Things are beginning to approach the high point of the story: where more crest modes emerge, the enemies become more apparent, and general awesomeness occurs. But first, a few events must occur. Important events happen in this chapter, so pay attention. Other things are more subtle and suggested. Hope you enjoy.
The eternally cheerful, glowing shape of the DigiGnome floated across the sky. This digital world was vastly different than the one it usually dwelt in and knew. But the bright sun overhead was an enjoyable new experience that it was marveling at and it could deal with the lack of data streams.
Giggling as it flew over a flowering field, the DigiGnome was pleasantly surprised as small butterflies fluttered around. The colorful insects and glowing creature glided above the fragrant plants, unconcerned by anything. The wish-granting digital being greatly enjoyed the simple things and making others happy. The only thing that it could ask for would be to have someone to play with or grant wishes for.
The nice human girl in the cloak brought it here where she and a human-looking digital being asked it to help create items of power that combined the shape to interact with D-arcs and the power children used in this reality. The DigiGnome found the idea of crests widely fascinating. But now it didn't have anyone else to help.
The butterflies began to fly ahead of the glowing creature, almost like they were leading it somewhere. The insects paused finally, circling a small cube that the digital creature vaguely knew to be a device human called a television. But more importantly, it could sense that it provided a connection to the human's world. And if it couldn't find someone who wanted their wishes granted here, maybe it could find someone there. Humanity was such an imaginative group of beings, like that Shibumi and the D-arcs, so one would expect to grant creative wishes in the human world that would make many people happy.
The DigiGnome giggled at the possibilities, nodded in thanks to the helpful butterflies, and vanished through the Digi-Port.
Obviously meeting after the rescue mission would need to be done carefully. Thus, Izzy found himself once again in an alleyway, this time with Jeri, Takato, Tentomon, and Guilmon. This wasn't as clean as the last one he stood in, but it was one of the wider ones in the area. The large dumpster that shared the space with them was filled to the brim with trash from the restaurant whose back wall formed part of the alley with the antique store on the other side. The red reptile digimon sniffed at the discarded food, but his partner barely noticed beyond an absent-minded admonishment to not eat the dumpster's contents. It was clear to the reddish-brown haired Digidestined that the young Goggle-head's thoughts were on one thing: their missing friends.
On second thought, Izzy mentally corrected, Takato was considering two things. He was obviously wondering if Beelzemon, Leomon, WarGreymon, and Tai managed to get into the apartment, rescue the twins and parent, and escaped safely. The boy's direct and aggressive approach was specifically designed to catch the awaiting enemy unprepared and minimize the time and risk of the entire process. Unfortunately, it also maximized the collateral damage to the building. But, as the tamer pointed out after they left, it was easier to let Beelzemon destroy what was in between him and the twins rather than trying to convince him to be subtle. Worried megas were not known for their patience when there was a threat to their partners. If the virus smashed through the wall as part of a plan, it would be less chaotic for the rest of the rescue team knew about it rather than him randomly storming the apartment.
But Takato's mind also seemed to drift occasionally towards one of his fellow tamers, as did his gaze. While sometimes Izzy seemed to do better with computers rather than people, he could recognize the awkward, goofy, embarrassed look that the younger boy gained when his eyes moved towards Jeri. It made sense, in a way, that Takato would have a crush on his fellow tamer. Those with digimon partners were attracted towards each other, both as the closest of friends and, in some cases, as romantic couples. The best example of that phenomenon would be Sora. She and Tai, in their younger days, possessed a special connection that sprouted from their friendship into an obvious attraction that they never really acted on properly. Afterwards, when it became apparent she and the spiky-haired boy intended to not be more than friends (regardless of what their partners secretly hoped at times), she didn't date other boys at their school. She didn't do anything relationship-wise until her abrupt decision to start spending more time with Matt. She never tried dating anyone who wasn't a digidestined. Another example would be Ken and Yolei, a pair who grew close nearly overnight due to the glasses-wearing girl's forceful personality over-coming any possible resistance. And Davis' bold statements about the topic might have diminished in frequency, but everyone knew he thought Kari was "the one". It just turned out that those with digimon had more in common with each other than with those without partners. Their experiences in life were radically different than the average kids, so they related better with others like them. With those examples and reasons, it didn't seem impossible for the tamers to eventually form similar relationships within their ranks.
Jeri's thoughts, though, were clearly on only one thing. She clutched her yellow D-arc tightly, glancing both towards the end of the alley and towards the sky as she waited for her friends' return. She was worried. She was completely worried about the well-being of the digimon and humans in the line of danger. Izzy wondered if she was normally that nervous about danger or if it was simply because she wasn't with her partner. Dividing pairs like this wasn't generally the best strategy, but both Leomon and Beelzemon insisted she stay far away from the threat. Thus, she simply worried at a distance.
"Do you think they're alright?" she asked finally. "It's taking them so long to get here. Could they have gotten the directions wrong and got lost?"
"No, we just had to find a sneakier way to get back," a voice answered as three shapes of varying height entered the alleyway. Tai, Agumon, and a slightly frazzled Mrs. Kamiya rejoined them before the Digidestined of Courage continued, "Surprisingly, the giant, armored dinosaur caught everyone's attention and we had to take a less-direct route."
"And whose idea was it to destroy our living room?" the parent inquired, sounding only vaguely annoyed by the destruction in the face of the fact it was for a good cause.
"It was Takato's," smiled Guilmon, taking pride in his partner's plan even if his bragging could cause the boy problems.
As she turned her attention towards the tamer, he began to defend his idea, "Yeah, but… you see, it… well, I thought… Sorry, it wasn't… Um… Oops?"
Shaking her head, she sighed, "When digimon became public knowledge and the world began to adapt to them, I bought the best coverage for digimon-based damage that we could afford. You don't have them involved in your family this long without learning to prepare for any possible outcome."
Takato was distracted from enjoying his moment of reprieve by a large dark shape dropping from above. It was clearly Beelzemon finally arriving, no longer radiating the earlier anger and Izzy felt more comfortable studying him. The differences that Tai had noticed were just as evident to this boy as it was to the spiky-haired one. The virus' raven-black wings folded up as he landed. His emerald eyes were no longer burning with pure fury. In one arm, he held the two young children whose innocent appearance still clashed in Izzy's mind with the image of their demonic-looking partner. The pair clung to the mega's leather jacket as if they never wanted to let go of their friend again. In his other arm, he held a small, red and blue shape that was very slowly starting to stir. All three were in his protective grip.
"Hey, Jeri," began the virus uneasily. "I'm so sorry about this, but… Leomon kind of shrunk."
With great care, Beelzemon set down the smaller digimon where everyone could see. He was mostly red with longish ears and a peacock-like tail of large feathers. The small quadruped had various blue markings on his head, ears, legs, back, and tail feathers that matched his drowsy eyes in shade.
Jeri blinked in surprise at her transformed partner and glanced at her D-arc. The device pulled up a holographic image of the digimon that she read off softly.
"Elecmon. A data type mammal digimon. Facing his Super Thunder Strike and Lightning Knife can be quite a shock to his opponent."
"What happened?" asked a stunned Takato. "How in the world did Leomon de-digivolved when facing a group of humans?"
"Because they were armed with some kind of anti-digimon weapon," growled Beelzemon. "Like the thing around the bug-zapper building, only they could fire it at you. You don't even get any warning since you can't see or hear it happening. It's more effective against lower level digimon, but even I could feel it a little." He looked down, "I'm sorry that this happened, Jeri. I should have…"
"It's alright," she interrupted. "You brought him back safe and you're alright too. It's not your fault. No one knew how prepared these people were and everyone did make it back. Including your partners. That's all that matters: that everyone is safe."
Yeah, the munchkins are safe," he smiled in relief. He glanced at Tai, "Hairball, your mom's now joined the 'Never Allowed to Baby-sit the Twins' list."
"But almost everyone is on that list," reminded Guilmon. "You said only you, Jeri, and Leomon could watch them now."
"Well, if they stay with someone else, look what happens. They either nearly get attacked by some digimon or held hostage by jerks in suits."
As the mega Izzy remembered as being called a "Demon Lord" argue with the reptile about how he wouldn't be trusting the safety of Ai and Mako to just anyone, the tamer in the green dress knelt down and picked up her rookie level partner. While smaller than his champion form, Elecmon was still a heavier burden than Terriermon, Patamon, or some of the other digimon that could be picked up by their partner. The red and blue creature seemed lethargic, possibly a side effect of whatever devices their attackers used. But he blinked tiredly at the girl as he seemed to be waking up.
"Jeri?" the data type asked sleepily, his voice slightly younger sounding than that of Leomon. "What happened? How'd we get back?"
"I grabbed you after those creeps went after you with those cheap sci-fi movie knock-off weapons," replied Beelzemon as he set down his partners and shifted back to his purple, rookie form. "I have a feeling those idiotic, insane, waste of space, insult to humanity, losers will wake up with the worst headaches they've ever experienced."
"You don't take kindly to people who threaten your friends, do you?" Tentomon commented.
"Not at all," Impmon nodded.
"Um… I know we just saved the little kids and my mom," remarked Tai, "but we do have another problem. These Digital Anomaly guys know where we live and are after us. Where can we go that we don't run the risk of them coming after us? Izzy's house is probably safe enough for my mom, but we would likely get attacked if we head there. Same thing for any of the other Digidestined's homes. We need somewhere to hide until we figure out a plan."
Before the Digidestined of Knowledge could start listing suggestions, the goggle-wearing tamer smiled faintly, "When we were dodging well-meaning people trying to evacuate us during the D-reaper incident, we came to one conclusion on the perfect hiding place. It's the last place a sane kid would chose to go. Which means no one would expect us to be there."
Izzy briefly wondered what in the worlds was a "D-reaper," but Tai seemed less confused by that detail. The Digidestined of Knowledge assumed that it had been explained while they were in the Digi-world and promised himself to ask for more details later.
"I wasn't exactly with you at that point, Goggle-head," reminded Impmon. "Where are we heading?"
She and Fate watched as a heart-broken child was drawn away from her friends. A voice promised to give her what she most strongly desired at that time, relief from the pain. The girl didn't know that following that promise would lead to disaster.
"If only she knew," her cloaked partner remarked softly. "If she didn't go to that nightmare, it would save them a great deal of pain."
Destiny reminded, "If she didn't choose to go on her own, then we would have to make her go. What must happen must happen. No matter how much suffering will erupt from her decision."
"It's just too bad they don't realize what is about to be unleashed."
"And what will happen because of its unleashing upon the world," she added before reciting part of the current prophecy. "'Two individuals, one inside and one outside. One, who carries the weight of the deaths of innocents from his actions, will try to rescue the one who deserved life far more than he. But the Chaos brings about the greatest pain and punishment to those who seek to do what is right. And another digimon partner shall be lost.' It doesn't seem fair, but that is what awaits them."
Fate nodded slowly, "It isn't fair. But we can't stop it either." He tilted his head and tried to make a joke, "I always knew that puppet was evil."
Destiny blinked in surprise. Not only had she remembered part of another prophecy, word for word, she'd also recognized another person. Jeri.
This wasn't quite the right memory either, but it was very important. She was so close now.
"I am extremely disappointed in you, Tamiko Mizutani," stated Mr. Konishi, glaring at the chaotic images on his computer screen of the destroyed apartment his operative were barely extracted from before the police, and media, could swarm the area. But enough neighbors and bystanders were attracted by the noise to see the DADP employees leaving. Covering this event up would take some serious work. "I don't suppose you have an explanation for what has transpired today? Starting with why you were there to begin with."
The blond woman tried to focus on her boss, but the earlier strange moments of familiarity concerning the pictures in files on the Digidestined, the dark digimon's features, and other disconnected images fluttered through her head. Why were her hallucinations beginning to haunt her again? Maybe skipping her medication so long was not such a good idea. If those old dreams could be awakened by simple things like a picture of a bird-like digimon or the gaze of a three-eyed monster, perhaps she should have taken those pills after all.
Shaking her head slightly to clear her thoughts, Mizutani tried to reason, "I was merely attempting to provide the retrieval team with the greatest chance possible by giving them the greatest information resource to use. Besides, their regular leader was unable to be there."
"Yes, I noticed that he was suddenly reassigned off the mission. I don't see how that could have happened," he remarked, giving her a look that clearly stated he suspected Mizutani but lacked evidence to prove it. "But that is only the start of the problem. Even if we forget for a moment that you ignored orders in order to go on that mission, there is the fact of how events unwound. The mission was a failure."
"It did not go according to plan," she acknowledged, ignoring how much of an understatement that was. "The targets were not at home when we arrived ruining the chance of a quick and simple extraction. Further complications occurred, leading to the unforeseeable conclusion that we experienced."
"Your fellow DADP employees were attacked by 'a giant, black-winged monstrous digimon' that the DD-guns couldn't stop. Poor Taiki had his nose broken when it slammed his face into the floor."
"Maybe it'll improve his looks," she mumbled softly. She never liked that guy anyway. Louder, she elaborated, "Three digimon, one a champion and the others of an even higher level, broke in and attacked. The DD-guns were set at a lower setting in order to capture a rookie and champion rather than defend against high level digimon making the first attack. It did incapacitate the champion digimon I identified as Leomon, but they took him with them when they escaped. If the weapons had been a setting appropriate for the target, they would have been just as effective against all of them."
Sighing, Mr. Konishi pulled up an e-mail on his computer and hid the image of the destroyed living room. As Mizutani scanned the letter, key words caught her attention. The grey-haired man began to explain.
"This was sent not long after the digimon began their attack. It was a warning sent to all the Digidestined about DADP and instructing them to go into hiding. Someone also fixed it so it can't be easily traced to the source or the other receivers. The only reason we have it is because a parent in PAD found it on her son's computer and forwarded it to other PAD members, including some of our employees. The police are already receiving reports of missing kids. And if I don't take steps, they're going to blame us and try to shut us down."
A sense of deep foreboding began to form. She could tell something bad was about to occur. She could almost guess the next words that would come out of his mouth.
"I'm sorry, Ms. Mizutani. Someone must take the fall for this disaster and you've placed yourself in that position. We will explain to the media that it was your decision to take this rash and completely unwelcome action against the Kamiya family. You stole DADP resources, lied to personnel in order to fulfill your own agenda and acted on your personal vendetta against digimon," he described in a calm voice. "You have a history of mental health problems and apparently took on too much responsibility. The stress of your job at DADP, a company with a purely neutral stance on the topic of digimon, led to a re-emergence of your delusions and causing your actions. You will be relieved of your duties here and shall no longer be our employee. For your own good, of course. And finally, a full investigation of how you could have lost so much progress in your recovery of your mental health, and what else you might have done because of your problems, will be conducted. Do you understand?"
She narrowed her eyes at the man. He was going to throw her to the sharks, letting her take the fall for everything. He intended to say the raid was her idea, that anything the Digidestined accused DADP of was her doing, and that she was essentially insane. He planned to use her troubled past to make his story stick. But the worst thing was he intended to fire her since, after he was finished dragging her name through the mud, she would be considered a liability to the company.
"But, sir, what about the Guardian program?" she asked, struggling to remain calm. "I still need to finish setting the parameters in order to be able to activate the full-power version without wiping out every digimon in range. Until then, all you have are the weakened and simplified versions in the shield and DD-guns."
"We have other employees. One of them will take over the project."
"But it's my project."
He shook his head, "Not anymore. Why don't you start clearing out your desk? I'll have someone from security up here shortly to escort you off the premises."
Unable to think of anything else to say, she numbly mumbled, "Yes, sir."
She walked slowly down the halls, not looking at anyone or anything. She couldn't believe what just occurred. It seemed too unreal. The odd flashes of memory from her old hallucination seem more possible than for her to have been fired. She couldn't really have just lost her job, her purpose.
Mizutani continued in her disconnected state until she reached her desk. She sat down, pulled open her drawer, pulled out her bottle of pills, and stared at the label for a moment. Then with a snarl of disgust, she tossed it at the wall.
How dare they? How dare they fire her? How could they blame her for everything and take away her project? It was hers. She created it. It was her pride and joy. She designed it to protect against digimon and she wouldn't even be allowed to finish it. They can't take it away from her.
"It's not fair," she growled softly, ignoring how childish and naïve the statement sounded.
"Of course not," a strange voice agreed, startling her. "They can't take the Guardian project away from you before its activation."
"Who are you?" asked the blond woman, identifying the source of the voice as coming from her computer speaker. She wasn't certain why or how whoever was talking was doing this, but she was even less certain she trusted him. "How did you get on my computer? Let alone know anything about them stealing Guardian?"
"I'm someone who simply wants to see your dreams come to fruition. I just wonder why you have not activated the program already."
"The parameters have not been set. If we try, it'll go after every digimon within range."
"Would that be so bad?" the voice asked, echoing the thoughts she'd often wondered. "All digimon are a threat to those they encounter. Wouldn't the world be better without the digital monsters? Would it not be a better idea to activate the program now, while you still have control, rather than let it fall into the hands of those who do not truly understand the dangers of digimon?"
"I… don't…" she tried to explain. The voice spoke sense, his words matching those she'd always thought. But his voice unnerved her and created a deep feeling of unease. Her instincts shrieked that she shouldn't trust that voice at all, and yet she wanted to do what he said. Sighing, she answered, "I'm not certain how far I would be able to get the program to extend at this moment."
"Leave that to me. I can divert power to your program if you activate it. You've isolated it or else I would be able to activate it myself. You just need to start it and I'll ensure that it reaches all the digital threats."
He was right. Though most of the computer systems in the building were fairly isolated from the outside world, she took further steps to ensure the safety of her prize program. The last thing she needed was for some hacker, or one of her brainless competition at DADP, to get access to Guardian and ruin or steal her work. And this mystery speaker just stated he would have used it himself if he could. On the other hand, he wanted to use it the same way as she did. He wanted to use it to remove the danger of digimon.
"You do not have long to decide, Tamiko Mizutani," he reminded. "They're coming to take it away. Who knows if they'll ever finish it on their own? All your work could be wasted if you don't use it now. Start the Guardian program."
Some hidden part of her mind rebelled against the idea. It fought against the idea of doing anything this voice suggested. It went as far as to wonder, since he wanted her to use the program, if having Guardian existing was even the right thing? Could she be wrong about her work? What if… she was wrong about hating all digimon?
A flash of creamy-white softness and a pair of honey-golden eyes flickered through her head. Emotions quickly followed. Friendship, trust, and joy were quickly replaced with sadness and loneliness. Then, confusion, hurt, and disappointment joined in. Finally, she felt a strong sense of betrayal, anger, and hatred washed over and erased the earlier positive feelings.
No. This needed to be done. It was right. She was doing what was needed to be done for the greater good. The Guardian program would solve everything.
She sat down at her computer and proceeded to pull up the appropriate files to access the program. But once she was far enough along, the computer began to proceed on its own. The Guardian program began to run without her control. She stared at the symbols running across the computer screen in surprise until the voice began to laugh. The sound was cruel and dark, sending a shiver along the woman's spine.
"Foolish human. Did you not wonder why, after being unable to make your silly program work before, you discover how to on the very day that this city was attacked? Even as I was defeated by the Digidestined, I put my plans into action. Thank you for protecting and improving my project for me. You never even noticed the hidden programming, did you?"
"No," she whispered, horror dawning on her. "You used me. You secretly gave me what I needed to create Guardian in order to use it."
"Precisely. It hid part of me from destruction and served as a future weapon against all who stand."
Mizutani saw that the program was now spreading throughout the DADP network, no longer restricted to the isolated section of her computer. It was having trouble gaining its way to the external networks, but she had no doubt in her mind it would infect the whole internet in time. Like a virus.
"You're the digimon from a few months ago," she stated. "Armegeddemon."
"Once, but you may call me 'Diaboromon' for the moment. Now, watch as I use Guardian to create a better world."
Without further warning, the fire alarms in the building rang out. Every person began to flee for the staircase from the supposed fire. One woman, however, ignored the sound in order to try and stuff her mistake back into Pandora 's Box before it was too late.
I hope you guys like this. I finally reveal the mystery enemy's identity, though many people guessed after the last chapter. And disaster is about to strike the human world. You know what that means: awesome fight scenes in the future and important twists.
As always, feedback is deeply appreciated. I want to know what you think of this chapter and the story over all. Thanks.