Alright, now this story is going places. Not necessarily good places, but certainly memorable places.
Also, there's a Digimon-poll on my profile that I'll like some votes on. Care to lend a hand?
Review responses.
Guest 01:
I take it you refer to the extensive HeadCanon material surrounding Ryo Akiyama? Sorry to say it, but that's largely incorrect; while Ryo has some knowledge of parallel universes (3), and alternate timelines, it's nowhere near enough to account for understanding entirely the contents of the book-rooms.
Keeper-of-Worlds:
Either 'deep' as you say, or needlessly complex. Perhaps both.
Atop a metallic building in a large village likewise composed of gleaming, shining steel, a young, red-haired girl, about twelve years of age, sat in silence. Nearby, Renamon stood leaned against a wall, absently watching her and the cityscape beyond.
They had been there for about an hour, just watching the clouds pass by in the skies above, and the Digimon skitter around on the streets below. The reason they had even come to this place was because of a wayward Machinedramon, and now that it was taken care of, they could move on, as soon as Takato and Henry were done with whatever they were doing in the city.
The girl sighed. Though she could no longer claim to enjoy fighting as she once had, it seemed her only distraction from endless boredom. "How did it ever turn out like this?" She softly asked the kitsune, her voice melancholic.
Renamon wasn't entirely sure how to answer her query, mainly because of how long it had been since then, though she would attempt to regardless. "Because, Rika, sometimes life isn't fair." She told the girl, whose mind was drifting back to that day in Yamaki's office...
...
"We're all here, Yamaki," Janyu spoke to the black-suited man, accompanied by Mayumi, Henry, Takehiro, Takato, Yoshie, Rika, Rumiko and Seiko. "Now can you tell us why our fifteen-year old children still look twelve? "
Yamaki didn't answer, instead looking at his report, documenting the outcome of the examination. "I have no idea how to tell you all this, so... After some testing, we've been able to determine that Takato, Rika and Henry are immortal." He spoke bluntly. Some of them, like Takato and Rumiko, laughed at his response, others, like Rika, Mayumi and and Seiko, eyed him incredulously, while yet others, like Takehiro and Janyu were confused as to what he meant by 'immortal'.
"Care to clarify?" Rika glared at him.
Yamaki supposed that he couldn't fault any of them for being angry; after all, the long-term implications... "I don't see what there is to clarify; you'll never look older or die from old age."
"Great," Rika muttered in frustration. This was just not fair!? "So our options boil down to 'commit suicide', or 'spend the next few centuries mind-numbingly bored'?"
"Just so, Rika," Yamaki comfirmed. Mayumi's eyes widened. She had never given immortality much thought, and now that she did, she didn't like the implications.
"How... How did it happen?" Seiko asked, struggling to stay coherent.
"As near as we can tell, during the D-Reaper incident," Yamaki slowly responded. "Dobermon's sacrifice transformed them into data, like the Digimon."
"But, you can bring them back to normal, can't you?" Takehiro asked, his tone vaguely pleading.
Yamaki shook his head. "I'm sorry, I'm truly sorry, but Hypnos doesn't have the technology to genetically engineer human bodies, nor the technology to transfer minds into such bodies."
"I see..." Takato softly said, unsure of how to deal with all this. "Well, it's not all bad, right? Honestly, I can't think of anyone I'll rather spend eternity with than you guys..." He told Henry and Rika.
While Henry found the gesture sweet though a bit unsettling even after so long, Rika snickered at it.
"Yeah," Henry replied.
"I suppose that this makes three of us," Rika added. Yamaki, their parents and Seiko watched them with surprise at how well they were handling this. He almost regretted having to ruin the moment...
"Four, actually," Yamaki revealed, surprising everyone present. "Ryo Bio-Merged too, remember?"
"But, he wasn't there when Dobermon gave us the power." Henry exclaimed. Yamaki blinked. If he hadn't then how had he ever Bio-Merged in the first place?
"Regardless, I have a proposal for three of you," Yamaki reluctantly spoke, confusing the group, as he'd just admitted that he could do nothing to undo their immortality. "How would you like to leave this world, and go back to the Digital World?"
Everyone present, including Riley and Tally, stared speechlessly at him. After a minute of silence, Janyu was the first to speak. "You want our children... To just leave?"
"I don't see how there's any other option," Yamaki replied apologetically. "If they stayed here, people would start asking why they aren't getting older. What if they were to require state-mandated medical care? What sort of lives could perpetually-young twelve-year olds lead?"
The parents nervously looked around. His reasoning made perfect logical sense, but this was their children!
"Mom, Dad... Yamaki's right," Takato quietly spoke, trying to ignore the shocked looks they gave him.
"Yeah," Henry intoned. " I... I agree with Yamaki."
"Dammit, no!" Rika shouted. "This can't be happening!"
"I'm sorry, honey, but it is," Seiko whispered. "Whatever happens, in the Digital World... Just promise me that you'll stick together."
"I promise, Grandma," Rika replied.
"That goes for you two too," She sternly told Takato and Henry. "Just promise you'll watch her back at all times."
"We will," They promptly answered. While Rika understood her Grandma's point of view and appreciated the two's gesture, she still didn't appreciate any sort of insinuation regarding her ability to take care of herself.
...
A weary smile grew on Rika's lips. "How long ago was it now? Sixty years? A hundred?"
"Perhaps a hundred and twenty," Renamon dismissively replied, not particularly interested in the exact number. "I've lost count."
Sixty to a hundred and twenty years, Rika mused... That would make it 2064 back on their earth, at the earliest. It was hard to imagine it having been that long already.
Though, the endless years had proven beneficial in some ways; she wasn't sure when exactly it was, but somewhere along the way, Sakuyamon, Gallantmon and MegaGargomon had somehow managed to Jogress together, any two into Sakuyamon Azure Mode, Gallantmon Crimson Mode or MegaGargomon Emerald Mode, and all three into a form that none of them knew exactly what was called, nor did the Sovereigns, Three Great Angels or ENIAC (or Yggdrasil, as it now called itself... At least, Rika suspected them to be the same).
"Alright," Rika sighed, getting up. "Now that we're done here, on to the next battle."
Renamon could only agree with that statement. Their journey back to the Rose Morning Star, to receive their latest assignment from the Celestial Digimon, should only take a few hours. Over the years, the Tamers and their partners had become something akin to agents (killers, peace-keepers and messengers, as circumstances dictated) of the Great Powers of the Digital World, in exchange for transportation to other Digital Worlds. She doubted that they had returned to their own universe in all that time...
It wasn't that they enjoyed fighting (At least, that was what Renamon told herself), but with nothing to do but aimless drifting, being given a purpose had been rejuvenating, reinvigorating and liberating to the group.
The two Bio-Merged into Sakuyamon and flew down to the street below, deciding to find the others.
The place was pretty, the Renamon part of her distantly noted. The streets were composed of sleek, stainless chrome-Digizoid metal, fitting the largely machine-Digimon residents.
Her stroll down the street was interrupted by an Andromon with a murderous intent in his eyes. Inside, Rika groaned in frustration, wondering why so many Digimon saw fit to throw away their lives for some twisted sense of accomplishment. She was slightly inclined to actually let him kill her, if only for the chance to end her boredom, but she wasn't about to commit suicide, and leave Guilmon, Henry, Takato, Terriermon and Renamon to themselves.
"Can I help you with anything?" Sakuyamon sardonically asked, knowing full what he wanted. Perhaps, suicide was a viable solution; it wasn't as though living held any sort of appeal they hadn't already experienced, she rationalized.
He ignored her question, pointing a fleshy finger at her. "You're the human with a Digimon, aren't you?"
"Indeed," The part of her that was Rika drawled.
Pleased to have received confirmation, he tensed in anticipation of a fight. "Fight me!" He demanded. Sakuyamon didn't respond, walking past him. "Turn and face me, coward!" He called out again to the shaman, who kept walking. He growled in fury, unleashing a Lightning Blade, charging at her.
The attack never connected, as the shaman did a backflip, landing on her feet behind him, and before he could react, making another leap to the top of a building.
She had no interest in a fight at the moment, and he would likely not be dissuaded, so she deemed some distance between them to be best. As she flew away from the scene, she heard Andromon scream in impotent fury.
...
...
A few hours laters, Rika, Renamon, Henry with Terriermon on his head, and Takato with Guilmon were wandering through the desert.
Even after two hours of walking, it would still be a good couple of hours before they arrived at the Rose Morning Star, the red-head noted with mild impatience, staring at the passing landscape, forests, lakes and deserts, even a solitary mansion...
Rika blinked at the sight. They had taken the trip to-and-from the Rose Morning Star several times already in their few months in this Digital World, and she'd never seen this building before. She decided that this merited further investigation.
Neither, Henry, Takato or Terriermon were entirely certain why Rika and Renamon were diverging from the tracks, while Guilmon figured it to be because of that new building, though they went after her regardless.
"Are you coming?" She sardonically asked, and received a pair of soft smiles.
"We'll follow you anywhere," Takato replied, without the slightest bit of hesitation or doubt. Henry nodded his assent. Rika gave a grateful smile back, as while she'd had countless arguments and disagreements with them over the past century or so, moments like these were why she greatly enjoyed having them around.
After about twenty minutes of steady walking, they arrived at the front door of the mansion. Henry blinked; had this really been why she had decided to interrupt their walk back? But then, she had largely been in a curious mood for the past three years or so, and there was nothing inherently wrong with a bit of a detour, he decided.
"Rika?" She heard Takato tentatively ask. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"
She turned around, and smirked at him. "Takato, remember that time about thirty-forty years ago, when you said that?"
Takato stared blankly at her. "Wha-? How am I supposed to remember something so far away?"
She decided that it was a reasonable request. "Alright, about thirty years ago. We came across a stray group of NeoDevimon deep in the desert. Terriermon referred to you as a weird old bisexual for a few weeks afterwards because he thought it was funny. Does that sound familiar?"
Takato responded affirmingly, while Henry stared disapprovingly at the rabbit. "Momentai, Henry!" Terriermon attempted. To his chagrin, though not surprise, it didn't work. "What? It's not like I'm wrong. After all, he dated Rika for a few years decades ago, and he's dated you for the past three years." The rabbit retorted.
"Yeah, but this was more about calling me weird," Takato commented.
"Oh yeah," Terriermon smirked, and turned back to Rika. "Rika, since no-one seems to want to tell you, I will; you're crazy, and you're going to get us all killed."
Her smirk grew. "Is that a problem to you?"
"Don't be ridiculous," Terriermon snorted. "Dying for your sakes, any of you, stopped being a daunting prospect years ago, but I'm in no hurry."
Rika, Guilmon, Henry, Takato and Renamon stared at each-other, smiling softly. It wasn't often that the mouthy rabbit got mushy. All things considered, neither redhead nor kitsune would mind it much if it were to happen again.
"Anyway, we got off-topic. If you guys really think it's a bad idea, we'll continue onwards to the Rose Morning Star," Rika told the others. Henry's expression turned pensive. In the human World, a new mansion appearing out of nowhere wouldn't arouse any particular suspicion. Here, however, a mansion spontaneously showing up in-between Steel City and the Rose Morning Star... Rika was right; it merited a further look. For all they knew, it might be one of Lilithmon's vacation homes, or a trap to attract bypassers.
In the latter case, it seemed too dangerous to leave alone, and them getting caught was preferable to innocent Digimon getting caught by whoever or whatever was inside. "I agree, Rika. It's likely best to check it out."
Takato, Guilmon, Renamon and Terriermon hesitantly nodded. While the kitsune honestly would've preferred them to continue their trek, she supposed that another diversion wouldn't hurt.
With that, Rika turned around, knocking on the door, waiting for a response from the inside. About a minute later, the door opened, revealing LadyDevimon.
"Now this is amusing," She chuckled briefly, watching them with interest. "The famous Digimon Tamers at the doorstep of my humble abode? How can I help?" She casually inquired, blinking when she saw the group take a step backward, and become wary. "Don't be afraid." She smiled at them. "I won't hurt you."
Henry blinked, while Takato stared confused; while they had met a few demonic Digimon that feigned politeness and cordiality, none of them had been as sincere as she was. Rika, however, didn't place much faith in what the demoness was saying, knowing that type of person all too well.
Regardless, they followed her inside. Renamon briefly surveyed the hall. It wasn't a large room, she offhandedly noted. In fact, there barely seemed to be three meters from floor to ceiling.
Nor was it particularly well-decorated. Indeed, the absence of furniture was almost striking, and made the navy-purple walls and wooden doors stand out all the more, with the abnormality in the interior being a spiraling staircase leading upstairs.
"How do you like the place?" LadyDevimon inquired, seeming to genuinely want their opinion.
"It's quite scarce, but I figure it's habitable," Rika shrugged.
"Happy to hear it," The demoness gave them a wide smirk. Somehow, Guilmon wasn't as unnerved by it as he felt like he should be. "Care to stay the night?
Henry couldn't help but find it a but unsettling for someone who looked that demonic to also be cordial and inviting, though he didn't deem it wise to bring it up. "Well, it wouldn't be the first time we've stayed in a mansion in the middle of nowhere. How about you guys?"
Renamon responded predictably to the group, with a brief nod. Evidently, the withdrawn phase she'd been in for almost eight years wasn't over yet... Guilmon grinned, while Terriermon intoned that he wanted his own room.
"I'm sorry," LadyDevimon interjected. "But apart from my own, there's only a single bedroom in this building. I'm sorry if that would make any of you uncomfortable-" She paused, noticing the amused expressions the six of them sported. The demoness couldn't claim to entirely understand humans, but she thought that humans their age were given pause at the idea of cohabitation.
"We can assure you that it won't be a problem," Rika smirked. While it had been for the first few years in the Digital World, any reservations she had around them were long gone, decades ago.
"I see," LadyDevimon responded. Though still a bit confused, the Digimon Tamers were known to defy all expectations, and why should something like this be an exception?
...
...
...
Several hours later, Rika was lying in one of the beds, wide-awake, and unable to sleep for reasons unknown to the red-head. In another bed, Takato was soundly asleep with his head buried in Henry's neck, both entirely nude underneath the bedsheets. In another bed, not adjacent to either of theirs, were Renamon and Guilmon.
The red-head closed her eyes, musing that they had been doing this dance for several decades now. No, not a dance, she decided, it was more akin to an cyclical interlocking rotation of romantic relationships.
About three months after they left for the Digital World, she and Takato had gotten together, which had lasted for about a year. After that, it had been Guilmon and Renamon, which had lasted for almost a decade, before a nasty argument ended it, and they didn't talk for several months. Subsequently, it had been Henry and Terriermon for a few weeks, much to her own discomfort. She had nothing against homosexuality, but interspecies-love just unnerved her.
Thereafter, it had been Guilmon and Terriermon, which only lasted two months, when they caught the rabbit cuddling with Renamon, which resulted in three months of him getting the cold shoulder from everyone save Henry.
About that time, they had collectively agreed never to consider the notion again, the pains of several failed relationships serving only to remind them of it. That state of affairs lasted for seven years, if she remembered correctly, with Takato and Renamon deciding to pain themselves with a relationship that they and the other four knew wouldn't last. The confirmation of that fact came a year later, though none of them had wanted to get it.
Afterwards, more or less ten years passed before she and Takato got together again, for three years before whatever sense of love had reignited between them petered out once more. Unusually, a second couple got together that time and separated a month after them, namely Henry, Terriermon and Guilmon, which she noted wasn't technically a couple, though she was unsure of the exact term, if any existed. At least she now had something to look up at Ophanimon's library, when next she got the chance.
A few years later, she got together with Renamon, mainly out of boredom, as it was the only sort of romantic relationship she hadn't tried over the decades. As it turned out, it was rather enjoyable, though as it also turned out, merely enjoyable relationships tended not to last very long, in this case two months, before it got too awkward to be both romantic lovers and platonic partners.
This relationship failure was followed by a two-year break, in which they briefly entertained the notions of traveling, just themselves and their partners, before dismissing it, as far too much time had passed for any of them to feel remotely comfortable without the other five around.
Sometime later, Takato and Terriermon dated for three months, concurrently with Renamon and Henry for two years, and her and Guilmon, and after that, it was all rehashing the past.
Takato and Henry... Her and Takato again... Takato, her and Renamon... Guilmon and Henry... Takato, her and Henry... Renamon, Guilmon and Terriermon... Takato, Renamon and Guilmon...
The red-head managed a weak smile; unless she had miscounted somewhere, it all amounted to eighty-three years. In time, they had literally been all things to each-other. Friends as confidantes, lovers as literal soul-mates, everything in-between and countless more besides... So why couldn't they make it last?
Deciding that there was no point in trying to get some sleep this night, she quietly got out of the bed, taking not to wake any of them, walking downstairs, and into one of the book-rooms.
LadyDevimon and Angewomon was greatly surprised at seeing Rika awake at this hour, though she saw no reason to bring it up. "Hey, Rika." She offhandedly told the red-head, neither particularly interested in conversation, their attentions fixed on the abundance of literary material surrounding them on the twelve bookshelves that seemed to double as structural support.
"That's quite an assembly," Rika remarked, looking around at the bookshelves that were stocked with the brim with books of all colors yet the same general size. Some of them held her name as well as someone called 'Ruki Makino', others Takato's with the occasional misspelling 'Matsuda', and yet others held Henry's name, misspelling it Jenrya and Jianglang, among others, while others described the Digidestined and and various others she had no idea who were.
"Indeed," LadyDevimon replied, smirking. "These books hold tales of countless alternate versions of yourself, and somewhere among this tempest of recollection is your story."
"I doubt that a single book could accurately recount almost a century of life," Rika snorted, confusing the other two greatly.
"Pardon?" The demoness stuttered. Rika didn't quite understand why; she had been entirely disambiguous about it.
"I'm almost a hundred years old," She clarified, without a hint of irony in her flat, disinterested tone. Angewomon wasn't sure whether it was an odd joke, as the girl, or woman as she claimed, before them wasn't particularly inclined for such, save with her closest companions, but it had to be; she looked no older than twelve or thirteen, yet she purported to be almost a hundred? How was this even possible?
"Good one," LadyDevimon laughed, earning her a curious look from the red-head. "I almost bought it."
"I wasn't kidding," Rika responded. "I really am almost a century old."
"But you look so young," Angewomon stammered, shocked. Though perhaps, she mused, she shouldn't be shocked at all; with thousands upon thousands of Rikas and Rukis, it stood to reason that at least one version of her was immortal.
"That's immortality for you," Rika grumbled. She honestly didn't mind the longevity anymore, but she would really have liked to grow older, no matter how slowly it would've happened.
"You poor humans," LadyDevimon whispered apologetically, her voice holding nothing but concern for the red-head and her friends, suspecting how they were rendered immortal. "Once you've been made into data like a Digimon, there's no way to convert you back into flesh."
"Yeah..." Rika absently muttered. "Besides, I'm honestly fine with it at this point."
"You are 'fine' with being immortal?" Angewomon questioned. "'Fine' with being errant until doomsday?"
"Of course I am," Rika shot back, her tone suddenly more tense than it had previously been. "I've had Renamon, and Takato, and Henry, and Guilmon, and Terriermon with me along the way for decades now."
Angewomon was strongly taken aback by her response; for someone who looked so young to voice such sentiments... "You love them, don't you?" LadyDevimon softly asked, giving the angel a longing glance.
"Platonically or romantically?" She rhetorically asked back.
"Platonically," LadyDevimon clarified.
"Yes," Rika replied casually.
"And romantically?" Angewomon tentatively inquired.
"That one's a long story, but yes," Rika replied again, surprising the angel with how easily she admitted to such feelings towards them.
"Then, are you romantically involved with them?" Angewomon asked. "Collectively, I mean?"
Rika hesitated to respond, considering the notion. Certainly, if they were to express interest in that, she'll take part in it, and it seemed like the only possible relationship they hadn't tried... "I'm not with any of them at the moment, though over the decades, I've been involved with any one or two of them. Perhaps, in a few months or years..." She mused, her expression turning distant.
"I... I see," Angewomon and LadyDevimon stammered in unison, unsure of how to respond to the notions she was alluding to. To the angel and demoness, romantic love was something sacrosanct, shared only between two entities; whether human and human, Digimon and Digimon or human and Digimon was irrelevant.
"Is that everything?" Rika asked, not sounding particularly interested in whether they had anything further or not, while reaching for a book on the second shelve of the nearby bookcase.
Neither angel nor devil could think of anything to respond with, so the three spent the remaining night-hours, reading, of other worlds, other times, other people and other places.
What? I have a near-infinite multiverse of characters to tag in and out, why shouldn't I use a few of them?
So, now Raya and Saial have some new company. If they're annoying or confusing to have around, then it's a good thing they aren't staying longer than a day or two.
If they're sufficiently-well liked (1+ fan), they could stick around, I suppose.
Day 03/80 notes
1: While Dobermon's sacrifice is admittedly a highly flimsy justification for their immortality, consider how exactly that would've made it possible. As we see later, they're capable of Bio-Merging elsewhere, ruling out it being an Area-of-Effect thing generated by Dobermon, making it more likely that they've become data themselves similar to Digimon, which are immortal, barring accidents.
As for why they wouldn't have had to go to the Digital World in this scenario; while made of data, they wouldn't have any sort of alternate forms or attacks, nor a DigiCore, leaving them sufficiently unlike Digimon that they wouldn't have had to.
2: On one hand, them showing up could be interpreted as foreshadowing from day 02's tirade about alternate timelines and parallel universes, or it could be interpreted coming outta nowhere, space, and adding nothing of value to the story. Take your pick.
3: Don't ask me what that triple Jogress/Bio-Merge thing would be called.
4: While Takato and Henry sleeping together is likely a creepy, unsettling and disgusting mental image, evocative of under-age sex, consider that they are at least in their seventies chronologically at that point, even if they don't look the part.
5: While Rika's reasoning for going to Raya and Saial's place may seem incredibly vague, consider that immortals don't think like mortals do; without anything resembling purpose, they'll indulge in whatever flights of fancy strikes them, anything to relieve their brief and recurring boredom.