Review Responses.
Guest) Yeah, TK's... Really gone off the deep end with that; he's more like the Spectre or Lucemon, than himself; he's not completely gone, but possibly too far. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense for TK to be that way; he's a severe case of Light Is Not Good, juxtaposed with Kari's Light is Good, Raya's Dark Is Not Evil, and the Demon Lords' Dark Is Evil.
The Keeper of Worlds) Ain't they just?
Sorry for the delay of this chapter; writing a map of the revised library took a while. Also, I have a new poll on my profile for anyone it may interest.
To say that Veemon, Davis and Saial were surprised by the layout of the library was a massive understatement.
What had been a few scattered bookcases, replaced by almost-neurotically orderly arranged, several times more bookcases, was now replaced by a line of three meters tall and narrow light-brown bookcases, stretching from one end of the room to another, the backs turned to the group, with three separate openings, wide enough to accomodate even Paildramon, within which were several further bookcases.
Apart from the new layout of the bookshelves, the library remained the white endless void it was before. Behind them was the staircase upstairs as before, though its walls had been recolored night-black.
From what little Saial could determine of the new layout, the bookcases had five shelves each, with ten books each.
Flying up a bit, she could see the bookcases extending what seemed to be a quarter of a kilometer, forming a highly elaborate maze, with Raya standing a distance away, and Terriermon to the north of her, while something small and red that she decided to be Gigimon for whatever reason was to the west, both seemingly lost within, as well as Rika to their west, relaxing in the silence of the library. There had to be at least a million books, literally, if not many, many more...
"H-How?! What is all this?!" Veemon and Davis exclaimed, shocked beyond belief, while the angel flew towards the demoness. How was it possible for Raya to completely rearrange the interior at a whim?!
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Taking care to not hurt her wings on her descent, Saial touched down near Raya. The demoness wasn't altogether sure why the angel sported an expression of mild annoyance mixed with bemusement, though she mused that there was something ironic and nostalgic about it.
"What's up?" Raya cheerfully greeted the angel.
"Raya, I have been meaning to ask, how exactly do you keep rearranging this library?" Saial sternly asked, as she was now absolutely certain that some violation of physics was taking place. Her physically moving the bookcases around didn't account for the sudden abundance of new ones, nor the additional books, or the seven floors in the two-story house, she noted.
"Oh, that's simple," Raya smiled. "I continually trigger a wave function collapse of the supremely mutable Dark Area fractal code this entire house is composed of."
"Oh, I see," Saial drawled. The revelation that the mansion was made of fractal code from the depths of the Dark Area paled somewhat in comparison with the sheer nonsensicality of her response. "That explains everything..." She shook her head in faint amusement. The demoness might as well have said magic, which would have explained the conundrum better. Didn't she realize that quantum physics didn't work that way?!
"But in any case, you have bigger concerns," Saial gave a predatory grin to the intrigued angel, and approached her slowly. "Look at you..." She chuckled. "A poor, defenseless angel... Whatever shall I do with you?" She asked rhetorically, placing a soft kiss on the angel's lips, savoring the taste for the scant seconds the kiss lasted.
"Alas, this is not the place," Saial smiled back.
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Elsewhere in the library, Takato and Renamon stood, engrossed with reading, a few stacks of books beside them.
"What the-?" He exclaimed in confusion at the entry, arousing her interest slightly. "Guilmon... X7?!"
"X7?" Renamon questioned. "As in, that DigiXros, or DigiFuse, method, whichever it is called?"
"Yeah," Takato confirmed. Both Tamer and kitsune promptly imagined a fifty-meters tall version of Guilmon, covered in golden armor, and chuckled softly. "So, what do you make of everyone else here?"
Renamon hesitated to answer, pondering the question. "These Digidestined and their partners... I don't know how else to describe them, but just looking at them feels as though I'm facing a Sovereign in battle..."
Takato raised an eyebrow. While there was definitely something unusual about, he wouldn't go as far as ascribing Sovereign-level power to them, noting that using the Sovereign as a benchmark of power rather lost meaning when most people either greatly exceeded that level, or fell greatly short. "So they are as powerful as a Sovereign?"
"More like one-third of a Sovereign," Renamon clarified, mildly curious to see how they might fare against her and Rika. That hypothetical battle might well require Sakuyamon Azure Mode... It was then that she remembered that Henry didn't approve, and dismissed the notion.
"And Koji?" Takato continued.
"Much the same," Renamon disinterestedly answered. "However, it feels as though he is somehow restraining his power, or suppressing it..."
Takato wasn't altogether sure what exactly that implied about him. They'd seen him transform by willing it, so how could he be restraining his power? Was it a similar situation to the Tamers? Was his ultimate Digivolution somehow dangerous to him too? Or was there some other reason for it? Just then, Koji appeared from behind a bookcase, panting heavily for some reason.
"What year is it?!" He frantically asked the two, who stared blankly at him.
"Are you okay?" Takato tentatively asked, after a brief pause.
"Yes, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay, I'm okay," Koji sharply told him, with a humorless chuckle. Takato and Renamon shared a weary look, agreeing that he'd gone crazy; Terriermon had acted much the same way almost fifty years ago... "Now what day is it?"
"We don't exactly have a calender, sorry," Renamon told him with mild amusement. "Why do you ask?"
"Okay, when was the last time you guys saw me outside of this terrible place?!" Koji exclaimed frantically.
"Y-Yesterday," Takato told him with mild surprise. Shouldn't he know that himself?
"How can that be?" Koji murmured, sounding as though he was on the verge of a breakdown. "I've been in here for at least a week! I don't know how to get out!"
"I think you've lost track of time," Takato apprehensively told him, unsure of how he might react, while Renamon leapt into the air, seeing nothing but bookcases, with Gigimon napping on one that was about twenty bookcases away. As that leap hadn't yielded results, once the kitsune landed beside the two, she turned around, and jumped again, spotting the door to their north-east, a few hundred meters away.
She touched down beside Takato and Koji, the latter of whom was more than slightly confused by what she was doing. "The exit should be to the north-east." She sternly told the two, though Takato was sufficiently familiar with the kitsune's facial expressions to recognize a smirk when he saw it. "Given your sense of direction, leaving should only take a day or two, if you began now. Have fun with that..."
"A day or two?!" Koji exclaimed indignantly. "You're insane! I'll never find my way out of here!"
"Insane?" Renamon echoed, her tone and expression suddenly nearly unreadable, even for Takato, as she pondered the term. "Yes, perhaps I am insane... Perhaps, this century of endless wandering has whittled away at my sanity... Perhaps, we have all gone mad..."
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In their bedroom, Davis, Kari and TK sat on one of the beds, their expressions stony, while Veemon, Gatomon and Patamon were elsewhere in the building, the air unbearably thick with tension and awkward silence, as the girl had just put an end to their long-standing love-triangle, by saying that she chose Davis over him.
"Why?" TK quietly asked, with a hint of anger to his voice, remaining immobile beside Kari. The girl tensed. She couldn't fault him for being, but for some reason, she just wished that he'd reacted with more than a glare.
"I'm sorry, TK, but... Don't you realize what's happened to you?!" Kari murmured. TK gave her a confused look. "You're short-tempered now, you're vindictive... I just... I can't be with someone like that..."
"Seriously!?" TK yelled at her, causing Kari to yelp back, while Davis glared at him. "Is that really your reason for choosing him, and not me?! That I treat that LadyDevimon as she should be treated?!"
"That's exactly it, TK!" Davis retorted. "When we set out into the Digital World on that dark day almost twenty years ago, did you ever imagine that you would become this!?" He shouted at the blonde, who clenched his fists. "You're barely yourself anymore, and you've come too far ever to be again!"
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" TK screamed, delivering a solid fist to Davis' right cheek. He turned to Kari, giving her a icy glare that she had never expected to see from him, or any human. "Twenty years... Twenty years I've been in love with you... Twenty years I've followed you guys everywhere without hesitation, and this is what I get in return?" He asked incredulously, before sauntering towards the door.
"I could make that same argument, you know!" Davis shouted after him, while TK continued walking.
"Where're you going?" Kari softly asked.
"Downstairs, to ask that LadyDevimon whether I can get another bedroom," TK replied, his back turned to them. "Preferably in the basement..."
Soon, he was gone from sight, leaving Kari and Davis alone. "He... Took that better than I expected..." Davis slowly spoke, unsure of what else to say, tentatively placing his hand on Kari's.
"Yeah..." She responded softly.
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"Perhaps," TK annoyedly thought to himself, taking a left turn down a short passage somewhere in the maze of the revised library, and passing by four books titled 'Agumon', 'Veemon', 'Guilmon' and 'Monodramon', respectively. "This wasn't the most well-thought idea..."
The difficulty in navigating the labyrinthine library wasn't the lack of options, he mused, as every few meters, a new passageway or two would invariably appear, generally allowing one to go left, right and forwards as they pleased.
What he really wanted to know, however, was why in the world that LadyDevimon had even done all this, and neglected to put up directions. It was almost like she wanted people to get lost in here, for her own amusement.
... After some thought, TK decided that to be a quite plausible explanation.
Maybe having so many characters is a bad idea.
On one hand, it adds diversity, and allows for all kinds of situations...
On the other, can I really keep track of that many? And what degree of characterization would be allotted to them for it? Saial/Raya are pretty much OCs, but that still leaves 13 (Takato/Guilmon/Rika/Renamon/Henry/Terriermon/Koji /TK/Patamon/Kari/Gatomon/Davis/Veemon), with the
Oh, bollocks...
Day 19 notes
1) Saial's exasperation with Raya's explanation is rather understandable; not only is it poor science, in simple terms, it amounts to Raya looking at it and away until it gives her what she wants...
2) Personally, I don't really consider TK's reaction to be overblown or unrealistic, all things considered. After all, twenty years of a love triangle, and he gets rejected in a single day?