Digital
Chapter 8
The hunt begins
Edited on: 6/3/11
Thanks to: everybody for reviewing.
Previously on Digital:
"Finally, to put the icing on the literal cake, with the help of an ancient book written by the same Merlin…the greatest wizard of all time, one which I really want to read by the way, you somehow manage to mess up the transformation and become…a sort of hybrid Fox-Phoenix 'digital' creature known as a Digimon…CORRECT?"
"Yes, that about sums it up," said Harry nodding again, smiling sweetly.
" I see," said Hermione, then her eyes rolled up as the days stress finally caught up to her and she fainted.
And now the continuation:
It took Hermione the best part of the full morning to wake up again, then several more hours to twist her mind around the fact that Harry had somehow, once again, managed the blatantly impossible, in more ways than just one.
As if the miracle of surviving the killing curse was not good enough for him, he had to go ahead and somehow do something else, something equally amazing, not once, not twice, but several more times, all in a row.
Several feats, one, not seen since the time of Merlin, namely: transforming into a magical creature, the other, while not as rare as the first, but still extremely rare; having a second animagus form. Two feats, two which in the whole recorded history of the wizarding world have never ever been accomplished together by a single person, let's not even mention that that one person is only a school boy of a mere fifteen years.
Then, to top everything up, the so called icing on the proverbial cake, he does it again, to somehow accomplish something even more unbelievable, even equally improbable (and never seen before): an unbiological DIGITAL form.
Two forms she would have been able to deal with easily. Hell, she would even have stomached the magical form with little more than a mild stomach ache. After all, it wasn't the first time Harry had accomplished something exceedingly powerful and rare.
For instance there was the time he defeated hundreds of dementors, all at once, with one single spell. Something also thought by all to be nearly impossible to do.
Then there was the time he defeated a fifty foot tall basilisk at the age of twelve with nothing more but a sword, not to forget the time he defeated a huge brooding dragon, a fierce Hungarian horntail, during an international triwizard tournament.
But a digital form!... A computer program!…DATA! Simple bloody computer data! Well, ok, maybe not that simple, but still… data!
Proven impossible by many, it seems, did not mean proven impossible by Harry he-who-should-by-all accounts-have-died-as-a-bloody-baby Potter, just merrily improbable.
Not that Hermione really minded though. After all, any extra power Harry had was good for them…right? However, turning into something which doesn't even exist, something which isn't real… ones and zero's, literally! THAT was simply too much for her to comprehend. Everybody has a breaking point and for Hermione that was it. She fainted.
The very first thing Hermione did after waking up and after she remembered what happened was to interrogate Harry on anything and everything he knew about digimon. It was almost scary to behold.
Harry barely had time to ask if she was alright before she had completely transformed into her academic alias; the little miss bookworm 'search and research Granger'.
If anything, hadn't he known her better, he would have sworn that she had just been waiting for him all along and not been taken by surprise mere moments before. The amount of questions she had was unreal. She didn't even have to plan them, or so it seemed.
Then came the dreaded phase number two; the library. It was the perfect excuse for her to sink her teeth into even more books, anything…everything… anyway to explain how anybody or anything could possibly turn into computer data.
Knowing from experience that it was nearly impossible to stop her once she reached her academic side, and also due to a little gentle persuasion from EGO to let her go, (EGO was quite interested in what she would find) Harry simply decided it best to let her have her way.
Quite frankly, he was just happy that she had taken everything as well as she had. For a girl who had just fallen unconscious after being hit across the face by a dangerous creature - namely himself - well, she seemed pretty lively, not that Harry was complaining of course but he had expected something somewhat, well… different.
Realizing that he couldn't be much help to her in his current state, he wished her good luck and settled down to wait and spend the long hours of the day using his new available free time to continue his digital studies instead, all via his little helper, the friendly on board inbred mutated right hand helper for all things digital; EGO.
What followed was the newest history lesson, 'Tamer-Digimon relationships of the past,' a lesson which turned out to be very informative to say the least. Unlike Professor Binns' goblin wars, which were boring at best, a midday nap at worst, Harry really enjoyed learning about past tamers and their digimon and became really fascinated by the fact that tamers had not always been tamers, but had actually at one stage been called digi-destined instead.
That was the time before humans received their first D-Links and before they were able to use cards to improve their respective partner's status.
Digivices, while they had indeed existed before, had not always been the same either.
According to EGO, throughout history there had at one stage been a time when multiple forms of these digivices had existed, the most useful of which had been the D-links; a special digivice which allowed the tamer to use special uplink cards to improve their digimon during battle (Season 3)
The others were the 'Spiritual Vices,' which – while somewhat weaker than a 'real' mega - transformed the humans themselves into a spiritual digimon representation of themselves, without the actual need for a digimon partner, thereby bypassing the need to biomerge with another digimon. (Season 4 ), the DNA datalinks, which were an improved version of the early digivice, where the tamers used the help of their own or other digimons DNA to digivolve their digimon without the need to fully understand their digimon beforehand (season 5) and of course the early version digivices, those used by the digidestined, the first humans destined to successfully interact with digimon as partners, which were only simple devices, used only as a form of encyclopaedia and a sort of link between the digimon and the digidestined. (Pre season 1)
Later, after digivolution was introduced, the early digivices were upgraded to allow tamers to digivolve their digimon. (Season 1-2) Those were the early days of digivolution and at first digivolution did not always work when needed. In fact for a while, for most of the early era digimon and digivolution were completely misunderstood.
Early humans thought that digimon digivolved as they became stronger and only once they reached a certain level or strength. That was however only partially true. While data absorbed from a defeated digimon did indeed make a digimon stronger, it did not however make them digivolve.
To digivolve their digimon, Tamers or digidestined had to at first understand, to trust and to actually care for their partner before digivolution could happen. Since digimon and their tamers were not just simple partners, but actually spiritually linked, it was only when both partners, human and digimon were 'one' with each others, in both body and mind that it was possible for digivolution to take place. The higher the level of trust and friendship, the higher the potential level the digimon could digivolve to.
For a while it was not uncommon to see extremely powerful rookie digimon with enough power to compete against weak wild champion rivals, simply because they had absorbed incredible amounts of data. However, they could never hope to defeat or even hope to compete against the more powerful champions or their even higher ultimate counterparts.
In the end certain digi-destined became so frustrated by the lack of digi-evolution that the card system was invented and the first 'Tamers' were born.
From that moment onwards it became common for Rookie digimon, only those partnered with a tamer, to win against the strongest wild champions and even in certain circumstances the weaker wild ultimates, (though that was very rare and encounters of the sort were usually suicidal) However, even then, even with all the extras which came with being a full fledged tamer, even with all the experience earned from countless battles, they could still never hope to reach their true potential.
All of that changed, as all things do, as time went on and finally some did achieve this required stage of unity and 'oneness'. Champions were created, than came the ultimates. These brutal warriors and fearsome tacticians became the elite of all tamers. Able to fight against any adversaries and win any battles. They were truly feared by all… that is, until the first Mega arrived.
Bio Fusion…the ultimate stage of 'oneness' it was called…. and it was also this which brought along the rise of the first digital king; a digimon known by the name: Sovereignmon, a name which indecently would one day be used to name the most powerful digimon type of all:, even above the mega, known as the Sovereigns.
One Human and one digimon in complete harmony with one another. The two understood, trusted and cared for each others so much that they physically joined together to really become 'one', literally, in every aspect of the word.
That was unheard of at the time. Up to that point humans and digimon had always been separate, always, there was no exception. That is, there was none until this one partnership merged to create the ultimate weapon, which we now know as the Mega.
It didn't take long for it to completely dominate the battlefield …and as they say …the rest is history.
It was a very anxious and frustrated Hermione who came home that evening.
Not only had her trip to the library been a complete bust as there hadn't been a single book which could somehow explain how anybody or anything could possibly have transformed into data, nor had there been a single book on digimon either, (though she hadn't really expected that) but she had also completely lost track of time too.
It was only when the librarian told her that they were closing up for the night, late in the evening, several hours after Hermione had left to go to the library, before she finally realized the time had completely caught up with her and that is was high time to return home, quickly, a.s.a.p.
Horrified, worried that her parents could arrive home at any second and that she wasn't there (if they weren't home already) and realizing she had left Harry alone at home with no idea what he should do should they return, she cursed loudly for her inability to pay attention to the time.
If her inattention cost her her friends life, or worse, she would never forgive herself she mused furiously to herself as she practically raced out of the room, not even taking time to put away her books. (an act of the utmost academic sacrilege in her mind)
Knowing that no book or information was worth risking Harry to the wrath of her parents (he did after all break into the house, lets not talk about what he is) Hermione decided that she had no other choice than to admit defeat and to hurry home. She only hoped that Harry was still in one piece when she arrived. She knew he wouldn't do anything to them, (at least she hoped not) however that did not mean that her parents wouldn't.
Running down the road to a near by bus stop she grew more and more nervous with each passing second. Realizing that she still had her lunch money (she never had any lunch either) she soon caught a near by tram and arrived home in record time… only to find the door wide open.
Fearing for the worst, she rushed into the house, only to see somebody inside...somebody who she didn't recognize.
'Oh shit,' she thought freezing in horror as she saw a wand in the persons hand. The situation has just become worse. A lot worse. Was she too late? Had he been able to flee? Desperately hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst she took out her wand, pointed it at the man, then spoke:
"Excuse me, who are you, what are you doing in my house?"
A few hours earlier, Voldemorts fortress, unknown location in England.
Voldemort looked up in anger, his eyes glowing an eerie red, as a lone Death Eater, rushed into his throne room, interrupting an important meeting with his royal circle.
Recognizance the Death Eater as a new recruit, he glared as the Death Eater stepped forward eagerly as if he could do no wrong and growled when he never even bowed.
All around the room, Death Eaters stopped what they were doing to watch in fascinated horror, many with excited expectations and looks of glee, as the new recruit broke every single law in existence when meeting their king.
Already twitching his finger towards his wand to avada the fool, Voldemort however stalled his hand just in time to see what his minion had to say. The next few seconds would decide the rest of his short life. If the information was good - unlikely but he had been surprised before - he would give him a present, the present of a quick death. If however it was not, well, let's just say, his pain before death, would become legendary to behold, even in hell.
"I presume you have…'good' news?" he asked looking down at his minion, using the most intimidating voice he could muster.
All around him those of the Death Eaters who knew him took a step back as they identified the type of voice their master was using. It was the voice of impending death itself, a voice which haunted them into the depths of their sleep, even after twenty or more years of faithful service, a voice which expected nothing else but the very best… or else…well; you didn't want to find out what else.
Not noticing everybody step away from him and the dire and potentially very painful situation he found himself in, the recruit nodded happily. "Yes, my lord, I do," the man said confidently. He obviously thought the news was great and that he could do no wrong, a big mistake.
"Well?…" Voldemort said expectedly, darkly, already clutching his wand and motioning the Death Eater to continue, his patience was quickly running out.
"The unspeakables in the ministry have finally completed their animagus detection project, my lord, they now have the ability to detect and track every animagus in the country," said the recruit.
It only took one second for him to realise that he had somehow made a vital mistake when a few fellow Death Eater gasped and another stared in horror. Unluckily by then it was already too late.
"You call that good news? Voldemort said quietly almost whispering, then waited two full seconds for the DeathEater to respond before quickly drawing his wand and saying the one word he knew best, his most favourite after avada itself:
"Crucio!"
Taken completely by surprise, expecting to be praised, the recruit promptly fell to the ground and he started to scream in pain. It was as if thousands of whips were whipping at all areas of his body, all at the same time.
Voldemort smiled in enjoyment as he kept his unlucky minion under the curse, enjoying every second of his screams before finally relenting and releasing him from the curse.
"I said I wanted some good news, THAT was not good news… Now!… I'm still waiting for 'my' good news. Where is it?" he asked dangerously, keeping his wand pointed at the Death Eater.
"But…my lord…don't you see…"
"CRUCIO!" Voldemort roared and once again the harmonious screams of the Death Eater filled the hall. (At least harmonious to his ears)
"No I do not see, enlighten me," he said as soon as he removed the curse once more.
All confidence now gone, the Death Eater gasped. Severely weakened by the pain he simply mumbled out one last sentence: "Potter is one of them…he can be tracked through the system." Then he fainted.
"I… see… ," said Voldemort, this time to himself. This time, he himself was taken by surprise. Why didn't you say so," he added before turning away from the man as if nothing had happened.
"This changes everything," he mumbled to himself then fell silent for a few minutes leaving the hall in complete silence as he pondered on what he had just heard. Thinking it safe to come forward again, his royal circle stepped forward and stood before him waiting for new orders. Nobody dared to speak a word while Voldemort was silent. Finally what seemed like a small eternity, he looked up. "Malfoy step forward," he ordered.
Hearing the command Lucius Malfoy, royal Death Eather and Voldemorts current left hand Death Eater stepped forward, then, going down on one knee he bowed deeply.
"Yes your majesty, how may I serve?"
"I have a task for you Lucius. I want you to acquire control over this …thing…spell... whatever it is. I don't care if you have to use up every single favour anybody has ever owed you, or if you have to promise the world to get it, just do it, use whatever means necessary but get me control of it. At the very least I want to have complete user rights and to be able to use it by the end of tomorrow, latest. Kill anybody who stands in your way. Have I made myself clear?"
Lucius simply nodded. "Yes your majesty, crystal clear." He answered.
"Good…GOOD! Voldemort said, suddenly clapping his hands together like a happy child, with a wicked smile on his face, scaring everybody in the room before he got up from his throne and moved forward until he was standing right beside Lucius. Slowly he bent down until he was level with Lucius ear. "I hope so, for your case Lucy. I do not wish to kill you, but fail me in this and no one will be able to save you," Voldemort added quietly, whispering into his ear, so that only Lucius could hear him, then paused for a second before straightening up again. Slowly he moved back to his seat and sat down.
Lucius shivered in fear as Voldemort whispered into his ear, but didn't dare show it. The last thing you wanted to do as a member of the royal circle was show unnecessary fear when speaking to the dark lord, or when he spoke to you. Cry out in pain…oh yes, but show fear…that was a sure one way ticket to the after life, via a bumpy ride through hell.
"Rookwood should be able to help you there. Use him as your link to the unspeakables, dismissed." said Voldemort then motioned for another Death Eater to step forward.
That said, Lucius bowed once more then started to move backwards, never once facing away from his lord and master as he did so. Only when he was safely away from the dark lord did he dare to straighten up and depart from the room. The last things he heard before the doors closed up behind him were Avada Kadava and Voldemort ordering Bellatrix to get ready to hunt the potter boy as soon as they found out where he was hiding, then he aperated away.
Granger residence, mere minutes before Hermione's return from the library.
It was getting much too late for Harry's comfort. Hermione had been due back from the library an hour ago, but as yet there was still no sign of her.
Her parents were due to return from work at any moment and he didn't even have the notion of a plan of what to do should they arrive before Hermione did.
The last thing Harry wanted to do right now was to explain to two frightened parents what a red, two meter tall, sharp clawed, phoenix whinged digital fox was doing in their house.
Who was he kidding, they would probably run away screaming before he could even manage to get out one word of his mouth, or worse they could even do a petunia on him and shoot first, then ask questions later.
No, Harry had no illusion what so ever that he could somehow afford to be seen, by anybody, other than Hermione, at least not until she had had a free moment to talk to them first. By his luck they would no doubt call the police, or worse, the army and where would he be then.
He'd simply have to stay phased until Hermione returned.
Harry was so in thought that nearly missed a knock on the front door. For a second he thought the parents were back but then reminded himself that they wouldn't knock on their own door. Thinking he was safe, he was just about to relax again when he suddenly heard the door open. Not knowing what else to do, he phased.
Silently, doing his best to make as little noise as possible Harry made his way back to the stairs, his sole intention set on making his way up to Hermione's room. Imagine his surprise when he saw two complete strangers standing in the middle of the room and when these two strangers took out two wands.
For a second he froze, unsure of what to do, then he heard one of them speak.
"Nobody seems to be here, perfect, you take the top floor, I'll take the bottom. If you see Harry shout, if he resists stun him, if you see one of the Grangers stun them as well. I'll obliviate them on the way out. Remember, Harry probably has his Invisibility cloak with him, use revealing spells, that should find him."
'Who in the name of Tern Digimo are they?' Harry wondered, as he watched the wizards move through the house, but just as the question entered his head so too did the answer. (Remember this is at the end of 4th year, Harry hasn't met the order yet, so he doesn't know who they are)
'Dumbledore!' he thought furiously. 'It's me they are after! They are looking for me!'
'Are you sure?' asked EGO.
'Of course, I am, why else would they be here. They don't act like Death Eaters, Death Eaters wouldn't stun people, they simply kill them, so Dumbledore probably sent them.'
EGO practically sighed in his head. 'Ok, time for me to act again it seems… as I see it you have three options here; one, we high tail it out of here, two we hide, or three we fight. Since you seem to think we need Hermione's help, fighting would be a bad idea, since more would only come once the others are missed, running also is no option for two reasons, if we ran Hermione wouldn't be able to help us, and she would most likely be caught and helpless, something which I'm sure you do not want, so, that only leaves us with option two, we hide. We hide and hope that Hermione doesn't need help should she arrive while they are still there. Since they might be able to find us even through our invisibility we need to trick them. Let's use an old trick which was used many years ago when our kind first came to other world, act like a toy. It's an old trick, but since nobody knows of us anymore, it should work.'
'Whoa…what do you mean act like a toy?' Harry asked taken by surprise.
'Just what I said, when they see you, don't move and act as if you were a toy. When they see you they will think you are a kids play thing,' said EGO.
'You do realize that Hermione is 15 years old, right?' asked Harry
'Do you have a better idea?' asked EGO annoyed.
'No, I guess not, said Harry. 'Ok, so what do we do?
'Careful, one of them is pointing their wand at you…go up the stairs, quickly'
Seeing that EGO was right Harry quickly dodged a spell and made his way up the stairs.
'Into Hermione's room, quick, before the second one sees you,' Ego said. The second man had just entered Hermione's parent's room.
Thinking it best to simply obey, Harry silently opened the door to Hermione's room and slipped inside.
'Ok, let me have control, no offense but I don't trust you enough right now,' EGO said.
Without even a second thought Harry obeyed and relinquished his control over his body. It was the direct same feeling he had had back in Privet drive when Vernon had attacked him, only this time he knew what was happening.
Happy and safe, knowing that he was in the best of hands, - though EGO has none - Harry sat back in the back of his own mind and settled down to watch.
Now, in complete control over its host's body, EGO walked over to Hermione's bed and lay down on it. Then he de-phased and made Harry's body lie as loose and as lifeless as possible, just like an every day toy. A few seconds later the door opened and the man entered the room.