DISCLAIMER: I don't own Digimon, but I do own the OCs introduced in this story and later stories (except where stated).


CHAPTER 16

His Words


REAL WORLD

Shinjuku General Hospital

11:27 JST

4th July 2010

A deathly silence had descended upon the group as they waited in the hallway, occasionally taking glances into the room through the window where their view was obscured by both doctors and nurses treating the patient. Rika leaned against the wall, arms crossed and looking at the floor in contemplation, while Rey and Takato had taken seats, all agitated as to the state of their friend.

'What happened to him?' Rika thought, glancing up through the window.'It looked like he got hit by something…'

Mari was watching silently from the corner of the operating room, left undisturbed by those busily operating away as she watched. They passed from defibrillation to CPR and back again continuously, on an endless two minute cycle.

The heart rate machine varied significantly, Dr Imai regularly looking at it and frowning at its results as she proceeded to continue with orders.

"He's stabilising…" one of the male nurses noted, as the equipment began to slow down in its erratic changes.

Dr Imai paused, before beginning to change her orders, Mari watching and not hearing them as she stared on at the unconscious boy, questions racing through her conscious.

What the hell had happened to him?

What was he doing?

Could he ever fight again?

Mari decided, as some of the staff left, to follow, taking a glance at Ryder before leaving into the hallway, where all eyes were on her.

"Is he okay?" Rey asked concerned.

"They…" Mari began, pausing when her voice broke up before she could say anything more. "They said he was stabilising…"

Rika frowned. Even if he was stabilising, the fact he wasn't stabilised implied it could get worse again. "What happened to him?" she asked, her voice taking on a tone of concern.

Mari sat down, looking around to the others. "He took a direct hit from an ultimate level…"

"What?" Takato asked in surprise. No wonder he was that injured, humans could be that heavily injured from rookies, let alone ultimates.

Mari nodded. "We were fighting…Mammothmon and Bakamon…Youkomon and I were dealing with the ghosts while Ryder and MegaDonnermon were dealing with the ultimate…and Ryder decided to use his retcon ability so he ran out in front of the Mammothmon, with MegaDonnermon behind him to attack…" she recalled, before pausing as she swallowed a lump in her throat.

Takato frowned; Mari looked distressed far more than he'd ever seen.

"What happened?" Rika asked.

"He froze up…completely froze, no blinking, no movement, no nothing…like…like he was thinking…and then Mammothmon hit him with the trunk into a building at high speed…"

Takato's eyes widened in alarm, horrified by what he'd heard. "No way…why did he freeze up?"

"I have no idea…" Mari answered. MiniDonmon, on her head, looked glum and hadn't talked so far.

"Are you okay?" DarkRenamon asked, stepping in from nowhere and looking to the bat, who frowned.

"Poor Ryder…" he muttered sadly, looking back into the room where the doctors continued to operate.

Takato frowned. He couldn't stand to see his friends like this, both physically and emotionally in pain. He just hoped that Ryder pulled through.

Rey glanced at her hands, alarm spreading through her. "If Ryder dies then I can not have come to the past…damn free will…" she muttered angrily, swearing that she saw her hand blur and fade periodically before returning to its normal self.

She gritted her teeth, she was already fading. Time was flipping backwards and forwards, she had to do something before she simply ceased to exist. Ryder gave her the device, if he died now then there was no way that could possibly happen, let alone all the other battles that may have been lost were it not for his aid.

'Please hang in there…' she pleaded, seeing the various doctors and nurses exit the room, leaving only a few still in there.

Dr Imai paused when outside, looking around at the teenagers waiting agitatedly outside. She frowned. "He's stabilised, but the injuries are very severe…what exactly happened?"

"Side impact by the metal trunk of a huge enraged mammoth into a building…" Rika answered, the cold way she said it covering up her true worry for the boy, as a friend, fellow Tamer and own creation (albeit, the descendant incarnation of the first First Angel).

"I see…" Dr Imai replied. From anyone but the Tamers, it would seem like a cold sick joke (on the level that doctors would use to soften the pain of so many deaths and terminal injuries or diseases), but from what she had seen and heard, it simply wasn't going to be. None of them looked in the mood for jokes in the slightest.

"Is…is he going to be alright?" Mari asked nervously, not particularly wanting to hear the answer if it was to be bad news.

"I hope…it's far too early to tell…I'm actually rather surprised that he's still alive after what you said happened to him…"

Takato nodded, Ryder was an Angel, designed to take higher levels of damage than a normal human, but he was far from invincible even then. Taiki, of the Demons and presumably having similar resilience to the Angels as their polar opposite objectives-wise (a fact supported by surviving attacks from Digimon and buildings collapsing on top of him), had been dispatched by an ordinary pistol, albeit also from point blank.

"Is he unconscious?" Rey asked.

"Coma…" Dr Imai replied. "For how long, we can't be sure…"

"Can I see him?" Mari asked, a mix of eagerness and concern in her voice.

Dr Imai nodded, opening the door with her hand. "Try not to touch any of the equipment…" she noted, as Mari walked forward, nodding.

"Thank you…" she said, entering the room. She glanced around the room again, finally able to see it properly with no others in there. Dr Imai followed her, standing at the door and glancing around. Mari didn't notice, she was soon transfixed on the boy lying on the stretcher in the middle, covered in pipes and drips covering his bare chest and arms. A heart rate monitor beeped away as the line wavered up and down.

Ryder's eyelids were closed, and his brown hair was ruffled. His side was bleeding, and had been hit very hard, bruises running across it where it wasn't bleeding. Despite this, he had a look of peace to him. Mari ran her hand across his cheek gently, frowning at his complete lack of reaction.

"Seat?" asked the doctor, pushing a chair up to her. She nodded blankly, sitting on it. "Do you mind if the others come in?"

"Yeah…if they want…" Mari replied, not paying all that much attention to the doctor, her view still transfixed on the boy's face. She heard the door open behind her, as people entered, their footsteps pausing as they saw him.

"We'll need to move him into the ICU in a second…" Dr Imai noted.

Mari nodded unconsciously, as Rey looked over the boy. "He seriously took a hit…" she noted. "It really is amazing that he survived…"

'I hope he continues to survive…' Mari thought, unknowing that Rey was having similar thoughts.


Intensive Care Unit, Shinjuku General Hospital

12:02 JST

"Here…" Rika said, smiling weakly as she held out the can of soda to the girl who'd been seated alongside the bed contemplating since they moved Ryder into the ICU. MiniDonmon slept at the end of the bed, tired from the hits he had taken during the battle.

'Why did he freeze up?'

Rika frowned, Mari not noticing her at first, and looking like she was in a trance. "Mari…" she said, attracting the girl's attention as she looked up, and took the can, smiling weakly.

"Sorry, was thinking…"

Rika nodded, pulling up a chair and sitting next to her. Takato was still back at the machine, trying to sort out a situation where a thirsty Chaos had simply smashed the glass with a ball of energy after Takato realised he had no money on him, Rey trying to help her father in the nervous explanations about it just 'happening' to smash.

"He'll wake up, I'm sure of it…" she tried to reassure.

"Some people can be in comas for weeks, months, even for the rest of their lives…" Mari said glumly, resting her head on her hands. Rika frowned, glancing to the heart rate machine, still beeping as a doctor checked it.

"Maybe he'll survive…he is an Angel…" Rika reassured.

"Rey said that he has no destiny…nothing is keeping him alive, no events in the future to drag him away from things…" Mari said pessimistically.

'I'm a God, or at least part of one, why can't I do anything?' Rika thought, once again feeling pangs of helplessness as events raced past outside of her control.

"…Angels…" muttered a voice, and the pair turned in surprise to see…no change.

"Huh?" Rika pondered.

"I could've sworn that was Ryder…"

"Yeah…did you manage to deal with the bioemergence?"

Mari nodded, a flash of fire running through her eyes as she recalled the rage of the two digimon that had been on their side in the battle. "After Ryder was hit…MegaDonnermon went crazy, he literally tore Mammothmon in two, and the Bakamon were quickly dispatched by Youkomon."

"And what about you?"

"I was distraught…I went over to him…I panicked…everything just blanked out afterwards, an ambulance arrived at some point and I rode in it to the hospital…" she recalled, tears brimming at the memories.

"Home…"

"Huh?" Mari said, looking back, as Rika copied her movements.

"Are we hearing things or what?" the redhead asked.

"Takato, you may be the world to me, but you are really useless at bluffing your way out of things…" Rey said, as they approached, attracting attention away from the boy and onto Takato laughing sheepishly.

"I know…" he replied. Rey's expression turned from one of angered irritation to sadness as she looked over to Mari and Rika, and the boy in the bed. "How is he?" she asked, looking over Ryder as Takato sat down next to Rika.

"Still no change…" Rika reported.

"I…V…"

"What?" Takato asked.

"Did he just speak?" Rey asked, looking to Ryder again.

"He's been doing that for a while now…" Mari said.

"How is he?" asked another voice, as the group looked up to see Dr Imai, a worried expression on her face.

"He's…talking…are you sure he's in a coma?" Rika asked, confused.

Dr Imai nodded. "He is in a coma, contrary to popular belief, some people can talk in comas, varying from incomprehensible words to complete sentences…what has he been saying?"

"Not sure, wasn't really listening at first…" Mari answered, looking to the boy again.

"I…v…"

"IV?" Rey asked.

"Intravenous Drip…" Dr Imai noted, stepping over to one of the drips attached to him, and checking it. "Hmm…an odd thing for him to mention…"

"Yeah…" Rey replied. "I'm surprised he even knows he's in a hospital…"

"Home…so far away…"

Mari frowned. Ryder's memories seemed to be of home, his own universe that they had heard so little of.

"Everything became real…" he muttered, his eyelids moving slightly as if dreaming.

"Huh?" Rika asked.

"He must be remembering when Digimon came to his world…" Takato noted.

Mari nodded unsurely, looking back to him.

"Arkadimon…"

Dr Imai looked at the boy curiously. He seemed to be recalling things to do with his 'own world', whatever that meant. Was this boy all he seemed?

"LEAVE MY FRIENDS ALONE!" Ryder yelled, eyes opening, as his fists clenched. Everyone, both adjacent to him and in the ward (who were conscious), looked around in surprise.

"Ryder?" Mari asked, looking to his glazed-over eyes.

"Hmm…" Dr Imai pondered, waving her hand over his eyes. "He's still unconscious…" she reported, as Ryder's eyes closed.

"You won't hurt us, not me, not Ivy, not any of my fellow Tamers!"

"Ivy?" Takato asked.

"Donmon, now!" Ryder called.

"Who's Ivy?" Rika asked.

Mari's eyes widened as she recalled some things that Ryder had said on the day they first met. "I've left everything behind. My fellow Tamers, my parents, my friends, and…her…"

"Was she a girlfriend?" she had asked.

"I wish…Nope, just a crush…she was a Tamer though…"

'Is that who he's talking about?'

"An ultimate?" Ryder asked, before his face turned determined. "He escaped!"

"Something is really odd here…" Rika noted.

"Yeah…what do we do?" Takato asked.

"Nothing…it is probably impossible to wake him and it could cause him trauma at the moment…" Dr Imai noted. "I have other patients to attend to, are you okay here?"

"No place like home…" Ryder muttered.

"Yeah, we're fine…" Rey said, the doctor nodding and leaving.

"Did you call everyone else?" Mari asked, turning round to face Rika, who nodded.

"Yeah…not all of them are coming straight away though…some of them are either out of town or unable to get here until later…" she answered.

Takato gripped Rika's hand. "Are we going to tell them when they get here?"

Rika frowned, shaking her head. "I don't think I'm ready to tell them all yet…I guess we could tell our really close friends, Henry and Jeri mainly…"

Takato nodded. "Okay…"

"What's going on?"

"Is he asking us or is he talking again?" Rika asked.

"White light…too bright…"

"This must be when he was pulled into our universe…" Rey noted.

Ryder suddenly relaxed, his eyelids stopping their rapid movement. Mari frowned, it looked like his dream was over, and she was hoping to get more answers to her new questions.

"Hey, why has he still got his D-Vice on?" Takato asked, noticing the watch still strapped to the boy's wrist. "Why didn't the hospital guys take it off?"

Mari glanced down curiously, carefully trying to undo the strap on the device. "Huh…it won't budge…" she noted, finding no way of doing so. She looked to her wrist, and her own D-Vice, untying it with zero difficulty. "But…mine's not fixed like that…"

"Yeah, and I swear he's taken it off before…" Rika noted.

Rey looked to them. "The D-Vice is designed so that only it's owner can remove it…once removed, it is deactivated as well, only once it is back on the owner's wrist does it work again…" she noted, looking to her own. Mari glanced to hers, noting that its screen had become all but disabled. "It relies on the life of the user to work…"

Mari frowned, that only reminded her of Ryder, who she glanced over to again. His D-Vice was still operating as normal, showing the time. "His is still working…"

"Let's hope it stays that way…" Takato said. Mari nodded, looking over him again.

Rika's cell rung, and she lifted it to her ear, answering it while the others looked at her. "Rika here, who is it?" she asked.

Mari glanced back to Ryder, and the heart rate machine, fearful that they would both stop, as a passing doctor checked them. The bleeding had stopped, revealing his injuries in more detail. Mari frowned; it looked like even if he did recover, they'd take a long while to heal.

"Okay, we'll come to see you, should be only a minute or two…bye…"

Rika turned to Takato after hanging the phone up. "Henry, Jeri and Suzie are here…" she said, Takato nodding in response.

"Phones in hospital…no…" Ryder muttered, the others looking to him in confusion.

"I think he has some awareness…" Rey noted, looking to him. "Who knows what's going through his mind right now?"

Mari frowned, nodding. "Yeah…he has a point though…" Takato replied.

"Fine…" Rika answered, switching the offending device off. "Let's go then…" she said, standing up. Takato nodded, as did Rey, as they began to follow, before noticing Mari wasn't, as she continued to sit, contemplating.

"Are you coming?" Rey asked kindly.

Mari shook her head. "No…I just want to stay here…" she answered. Rey smiled in understanding, and nodded, as the three walked away.

A general silence descended on that corner of the room, broken only by muttering from the doctors passing through and the beeping of machines. Mari frowned, wishing that the day had just been a bad dream.

"Why Ryder? Why?" she asked.

No reply. Mari carefully placed her palm on the back of his hand gently.

"Why is it that I survive a building falling, and then you nearly get killed? Why do I have to have the luck?"

No reply, apart from a few glances across the room at her, by people who then frowned.

"…you're my closest friend in this world…I know I came on really strongly at first, but I was lonely…I was always lonely…and I know that without you…I'll always be lonely again…"

No reply.

"Please survive…" she said, gently gripping his hand. "Please…"

"95…52…63…42…29…" the boy muttered, the random numbers barely comprehensible. Mari frowned.

"I hope you're the same as well…the boy that I found so…intriguing…a boy who was so deep and mysterious and yet caring when he needed to be…a boy who wanted to make a name for himself, despite not existing…a boy who would care for me even when I felt like an outsider…who tried to comfort me…my Angel…"

"First Angel…Ryder Stevens…Second…Mari…Flynn…" the boy muttered, Mari saddened further by the fact that he couldn't even hear her properly "Fading…fading…stop…please…"

The beep of the heart rate machine slowed, as Mari looked up in alarm. "No!" she yelled, attracting the attention of doctors and nurses who promptly swung into action, her vision blurred as they passed around the boy. She stepped back unconsciously out of their way, her eyes glazed over, her hearing turning into a mess of unheard words and noises.

"Mari?" asked a new voice, concern mixed with kindness in its tones. "Mari?"

The second call snapped Mari out of her trance, as she turned to face Jeri, along with Henry, Suzie and the others, standing just outside.

"Are you okay?" Suzie asked, her own voice concerned as Lopmon sitting on her head looked on sadly.

Mari shook her head sadly. "I just…I just want him to be okay…"

"We'll try our best…" Dr Imai said, as she walked up to them, returning to her latest patient to help with stabilising him again, as she began to work.

"Thanks…" Mari said, almost soundlessly, as she watched them work.

"We should leave them to work…" Henry noted. "We're just in the way here…" he added.

Rika looked to Mari, who looked sadly on at the boy in the occasional view through the hospital staff. She nodded sadly. "Okay…"

TO BE CONTINUED…


This setting will actually turn out very useful for storytelling by the looks of it, and it'll allow me to show character emotions and interactions quite easily as they move about the hospital, which will make a good epilogue. It'll give a moment of reflection on each of the central (and some non-central) characters before the next book and the resuming of the more action-based storytelling. Please review.

Next time…

Will Ryder ever wake up? Will Rika and Takato manage to tell Henry and Jeri?

Find out in 'Her Desperate Act', Chapter Seventeen of Dimensions Book Five: Demons.