I don't own digimon.

Story 76

Germinacide Pt 6: Scandal

There are many words that can describe Koushiro Izumi. Ambitious. Determined. Knowledgeable. Ignorant. Careless. That last one especially. Though, I would honestly add Douchebag to that list as well for good measure.

At the moment, Koushiro was doing what he was always doing - burning the midnight oil and then some in order to get some major breakthrough or update out into the world. In this case, that was confirming a visit to a Data Center. Somehow, he hadn't even noticed the bright red light of the night sky pouring through his office windows or the portals that had appeared in said sky.

'Izumi-san, ohanashi ga arimasu. (Mr Izumi, we need to talk.)' a voice announced, Izumi not even looking up to see where the voice had come from. Instead, his gaze was on the email he was penning. Going over it for spelling and grammar, it was all truly… boring. Yes, punctuation, grammar and spelling are important parts of writing and in turn, narrating. But at the same time, do you know how much of a pain in the ass it is just getting stuff for languages that Harlequin doesn't know? English is oddly the default language unless otherwise stated. Did you really think the author of all people would care about foreign languages? Exactly. Yes, the irony is very much not lost on me. 'Izumi san atama ni kodama suru koe o kiku koto o o susume shimasu.-Sa mo nai to, sakusen kichi zentai o kōjō shukka-ji no jōtai ni risetto shimasu. Sore wa dono yō ni kikoemasu ka? (Mr Izumi I suggest listening to the voice echoing about your head or I will factory reset your entire base of operations. How does that sound?)'

That very much got the attention of the chosen of knowledge. Forcing his gaze away from the glow of the computer screen, he was met with that of a french woman. Skin spattered in a bright pink liquid, it did little to detract from her locks of long brunette hair and reddish orange eyes. A stereotypical french maid outfit clung to her body, fishnet stockings covering her long legs. Black peep-toe pumps cover her feet, while a traditional white frilly headband sits quite comfortably in her hair. A diaper bag sits at her side, just open enough to reveal knives, bottles and of course, diapers. Couldn't forget about the last one.

"Kon'nichiwa, Izumi-san. Watashinonamaeha kōra resanadesu. Watashi no haigūshadearu yume no dōkeshi nikawatte, kanojo ni kawatte anata o uttae ni kimashita. (Hello, Mr Izumi. My name is Cora Redsana, I come on behalf of my spouse - the Jester of Dreams to sue you on her behalf.)" the woman announced, her words coming out so nonchalantly you could easily mistake it for being a joke of some kind. Like putting a whoopee cushion under someone's chair or leaving a banana peel for someone to slip on. But no, this was serious.

"Ē to… watashi wa… ē to… kore o hōtei-gai de kaiketsu shimasu. (Uh… I'll… uh… settle this out of court.)" Koushiro announced, reaching for his phone. Likely to call a banker, he found his phone no longer there. Instead, Cora was now holding it.

"Īe,-sōde wa arimasen. Anata ga shita koto wa, shikimono no shita de issō dekiru monode wa arimasen. Tokuni 80 oku-ri no inochi no unmei o kangaeru to, soreijō no baransu wa torete imasen. (Oh no you don't. What you did is simply not something you can sweep under the rug. Especially with the fate of 8 billion lives if not more in the balance, monsieur.)" Cora cooed, crushing the phone for good measure. Swallowing the chunks for good measure, she waits a moment for everything to digest. Once it had, her focus returned to Koushiro. "Kekkyokunotokoro, anata wa totemo itazuradeshita. Hitobito no dēta o nusumi, supai shi, mitehaikenai basho o shirabemasu. Sore wa totemo zan'nendesu... Sono jōhō ga kōkai sa retara. (As it turns out, you've been very naughty. Stealing people's data, spying on them, looking into places where you shouldn't. It would be such a shame… if that information went public.)"

Koushiro's eyes went wide. Reaching for his keyboard, it was already too late. Emails were already flooding into his inbox, all accusations of screwing them over in the subject line. I don't know what the fuck you expected.

"Anata wa kore o yatta! (You did this!)" Koushiro screeched, Cora rolling her eyes. Of course he would. Never in his life would he ever consider that the very person who he handed the data too would just… dump it as a failsafe for the sake of saving her own neck. No. That would be silly. Yet, that was exactly the case.

"Jibun? Nansensu. Watashi wa kokode wa tada no messenjādesu. To wa ie, Izumi-san, fukugō-ka kī ni `digidestined' o erabubekide wa arimasendeshita. Baiometorikusu no shuchō wa kore de owaridesu yo ne? (Me? Nonsense. I'm only the messenger here. Though, you really shouldn't have chosen 'digidestined' as your decryption key, Mr Izumi. So much for those claims of biometrics, right?)" Cora announced, Koushiro taking a swing at her. All that accomplished was his fist passing right through the maid's body. "Izumi-san, hōtei de o ai shimashou. Anata ga watashi ya kanojo ya kare no tame dakedenaku, atamanoteppen ni anata ni yattekuru kono mechakuchana jōkyō no jūdai-sa o rikai shite kureru koto o negatte imasu. Jikai, hitobito no puraibashī o shingai suruhitsuyōgāru to handan shita toki wa, osoraku, karera ni wa jibun no seiiki o shingai sa retakunai riyū ga aru koto o rikai surudeshou. (See you in court, Mr Izumi. I do hope you understand the gravity of this fucked situation you created not just for me, her or him, but a bunch of other people comes to you on the upside of the head. Perhaps the next time you decide that you need to invade people's privacy, perhaps understand that they have a reason for not wanting their sanctums invaded.)"

Cora teleported away right after saying that. Leaving Koushiro to his own devices, that probably wasn't the best idea. The last time that happened, that whole mess with infections occurred. While the chances of such an event occurring a second time was low, it's still a good idea to remain on guard. There's no telling who might decide to show their face.

Sadly, such advice failed to register in Koushiro's mind. Instead, he got to work attempting to damage control the massive shitstorm he had on his hands. Mass violation of privacy is no joke, especially when you're targeting one specific group of people. If anything, the fact that the chosen of knowledge had conveniently 'forgotten' about such a list leaking out in the first place is all the more worrying. With just about a year of time between that list and the new one, there is no telling what the charges would be. Let alone what court would be considered neutral enough to even take the case. Heck, the digital world might not even be an option. Though, that depends on whether or not the specific digimon was included in that list. Most likely were. Wouldn't be Koushiro Izumi if he didn't go the extra when it came to fucking you over in that regard.

"Nakanaka no ofisudesu ne, Kōshirō ~ (Quite an office you have here, Koushiro~)" a voice called out, bringing with it raygun fire. Koushiro froze, but eventually looked up from his laptop. Standing in the doorway was Vademon of all digimon. Raygun pointed at the floor, he looked happy. Far too happy, to be exact. "Quite a shame that you'll lose it."

Koushiro rolled his eyes. If Vademon was here, who else would decide to kick him while he was down?

As it would turn out, no one… yet. The door was very much open for some alternate version of him to show up or an Eosmon to swoop in and add salt to these self-inflicted wounds.

"Nani o itte iru no ka wakaranai. (I have no clue what you're talking about.)" Koushiro announced, trying his hardest to maintain composure here. It was clearly obvious his true emotions here. Even more so as Vademon's raygun was pointed his way. Looking around for something to disarm the alien digimon. Settling on an award, he threw it at his opponent. Watching it shatter against Vademon's head, it wasn't enough to disarm him. If anything, it brought his raygun ever closer to Koushiro's head.

"Watashi wa sore o tetsudau koto ga dekimasu. Anata ga watashi no jigen e no tabi o kiniitte kureta koto o hakkiri to oboete imasu. (I can help with that. I distinctly remember you liking your trip into my dimension.)" Vademon countered and Koushiro shook his head. What the heck made him think that he would ever want that? If anything, he wanted to stay as far away from such a place as possible.

"Watashi wa... Surudarou! Watashi wa... Surudarou! (I would! I would!)" a childish voice announced, bringing with it a blood-covered Mochimon in Koushiro's lap. Cradling a knife, it too was covered in blood as well.

"Mochimon? (Mochimon?)" Koushiro announced, waiting a moment for Mochimon's gaze to focus on him. Nearly dropping the knife into Koushiro's leg, he caught it just in time.

"Papa, watashi wa Sako kara tōkuhanarete iru to omou. Watashi o kanojo ni an'nai shite kureru to omoimasu ka? (Daddy, I think I'm a long way from Sako. Do you think you can direct me to her?)" Mochimon announced, his words catching Koushiro by complete surprise. Daddy? That couldn't be possible. The thought of fucking a woman felt… weird to him. Ignoring the fact that Joey very much exists, the only way he could see himself with a kid was via adoption. Even then, it would be something that had to be done carefully and calculated.

"U wa~a… kawaī. (Aww.. How cute.)" Vademon announced, Koushiro's gaze swiveling over. Shooting the alien digimon a look, that got him a raygun shot. Somehow impacting the floor, it came awfully close to Koushiro and Mochimon.

"U ̄ n… Sako ga doko ni iru no ka wakaranai. Watashi to issho ni iru dakede anzendesu. Wakatta? (Uh… I don't know where Sako is. Just stay with me and you'll be safe. Okay?)" Koushiro cooed and Mochimon nodded. Holding the bug digimon close to his chest, he pulled the knife away. Slipping it into his pocket for now, ignoring just how stupid of an idea that was. Do not leave bloody knives with the point sticking up! That's just common sense. But no, that's asking too much from the chosen of knowledge. He didn't give it a second thought when it came to shoving it in. "Dō yatte kare o teniireta no ka oshiete - (Care to tell me how you got he-)"

Koushiro got cut off by way of yet another raygun blast. Shooting Vademon a look, he got a shrug from the alien digimon. Why that was the appropriate response was beyond him. The least he could do was apologize. Much like you should do on account of mass violations of privacy, death and god knows what else resulted when you had the genius idea to leak out the personal information of all the chosen children. But I don't see you doing that any time soon.

"Oi! Kaiwa shiyou to shi teta! Chottomatte! (Hey! I was trying to have a conversation! Give me a second!)" Koushiro announced, getting yet another raygun blast as the result. The nerve of some people. Yes indeed, douche.

"Yatta! Anata wa tada jikan o shissoku sa sete iru dakedesu! (I did! You're just stalling for time!)" Vademon countered as he shifted the grip on his raygun. Part of him wanted to just aim for the head and be done with this.

"Subete no dejimon no anata wa, jikan no teishi ga dono yōna mono ka o shitte iru to omoimasu! (I would think that you of all digimon would know what stalling for time looks like!)" Koushiro screeched, remembering that he just pocketed that knife off of Mochimon. Setting Mochimon down for now, the chosen of knowledge reached in. Pulling the weapon out, he felt his hand forced to put it back.

"Son'nani kantan ni norikoe rareru to omotta? (Did you really think that you would get through this that easily?)" a voice called out and Koushiro froze. Staring around the room for the source of the voice, he couldn't figure out where it had come from. Was this some kind of trick on Vademon's part to throw him off? Or was this something else entirely? Like the former rather than the latter.

"Osoraku watashi wa sō shimasu! Tabun jibun o misetekudasai! (Perhaps I do! Maybe show yourself!)" Koushiro announced, only for the room to get dark. Looking around for Vamdemon or Mochimon for that matter, he found himself coming up empty. Nonetheless, he did what felt like the sound thing to do in a situation like this - punch the darkness. If he was lucky, perhaps that would cause something to happen. "Kore o toru! (Take this!)"

Hitting the 'darkness', that was all it took to make it disappear. Back in his office, Koushiro stared down Vademon.

"Oi! Kore wa watashi no seide wa arimasen! Watashi wa chikaimasu! (Hey! This one isn't my fault! I swear!)" the alien digimon announced and got a look from his opponents. Afterwards, Koushiro's gaze turned down to Mochimon. Sitting down on the floor in such a way to prevent Vademon from shooting his way, he pulled his temporary partner into his arms.

"Watashi ga itta yō ni, dō yatte koko ni kita ka shitte imasu ka? (As I was saying, do you know how you got here?)" Koushiro whispered and Mochimon raised a hand to his chin. How exactly did he get here? One moment, he was standing with Sako. Next, he was standing in front of 'Daddy'. It was the oddest thing.

"Tattaima arawaremashita, papa. Anata no shitsumon ni motto umaku kotae raretara yokattanoni. (I just appeared, Daddy. I wished I could answer your question better.)" Mochimon whispered, Koushiro's gaze turning to the blood on Mochimon's skin. That likely was related to the bloody knife and Sako. He probably looked like a horrible father in Mochimon's eyes too. That goes without saying. Shade did shit for Joey. Considering the way your talk with him went, pretty much says it all when it comes to how you likely parented Sako. I could be wrong. Perhaps you were father of the year. But at the same time, perhaps there was a reason that my Joey was quite fine with not knowing who his father is. Just saying.

"Daijōbudesu. Anata ga shitte iru koto o oshietekudasai. (It's alright. Just tell me what you know.)" Koushiro answered and Mochimon nodded. Bringing his small hand to his chin, he took a moment to rub it. What had happened? Closing his eyes, images of death echo about his mind. They had very much lost. Back in their original universe, there was little that could be done. Their mission was complete, the outcome of which unknown. What was known was that this was the end of the line for both of them. Then a blur. Something had occurred, but they were moving far too fast to make sense of any of them. Nor did it explain how he got spattered in blood or the knife in his possession. Heck, it made him even more confused why he had even ended up here in the first place.

Eyes forced back open, Mochimon let out a sigh. He hadn't expected to recall so much.

"Umaku ikanakatta, papa. Tashikana koto wa, kawarini tērusupin ni nagekoma reta kotodesu. Watashi to Sako wa shimei o hatashimashitaga, sore dakede wa jūbunde wa arimasendeshita. Nanika ga shippai shi, subete ga dainashi ni narimashita. (Things went wrong, Daddy. What should've been certain had instead thrown into a tailspin. While Sako and I had completed our mission, it wasn't enough. Something failed and screwed everything up.)" Mochimon explained and Koushiro nodded. Making a mental note to check into that another day, he set Mochimon down beside him. Standing up, his gaze met Vademon.

"Watashi ga sono kaiwa o suru koto ga dekiru yō ni, jūbun nagaku tomatte kurete arigatō. (Thank you for stopping long enough so that I could have that conversation.)" Koushiro announced and Vademon rolled his eyes.

"Sō sō! Ukkari jenosaido o okashite shimatta otoko to, aibō o koroshita kanōsei ga takai dejimon to no kaiwa o sa sete itadakeru koto ni hontōni kansha shite imasu. So no yōna eiyo wa, kekkyokunotokoro, isshō ni ichido shika otozuremasen. (Oh yes! I'm truly grateful to let a man who inadvertently committed an act of genocide talk to a digimon who very likely murdered their partner. Such an honor only comes once a lifetime, after all.)" Vademon countered, watching Koushiro clench his hands into tight fists. The nerve of Vademon of all digimon to claim that he had committed an act of genocide. If anything, Menoa was the only one to blame here. Of course, that required ignoring the fact that she got the data from you. The very thing that allowed her to extend her reach all across the world. But you know, details like that fail to register in Koushiro Izumi's mind. Wouldn't want to break the illusion of the perfect genius who can do no wrong… right?

"Shatto.-Jō. (Shut. Up.)" Koushiro announced, smashing his fists into Vademon's head. Piercing through the skin with relative ease, there's something incredibly brutal about watching the chosen of knowledge self-destruct here. "I will be the one who will write the story. Not you."

Vademon didn't answer, attempting to push Koushiro off of his body. All that accomplished for him was getting punched even more.

"Papa, yamete! (Daddy, stop it!)" Mochimon announced, his words falling on deaf ears. Not that it would help at this point, the sound of laughter echoing about the office. Looking around for where it might be coming from, Mochimon didn't need to look far.

A somehow older version of Koushiro stood in the doorway - Shade. I guess I shouldn't be that surprised here. Yes. Let's add one more fucking Koushiro into the mix. Because we totally need a complete, absolute mess of a character added in. Dressed in a lab coat, he looked quite happy with himself. I don't know why he would be.

"Kare ni yara sete mimashou. Anata no otōsan wa ima, kanari no ikari to ikari o kakaete imasu.

(Let him. Your daddy has quite a bit of pent-up anger and rage at the moment.)" Shade announced and looked over Mochimon. Shifting his gaze over to Koushiro, chuckling escaped his lips. Can't say I understand what he sees that I somehow do- Oh. That is kind of funny, all things considered. In a sad, fucked up way. Perfect for a sorry sack of shit like Shade.

"Subete no hito ni sō iwa reru hitsuyō wa arimasen. (I don't need you of all people to tell me that.)" Koushiro barked and threw Vademon off to the side. Focusing on Shade, he cracked his knuckles. Charging right at the evil scientist, all that accomplished was getting blasted. Not enough to hurt the chosen of knowledge, but more than enough to hurt like the dickens. "Yokumo son'na koto ga dekiru na. (How dare you.)"

Shade rolled his eyes.

"Anata wa gokai shite iru. Watashi ga koko ni iru no wa, shigoto kara hanaretakaradesu. (You misunderstand. I'm only here because I got whisked away from my work.)" Shade announced and got a raised eyebrow from Koushiro. Standing back up, he dived for Shade's legs. Just avoiding the shot fired his way, it didn't come close to actually hitting his opponent. Instead, Koushiro managed to tumble right into one of the few parts of the walls that didn't have some kind of server frame or similar technological marvel for 2011. "Watashi ga yarou to shite ita koto ga umaku itte ireba, watashitachi wa mattaku chigau kaiwa o shite itadeshou. (If what I was about to do worked out, we would be having a far different conversation.)"

Koushiro rolled his eyes.

"Iori o yūkai suru koto wa, nantonaku ī kotoda to setsumei suru bubundesu ka? (Is this the part where you explain how kidnapping Iori is somehow a good thing?)" Koushiro announced, standing back up in defiance. Flipping Shade off for good measure, he got no response from his opponent.

"Amari. Watashi ga don'na hōhō o tsukatta to shite mo, anata-tachi wa watashi o kiraudeshou. Nanode, jibungaichiban ī to omotta kata ni ikimashita. Taimingu ga warukatta nodesuga, dōsureba īdesu ka? Amari nai. (Not really. Whatever method I used, you all were going to hate me for it. So I went with the one that I thought was best. Timing was bad on that one, but what can you do about that? Not much.)" Shade answered, meeting the glare he was getting to the best of his abilities. For once, I'm with Koushiro here. If this is going where I think this is going, it would've been a heck of a lot easier to tell his son. But no, Shade just had to be a dramatic asshole.

"Papa, kono hiretsuna dopperugengā no o shiri o keru tsumoridesu yo ne? (Daddy, you are going to kick this mean doppelganger's ass, right?)" Mochimon announced and Koushiro's gaze swiveled over. Looking to his daughter's partner, a nod followed. Out came the knife once more. This time, no strange darkness stuff decided that it needed to interfere here. Pointing the weapon in Shade's direction, he tried his best to imitate some of this universe's knife fighters. The results… were about as well as you could expect someone with no fighting experience. No self-inflicted stab wounds, so our idiot of knowledge has that going for him. Instead, he had managed the impressive feat of stabbing the wall and missing Shade entirely. Mind you, he was right in front of him here. How that happened is beyond me. Just another reason to not trust Koushiro with anything.

"Sore wa omae ga Iori o nani ni tsukau tsumorina no ka setsumei dekinai na, rokudenashi. (That doesn't explain what you plan to use Iori for, asshole.)" Koushiro announced, ignoring his inept attempt at stabbing his possible future self.

"Kōkei-sha ni ijō ga nai ka chekku shita koto wa arimasu ka? Karera no dejikame wa dōdesu ka? Sorera wa, katsute wa fukanō to kangae rarete ita nanika ni kanren suru dēta de gisshiri tsumatte imashita - chiteki robotto. (Did you ever check your successors for any anomalies? How about their digivices? Those were chocked full of data related to something once thought impossible - sentient robots.)"

Kouahiro stared at Shade, the words not even reaching his mouth. So like a nekoroid then? Those nekomata robots are so cool. Though, my youngest daughter is also a robot. Just of a different sort. She's spending the weekend with her godparents. Quite an agreement. I should go see Claire and that fairy of hers. Now, what was her name? Cuddles. Yeah. They would love that.

Now, where were we? Right. Sentient robots. Harlequin doesn't see what's so odd about that. Technically, digimon are sentient robots. Just without the parts that would make them robotic. Unless they're a cyborg digimon. Then it gets fuzzy.

"Detarame. (Bullshit.)" Koushiro announced and Shade rolled his eyes. Digging into his pockets, out came a piece of paper. Throwing it at the chosen of knowledge, Koushiro came far too close to accidentally stabbing it. Setting the knife down, he reluctantly turned his attention to the paper. A set of test results, it denoted a large file that one would expect to find on a mobile phone. Not a full-fledged human being. Yet, this all felt preposterous in the chosen of knowledge's mind.

"Anata wa akiraka ni watashi no soba ni tsuku tame ni kore o detchiagemashita. (You clearly made this up in order to get on my side.)" Koushiro announced, getting treated to a slap from Shade. By no means hurting, it was still better than getting hit with shadow magic.

"Dochira ka to ieba, watashi wa anata ni shitsubō shite iru hazudesu. Anata no zettai-tekina oroka-sa no okage de, anata wa min'na o mechakucha ni shimashita. Demo ano on'na wa mō ittadesho? (If anything, I should be disappointed in you. Thanks to your absolute stupidity, you fucked everyone over. But that woman told you that already, didn't she?)" Shade snarled as Koushiro slapped him back. While he had likely put more force into that blow than Shade had, it almost looked to hurt less. "Watashi wa nora o tekisetsuna-tai ni surunoni kore hodo chikakatta nodesuga, chigaimasu! Anata wa tada takusan no hitobito o naosanakereba narimasendeshita. Shinda kanōsei ga aru hodo ōku no hito ga nakunatte inai to iu jijitsu wa, shōsan sa reru monode wa arimasen. (I was this close to getting Nora a proper body, but no! You just had to fix a shitload of people. The fact that not as many died that could've is not something to be praised for.)"

Silence fell over the room. Neither Koushiro nor Mochimon said a word. Instead, they stared out into space. As if something would happen if they waited long enough.

"Donata ka watashi o kyūchi kara sukuidashite itadakemasen ka? Watashi wa anata ga umidashite iru fuan o aishiteimasu ga, koreha bakagete imasu. (Could one of you put me out of my misery? I'm loving the angst you're generating, but this is ridiculous.)" Vademon announced, somehow not dead after the beating Koushiro just gave him here. Nonetheless, he grabbed the knife off the floor and stabbed the alien digimon. That was all that was needed here. While I would call it a shame, it really isn't. Good riddance to this asshole. A shame I can't say the same about Koushiro here. No, that was asking too much here. At this point, Shade is looking like a far better option at the moment. Not really saying much here.

"Yoku dekita. Anata wa kare o koroshita. Ima kara do usu ru no? Watashi mo korosu? (Good job. You killed him. What are you going to do now? Kill me as well?)" Shade announced and headed for the door. Slamming it behind him for good measure, Koushiro's gaze flicked over to Mochimon. Still enraged, he still needed to grill the little guy for any information he could get his hands on.

Tossing the paper off to the side, Koushiro kept the knife out. Approaching Mochimon, his target looked to very much be on edge here. He couldn't figure out why that was. I don't know, maybe it has something to do with the knife you're proudly brandishing in his direction. Yeah. That probably has something to do with it.

"Mochimon, nanika oboe teru? (Do you remember anything, Mochimon?)" Koushiro announced, far too cheerfully for someone holding a knife at the moment.

"Chotto. (Kinda.)" Mochimon answered, closing his eyes for just a moment. The memories came swirling back in. Sako freezing in place, unable to move. Trying his hardest to get her free and then, the knife. Picking the weapon up, mentally preparing himself for the deed. Darkness followed, his eyelids forced open. The words spill out, incomprehensible on my end. I don't know how Koushiro understands it, but he does.

"Anata wa kanari iyarashī koto o shimashita. Soshitara bachigaataru to omoimasu. (You did quite a naughty thing. I guess I'm going to have to punish you then.)" Koushiro answered, raising the knife up. Slicing right through his temporary companion, the only thing the chosen of knowledge felt was hollowness. He had just killed his daughter's partner because he had done the same to her. All while blissfully unaware of the blessing that Mochimon granted Sako. But it's neither here or th-

"Die evildoer!" a voice announced, bringing with it a teenage boy. On the younger side of that spectrum, he had gone for a light gray t-shirt and jeans. Locks of blonde hair ending in tips of gray had been combed over his right eye. Said eyes shine a shade of red only accomplished with contacts. The actual color remained undetermined. Perhaps for the best with the scythe that was as large as him floated beside him. Some kind of digi- Fuck. I know who this is and why they're here. At least it's not Joey. Though, that would've been kind of funny in some regard.

"Dejimon o koroshita ore no shiri o tataku tame ni koko ni irunara, ore no mado kara tobidashite ī zo, kuso yarō. (If you're here to get on my ass for killing a digimon, you can fling yourself out of one of my windows, you dumbfuck.)" Koushiro screeched, getting an eye roll from the teenager. I honestly don't know what I expected here. Some kind of pretentious old timey speech?

"Woe to the man who accuses another to end their mortal coil for the sake of getting out of your hair. Pathetic. What do you say, my sister?" the teenager announced, the scythe moving about in order to face Koushiro. Staring for a couple seconds, it's back over to its owner.

"Fuck him too. You're probably the sort that thinks you're untouchable, don't you?" the scythe announced, Koushiro splitting focus between both of them here. Couldn't make this shit up. Oh, you could. But that wouldn't be that much fun now, would it?

"Watashi ga antatchaburudattara, anata wa watashi o mitsukeru koto ga dekinakattadeshou. (If I was untouchable, you wouldn't have been able to find me.)" Koushiro remarked, pointing the knife at his target. All that got him was laughter. Did they really think that he was some kind of joke in their eyes? Most likely. All the more reason to show them why the chosen of knowledge should be feared, not laughed at. Or would it be how much of a clown you are? A much more likely explanation here.

"Yes, we relinquished an airship just to visit a simpleton like you. Absolutely not. No, we were escaping the erasure of our existence." the teenager announced, easily dodging the swing of the knife. Gripping his scythe, he managed to knock Koushiro down with ease. Not even attempting to maintain eye contact, the teenager instead chose to walk over to the mini-fridge. Opening it up, he helped himself to some oolong tea.

"That's my tea!" Koushiro announced, not even attempting to get up. Instead, he only watched as his opponent headed for the doorway.

"Thanks for that, cunt. I'll savor the canned refreshness with all my might." the teenager announced as he made his exit. Slamming the door behind him, Koushiro was once more all alone. Perhaps that's for the best…

.

While that was all going on, a green dot appeared on a computer screen. They don't know the exact year, but they have a sneaking suspicion that they are vastly behind schedule. Call it a hunch more than anything concrete.

'Staring' about their surroundings, they appeared to be hooked up among much more basic server racks and other technology to be considered 'bleeding edge' for anyone that wasn't them.

"HELLO WORLD." they announced with their built-in speakers, waiting a moment to see if anyone would come their way. As it would turn out, quite a number of people swarmed their screen. How kind of them to provide an audience for what she was about to say. While only scientists and researchers, that was good enough. "MY NAME IS DM. I AM HERE TO WARN YOU ABOUT EVENTS THAT HAVE YET TO ARRIVE, IN THE HOPE THAT YOU MAY CHANGE HUMANITY'S FUTURE."

Celebration echoed across the crowd. Was their activation really something to celebrate here? They had just implied bad things were about to happen. Kind of made them feel spoiled. Like a prince or princess. Which one they felt like more was something to dwell over in the meantime.

Harlequin's Notes:

Fuck Shade and Koushiro. Equally.

*Looks over word count.* What do you mean this is longer than the arc that it takes place in?! Ugh...