said. "The beings who created he Digital world weren't human! They were programs! There was-"
"Shibumi, Tao, Babel, Daisy, Dolphin and Curly, Right?" Henry rattled off without missing a beat. "Sound about right?" Gatomon nodded. "Tao is my father."
"You're Tao's son?!" Agumon said incredulously.
"Will someone please explain what's going on here? I thought Digimon just came into being when the Digital Plain came into existence!" Izzy said
"We haven't been fully honest with you…" Renamon said. "We lied when we said we lived in the third quadrant. The truth is…we live in the first. The original Digital World."
"So the Demon Lords didn't cross the boundaries…" Matt said. "They were in your world all along."
"You know about the Demon Lords?" TK asked his brother.
"Yeah, Beelzemon filled me in. At first, I didn't trust him but he really saved our lives…" He said, looking down at a sleeping Tsunamon.
"Zhuqiaomon gave me my life back…" Beelzemon said gravely. "He forgave me in return for my loyalty. I'm not about to forget that."
"I still don't get it." Matt said shaking his head before turning it to Henry. "How could your father have created Digimon?"
Henry stared down at the table. "Back in the 80's in Palo Alto, California, my dad was part of a team doing research in Artificial Intelligence. Through the University of Palo Alto as Head quarters and with funding from a private Japanese company, they started designing programs that could adapt to their surroundings at will. Programs that could think, feel…even imagine. In time, they assigned little Avatars to each program. They the project was called the Data Intelligence Grading Index Mastering in Online Nanotechnology." He said, writing out the words on a napkin. "D.I.G.I.M.O.N. In time, they joked that the codename stood for "Digital Monsters," and themselves, the "Monster Makers." Henry looked down. "They named them after things that seemed familiar. For example, California is close to Mexico and in Spanish, the word for cat is gato." He said looking at Gatomon who stared back, awestruck. "So the "Cat Monster" program was renamed the "Gato Monster" which was shortened to…"
"Gatomon…" Gatomon said softly. "Incredible…"
Henry went on "In time, the programs got too advanced for the Monster Makers to control. They began to be able to reason complexly, think un-analytically. There were even instances of programs sacrificing their own existence to save another's. By this point, AI stood for actual intelligence, instead of artificial. Then the Japanese company went belly up and the Digimon Project was cancelled. By then, they had created a parallel plain of existence that transcended even the boundaries that divided realities." Henry looked up. "Which brings us here. Now."
Beelzemon took over. "Tao told me that in the earliest days of the system, there were seven malignant programs that continued to wreak havoc despite the Monster Makers' best efforts to control them…or should I say us…" Beelzemon said, indicating himself. "True, I was one of the programs that gave the Monster Makers so much grief."
"Who created you?" Ken asked. "Surely Tao and the others didn't introduce you into the system…"
"The origin of virus Digimon is still, to this day, a mystery." Renamon supplied. "They may have been web viruses that mutated once they attacked the Digital Plain or they may have been Data types that went bad or became corrupted. Once Virus types showed up, the Monster makers introduced Vaccine types to combat them."
"Back to my point," Beelzemon said "The seven of us were branded the Seven Demon Lords and we were sealed away in cyberspace by all powerful firewalls." Beelzemon dug in his jacket and produced a blackened tag on the end of a chain. A strange, purple symbol glowed with malignant light "The Dark Crests; the source of all our power as well as our biggest handicap. These things give us abilities beyond that of regular virus types but at the same time limit us from causing too much havoc by tying us to the existence of the Digiworld."
"So they stopped you from destroying the Digiworld by making your lives dependant on its survival…" Izzy said. "Prodigious…" Suddenly, there was a chorus of growling stomachs as everyone began eyeing the remaining food greedily.
"PUT THAT AWAY!!" Terriermon cried. As Beelzemon stuffed his crest away, the feeling left them and they all stared at Beelzemon in shock.
"Exposure to the Dark Crests eventually takes its toll on humans." Beelzemon nodded. "I'm surprised that carrying Daemon and Leviamon's essences hasn't turned you into jealous, angry wretches by now."
Everyone turned red with shame, avoiding one another's gaze. "It almost did…" Ryo said, sadly.
Beelzemon looked at Ryo with sudden worry. "You still have the cards?" Ryo handed them over, wordlessly, not daring to look at them. Beelzemon crumpled their images up and held one in each hand. He closed his eyes (Tai noticed he had three) and the cards burst into flames. Everyone recoiled, pushing their chairs back as Beelzemon held his hands open, controlling the flame. As the ashes from the cards filled the air, two crests fell to the floor with sickening thuds.
"The crests were in the cards…" Ryo said.
"Bravo, Einstein." Ken said, dryly.
"Hey, he was just trying to help!" Henry said. On the floor, Daemon's crest glowed red with power.
"Not my fault he's a raving idiot." Ken sneered.
"Leave him alone, Kaiser!" Matt butted in.
"You got a problem with me, Ishida?" Ken said, shrugging off Yolei's hand and standing up. "Cause if you do-"
BLAM! BLAM!
Everybody flinched as Beelzemon's shotgun smoked, both barrels smoked ominously skyward. The stucco in the ceiling had been blown half to hell as Beelzemon holstered his weapon again. Ken and Matt stared at each other, looks filled with apology as Henry stared at the crest with a look of loathing.
"Let's get rid of it…" Henry said, tears in his eyes. "It's brought us nothing but trouble…"
"We can't." Beelzemon said, picking up the crests of Envy and Wrath and hanging them along with the Crest of Gluttony. All at once, everyone felt calm again. "We need them."
"Why?" Ken said as Yolei buried her head in his shirt. "Why are they so important?"
"The power that bound us in the first place…" Beelzemon said. "Is the only one that can put the Demon Lords back. Zhuqiaomon spared me my life if I would seal the others away forever." Beelzemon stood up, brushing the crumbs off his jacket. "And that's what I intend to do."
Sora shivered, wrapping her arms around her shoulders as her eyes stared unseeing into the darkness that surrounded her. The last thing she remembered was that Barbamon had taken her to another room with Yokomon. After that, she had passed out to reawaken in a dark, desolate room, freezing cold with Yokomon still passed out. Looking around at the sparse walls, lonely chair and rusty metal table, she suddenly felt very empty and alone, as if simply being in this room had robbed her of any hope of escaping.
She stood up, shuffling towards the door as Yokomon slept in her arms. Looking around as if she expected to be attacked by Mephistomon or Lilithmon, she hesitantly took the door handle and opened it.
The smell of freshly cut flowers wafted through on a shaft of light and hit her full in the face. Surprised, she closed the door, shaking her head and laying Yokomon down with a kiss on her head. Hands shaking, she reached for the doorknob, opening it again to find herself standing in a very familiar flower shop.
The first thing that Sora knew upon walking into the flower shop was that it wasn't summer anymore. The carnations and roses were in full bloom and a cooler light filtered through the window. Confused slightly, she walked further into the shop when she saw her mother angrily standing there with her hand on her hip, foot tapping angrily.
"Mama…" Sora said, huskily, going to hug her mother
"Sora Takenouchi, where in the world have you been?"
Sora froze for a second, before opening her mouth to respond. "I was playing soccer with Tai, Mama."
Sora blanched when she realized those words hadn't come out of her mouth. Shakily turning around, a young teenage girl, no older than thirteen with shoulder length copper hair, stained with flecks of mud and grass walked in, carrying a soccer ball under her arm.
"What happened to your hair, your face?" her mother said, looking at the girl incredulously, not even glancing at Sora
"Oh, this new kid, Davis, he kicked the ball wide and since Miki can't play goal to save her life, I had to dodge in front to-"
"Enough!" Sora's heart seemed to catch in her throat as the girl took a step back. Her mother brushed her hair out of her eyes. "Sora…this has to stop."
"I know, I'll try to work with Miki some more on playing goal-"
"No!" her mother said, firmly, gesturing at her daughter's appearance. "This! This…running around at all hours of the night, playing soccer with random boys and not giving a care about the important things!'
The girl took a step back. "Like what?"
Her mother sighed. "Sora, I'm concerned. You're growing up and yet you still continue to hang around with Tai playing soccer like you did when you were five."
"But…Tai's my best friend." The girl said, and Sora couldn't help but give the little mud stained urchin a sad smile. She knew where this conversation was headed all too well.
"Yes, but a girl like you needs…guidance from girls your own age."
"What?! No way! They're all shallow, stupid selfish brats!" the girl was close to tears
"Sora…" her mother said firmly. "You need to expand your horizons…you can't play soccer with Tai forever."
"Why not?" the girl was backing up against the door. "Who's to say I can't?"
Her mother drew herself up. "I am. I don't want you playing soccer anymore. I want you to come straight home after school tomorrow." She turned back to her flower arrangements.
The girl teared up, clutching the soccer ball to her chest like a security blanket. "You…you can't…please, no…"
"We'll find you a new sport to play."
"Mama…please." Sora found herself in tears along with the girl.
"More suitable companions…"
"Mom…"
"That's enough blubbering, young lady!" her mother snapped. "Your eyes are getting puffy."
The girl ground her teeth in anger. "I am not a YOUNG LADY!" she screamed
Her mother put her shears down with a slam. "No you're not." She said. "Not until you start acting like one!!"
For a terrible second the girl froze in shock as her mother composed herself and turned back to the vase she was arranging. "What about tennis? That's a good healthy-"
SMASH!
The soccer ball flew through the air and knocked the vase straight into the wall, shattering it into a million pieces.
"SORA!!" Her mother called as the girl tore out the door. "GET BACK HERE THIS INSTANT!! SORA!!"
Sora turned to follow the girl, throwing open the door, but instead of a cool spring day, a rush of light and warmth hit her. She looked back into the flower shop and up ahead into a dingy, familiar room. She looked in at a small room adorned with a worn, green couch, a full length, backlit mirror and racks and racks of clothes. The floor was carpeted with empty soda bottles, broken drumsticks and worn out picks and the walls covered in posters of bands, playbills and worn and faded pictures.
Sora knew this room well; many times she would find herself here, usually surrounded by music producers, roadies and the occasional groupie that one of the other guys would drag backstage. One look at the other side of the door confirmed her suspicions as a worn out star read "Teenage Wolves"
In her state of low level depression, Sora didn't once question how the dressing room had got there. Nor did she feel like checking to make sure that the girl had really run through here. She took three steps in the room before the door behind her flew open and a girl of almost eighteen stormed through the door, followed by her boyfriend, a blond haired bassist she had been seeing for at least four years now. Sora's throat closed up as the scene played out before her.
"I thought you said you had good news!" the girl snapped angrily.
"Babe-"
"No, don't babe me, Yamato!" the girl snapped, tapping her foot. "You brought me down here out of tennis practice to say that you guys got a recording interview?" she spat incredulously.
"Sora, this could be a big chance for us! Tetsuya Komuro is the single biggest force behind pop in Japan! Getting an interview with him is harder than getting the Ritz with no reservations!"
"But it's my birthday, Matt." The girl said, softly. "It wouldn't mean as much if you weren't there…"
The boy sighed, scratching the back of his head. A couple of time, he looked like he was going to start to say something but he just sighed. "I'll call you tomorrow." He said finally as the girl stormed out of the room, tears in her eyes. Sora took one last look at the boy before following the girl outside…
And into a snowdrift.
She was outside the same building she was in previously only snow covered the ground; she looked around for the girl again when a familiar voice caught her ear.
"Wow, this is exciting! People are already lining up for Matt's concert!"
Sora's heart plummeted into her stomach when she heard those words. Turning around, the girl stood, four years younger there with a box of cookies, standing at the door of the concert hall as a boy with spiky brown hair and an Agumon approached, still unseen from behind.
"No…" Sora sobbed, talking to the boy. "Please, walk away. Please, please, please Don't talk to her. Just keep walking. Don't stop. Don't…"
"Sora!" the boy called as the girl turned around. "Wait up!"
"Oh, Tai…" the girl said
Sora ground her teeth in frustration. "Why do you sound so damn disappointed? What's wrong with you?" she moaned. She wanted to look away, to turn around and run but something hypnotic in the train wreck before her made her stay and watch.
The boy was talking again. "So Sora, are you going to the concert with anyone? Not that it matters…just wondering…
"No, you're not going with anybody." Sora growled at the girl. "Say no!"
"No, I want to be available in case Matt is free afterwards." The girl said.
"What the hell is wrong with you?" Sora practically screamed "He's just going to dump you on your birthday four years from now! Hello? CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"
"Oh, I see…Matt, huh?" the boy said.
"No, Tai!" Sora said. "It's not like that…not yet, anyway."
"Yeah…" the girl said
The boy walked over and laid a hand on her shoulder. "It's okay." He said.
"No it's not!" Sora cried. "It's not! Tai, don't listen to her; listen to me!"
"You're not mad at me?" the girl asked.
"Shut up!" Sora screamed. "Just shut up an-"
"Of course not." The boy pushed her through the door. "Now get in there and say hi to matt for me!"
The Digimon was saying something but Sora wasn't listening. She pressed her hands to the side of her head and sobbed in frustration. The weight of Tai's simple question came crashing down on her like a ton of bricks.
Tai stood up and was walking away. "No! Tai! Come back!" Sora tore after the younger Tai, pulling on his coat, trying to get him to notice her.
"It's okay…" Tai was saying.
"No it's not! Tai, listen-"
"As long as she's happy…" Tai said, wiping his eyes. "I guess that's what really matters." He said, sniffling slightly
Sora dropped his coat. Her stomach lurched with fear and dread as Tai leaned over the balcony, eyes shining with unshed tears. He looked back at the concert hall one last time. "Make her happy, Matt." He said, biting his lip and sloshing off through the snow.
"TAI!!" Sora called, grabbing onto his leg. "Wait, Please! Don't go! Stay here, please, Tai…I don't know where I am and Matt left me and…and…" her words were lost as a stream of fresh tears consumed them. "A-and I-I I- just don't know w-w-what to do…Tai?" she looked up to find that she was alone. "TAI!!" She called, clutching her chest as it was racked with sobs. "I'm-gasp-sorry-gasp-please-gasp-don't-gasp-leave-gasp-" she struggled to call for him but he was nowhere to be found. She cried, all alone, as the snow slowly fell down and lightly covered her shaking shoulders.
"What is she doing?" Lilithmon looked up from watching the weeping teenager to see Lucemon standing behind her. "Why is she clutching that chair's leg?" he wondered as their captive sobbed against the leg of a small wooden chair.
"Oh, it's really funny." Lilithmon giggled, popping another piece of popcorn in her mouth. "She thinks that the chair is her friend, Tai. Apparently it was a toss up between him and the rockstar and she picked door number two." She giggled, taking a noisy slurp out of her soda. "You want to watch for a while? It's quite hilarious when she thinks he's coming back."
Lucemon raised an eyebrow. "You bring him back?"
Lilithmon shrugged. "Once in a while he'll come back, sniffle a bit and say how happy he is that she's found love," Lilithmon, struck her chest and put on her best teary eyed expression. "E-even if i-it isn't with me." She said in Tai's quivering voice. Sora sobbed harder as if Lilithmon's words were icy daggers, slicing into her skin.
"So you've found her soft spots…" Lucemon said evenly. "Keep prying at her. Work the lovestruck best friend angle until she cracks."
Lilithmon nodded, before adopting another teary eyed face. "I…sob…I loved you Sora…sob…I always will…"
"I'm sorry, Tai…I'm so, so sorry…I never knew…I never knew…" she moaned, burying her face in her hands.
"She won't last long…" Lilithmon said, confidently. "By the way, how's Belphamon doing?"
Beelzemon rode ahead, sweeping the streets with his shotguns. Despite consuming his weight in alcohol, he remained remarkably calm and sober as he checked a side street for possible ambush attacks. Seeing nothing of concern, he motioned for his human companions to follow with their Digimon.
"Are you sure we can trust him?" Ken whispered to Ryo as Beelzemon polished his shotgun lovingly. "He still seems kinda evil to me."
Ryo stared at the Demon Lord for the longest time before responding. "Beelzemon may have made mistakes in the past, but in the time I've known him he's proven himself to be a valuable ally. Are we friends? No. But that isn't to say I don't trust him. I trust him with my life." he said, firmly
"And with our lives, too?" Yolei asked, cocking an eyebrow
Ryo flashed a grin at Ken. "I've never steered you wrong before, have I?"
Ken smiled fondly. "No, I guess you haven't." Ken stared at Ryo for what seemed like forever, but was really only a few moments. Finally, he said in a small voice. "What happened to you Ryo?"
"After Millenniumon?" Ryo shrugged. "I found a new partner, new friends…hell even a new world. You wander down enough backdoors and hidden passages in the Digital World and you'll find yourself in the most amazing places." Ryo thumbed his nose. "You know I ran into a group of Digidestined who didn't have Digimon?"
"What?" TK asked, joining their conversation with Kari at his side. "How did that happen?"
"You can't be a Digidestined without a partner!" Gatomon said, shaking her head. "You're lying."
"Well…you're not going to believe this but…they used their Digivices to actually, become Digimon! Something to do with the "Ancient Warriors" or something like that" Ryo said with a laugh. "It was the weirdest thin I ever saw."
"No Digimon partner, no Digidestined." Kari said, grimly. "They were probably Digimon disguised as humans."
:Oh, are you telling them your cock and bull "Human Digimon" thing again?" Rika groaned. "This story gets wilder every time I hear it."
"You weren't there!" Ryo said. "I SAW it! One minute they were just kids and the next, they were Digimon!"
"You sure the Digimon weren't just small and they were Biomerging?"
"Bio…Merging?" Kari asked, thoughtfully.
Rika was about to respond when she bumped into Beelzemon. "Watch where you're going you-" Rika was about to say before Beelzemon covered her mouth and motioned them to follow his finger. In the middle of a cloud of mist, a small, bear Digimon was asleep. It was no bigger than a teddy bear but chains wrapped themselves around its body and a clock sat around its neck.
"Be quiet!" Beelzemon hissed. "We don't want to wake it up!"
"What is it?" Davis asked, coming to the front of the pack. "Another Demon Lord? Where?"
"There!" Beelzemon said, indicating the sleeping teddy bear.
"Behind the teddy bear?" Davis said, craning his neck.
"It is the teddy bear!" Beelzemon said, emphatically
Silence.
"What?" Davis said at normal Davis volume. Rika and Henry grabbed him around the waist and mouth and pulled him to the ground.
"SHHHH!!" Rika hissed. "Keep quiet unless you want Belphamon to make you uglier than you already are!"
"Belphamon…that thing?" Kari whispered. "But…he's so cute…"
"Now he is," Beelzemon said, loading his shotgun. "But you should see him in the mornings. "He's the Demon of Sloth and unless he's asleep, he's in a very, very bad mood." Beelzemon looked back to see Belphamon rolling on his side, purring slightly. "Right now he's in Sleep Mode, but wake him up and oooh boy you're in for it. Back when I ran with the Demon Lords, we would draw straws for who would wake Belphamon up that day"
TK gulped. "Even the other Demon Lords were afraid of him when he's awake?"
"Scared, no. Terrified." Beelzemon said, grimly. "I still am."
"Okay…Davis said. "Let's just sneak around his backside; no one has to know we're here!"
"No go; we need his Crest. I think I can pry it from around his neck and then we'll just delete him while he naps. Just make sure no one makes any sudden noise or my goosemon in cooked." Beelzemon turned off his bike and carefully tiptoed over to the sleeping demon. Flourishing a claw, he gingerly grabbed the chain and started to lift. With more care than Beelzemon had ever shown in his life, he lifted the chain around the neck above the head of the napping Digimon. He nearly had a heart attack as it slipped and landed on his nose. For a moment, Beelzemon forgot to breathe as he watched the sleeping Digimon apprehensively. Then, slowly but surely, he inched the chain towards the end of the monster's nose. Then, just when he almost had it off…
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN, YOU BROKE UP WITH HER?!"
"Tai! Shhhh!"
"DON'T YOU SUSH ME, YAMATO!! DUMPING HER ON HER BIRTHDAY?! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT ALL ABOUT?!" The Digidestined were frozen in open mouthed horror as Tai vented four years of frustration on the blonde bassist. "I TOLD YOU I WAS COOL WITH YOU TWO AS LONG AS YOU TREATED HER RIGHT; THIS DOSEN"T CONSTITUTE TREATING HER RIGHT!! I CAN"T BELIEVE YOU….I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE YOU!! HOW COULD YOU, MATT?! HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO SORA?!"
Beelzemon didn't even have to turn around to know that Tai's tirade had woken the beast. A low growling registered in his ear as the Demon of Sloth opened one, bloodshot, crimson eye and locked on to Beelzemon.
"Uh…morning, cupcake…" Beelzemon said, nervously laughing
"BeeeeeelzeeeeeMOOOOOOOOON!!" Belphamon opened his mouth and roared with more force and fury than even Daemon had conjured. The tiny bear's body suddenly bulged as if it were being injected with too much stuffing. Peaceful, sleeping arms grew long, thick and muscled. The fluffy angel's wings turned black and leathery as the horns on his head lengthened and his snout shot out of his mouth, filling with fangs. His once creamy colored fur was dark blue and black and his eyes betrayed the boiling sea of fury he was trying to contain.
"Whoooooooo….disturrrrrrrrbs my sllllllluuuuummmmmberrrrrr?" Belphamon growled in a deep, slow voice, glaring at the Digidestined. Beelzemon pointed back at Tai whose hand around Matt's collar slackened and let the musician fall to the ground.
"Um…good morning?" Tai said, smiling nervously, reaching for a loaf of bread they had filched from the coffee shop. "Want some breakfast? It's the most important meal of-"
"RRRRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGHHHHH!" Belphamon howled in rage, blowing Tai's hair back as he snarled at him.
"I'll take that as a probable no."
AN: Um…READ and um…Review. I want to know, and be honest; how can i make the Sora Angst thin more believable? I wasn't as satisfied with this one as i was with the last one... feedback will be greatly appreciated