Falling in the Black.
Chapter Two.
Whispers in the Dark.
…We'll rise again and destroy those who dared to oppose us…
…The End of the Human Realm is near, and our Reign over the Digital one shall soon begin…
Together… my Brethren…
Everything will be as it shall have been from the beginning.
The words echoed in the Darkness, ringing into the very core of those they had been spoken to…
An enthusiast roar resonated through deep, dark water.
Among innocent laughter, a cruel chuckle stood.
Blue hellish eyes narrowed in delight.
Dark lips curled in a sinister smile.
Within a shell, drowsy eyes parted slightly.
With a sudden gasp and quicken heartbeat, the dream shattered…
-o-o-o-
Impmon lay on top of a tree at Shinjuku Park. The sun shone high and the breeze was cool and gentle. Down there, on the ground, the other Digimons were having fun, waiting for their human partners to be released from school and reunited with them.
The viral digimon closed his eyes and frowned; last night he had had a dream… another one… more likely a recurrent nightmare by then.
The whole thing was foggy, but Impmon still was able to pinpoint the important parts: dark, familiar silhouettes that he couldn't identify dissipating in the mist; fights and carnage; screams, cries and pleas… Beelzemon's claws rising in the air, only to fall back with lightning speed, reaping, slicing, cutting and maiming... over and over again… laughing, laughing all the time…
Those lasts were the worst.
And there was also the whispering…
There were bits of those here and there, someone talking… a smooth, dark voice, murmuring, chanting, promising, pleading, threatening, laughing… Thinking about it, that had been the first dream of the lot; the beginning of it all, actually. Impmon hadn't been able to see who was talking -at least he didn't think so-; and every time he woke up, the words faded away rapidly, impossible to recall.
The branch he was resting on quivered slightly, startling him. The little imp sat up clumsily, a ball of fire ready on his finger.
"Bah, it's you…" he muttered, casting the flame away and leaning back against the tree's rough bark. A monumental yawn escaped his mouth and he rubbed his eye drowsily.
Renamon cocked her head, watching the virus intently.
"You know, I'm aware of how handsome I am, but having you staring like that it's plainly creepy."
"What's wrong?"
Impmon snarled. "Who says there's something wrong?"
"You have not engaged in a prank war with Terriermon, tricked Guilmon, Calumon and MarineAngemon out of their food, made fun of Guardromon nor made any flirty remarks towards me."
Impmon snickered. "Hurt I'm not paying enough attention to you?"
The vixen digimon kept watching him. "What's bothering you, Impmon?"
"Nothing's bothering me!" He snapped back.
"Okay then." Renamon reappear on a nearby branch, crossed her arms over her chest and rested her back against the tree.
The silence treatment proved effective not more than two minutes later.
"I have problems sleeping. Are you happy now?"
"What kind of problems?"
Impmon sighed and massaged his forehead. "Weird dreams, nightmares, that kind stuff." He kept quiet for a while. "But they don't feel like that at all. They are… too real." He glanced at Renamon briefly; she was looking at him intently, her face remained unexpressive.
Impmon mustered the courage to say aloud what he hadn't been able to accept himself.
"I think they are memories…"
-o-o-o-
It's time…
-o-o-o-
The DigiWorld have been at peace for the last months. Life was bright and happy, full of hope and good wishes.
That was, at least, until the pulse stroke…
It was a vibration, a pulse of pure power that hit the Digital World in its totality (every sector, each quadrant), morphing and twisting, bending and wrapping.
Deep purple and gray clouds appeared over the sky -over all of them- casting dark shadows over the earth, summoning the fear from every soul they fell on. Thunders and winds cut the air; the ground trembled and shook…
The landscape changed… Deserts, oceans, mountains, prairies, forests and jungles, cities and villages, appearing and disappearing at random, with anyone who happened to be in them.
Marcus clenched his teeth tightly, securing his grip over a tree with one hand and over Agumon with the other. His eyes got to stay closed due to the wind and dust flying around. He had got hit by rocks and pieces of wood and debris more than once, but he refused to lose his grip.
He knew better than that.
"Boss!"
Agumon's claw started to slip away in his hand. Marcus struggled to pull his partner towards him, but his efforts were condemned to failure when the ground underneath them gave away, sending them crashing into the darkness.
"BOSS!"
"AGUMON!"
The last thing Marcus saw before losing consciousness was his friend glitching and disappearing.
-o-o-o-
Professors Damon, Crier and Crier registered the exact moment in which the DigiWorld began to convulse and the exact moment when it stopped.
Then nothing.
Nothing at all.
Even if the menace Yggdrasil had posed had been eradicated and D.A.T.S. had been dispersed, everyone who had been involved was still in contact and ready to take matters in their hands if the need ever aroused.
And that time had come.
Spencer Damon dialed Sampsun's number thinking about his son.
He had complete confidence that Marcus could stand his ground; whatever had just happened in the Digital Word, Marcus would be able to handle it.
-o-o-o-
Static and white noise were everything Takuya could hear after his seventh attempt to call his friends. Frowning, he slipped his cellphone into his pocket and tried the house phone, getting the same result as before.
"Mom, something's wrong with the phone! Did you forget to pay or something?"
"There's something wrong with the TV too!" complained Shinya from the sofa.
"Well, what do you two want me to do about it?" questioned their mother from the kitchen. "If they don't work, they don't work. You must wait; there is probably some problem back at the central. The signals will come back eventually."
Takuya sighed and took seat besides his brother, fixing his bored gaze on the snowy screen of the TV.
His hand caressed his phone through his shorts fabric unconsciously …
-o-o-o-
Izzy's fingers tipped furiously while his eyes kept trained on his laptop screen.
Something massive had had just happened in the DigiWorld. The data he was receiving was too damaged and incomplete to determine the nature of the event, but still it was good enough to determine that, whatever cataclysm had just took place, was worst than anything the DigiDestined had ever come across with; probably something like Apocalymon's erasing.
Any kind of electromagnetic signal was as good as death for the current time, and it seemed to be global. World's economy and communications (among other areas) were about to endure a major setback, and Izzy were just too frightened to even start imagine the conditions the DigiWorld must be facing right then.
He turned his head in Tentomon's direction, watching him happily gulping down the cookies his mother had brought into the room a while ago.
He couldn't but thank God that his partner and the others' were in the Real World for the time being!
-o-o-o-
Clck Clnk Clck Clnk Clck Clnk
Yamaki's Zippo was doing little, if nothing, to calm its owner's nerves.
Even with all the experiences Yamaki had retrieved working as head of Hypnos, with the Juggernaut program, the Monster Makers and more recently coordinating the Tamers and governmental resources to keep in line the bioemergings (he never spoke about what he used to do before any of THAT) whatever was happening then was too much for him to handle.
Once it was undoubtfully confirmed that his superiors would have to present themselves in Hypnos building instead of their usual complaining/demanding answers calls, he was forced to put his Zippo away and walked to the door, to the encounter of the Monster Makers.
Through the window, the chaos of a wire-off city was bad enough omen for the days to come…
-o-o-o-
The DigiWorld guardians and protectors –namely the Four Sovereign Beasts, the Three Celestials and Yggdrasil and his Royal Knights, as well as Gennai and his several clones and some others- had reunited, an extremely rare occasion. The place design for such an important meeting had been none other than the Dream Realm, seeing as their separated sectors were in the middle of an extreme make-over.
"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" Zhuqiamon's yelling raised strong and powerful, mimicking the fire that surrounded him. "I DEMAND TO KNOW HOW THIS HAPPENED AND WHO TO KILL!"
"Stay calm, Boy," Ebowuomon admonished. "This is not the moment to lose our heads. We must remain cool and collected in order to decide our course of action."
"I agree with Lord Ebouwoumon," stated Seraphimon. "Right now, the DigiWorld requires from us to stay focus and prevent any more damage from happening."
"We must protect what is left at any cost," nodded Cherubimon. "But that would serve for nothing if we don't also do something to discover whoever is behind this and stop them from making matters even worse than they already are."
"Stabilizing the quadrants will require all our strengths combine; to discover and fight the new evil, we shall relay on others," declared Yggdrassil, under the form of a crystal of light.
"I propose we request the assistance of the human children and their digimon partners for that particular matter," voiced Azulongmon.
Ophanimon nodded her agreement. "They have demonstrated their worth in more than one occasion at assisting our respective quadrants in the times of need."
"Why should we? My Devas and Yggdrassil's Royal Knights should be more than capable to handle this, until we are able to take matters in our own hands," Zhuqiamon retorted.
"We might require their aide and protection while stabilizing the quadrants,"
Zhuqiamon huffed. "I see you are set on bringing the traitors and those brats on this."
"It seems the logical course of action to follow at the current situation," stated Yggdrassil. "As for the culprit… There are few possibilities as to whom the responsible for the present state of our wards may be."
"What do you mean?"
"The possibility of these as result of the humans' doing is highly unlikely, since this catastrophe has affected all our planes simultaneously and the human species is unaware of the multiverses' existence. Not to mention the effects this happening must be having in the humans'' realms…"
"And who -would you mind telling me?- do you think would be able to do something like this?" spat the digital phoenix with disdain.
"The possibilities are counted. Beings with the power, resources and knowledge necessary to affect the Digital World at this degree are extremely uncommon. The most likely to be responsible must be counted among the D-Reaper, Apocalymon, Milleniummon, GranDracmon or the Seven Demon Lords. Since the D-Reaper and Apocalymon have been already taken care of, and is extremely unlike they have reformed by this time their involvement in the recent events is improbable; as for GranDracmon… there had not been any sight of him for millenniums. Some of the individuals that compose the group known as the Seven Demon Lords have reappeared independently, being defeated or restrained by one or another of the human and digimon groups.
"The most likely individual to be behind this aggression is Milleniummon. His current state is unknown, as are his whereabouts after his defeat by the human known as Ryo Akiyama.
Zhuqiamon's eyes narrowed. "The human has been in my domain recently."
"We also must consider the possibility of a new enemy," finalized Yggdrassil.
Azulongmon nodded. "We shall summon our champions and sealed the Digital Realm afterwards; the sooner the better."