The Golden Goddess
Chapter 4
The Digital Reaper
Previous Chapter
"This is not logical, do not all life forms care only for themselves? Do you not worry about who you are or why you were created? Does not the fact that you may exist for no reason than to fill the spot of Guilmon disturb you? What will happen when we find Guilmon? What then?" Jeri asked, her voice cold with a touch of curiosity.
"Huh?" Dorumon said confuse., "I don't understand. I was created to help find Guilmon and when that happens, I'll figure things out then. Why should I be so concerned with things of the future?"
"Not logical. After last analysis of all life forms, they are concerned with who they are," the sock puppet barked at him. "None are oblivious, all data integrated into system concludes that life forms are concerned with being. You are an anomaly, and therefore must be destroyed."
"Huh?" Dorumon asked confused, cocking his head, "But why destroy me? Didn't you just create me to help find Guilmon?"
"Target Anaylzed." Jeri's voice spoke from her mouth, but the smile was not hers. "Dorumon. Type: Unknown. Species: Unknown. Anomaly. Is not concerned with existence of being. Does not compute correctly. Conclusion. Absorb Data and to study anomaly. Dangers. Anomaly may pose threat once absorbed. Risk. Low. Anomaly of being caused no harm when absorbed."
The sock puppet grinned and for his first time, Dorumon was terrified.
Jeri's eyes held their merciless pale green as the sock puppet reached out for Dorumon's throat. It stopped when Takato slammed into his partner. The confused X rookie landed on the ground startled. He got up and looked over to see Takato glaring at Jeri.
"Get out of her body, D-Reaper!" Takato yelled at her, "Give us Jeri back! You're just playing off the loss of her father now."
"Who is this 'us'?" Jeri spoke quietly. "Surely you love me, Takato, do you not? All that time we spend together, all those dates we went on? Who else could you include? Impmon still can't look me straight in the face, so surely not him. Or are your thoughts so wrapped up in Rika that you've already joined her in body and soul. Is there no longer a 'you'? Is there no longer an 'us,' Takato? What about you and me? Why, why do your thoughts constantly concern Rika, it…"
"Stop it!" Takato yelled tearfully, "You're not Jeri. Stop speaking like you are."
Jeri's voice became monotone and very computer-like as she spoke through the sock puppet. "After all this time, it's been you, Takato, that's held me back. I could be back to my original form from the strength of her emotions had you not been there when her father died. Such power, like nothing I've ever drained from her. She's known I was still alive though, that I was always here. She tried her best to keep her thoughts pure and to have that energy that she used to have. She held neither hate nor anger toward anyone, not even to her own father who kidnapped her." Dorumon looked confused, but shivered as the sock puppet spoke. This was not Jeri; this was somebody else. It begged his mind to know where Jeri was. He looked around but could not find another Jeri lying around.
"Then, her father died, Takato," the D-Reapers cold voice went on. "She could no longer hold back. The energy that came forth was an anomaly. No being other than myself could hold that much energy. I instantly leapt forth to grab it, but the girl knew what I was doing and instantly sent it to any available channel she could find. That channel was you, Takato, and through you to Guilmon. It was Jeri that caused Guilmon to become that beast that you hate so much. It was Jeri that got you kidnapped, leading you to that situation. It's always Jeri who you have to protect, never being able to take care of herself because she doesn't have a digimon, and whose fault is that? A virus who sought after power? No, for that virus didn't want anything but to be noticed, far too much for you to do.
"You even went as far as to tell Guilmon to not hang around, the poor guy," the voice droned on. "All of this is your fault. Jeri would be just fine if you had never shown her Guilmon, but you wanted to be important, to get all the attention, leaving none for a young viral rookie."
"Shut up!" Takato choked tearfully.
"Is it any wonder you want to move on to Rika now? Just to be around Jeri must be hard for you because she reminds you of how cold and mean you are. Perfect for Rika: nice and cold; heartless. You're a real Jerk, Takato."
"I'm not like that and neither is Rika!"
"I have analyzed the situation and you are wrong. You are like that, my calculations are flawless, and you are just as cold as she is, except in one small concept." The D-Reaper's voice took on far too many emotions as it hounded Takato.
"You're wrong! Rika is not cold! She's just as caring as anybody else; she's just dealing with life!" Takato shouted at Jeri's body.
"I have analyzed the situation. Why do you fight the facts? Analysis indicates that you are just like Rika, only you have the capability of the concept of love. You have realized this and so you turn to Jeri for that which Rika cannot give. However, you cannot live with loving Jeri; you must love Rika and so your heart eternally torments you." Jeri's voice spoke so sweetly to Takato that young boy couldn't handle it. He fell to his knees. "You're confused, Takato. I'll take it all away. You shall see what is right and true."
"Shut up!" Takato's voice held more pain and less energy.
"Why should I when you never did? Whenever we did anything, it was always 'Just let me call Rika and see if she wants too.' Lets go to the movies and see if Rika wants to come, let's go to the park, look up at the stars and see if Rika wants to come. Rika, Rika, Rika. That's all I ever heard from you, Takato," Jeri's eyes watered. "Just once, just once I wanted to be the one you cared about, Takato. Was that too much to ask?!"
"I... I didn't want her to get hurt," Takato said softly. "I didn't want what happened to you to happen to her. You always hid behind your happiness, but Rika always hid behind her anger. I wanted her to feel like she belonged. The only one who she felt even took notice of her for the longest time was her Grandma."
"You wanted her to feel loved! What about me?!" Jeri spat, "It's because she's your dream girl, is it not? Every dream you remember is…"
The whole dream thought shattered as Dorumon slammed his head as hard as he could into Jeri's stomach, sending the D-Reaper to the pavement a few steps back. "I don't care how good you are faking things, but Takato is Takato, Rika is Rika, and Jeri is Jeri. Whoever the heck you are, you sure aren't Jeri! So give Jeri back!"
"Analysis inconclusive," Jeri muttered as she stood up. "Being is not so easily defined by simply a name."
"Shut up. What's all this crap you keep going on about? You have no right to meddle in other creatures affairs. I don't care who you are. You could be Fanglongmon himself and I would fight you," Dorumon growled. "You keep thinking that your way is the right way, well it's not. The right way is individualized for everyone. Takato has his right way and Guilmon has his. My right way is not Guilmon's and Takato's right way isn't yours. So shut up with all of your cocky stupidity," Dorumon snapped, very peeved at this doppleganger.
"Analysis inconclusive," Jeri muttered. "Creatures demand a right way. Good and Evil, Right and Wrong, Light and Dark. Creatures demand opposites. Your thought pattern causes anomalies. You are not a real creature. Destruction of non-real creatures are lamented by no one. Extermination required." Jeri's voice was completely mechanical, the D-Reaper trying to comprehend Dorumon's words.
"Who gave you the right to decide what a creature is and what's not?" Dorumon barked at her. "You have no right to decide whether or not I should be kille; only Takato and Jeri have that right. They brought me into this world and they are the only ones who have the right to take me out."
Takato stared at his new partner in amazement. Where are all these ideas coming from?
"Analysis inconclusive." The D-Reapers voice was a flat line as Takato saw it taking in the strange concepts. "Right not required... right is something granted by no one. Right is ... Basic Rights... Right to..."Takato stared in awe as the D-Reaper got hung up on that concept of Right. He wasn't sure he agreed with his new partner, but that concept of Right held the D-Reaper. He fingered a card as the D-Reaper seemed to straighten things out in its twisted mind.
"Right is inconsequential. You are an anomaly and will be destroyed!" The D-Reaper shouted as layer of Data wrapped over Jeri's body turning her into the same being that had deceived Takato the first time he had gone into the D-Reaper. Her gray wings spread wide open catching the air. "DIE!" she yelled swooping down at the X digimon.
Takato pulled his card out as fast as he could, bringing it into his hand. "DIGI-MODIFY! DIGIEVOLUTION ACTIVATE!" The white light engulfed Dorumon but the Jeri Reaper was coming up too fast, he wouldn't get a chance to even fully digivolve before he was ripped to shreds.
"Death Claw!" The Jeri reaper screeched.
"Dorumon! NO!" Takato panicked.
The Jeri Reaper grinned maniacally before she was hit into the nearest tree by a blue wolf. "Who would dare stand against the D-Reaper?!" she snarled.
"Whaaa?" Takato said completely confused staring at Garurumon with a man in his mid thirties sitting on him with jet black hair.
"Well, well," came Greymon's heavy voice from behind Takato, confusing the goggle-toting tamer even more, "isn't this night just full of surprises." Takato looked up at the large sixteen-foot-tall dino. "First Suzie and Yagean, then Sakuyamon and now the D-Reaper."
"And me," came a cold cruel voice. Takato looked over at the source. It was a thin digimon with wings that seemed to accent a carelessness about the digimon, and yet great pride.
"Dorugamon. Looks you win, Warg, they do exist." said Garurumon to the black-haired man sitting on his back.
"It matters not what you are, you shall all be deleted by the D-Reaper!" the Jeri Reaper shouted.
"Let Jeri go" Dorugamon's said, his voice hateful and cold, holding a deadly undertone to it. Takato shivered, Greymon eyed the four and half foot champion wearily and Melga was thankful he was on their side. Hideto was the only one who seemed to be unshaken by it. "Or I'll Kill you."
The D-Reaper stepped back. A feeling it had never felt before coursed through the small amount that had hid itself in Jeri's body. It had always imagined that fear would be a most powerful of emotions, for it increased a beings defensive abilities. It still held that concept for right now, it wasn't afraid. It was terrified. Held in place by this strange feeling, it could answer nothing, could do nothing, and yet it held a desire to run as far from this anomaly as possible.
"I shall enjoy ripping your data from Jeri's remains painfully. It will be delightful to draw you out slowly as your data corrupts itself in my hand until your nothing but zero's. The pain will be legendary for you will feel as none other has," Dorugamon snarled. Takato, Warg and Melga were all struck for fear of Jeri's life at that moment. Only Hideto was unphased by the comment.
"Don't," Hideto said plainly. "It's a part of Jeri now. To kill the D-Reaper would be to kill Jeri as well."
Dorugamon shot a death glare towards the black-haired man, and his point got across. "That was kind of the idea," he muttered under his breath, but he understood the mans warning. He would have to hold back, for Takato's sake, and for Takato's sake only.
"Your Dead!" Dorugamon let out one last growl before his deadly body became a blade in motion.
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Calm. Peaceful. Protective. Nobody could hurt her here. Nobody could get here but Renamon. Here in the deep recesses of her mind, she was below all pain, all physical attributes, below the need for Id, Ego and Super-Ego. A Nirvana blessed to her by Renamon: the deepest recesses of her mind. In here everything was black, and though she could not see, she had no need. She was in her mind and knew everything that was going on. It was all black, but she knew everything as if she could see it perfectly.
This place was unique to her, for it connected three different parts of her instead of the normal two. Her soul, her data and her body, all connected in the same area. It was here she was to stay until her body was strong enough to survive the process of living.
"Rika?" Renamon asked. Rika was snapped out her nothingingness state of mind.
"Am I to start living?" Rika asked. Renamon laughed, thinking back to when she first brought Rika's mind to the bottom, Rika had asked if she was dying. Renamon replied that she was not dying but rather coming back to life... living essentially.
"Yes, it's going to hurt," Renamon said plainly.
"I know," Rika said softly. "Renamon?" she asked.
"Hmm?"
"I'm sorry. I haven't been very forward with you," Rika said. "I've been ignoring you, and well, I'm sorry."
"What's this about Rika?" Renamon asked cautiously. "You've done this before, perhaps not for as long of a period. You've never apologized before."
Rika sighed mentally, considering that was the only way she could, "I made a promise, that day when Takato earned Grani. I overheard Jeri's parents and I realized something; for all of my whining and complaining, Jeri had it so much worse than I did, and yet she never once complained. Jeri had lost her mom, I simply had my parents divorced. I could have spent more time with my dad then I did. I made a promise to myself to see my dad more often."
"Hmm?" Renamon thought to her, "I'm not sure I quite understand. If you had made a promise to see your dad, then why haven't you?"
Rika glanced over at Renamon, "I... My birthday. I called my father that morning to see if I could come over to his place and spend my birthday with him."
Rika was so excited as she dialed her dad's phone number. She hadn't seen him since before she had left for the digital world, pushing on seven months. The other line rang a couple of times before a young boy picked up the phone. "Moshi, Moshi." He said.
"Hi, um, is my father there?" Rika asked.
"Umm... I think you have the wrong number,"the boy said.
"Is this the residence of Mr. Makino?" she asked confused.
"Who is it, Raska?" She heard a voice come from the other side.
"It's somebody looking for daddy. She says he's her daddy," Raska told his mother. There was some shuffling on the floor before the mothers voice came over the phone.
"Now look here, you don't need the child support money, your mother makes plenty. So leave me and my family alone, alright. You have no right to butt into our business. I don't care if you're a models child, just leave us alone. He doesn't want anything to do with you,"
Rika cut off this women, her voice so acidic that most digimon would think twice before saying anything. "Let me talk to my father!"
The voice was silenced, and there was some scuffling. She heard some voices before a familiar voice came over the phone. "Rika," Her father said.
"Dad!" she said enthusiastically.
"Rika, please, move on. I have." With that he hung up the phone.
Renamon glanced at her partner with studying eyes. "Why Takato then?" she asked.
"I held my anger in about my dad so that my mom didn't notice. It was then that Takato had called about going and looking at the sakura blossoms. My heart leapt for joy at that point. I know my mom loved me, but it wasn't enough, I needed somebody to replace the void my dad left. Takato had been the first person to reach out to me, to try and be my friend. I felt a peace as Takato spoke, and even the fact that it was just a ploy to get a birthday party ready for me, I felt at ease." Rika sighed.
"I never did tell you about that song; The Promise of the Setting Sun. It was taught to me by my father." Tears started to flow down Rika's eyes. "He just left me, left me to be alone, without him. Now he doesn't even want anything to do with me. I've tried moving on, I really have. I've done everything I can to forget it, but I just can't. That swing set, that song, my dad…"
Renamon placed a comforting hand on Rika's shoulder. They said nothing as Renamon brought them out of Rika's mind.
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Gonnah watched as the golden digimon sputtered as she awoke. "You're awake," he said quietly.
Sakuyamon looked over at him. "Thank you, Gonnah, for watching over her." Renamon's voice came through.
"Tell me, does this form… does it help you heal? It's remarkable enough that your came back to life, but for the chest wound to heal as well. Miracles happen," Gonnah, the leader of the small village and residential spiritual leader spoke. "I have learned much from you, Renamon. I hope to learn just as much from you, Rika. I'll be interested if you live up to your partners tales."
Rika wondered what Renamon had told this man. "I thank you for watching over me, but we really must get going," she said.
Gonnah nodded, "I was not aware that you were in such good condition to make it back."
"She's not," Renamon spoke. "If it would not bother you, could perhaps we stay here for a week, until Rika is fully healed?" Rika was about to speak when she brought her hand up to her chest in pain.
"Very well, but I have request. I know that you are not a goddess, only because of what you have told me, Renamon. However, my people still believe you are. I would ask that for their sakes, you keep up that image."