DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the OCs introduced in this story and later stories (except where stated).
CHAPTER 11
Her Reassurance
REAL WORLD
Hypnos, Floor 29, Tokyo Metropolitan Building
12:55 JST
3rd July 2010
"Finished…"
Henry opened his eyes and sat up from his tired pose, surprised to hear the words from his partner, who now stood triumphantly on the desk.
"What?" Henry asked.
"I finally finished fine-tuning it…it's ready…" Terriermon replied, pointing to the screen, still full of ones and zeros.
"So what exactly does it do?" Henry asked, wheeling across to the desk and looking at the screen, hoping to see some clue, but only seeing the reams of seemingly random ones and zeros.
"It's an elegant, simple solution…"
"You've already said that…"
"Well, first of all, here's my justification."
"Can't you just tell me what it is?"
"No, because you'll just say no straight away."
"This isn't exactly encouraging my initial guesses on what you have planned."
"Let me talk…right, the Digital World previously required on an overlord of some form to manage it, and was basically a chaotic place where death was inevitable, except in some isolated areas."
"Yeah, like the Eastern Region area…mostly…"
"Yeah, so my thoughts were, what are the weaknesses of the old system, under Yggdrasil?"
"Well, to start, that position caused jealousy compared to actual Gods, leading to an aggressive and selfish personality."
"Yeah, and the idea itself creates balance to start with in a mix that would sort that out for itself regardless, since you'd end up with each type defeating the other and regulating their numbers on their own" Terriermon added.
"And I suppose there is a risk of having a central overlord in general that has come true, in that if they are destroyed, there is no replacement."
"Exactly my thoughts, and so I came up with a decentralised solution…"
Henry watched, as Terriermon quickly switched to a word document, with some words on it, Henry's eyes widening as he read it, Terriermon speaking the words simultaneously.
"Give Digimon the power to breed…" Terriermon read, a smile creeping onto his face after he saw Henry's reaction.
Shinjuku
12:55 JST
Mari held on tight to Youkomon's mane as they passed the occasional moving traffic on the street, the fox dodging out of the way of the surprised motorists. Thankfully, they themselves were still few and far between, people staying inside where possible. She passed into quieter streets, faintly familiar from occasional trips whilst at the park, but otherwise unknown, thanking DarkRenamon's impressive knowledge acquisition of an area's layout quickly, something she had managed both in New York and Tokyo, and no doubt the Digital World.
Youkomon came to a stop outside a particular building, and Mari frowned to see a 'closed' sign on the door, the words Matsuki Bakery appearing to her as plain English on the window. She sighed her frustration away, glancing to Youkomon as a signal to proceed. Youkomon continued on their run, passing through an area of lower rise houses before reading the large expanse of green and brown that was Shinjuku Park, entering through a path that no doubt was all too familiar to the current incarnation of Chaos.
Mari glanced at the time on her D-Vice, frowning when she saw it. It was12:55, a time which no doubt signalled the coming of another collapse. They passed the occasional person as they passed along the paths of the park, some not even pausing to glimpse at the sight which would be unusual to residents of anywhere else.
Youkomon followed a path as it curved upwards, the sides rising to match as they approached an all-too familiar location. Youkomon came to a stop, glancing upwards to Mari, who smiled.
"Feels different being here as a Tamer…"
"Why exactly?"
"Not sure…" Mari replied, smiling as she leapt off her partner, landing gracefully on the grass alongside where her partner had come to a standstill. "Are you going to dedigivolve?" she asked.
Youkomon glanced at her, before straining to do something, which Mari soon figured out to be an attempt at dedigivolution. Youkomon then gave up, and shook her head sadly.
"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it soon enough, most of the Tamer's digimon had similar problems at first…" Mari reassured.
"How did they solve them?"
"Hmm…I don't think you could stand on your head, and most of the other ideas didn't work. Maybe we can just exercise it off?"
"Climb on then…"
Mari shook her head. "We'll do that later, if you don't mind?" Youkomon shook her head. "Besides, you were so cool back there…"
"Thank you…"
Mari sat on the sloped grass, and looked across to her partner, looking curiously at her own legs and feet.
"Can you sit down at all or…?" Mari asked. Youkomon smiled.
"Bear with me…" she replied, Mari chuckling at her predicament.
"Try putting your tails down and then kinda…falling over…" Mari suggested, unsure exactly whether her plan would work. She smiled as Youkomon attempted it, and was successful, albeit needing to curl up slightly in order to face Mari, the fox smiling whilst blushing in embarrassment.
"Thank you…"
"Yeah, speaking of that…I think we've both helped each other out an equal number of times so…can we drop all this 'debt of gratitude' stuff?" Mari asked.
"But I feel that I should help you because you helped me…"
"Yeah, but we do that because we're partners, not because we've each saved each others lives…" Mari replied.
Youkomon nodded, as Mari looked over her form.
"So how does it feel to be digivolved?" she asked.
"It feels different, yet familiar…I knew straight away how to control myself, despite the fact I've never held this form before…"
"I guess that explains how after biomerging, they seem to be able to fight well straight away, albeit with the occasional mishap…"
Youkomon nodded. "I cannot wait until we biomerge, it'll be so…strange I guess…"
"Yeah, but we've got your ultimate form to go through first…"
"Takes a bit of fun out of it already to know what I'll look like though…" Youkomon joked. Mari nodded, something bugging her as she agitatedly brought up the subject.
"Youkomon, when I took your data out of ReverseGinRyumon…it went around me…it felt so amazing, warm, comforting…"
"I felt a strange feeling like that before I was restored…"
"Where did you go?"
"Nowhere, I just…felt it…like my soul was kept in stasis…"
"Yeah…well the feeling…it felt like…like I could make us biomerge together, it was so close I felt I could touch it…"
"What stopped you?"
"Fear…a fear that I could lose you if I went too fast…fear that forcing it would make something awful happen due to my anger, like, god forbid, Kitsunemon, from what I heard of her from Rika…" Mari replied, true fear and concern in her voice.
"I understand completely…Kitsunemon was horrific…don't worry about it, I would've made the same decision…"
Mari smiled and nodded. "Thanks…" she told her partner uneasily, the events of the day still amazing her and yet confusing her at the same time. It had enthralled her to have these powers, but she now held a deep rooted concern about them simultaneously.
"Earlier on…I recall that a burst of fire erupted from the building and took out the energy ball…" Youkomon reminisced. "At the time I attributed it to a coincidence, but did you cause it?" she asked.
Mari nodded. "I think so…my hands felt warm all of a sudden, it was strange, but I just ignored it…"
"Do you remember things about the Angels now?" the fox asked, and Mari nodded.
"I can feel…I can feel signals…not sure where from, but I can feel nine signals…one of them is strong, that must be Ryder…the others are all around medium strength, except for one, that's really faint…"
"Interesting…"
"Discounting me…they must be the ten angels…but, why is one of them weak? Is that Rey? I haven't seen her around recently, so who is it?"
"I am unsure, but if it is Rey, then she must have a strange signal for some reason…"
"She's sixteen right? We figured out that she would be born either now, or soon…maybe she's already in someone's womb…"
"Rika perhaps?"
Mari chuckled. "Yeah right, Rika's sixteen Youkomon, it's extremely unlikely she would be pregnant at her age…"
Youkomon nodded, something still bugging her hanging in her mind from what Mari had said. "But if she was, then it would explain everything…"
Mari nodded. "I suppose…but we could hardly ask, could we? How do you start that conversation after all? Oh, do you think that you're pregnant?"
Youkomon nodded, chuckling at Mari's interpretation of the problem. "Yeah, well illustrated point…"
"We'll just wait and see, okay?" Mari asked.
"Of course…" Youkomon replied.
"That reminds me; however, of something Ryder once said…he joked about the concept of a being with the powers of Chaos and Harmony together…"
"But, I mean, could you imagine it? A direct descendant of Chaos and Harmony, with the powers of both? They could tear a hole in the universe, take over a planet…they'd have all of the powers and none of the disadvantages that come with only having one side of them…"
"He said that they would have the advantages, but none of the disadvantages, so if Rey really is the child of Takato and Rika then…" Mari ran through the idea, eyes widening as it came to bear. "She'd be incredibly powerful…and that would explain the DNA situation…"
"But it still needs to be asked, how do we ask Rika?"
"Yeah, she might think that we were insane…"
"Or that we are very deductive…"
"Hmm, the gains of finding out the truth aren't really worth the risks of if our ideas were false, are they?" Mari replied, frowning. Youkomon shook her head.
"We will have to simply wait and see what happens…" she replied, Mari nodding in response, and glancing to her D-Vice. She expanded it to its full mode, and began to ponder something.
"Hey, something odd is definitely going on here…" she said to Youkomon, who cocked her head in curiosity.
"What exactly?"
"Well, Rika and Takato now have D-Vices as well, as does Rey, but…" Mari pondered, putting her ideas together. "Ryder is from another universe…" she added.
"You're pondering whether the D-Vice is from our universe or his, aren't you?" the fox asked, Mari nodding in response.
"Yeah, I mean…speaking of that, a lot of things about Ryder don't make sense…" Mari continued her train of thought.
"Such as?"
"He told us that Dimensions was the TV series depicting the Tamers lives from the end of the D-Reaper to the cataclysm, but he never said about any of those fanfic things that featured them at all."
"Hmm…"
"And sometimes, I see him look at people…the look is one of awe, of amazement, almost surprised that we exist…"
"That is not surprising…he thought we were a TV show…"
"But…it's more than that…he knows things deeper than any TV show ever runs to…in twenty minutes of storytelling, I've never seen any TV series that could go that deep…"
"So what are you suggesting?"
"I'm suggesting that there is more to him than meets the eye…"
"Hmm…perhaps…"
"The question is, what do I do?"
"Yeah…he'd probably see it as rude, intruding even…"
"I thought we told each other everything as a couple…what could be so dark and deep that he wouldn't tell even me?"
"Presumably something major…maybe to protect you from the truth?"
"I'd rather know the truth and have only one thing that I have to worry about than not know and have to consider all the possible worries that it could be…"
"Mari, do not answer if you don't want to, but…how much has he actually told you about his world?"
"Well…he said that it was just like this world…and that he was part of a team of five Tamers, one of whom he had a crush on…"
"And her name?"
Mari shook her head. "He's never said that, nor for that matter anyone's name from his world besides Merukimon and Arkadimon…"
Mari began to frown and looked to the ground after saying the last name, making Youkomon concerned. "Mari, are you alright?"
"Yeah, it's just…maybe I should cut him some slack about his world…I couldn't contemplate the concept of being stranded on a completely different world, not even existing…and knowing that everyone in your own world could be being slaughtered all the meanwhile…it's just…I'm afraid of what he'd choose if he had a chance to go home…"
"I understand, and I am sure he would too…you have become so close so quickly that you have both become virtually dependant on each other for emotional support…"
"And that's what worries me…" Mari said, looking up with a single tear crawling down her face. "What happens if we lose each other, and the support collapses?"
Youkomon frowned, moving closer to her partner and comforting her with her tails, wiping away any tears.
"Thanks…" Mari said emotionally, beginning to lean on the tails. "Can I rest on them?" she asked.
"Sure…just…stop pulling on them so hard…" the fox replied, breathing a sigh of relief once Mari moved slightly. "Thanks…" she added.
Streets of Tokyo
12:55 JST
Gaiomon laughed manically as he floated above his next target, the 49th building in the line, the 10th building that he had to destroy. The towers of Hypnos were to be the 13th target, in a brilliant plan that sped up all the way from 30 minute intervals to 5 minute ones, increasing the fear and pressure on his foe. The destruction of their confidence, always led to their losses, since they were distracted by fear. He was disgusted by the fear of his fellow humans, and his display of it previously when he had been trapped by Sakuyamon's sphere.
Gaiomon's hands glowed. "GAIA REACTOR!" he roared, the storm disintegrating the building where it stood, with no survivors. He had no interest in torturing the majority of human prey, those not connected to the Tamers or Angels, their destruction was his aim, and torturing them was simply timewasting. He also stopped short at torturing the Angels and Tamers if it would prevent him from completing his tasks.
He glanced to one side, seeing Imperialdramon, Seraphimon, Ophanimon, BlazeDonnermon, Gallantmon and Sakuyamon approaching him. He smirked, to any unknowledgeable observer he would look like he was outnumbered by far, and was about to fight a losing battle, but he knew better than that.
"POSITRON LASER!" Imperialdramon roared, his cannon firing a large blast of energy at the comparatively small mega. Gaiomon slashed through the blast with his swords, before preparing his next attack.
"EDEN'S JAVELIN!" Ophanimon yelled, a zap of energy shooting forth from her aforementioned weapon and colliding with an unprepared Gaiomon, who screamed in pain. The blast subsided, and he gritted his teeth, raising his swords quickly.
"RINKAZAN!" he called, pointing his twin swords at the angel. A pair of beams of white light zigzagged randomly on their way, before colliding with an unprepared Ophanimon, who shrieked in pain as she felt the blast cut at her data, before she began to fall, splitting back into Kari and Gatomon.
"Kari!" TK and Davis yelled, as Sakuyamon quickly flew to grab the falling pair, concerned for the injuries that would've resulted from the fall, although noting afterwards in her mind that Kari had survived a higher fall before without significant injury, a miracle explained only in Rika's eyes by the fact that Kari must've been an Angel, just not awakened yet. She set the pair down on the floor, nodding at their thanks.
Gallantmon watched her, himself concerned for the pairs' safety, before turning back to Gaiomon. "What kind of Digimon is this guy?" he asked, raising his D-Vice within his orb, and moaning in frustration when no data appeared. 'Hmm…this is the first time I've biomerged since we all biomerged together to make Goddramon…feels lonely now…' he thought, waiting for something. "Here we go…" he said gladly as the data appeared, before reading it. "Gaiomon, Virus Type, Mega Level, attacks Gaia Reactor, Rinkazan and Rinkageki" he read, before turning to glance at Sakuyamon. "Rika, be careful, he's a virus type and you're a data type…"
Sakuyamon glanced to him, first prepared to give an insult, before deciding to say nothing at all after Harmony's words. 'He does care for you…'
"Thanks Takato…" Rika replied, raising her staff.
"Thanks for the tip off!" Gaiomon mocked, lifting his sword. "RINKAZAN!" he yelled, the lightning streaking towards the yellow fox-like shaman, Rika and Renamon screaming and falling to the ground as it hit.
"Hey!" Takato complained, looking with hatred towards the WarGreymon-like figure.
Rika stood up, feeling slightly woozy all of a suddenly. She felt Renamon grab her, but her partner's grip was similarly weak.
"Are you okay?" Renamon asked. Rika nodded, feeling her senses restoring. The blast had thrown them out of their mega form, but seemed to only have drained their energy, rather than causing physical damage.
"Yeah…stupid Gogglehead…" she muttered.
"Sorry…" Takato apologised nervously.
"All's fair in love and war…" Gaiomon commented, raising his swords again and facing the Shaman lying on the ground below. "I shall carry out the later…RINKAGEKI!" he yelled, an arrow of light streaking out of the blades as the others looked on in shock.
Rika looked up to see the arrow flying towards them at speed, Renamon following her gaze and similarly paralysed in shock.
'No…' Rika thought sadly, realising that what her greatest fear for that battle was being realised.
'Rika, move!' Harmony screamed, but to no use, Rika couldn't move her arms or legs, until she raised her right arm to cover her eyes as a blur crossed her vision.
Gallantmon crashed to the ground nearby, arrow in him as he phased back to his component forms, Takato and Guilmon groaning in pain as the goggle-headed boy slowly opened his eyes. Rika quickly ran over to him, Renamon following to check her own lover.
"Are you okay?" Takato asked, his voice woozy from the hit he had taken as well.
"I should ask the same about you…" Rika replied. "Thanks for that, by the way…" she told him.
"No problem, I'd do anything for you…" he replied, pulling her into an embrace.
"Oh, so heart-warming…" Gaiomon mocked.
'With all this self-doubt and concern about things, I forgot the one thing that brought me and Takato together in the first place…he cares about me and will stand by me in anything that happens…'
Rika looked into his eyes, smiling.
'I'm going to tell him…now probably isn't the time…" she thought, as TK and Patamon fell to the ground weakly.
"More sleep now TK…" Patamon muttered, exhausted.
"Rika, shouldn't we get out of here?" Takato asked. "They're falling like flies…"
Rika looked up to see Imperialdramon and BlazeDonnermon, the only ones still remaining in the sky surrounding Gaiomon. Gaiomon swiftly moved past them, to another building several blocks away.
Checking that no-one was in earshot, she stepped closer to him. "We'll have to be ready to dual biomerge if there's nothing left…" she said to him, reluctance in her voice. She felt weak enough from her energy drain from biomerging, and Goddramon wasn't something easy in the slightest, plus there was the fact that everyone would find out their secret. He nodded reluctantly.
"GAIA RACTOR!" he roared, the building turning merely to dust that fell to the ground, caking the now flat block and streets surrounding it.
"What the…" Imperialdramon began.
"You still here?" Gaiomon asked, raising his swords. "Not any longer…RINKAZAN!"
Imperialdramon screamed as the lightning-like blast collided with him, the electricity-like energy flowing over his form as Davis and Veemon screamed, before the pair collapsed to the ground, their biomerge cancelled.
"We're just standing around, waiting to be hit!" TK warned.
"But we can't kill him, what do we do?" Kari asked.
"We can subdue him…" TK suggested. "And just hope it works…"
"Go BlazeDonnermon, you're our only hope!" Davis cheered, looking upwards to the one remaining biomerge on their side, the bipedal dragon who currently glared at Gaiomon where he floated.
"Yeah, go BlazeDonnermon!" Veemon called.
"I see that you have plenty of support…" Gaiomon commented to the other dragon. "Shame that this is not a popularity contest…"
"This isn't going to be easy…" Ryder said to his partner.
"Yeah…" came the reply.
"By the way, do not expect this battle to divert me from the task at hand…" Gaiomon replied, before flying to one side and heading towards the next building. "GAIA REACTOR!" he roared, evaporating the building as BlazeDonnermon swiftly followed.
'This is it…' Ryder thought, as he prepared to battle with the samurai.
TO BE CONTINUED…
And so, we're set up for our conclusion. There is likely to be two more chapters left, along with either an Extra Dimensions story or an epilogue-style series of chapters dealing with the consequences of this day.
Next time…
What will Takato do when he finally finds out? Will BlazeDonnermon be able to defeat Gaiomon? How will Henry react to Terriermon's plan?
Find out in 'His Battle', Chapter Twelve of Dimensions Book Five: Demons.
