Chapter 19: Sinceridad
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Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, just the OCs.
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Yamaki examined the information that he had gotten from the US government about this Carmine Reed fellow. Most of it seemed like nonsense, especially the birth date which said April 25, 1689. There was no way this Mr. Immortal person could possibly be that old.
Then there was how apparently he made an agreement with the government to make whatever identities he needed as long as he obeyed the law as best he could. There was a long series of files detailing each of these identities. When he reached the final file, he was in shock.
"Keith Jackson…" he said under his breath, narrowing his eyes in spite. "I should have known."
It made too much sense. Plus, there was the fact that the blond had the same partner as Mr. Immortal. In other words, he was Mr. Immortal.
Upon finishing his second look through the files, Yamaki dropped the files back onto the table and picked up his cell-phone.
"This is Mitsuo Yamaki. I would like to send the police to a certain residence to detain the occupant there," he said calmly through the phone.
Now he had his man.
###
"Giga Cannon!" Machinedramon shouted, unleashing a powerful attack against the nearest black eyeballs.
"Jishin! Kaminari! Kaji! Oyaji!" Gankoomon called, shooting a massive beam from the fire god on his back at even more black eyeballs, destroying them in the process.
"Hard Rock Damashī" OmegaShoutmon yelled, destroying even more eyes with his burning fists.
"Dragon Impulse!" AeroVeedramon screamed, creating a powerful dragon of pure energy.
"Evil Inferno!" Daemon shouted, unleashing a powerful inferno against even more eyes.
"Great, it's as if even our power isn't enough," Anubimon commented, slicing through a large number of eyes with his swords.
"Yeah, I might need to go to Mega," OmegaShoutmon told his partner through the experimental feature on the digivice.
"We shouldn't need to. I've already scanned TysiachaGlazkovmon and his power level should be low enough for you all to defeat him without you having to go to Mega. As it is, you and AeroVeedramon can defeat Megas on your own, anyway."
"Yeah, but this ain't a normal Mega! We should biomerge as soon as possible," the golden dragon said, rapidly dispatching a large number of eyes as well as zombie digimon that TysiachaGlazkovmon had created. "This isn't getting any easier."
"Okay, if you insist. I thought you didn't want to use our Mega form unless it was absolutely necessary. You said something about it being too easy."
"Well, this is too hard!" OmegaShoutmon shouted. The Ultimate was having far too difficult of a time dealing with this enemy.
Unfortunately, well before his partner could get there, he felt something go through his back. "No!" Apparently a Matadormon had snuck up on him and stabbed him, slicing clean through the other side. Matadormon weren't particularly strong Ultimates, either, making this whole thing seem extremely pathetic in the eyes of the gold-clad Ultimate.
"Shoutmon!" his partner yelled out, running for him.
Unfortunately, neither one was safe from the eyes that went after them. Mr. Immortal was teleported into TysiachaGlazkovmon's main eye while OmegaShoutmon's data was assimilated into the abomination itself, bit by bit.
Then the abomination feasted upon the energy inside Mr. Immortal's body, biomerging and ascending to a higher form. The eyes stayed where they were but the central one became RuinSphinxmon, a black, skeleton-like digimon wearing the attire of an Egyptian pharaoh.
###
"No!" Mr. Immortal shouted, sitting up in bed. Shoutmon got up himself and looked at him.
"Bad dream?" he asked, getting a nod from his partner. "I had one where I was torn up into a million pieces and forced to fight everyone in my corrupted Mega form."
The blond was breathing heavily and sweating profusely, so he decided to get up and head into the bathroom. He splashed some cold water on his face.
That battle… It really shouldn't have happened like that. He had heard how strong TysiachaGlazkovmon was from reports in his original timeline, so he should have gone all out, using InfinityShoutmon. It would have been easier, especially since RuinSphinxmon nearly gave the others a run for their money.
He was amazed they had defeated him.
The blond looked at himself in the mirror. He was definitely muscular, though the body hair would have turned off any girl that saw him. The same could be said about his muscles. There were times when he wished he could have let go of that decision to remain single and settled down, but he realized he would outlast any girl he married.
That is unless he took her to the digital world and she stayed there long enough. The Tamers of Shinjuku could realistically live forever themselves since they had enough data inside of them for a biomerge, provided someone programmed their data with the proper methods to maintain their bodies indefinitely like Mr. Immortal did with his.
He took a deep breath. The road ahead was long.
The man picked up his digivice as he walked back into his room, looking at it and remembering his long life. He smiled on all the good times he had and all the interesting people he had met. The thing was that he refused to let himself go down into any sort of depression, so he tried to think about and meditate on the blessings he had over the years. Shoutmon looked up at him as he did so. True, Mr. Immortal's partner didn't remember everything, however at least they had each other.
They had each other even as everything turned into chaos.
A swat team came in, everyone holding their guns and pointing on the blond American.
"Freeze! You will come with us!" they yelled.
"What's the crime?" the man asked, not buying what was happening. After a few long seconds, he held his hands up. "What did you come in here to arrest me for?"
"For interfering in the lives of normal citizens by giving them partner digimon," the lead Swat member said.
"I only gave one digimon away in Japan and that guy wanted it. There's no law against that," the immortal objected, having looked up any info he could find already just in case. This SWAT team leader must have been anti-digimon.
"You will come or you will be shot, do you understand?" the Swat member yelled.
Mr. Immortal looked around and said something in English, something none could understand. "Emergency Exit Activate."
Suddenly, he and his partner were gone, pulled through by means of a program on his digivice. The event was recorded as a rapid burst bio-emergence by Hypnos, but he didn't go to the digital world. He went somewhere else.
###
"Estee Lauder," Miki said, naming her favorite kind of make-up.
"Never heard of it," Tadashi replied. They were walking through a field full of tall grass. There didn't seem to be any digimon going after them so that was a good sign. Mountains full of fog and mist could be seen in the distance.
"You've never heard of my favorite brand of make-up?" the girl asked in disbelief.
"I'm a guy. I've never heard of half the brands of shoes you like. Vera's Wang, Sonoma, Croft and Burrito…"
"Barrow! And don't put Vera in the possessive!" Miki shouted.
"I like Burrito better," Tadashi mumbled, grinning. He was tired of all this criticism he was getting from Miki for not knowing all this girl stuff. She should give him a break. He has one brother, no sisters.
"You know, it's going to suck when you're older," the girl told him, rolling her eyes.
Tadashi stuck his tongue out at her playfully. She responded in kind.
"So, where are we headed, anyway?" the girl asked.
"The Dimensional Corridor. I was thinking of finding it and then finding the others in the real world," Tadashi explained.
"Come on, we've been walking for days!" the dark-haired girl complained. Tadashi gave her a look. It would be amazing if either of them survived the day.
Still, at least she wasn't making pot shots about his weight anymore.
As it was, she seemed to stop making remarks about looks period except for when she mentioned the aforementioned make-up products and shoes. Tadashi had no idea why women obsessed about shoes so much. And jewelry. He'd be lucky if he actually managed to wear a wedding ring after marriage.
He pulled out his digivice. He noticed every time that the biggest pink dot tended to be the Dimensional Corridor and they only had a little bit more to go. He smiled at that one.
"Can we take another rest," Miki asked.
We've taken ten today, Tadashi thought, feeling slightly irritated. He had been keeping track. Still, he knew that a good team didn't have much dissension so he figured he'd work on that with the dark-haired girl. "Okay," he said and the dark-haired girl sat down.
"That's better. My calves are starting to hurt so much," she told him. "Reminds me of that time we walked through those ruins."
"Yeah." Tadashi thought about how Yuji complained every inch of the way and how Taizou wanted to stay longer, probably to decipher those texts. They were gibberish to Tadashi, anyway, even when Agumon Hakase read the one line off the wall.
"Excuse me for a second," the blond said. "I need to take a leak."
"Um, okay. See you later," the girl replied as Tadashi walked off with his partner. Eventually he found a tree and unzipped his pants. It was only after he had finished that he saw what was on the other side.
It was a massive cliff and right there was the temple that housed the dimensional corridor.
"Miki! I found it!" he exclaimed, running back to where he had left the dark-haired girl.
"Um, your barn door's open," the girl told him and he zipped his pants back up, his face flushing in embarrassment. The blond led the dark-haired girl to the cliff. "Wow, that's quite the view."
It really was. The valley seemed to be filled with mist and hills.
"Okay, ready to go down there?" he asked. "There's a TV nearby, so we might be able to use that to get to the real world once we investigate it."
"Are you really going to leave Yuji and Taizou behind?" the girl asked.
"We'll get them. I just wanted to check this out for after," he explained. "Plus there's that whole thing with the fact that the guy's surrounded by control spires and has his own army of Ultimates around him."
"Right," the girl responded.
It was then that they heard an explosion. Tadashi tackled Miki out of the way just as a ball of hot magma hit right where she was at. "Tadashi! What was that?" the girl shouted. Then the blond screamed. The dark-haired girl noticed that he was injured with a serious-looking burn on his right leg.
She pulled him away and digivolved her partner. "Digivolution Activate!"
"Syakomon digivolve to… Ranamon!" the shellfish yelled, turning into her Champion form.
The girl looked down into the valley to see what was coming. It was a large dragon that looked as if it was covered in rock and lava. There were what looked like volcanos on its back, each bursting with molten rock and fumes. The digimon wasn't that close, but she could tell that it was headed their way.
She had to face it without Tadashi, since the blond looked like he was in serious pain.
"Ranamon, take this guy down," she said before turning toward Coronamon. "Coronamon, get your partner out of the way."
"I can help," Tadashi tried to say through the pain.
"Tadashi, you're injured," the girl replied. What was this? She was genuinely concerned about him, not caring that he wasn't all that good-looking.
The girl turned away. She felt ashamed that she judged him and the others. He had just saved her life.
There was no way she was going to let this enemy digimon take them down.
"That digimon is Volcdramon, Ultimate Level," Tadashi told her as Coronamon tried dragging him away.
An Ultimate… she should have known. Looking on this digimon's body, she noticed a dark spiral.
"I see you've encountered one of my slaves," she heard someone say. Looking to her left, by the tree that Tadashi used earlier was a teenage boy with medium-length brown hair and wearing a brightly colored outfit, which really threw her off. In Miki's opinion, he was kind of hot but she didn't want to take any chances.
"Okay, who the heck are you?"
"The Digimon Emperor, of course. I just noticed you from a distance by means of Volcdramon and decided to pay a visit," the Emperor said, smiling madly.
"So, you're David Symanski, huh? I didn't expect you to be so good-looking," the girl replied. "But, you attacked me and my friend and if he hadn't gotten me out of the way, I would have been char." Then she realized something. "We're speaking English, aren't we?"
"There's a Wizardmon nearby. I had him transfer my language skills to you," the Emperor explained. "And, by the way, I prefer Damien."
This guy's kind of a jerk. Great, now I have to choose between the ugly nice guy and the hot jerk, the dark-haired girl thought.
"I see you think I'm good looking," Emperor Symanski told her, smiling charmingly. The girl was somewhat attracted by him. He read her mind. "If you want, you can become my queen and I can give you everything you want."
Miki felt tempted by the offer, a temptation that was only getting stronger by the moment.
"Miki, think of Ayaka," Ranamon told her partner.
Ayaka… She wouldn't approve of this. The dark-haired girl thought of how she reacted to the blonde's advice the other day while they were flying on Zeppelinmon. She stormed away because she didn't like it.
She didn't even think of her friend's feelings then.
And then there was Tadashi who was injured because he saved her. He also saved her from the Emperor's armies a couple days earlier.
Why do I treat him so badly? He hasn't gotten along with me but that was because I treated him like dirt.
"My offer still stands," the Emperor told her, giving off that cute smile that made him seem to sparkle in her eyes.
The dark-haired girl closed her eyes, frowned and then looked at him angrily.
"You attacked me and my friends just because we were there, you kidnapped at least two of them and you hurt Tadashi. There is no way I'm going to join you," she told the hologram point blank.
"You don't even like Tadashi!" the man exclaimed in confusion, giving the girl a grimace that marred his cuteness. "Oh, well, I'll give you an offer. Come with me and Tadashi can go to the real world where he will stay. Don't and Volcdramon will destroy both of you."
The Emperor really didn't want to accidentally force another digivolution to Ultimate, however, he also didn't want the Tamers to use this to go to his ally's world as well and that kind of trumped his earlier plans. Not that they'd survive very long there since his ally can control Megas…
"I won't go with you. Ranamon?" she asked.
"Oh, and one last thing," the Emperor said, snapping his fingers. Another Control Spire popped up and Ranamon devolved back to her rookie form of Syakomon. "Nothing like a little handicap to help with the odds. You really should have accepted my offer."
###
A woman woke up early in the evening, checking her digivice since its alarm got off. It had the words "¡Emergencia!" with the location of the emergency, the Brigade Compound.
The woman immediately got up and dressed, putting on her work clothes since she felt she might need them. She was wearing dress slacks, a white shirt and a black suit jacket that fit her svelte form quite well. Her name was Katarina Xanthopoulos, a woman who was born in Greece but who moved to Spain at a young age and currently lived in Barcelona.
"Active Puente Digital. Brigade Compound," the woman shouted out in Spanish before disappearing into thin air along with her partner who was nearby.
The woman made it to the front of the compound and turned her key. She hoped that this was a real emergency and not Mr. Immortal testing out new features again.
She walked through the well-furnished reception area and into the living areas where she found a man lying on the couch, sleeping.
Oh, you've got to be kidding me. Did he touch the emergency button in his sleep again? The woman thought to herself before walking over to the muscular man and shaking him.
"Levantate." Get up, she told him.
"¿Qué sucede?" What's happening? The man asked. "Ay, claro, eres tú. ¿Cómo te va?" Oh, it's you. How are you doing?
"Muy bien, Señor Inmortal. ¿Qué haces aquí?" Very well, Mr. Immortal. What are you doing here? the woman asked, slightly irritated that he woke her up toward the beginning of her nice sleep.
"Lo siento, amiga. Necesitaba tu ayuda. Los japoneses quieren arrestarme." Sorry, my friend. I need your help. The Japanese want to arrest me.
"¿Qué hiciste esta vez?" What did you do this time? The woman asked in an annoyed tone.
"Nada… Bueno, di un compañero a un muchacho de dieciocho años de edad, pero no hay nada que diga que sea ilegal. Sé que piensas que soy criminal, pero no hice nada. Lo juro." Nothing… Okay, I gave a partner to an eighteen-year-old kid, but there was nothing that said it was illegal. I know you think I'm a criminal, but I didn't do anything. I swear.
The woman rolled her eyes. And to think she found him attractive with that hairy, overly muscled physique and that short blond hair that got long and bushy if he didn't get it cut after only a couple weeks or those gorgeous blue eyes. Okay, she found him attractive. She just liked playing with him.
"¿Hay más que vengan?" Is there anybody else coming, she asked, curious. And the man was wearing nothing but blue boxers. She hadn't even seen him without a shirt off before, so she had no idea he had such gorgeous abs. Who cared if they were covered in body hair?
"No, nadie más viene por ahora. Antonio Urrutía va a llegar más tarde, pero no viene hasta después de escuela." Nobody else is coming for now. Antonio Urrutía's going to come later, but not until after school, he told her, confused.
"Bueno, aquí estamos, solos, salvo nuestros Digimons. Podemos hablar." Well, we're here alone, except for our Digimon. We can talk. She moved toward him sensually, smiling widely.
Mr. Immortal knew that this woman was somewhat infatuated with him. After all, what girl doesn't want to marry an immortal, though most of the time those immortals are vampire stalkers. "Like a date?" the man finally slipped into English by accident.
"Of course, like a date," the woman responded in an accent that the blond found incredibly sexy. Unfortunately, he had that whole rule against dating or anything since he would most definitely outlast her unless she somehow gained the ability to live forever as well. "But first, I have to find you some clothes. This place hasn't been stocked yet, hasn't it?" She really surprised him with that answer.
"So, you're not going to make out on the couch?" Shoutmon asked.
"Of course not. There's no way I'm doing that in front of the poor Digimon," she replied, turning to her owl-like partner. "Isn't that right, Muchomon?"
Mr. Immortal looked frightened beyond belief. At least this one didn't appear naked inside his bedroom like that one time when he was camping among Indians and the chief decided to give him one of his daughters as a gift.
The woman was pretty good-looking too, which was why it was a shame he had to decline and possibly cause her great shame in front of the rest of the tribe.
"You're thinking of King Solomon's daughter, aren't you?" Shoutmon asked, narrowing his eyes and recalling a similar incident. Mr. Immortal was surprised that his partner remembered that one.
"Not quite. This one was a couple hundred years ago, not three thousand," Mr. Immortal replied.
"I don't remember that one. I only remember bits and pieces," the dragon responded. It was about that time when the woman returned with clothes that would hopefully fit Mr. Immortal's body.
"I'm not sure these are the correct size, but I hope they'll work. I'm surprised, though. This place looks fully stocked," the woman commented, handing the man folded clothes consisting of a blue t-shirt and some grey sweatpants. They weren't that great but they'd work for now. She looked away as he put them on.
"Fully stocked? I didn't have that happen." It was then that they heard a combination of footsteps and a cane head toward them. The two humans and their partners looked toward the noise to see the Old Clock Shop Man and his partner. The Watchmaker was grinning wildly at him.
"I did," the old man told them right as they saw him.
###
Coronamon only had one shot at doing what he was about to do. Since the Emperor was only focusing on Miki at the moment, Tadashi decided to use that distraction to have the small lion take out that control spire. The digimon climbed down, being careful not to be spotted by Volcdramon. As soon as he reached the bottom, Tadashi slid the 'Iron Drill' card, quietly, only mouthing the words 'Digi-Modify, Iron Drill Activate!' so as not to alert the Emperor to what he was doing.
And so far, it was all working. Coronamon made his way to the Control Spire and plunged the drills into it, causing them to spin and causing the Control Spire to crack and spark.
###
Miki heard the Dark Tower crumble, causing her to look toward it in surprise and then back to Tadashi. What was it she felt? Gratitude?
The Emperor glared at Tadashi. "Well, look at that. You actually thought of a way around my Control Spires," the brown-haired teen told him.
"Uh, yeah. What did you think I was doing while you were talking to Miki? Just sitting here?" the blond responded, grinning widely despite his pain. "Besides, I kind of knew that you'd pull something off like that so I had Coronamon go straight down there."
"Digivolution Activate!" Miki yelled out, dodging Volcdramon's attack. She was ready to do this.
"Syakomon digivolve to… Ranamon!"
"Digivolution Activate!" Tadashi called out, sitting on the ground.
"Coronamon digivolve to… Firamon!"
"You think you've won?" the Emperor asked.
"No, not yet," Tadashi told him before turning to the dark-haired girl with words of encouragement. "Miki, you can do this. And… Good job."
Miki smiled. "By the way, I'm sorry… for everything."
The blond smiled back and the girl felt a tear come down her streak.
"There's no way you're going to hurt my friend, you jerk!" she told the Emperor and a green glow appeared, coming from her digivice.
David Symanski glared at her, his face seething with anger. "If you say so… Volcdramon, get them, now! Fry them for all I care!"
"Volcanic Fountain!" the digimon yelled out, shooting a plume of lava at them which was intercepted by Firamon.
"No," Miki muttered.
"Watch as you lose this battle," the Emperor told her, grinning madly. "Then you'll have no choice but to come with me."
The girl glared at him and her digivice burst into green light.
Sincerity…
SUPER DIGIVOLUTION_
"Ranamon digivolve to…" The new digimon was a large squid with a woman jutting out where the squid's beak would normally be, though it had basically the same coloration as Ranamon but with some purple. The digimon had numerous tentacles as well as a pointed head and numerous eyes around the center of the digimon. Miki didn't think it was all that pretty of a digimon but at least she knew that it was strong enough to take on Volcdramon. "… Calamaramon!"
The dark-haired girl smiled at her partner and then back at Tadashi. If it weren't for his partner destroying the Control Spire, this wouldn't have happened.
"Destroy his spiral, Calamaramon!" Miki cheered her partner on, not caring what it looked like compared to her Champion form.
"Acid Ink!" the squid shouted, barfing up black ink at the enemy digimon in front of them, damaging him. Thankfully he wasn't that fast, but he still managed to sneak in an attack.
"Circle of Death!" the digimon yelled out, unleashing a massive cloud of sulfur. Tadashi immediately covered his nose and mouth, but still some of the smell got in. He immediately noticed the injured Firamon faint and de-digivolve at the bottom of the cliff. Miki was holding a handkerchief over her mouth.
"Talk about smelly. Take him out Calamaramon!" she shouted, taking off her handkerchief before putting it back over her nose and mouth.
The Legendary Warrior of Water knew what to do. She withdrew into her body and started spinning extremely fast. "Titanic Tempest!"
The attack hit the spiral on the enemy digimon's leg, shattering it. Immediately, his personality returned and he turned toward the others.
"Thank you for freeing me from the Emperor. I am Volcdramon, guardian of this valley," he said calmly in a booming voice.
Tadashi was surprised at that one and so was Miki. This turned out to be an easier battle than expected.
###
The bell rang and Antonio Urrutía reminded his students of their homework assignment for the weekend. "Do the exercises on page 172 of the textbook. They're optional but they'll give you some experience with using templates such as the Vector class and the List class. Have a nice weekend!" He smiled at the end as students poured out of his classroom.
Seeing everyone was gone, he checked his digivice.
"Emergency. Brigade Compound?" The man decided to go straight home and pick up Veemon first, which was just what he did.
###
"So, what is Antonio Urrutía like?" Katarina asked as she searched through the cupboards inside the Brigade Compound.
"Well, I've been friends with him for nearly twenty years and I can tell you he's definitely a good guy. He's 37 years old and was married once, but it didn't work out so he's single right now, even after more than 14 years," Mr. Immortal explained. The clothes were a little tight on him, but they'd suffice for now until he got some better ones. He was looking through the pantry. "Yeah, this is definitely well stocked."
"Glad you could verify that I was telling the truth," the old man told them.
"Well, you tend to lie at times. Hey, where's Mizuki?" the blond asked.
"Oh, well, she's doing a few jobs for me," the Watchmaker responded, chuckling a little bit.
"So, anyway, I remember hearing about Professor Urrutía through the Saxum network a couple weeks ago. Didn't his son get stuck in the digital world?" the Greek woman inquired.
"Yeah, sad story those two. They didn't even know the other existed until late last summer," Mr. Immortal responded. "He's had some duds as far as relationships over the years so he's basically been single ever since because of it. Why, you interested in him?"
"No, I'm interested in you. Besides, I have to know what he's like before we go to the Digital World to take on this triumvirate with him," Katarina replied.
"Ah… He has a big, dysfunctional family so you probably wouldn't want to marry him anyway. He's really close to them. Didn't use to be that way." Then Mr. Immortal turned toward the Watchmaker. "So, what's the point of this?"
"Yes, well, I think it's about time for you to initiate the Brigade," the old man informed the blond.
Mr. Immortal stared at the Watchmaker for a few seconds before formulating a reply. "You've got to be kidding me."
"I'm definitely not." The old man pulled a flash drive out of his pocket. "This has the names of a hundred Tamers that are homeless, either forced on the streets by their parents or having been imprisoned by their governments. I would suggest starting with Phillip Flindt from Denmark. His partner's a Wisemon and so he should be able to transfer language skills among the Tamers."
"Phillip Flindt… I knew an exchange student by that name in High School," Mr. Immortal remarked. "Been so long ago. If I remember right, he was born in Sri Lanka."
"That's definitely not him. This one is blond and Nordic," the Watchmaker informed him.
"You know, I wasn't planning on setting up the Brigade for another year. Plus, Tony might object to this on the basis of the whole child soldiers problem."
"Well, lucky for you they're mostly in their late teens. None of them are under the age of fifteen with the exception of…" the old man explained, pausing just as a familiar face walked in with a Veemon. Mr. Immortal looked at his friend.
"Good, you showed up," Mr. Immortal told Antonio Urrutía.
"So, what happened?" he asked, concerned.
"Well, I got kicked out by the Japanese. There's no way I'm going to be able to go back there. I guess Yamaki doesn't take too kindly to giving people eggs," the blond explained. "Oh, and this is the Watchmaker."
"Glad to meet you," Antonio said, arching an eyebrow, not really genuine in his sincerity.
"Well, we've already met, but you don't recognize me," the old man responded, chuckling a little bit.
"Yeah, you do seem kind of familiar," Veemon told him.
"And this is Katarina," Mr. Immortal said, indicating the Spanish woman.
"¡Hola! It is a pleasure to meet you," the woman responded, shaking Antonio's hand.
"Nice to meet you too," this time the big man smiled. "So, you're the fifth member of our team, huh?"
"Well, yes, Mr. Immortal did invite me. You speak very good English, by the way." She smiled back.
"Yeah, this one can be a bit flirtatious," Mr. Immortal warned his friend.
"What? I wasn't flirting with him," the woman responded with a confused look before smacking the blond on the arm lightly.
Antonio nodded. "So, when can you give me a tour of this place?" he asked.
"Any time. So, when should we start up the Brigade?" Mr. Immortal inquired of the Watchmaker.
The old man laughed. "As soon as possible. You'll need to train these Tamers, you know? Plus, you need personnel. Maybe those two from Japan can come, though they need a little more experience. I can give them that, you know?"
"I'm sure you can. What do you plan on doing?" Mr. Immortal wasn't sure what to think of having the old man on their side.
"Well, I'm going to take them to a Digital World where time flies by faster. It's mostly under the rule of a Digimon Emperor and there are Ta… er, Digidestined there that have been fighting for nearly four hundred years from their point of view. They're currently a little weakened though, since the lone female in their group had to go to the nearby real world to have a baby, but I'm sure they'll enjoy the company." The old man grinned widely. Now none of the group knew what to think of this. "Then again, I might send Kurita and Rinchei to the opposite side of that world and hide their digivice signals. Still, it should be a good exercise for them."
There was an uneasy silence for the better part of a minute. "Be sure to actually ask them beforehand. I don't want them waking up in a dangerous world without knowing why they got there," Mr. Immortal told the Watchmaker.
"Ah, you're no fun! I was just going to drop them off and return in thirty minutes, which would be thirty days for them," the old man informed him before chuckling wildly. "So, how about that tour? We have a weight room, by the way," Mr. Immortal asked the duo.
"That sounds like a great idea," Katarina commented, imagining the sight of the blond without a shirt.
"You know, you just cut into my work-out time so that does sound like a good idea. I'm assuming this place has showers for when I'm done, right?" Antonio inquired, hopeful.
"Yeah, though I cheapened out and didn't add any partitions. I don't want to spend all my money that I've saved for the better part of three hundred years on this place," the blond commented, leading the way.
The old man chuckled as they left. "Yes, this will be a good place to stay until the end. Maybe I should call my other self just in case the time comes."
###
Coronamon followed as he, Syakomon and their two Tamers made it to the nearest television. He was glad to be feeling better after everything that happened but his partner still concerned him. Tadashi had suffered severe burns on his right leg and, because of that, was walking with a limp.
Hopefully they would find a way to deal with that. Thankfully the television was just a little bit away so he could get medical attention if need be.
The lion was also glad to see that Miki was treating him at least a little bit better since he saved her earlier that day. She also seemed to be smiling a bit, something that she hadn't done since they got stuck together a mere couple days earlier.
"So, where do you think this leads?" the dark-haired girl asked Tadashi once they made it to the television.
"Somebody's house. Either that or we'll land in a school or something," the blond replied, pressing the on button on the television. Then he held up his digivice to the television. "Digi-port Open!"
In a blinding light the two Tamers and their partners landed in the middle of a bedroom. "Wow, that wasn't expected," Coronamon commented, getting up off the ground.
"You know, I wonder what country we're in," Miki said, looking around the Digimon Emperor's bedroom. "Wow, this is kind of nice."
Just then the door opened and an unfamiliar brunette with thick glasses who looked to be of European descent entered in along with a scarf-wearing pink rabbit. She was somewhat surprised but at the same time not really. So, she asked a question.
"Are you Ed's friends that are still in the Digital World?" she asked.
"Uh, yeah," Tadashi responded.
"Two of them, anyway," Miki added. She was still surprised to be speaking English since she didn't put any effort into learning it in school.
"Well, I'm glad to meet you guys. My name's Abby and I'm a digidestined from this world," she introduced herself with a smile.
"Uh, glad to meet you, Abby. So, uh, where are Ed and the others, anyway?" Tadashi inquired.
"They're currently staying in a cheap hotel," the brunette responded. "Cutemon, can you lead the way for them after healing Tadashi's leg?"
###
"We are not doing this!" Antonio exclaimed after hearing his friend explain what the Watchmaker suggested. The two of them were sitting on a bench in the locker room after a workout, having gotten showered and dressed already.
"I know, but the Watchmaker said…" Mr. Immortal was cut off by his best friend.
"I don't care! You told me that guy can travel between worlds. He probably knows where my son is and isn't doing anything about him." The heavy man was pretty adamant, gesturing widely. He took a gulp of water from a bottle before continuing. "Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if he knew where the original team of Tamers was."
"Last I asked him, he didn't. There's something you have to know about the old man: he sees things differently than us due to his age," Mr. Immortal told the curly-haired man.
"Right… You're four times as old as he is," Antonio objected, getting up to head out.
"Okay, you got a point, but he has more experience with hard decisions. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised if he saw the future and decided not to act because things would be better that way," the blond replied as he followed Antonio out of the locker room.
"Here's the thing: setting up this brigade with all these homeless kids would be tantamount to using child soldiers. There's no way I'm going to let anyone like my son end up screwed up because of us." The large Chilean was gesturing wildly and emphatically as they walked.
"I agree with you," Mr. Immortal responded.
"Now, come on, there's no way we should let that happen. I know you've never had kids in four-thousand years, but you have to have known tons of people who did," Antonio reasoned.
"I've seen many generations grow up," the blond replied. "I was even close enough to some of those families to know them as if their kids were my own."
"No way are we going to the digital world with these kids," Antonio said they entered into the mess hall.
Mr. Immortal thought about it for a second. "No, we aren't. But what if we brought them here anyway?" he suggested.
The curly-haired man thought about that for a second. "What are you saying?"
"What if we brought them here and helped them. Gave them a home and food. True, we would have to stock everything up and we'd probably fail, but at least we'd have Kurita and Rinchei helping." Mr. Immortal chuckled. "Oh, man, and to think I've always wanted a kid of my own…"
The heavy man noticed something missing. "Where's Katarina?"
"She went back home to Barcelona to finish her night's sleep," the blond responded. "So, what do you think of her?"
"I think she likes you," Antonio replied.
"You and I both know that will never happen," Mr. Immortal said with a smile.
"That's true," the heavy man said. "Still, she seems like a nice lady. I look forward to having her on our team." Then the curly-haired man wondered something else. "How long have you known her?"
"About eight years," the blond responded. "She had just started college and, well, she somehow got a partner digimon."
"Eight years ago?" Antonio asked. "And you didn't tell me this."
"Nope, Tony, I didn't," Mr. Immortal replied.
Then the heavy man realized something else. "This was around the time you came back."
The blond nodded. "That it was. I went to the digital world in the early nineties and… well… I had a little trouble getting back. Somehow I ended up coming through the computer Katarina was using. She demanded to know what was going on."
Antonio looked away. "You didn't take her to the digital world, did you?"
The blond chuckled. "Maybe… She was definitely a bit early for a Tamer. I had her swear to secrecy until the Devas showed up." Mr. Immortal smiled and shook his head. "Funny, ever since then, she's been practically in love with me."
Antonio grinned. "You're a lucky guy."
"Unlucky, actually. She'll grow old while I stay young. I… I don't want that to happen."
The black-haired man looked down at the table they were sitting at. "It's better to be loved then lost, than never to be loved at all. At least that's how I think the saying goes."
Mr. Immortal shook his head. "I never told you this, but I was married once. Her death… it was the hardest thing for me to deal with. It was as if a part of me was torn away." The blond's eyes started to water and he shook his head again. "There's no way I'm going through that again. I don't want to be married to someone else unless they're also going to live forever like I am."
Antonio could understand, somewhat. "Who was she?"
The blond chuckled. "Her name was Tamar. Had pretty eyes too."
Antonio couldn't resist a laugh. "Well, maybe if you can transfer that upgrade of yours to her digivice…"
"It's not going to work. It was written in a different programming language," Mr. Immortal explained.
"Couldn't you just deactivate it and age normally?" the heavy man asked.
"Tried it once. It felt like I was committing suicide. Not to mention, I started getting every disease in the book," the blond explained before smiling. "Plus, if I continued, I wouldn't have met you or any of the other friends over the years. Heck, I think the benefits definitely outweigh the negatives. What I'm dealing with is just the consequences of living forever in a world full of imperfect people who can't."
Antonio thought about it for a second. Sure, he wanted to live forever. He had far too much to do for one lifetime. He could definitely do it alone, even if it meant leaving his son behind. But he wanted to help his friend out. Plus, that program would make a good program for any of the kids to have in case they were forced to go to the digital world.
"Can I have the program?" the large man asked. Mr. Immortal looked at him in surprise.
"Sure," the blond responded, handing him his D-Arc. "Take my digivice with you. I'm not going anywhere."
Antonio accepted it. He looked forward to whatever happened next as well as going through and seeing what the program was like.
###
After everything was said and done and the only ones at the Brigade Compound were him, Shoutmon, the Watchmaker and Clockmon, Mr. Immortal sat at his desk, thinking.
He hoped that Antonio succeeded at his plans to get that program off the digivice and set it up so that if they all got stuck in the digital world, at least they'd be safer than if they didn't have the program.
Of course, he thought about what would cause them to get stuck in the digital world in the first place. He knew that if the Watchmaker was there, things couldn't be good. The man had something up his sleeve and knew something; otherwise he wouldn't have been so adamant about starting up the brigade.
He opened up one of his desk's drawers and pulled out a square device with flat sides. It was colored black with golden lines across its surface and a square screen in the middle as well as a couple of golden buttons just below the screen.
"So, what do you think, Shoutmon?" the blond asked his partner.
"Uh, to be honest, I agree with Antonio. We shouldn't be building an army," the red dragon responded and the blond nodded in response.
"Yeah, that's why we'll just get them here to get out of harm's way and hopefully turn them into productive citizens," the ancient man replied. "What do you think the Watchmaker's doing here?"
"He's preparing everyone for something," Shoutmon responded before shrugging. "I have no idea what."
"You're right, something's coming," Mr. Immortal told his partner.
His ideas of what the man could possibly know irked him to no end. Yet the most frightening of them all, one that could come far too early, was summed up in a single word.
Unification…
###
A/N: Believe it or not, I was at one point considering making Ranamon's Ultimate form Mermaidmon. However, the last time I looked at that digimon's design, I didn't really like it that much for some reason. Maybe it looks better on TV. Heh. Still, I have a Mega form thought out for her. That's better than I can say for another character.
And then there's the Mr. Immortal storyline… Thankfully he hasn't taken over the plot. In fact, I plan on ending his arc before that happens. Hopefully his storyline makes sense and will fit in well with the rest of the plot. I have a plan to connect it with everything, especially the Multiverse storyline.
And if you're wondering why the digimon aren't talking as much… I'm hoping to change that next chapter. They definitely have more of a role in that one and Cutemon speaks!