7) The Anomaly

Sunrise: everything looked normal, birds were chirping, dogs were barking, and rush hour had not begun yet. There was no one around to see the "black cloud" that appeared out of nowhere. Unlike a normal cloud, its edges were distinct. It was featureless, and translucent. It drifted over the Hypnos building as it disappeared.

Ruki's House

Kyuubimon was still sleeping in the back yard. Ruki, in her school uniform, checked on her, to see if she'd devolved during the night. So far, she hadn't. She sighed, as there was nothing more she could do about it, as she would need to leave for school if she wasn't to be late. She didn't know what was worse: explaining herself for ditching, or explaining Kyuubimon.

Guilmon's Shed

"Good mornin'", Takato called out, as he was bringing more left over bread.

"Good mornin'", Guilmon replied. "Takato, Guilmon went somewhere last night".

"Somewhere? You mean you left the shed?"

"No, while sleeping..."

"Tell me about it on the way to school".

"There was this bright light, and Guilmon not know where Guilmon was", he was explaining.

"I see", Takato told him, "you must've had a dream. I didn't know digimon had dreams too".

"Dream?"

"Yep, that's what it's called when you go places and do things in your sleep".

"Dreams fun?"

"Yeah, mostly. Let's hope you have more dreams soon".

Suddenly, Takato started.

"Huh?", Guilmon asked, "what's wrong?" He knew it couldn't be a digimon, as he would have sensed that.

"Guilmon!", Takato pulled him away from something that made the lower half of his body "phase out".

"Takato? Somthin' wrong?"

"You didn't see that? You didn't feel that?!"

"Nothing"

"It looked like, for a second there, you were about to disappear".

"Disappear?"

"I think it best if you go back right now. Stay in your house for now, until I get this thing sorted out. It's important: I don't want to lose you".

"Guilmon unnerstan"

"Huh? Are you sure?", Jen asked

"What? You think I imagined it? You think I'm making it up? I know what I saw! I'm scared... I don't want to lose Guilmon".

"Well, digimon shouldn't even exist in this world", Jen explained.

"But Guilmon is my friend! I'm Guilmon's Tamer!"

"Moumentai. I don't think you should draw distinctions between this world and the other one", Terriermon told him.

"I... I... guess not?", he seemed uncertain of that.

"I'm not so sure", Jen replied.

"Jen, you want to stay with Terriermon. Right?"

"Takato, nothing lasts forever, no matter what it is, or how badly we wish it would. The only constant is change"

"I don't understand what you're saying!", as he ran off, not wanting to confront the possibilities his friend and partner were suggesting. For once, Jen wasn't being the least bit helpful. Was there someone else he could turn to?

0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

"Yamaki here", he said into his cell phone.

"Sir: please return as soon as possible"

"What's happened?"

"The Inspector is asking for explanations".

"And he expects to understand what I tell him?", he added sarcastically.

Yamaki hated dealing with "Suits", and would prefer if they signed the checks and otherwise kept their noses out of his business.

"Sir?"

"Understood, I'll be there".

He continued on his way, not bothering to hurry up. As he crossed under an overpass, he suddenly looked behind him. He saw nothing out of the ordinary, but felt as if something...

Homeroom: 5-B

"If Guilmon goes away", Takato wasn't paying any attention to Ms. Asagi's lessons today. "That can't be, if Guilmon evolved more..."

He was talking to himself again, and was fortunate it was Juri who overheard.

"Evolve?", she whispered back, as her hand puppet made a silent "Woof!" motion.

(If there's heavy rain, the streets could quickly get flooded. Thus, a tunnel is being constructed under the park to divert that water...)

"Tunnel?", Takato asked himself. Finally, he found a reason to pay attention in class today.

Guilmon's Shed

"Guilmon! Guilmon!", Takato called out. He was worried that his partner might have gone out, as he had a nasty habit of doing that very thing, even in the case of extreme danger.

"Oh Calumon", he sighed with relief. Guilmon was there, and he was entertaining a guest.

"Takato's back!", Guilmon announced.

"Were you playing with Calumon?', he asked Guilmon

"Hey Calumon, you ever find a place to live?", Takato asked him.

"Calumon can go where ever he wants, culu? So I don't need a home, culu?"

"Don't you ever feel lonely?"

"What's that, culu?"

"You know, sad when there's no one around to talk to or play with".

"Calumon doesn't know that feeling, culu?", he said as he ran off.

"Come play again", Guilmon called after him.

Hypnos

"The network has grown exponentially, and Hypnos monitors it in real time", Yamaki was explaining to the Inspector. "It records all information exchanges, and if something happens to the network, or if any illegal information is transferred, the system can fix the problem immediately"

"All the network's information? Private, individual information is also supervised?"

"Only illegal activities, matters regarding crimes, or information that's publicly available anyway, such financial transactions. We also monitor the financial markets for any unusual patterns of trading that can have intelligence implications. We are very careful with private information exchanges"

"If the public at large were to become aware of this facility, a change in government would likely be the end result of the backlash".

"I have proof of other systems like this existing in other countries. What we're doing is not out of the ordinary. Indeed, we're playing catch-up here".

"The existence of Hypnos must never become known. In fact, this facility shouldn't even exist. We also can't allow Wild Ones to materialize. They could compromise this facility, being that they come from the Digital World, they are sure to know. If they say the wrong things to the wrong people, inconvenient questions could be raised".

East Shinjuku

"Where is Takato taking Guilmon today?"

"Do you want to evolve?"

"Evolve? Guilmon not know..."

"I don't suppose you would, seeing how recently you were created".

He had no idea where the Digimon Queen lived, only that it was somewhere east of the railway station. He spotted a gaggle of school girls all dressed in the same uniforms. Perhaps, they knew...

"Takato?", Guilmon called out, as three of these girls admired him. He was questioning another, who did know who he was talking about.

"She said she lives around here"

It was an upscale neighborhood of narrow, winding streets, and fenced-in yards. Suddenly, Guilmon took off down an alley formed by adjoining walled-in yards.

"Wait up!", Takato called out. He didn't need to lose Guilmon in this maze-like neighborhood. "Where are you going?!".

He followed through several yards, until Guilmon came to a blind alley: "Renamon!", Takato called out.

"Guilmon knew Renamon was near"

"Digimon are attracted to one another because we exist to fight", she was explaining. They found her, standing at the back of this blind alley.

"Guilmon doesn't want to fight Renamon".

"Yeah, do you really want to fight that badly?", Takato asked.

He didn't get an answer.

"You're just that cowardly kid that doesn't want to fight", they found Ruki. "Will you ever stop taking your digimon out in public? It's embarrassing"

"Embarrassing for whom?", Takato objected, "certainly not for me, and not for Guilmon either. He insisted..."

They just stood there, glaring at each other.

"Is Takato fighting?", Guilmon asked.

"Fighting? No, I didn't come here looking for a fight... You're Ruki Makino? I'm Takato... Takato Matsuda"

"What the fuck do you want? Have you fallen in love with me? Did you come here to confess your undying LOOOOVE for me?", she asked with heavy sarcasm.

"Not at all..."

"Ruki, at least hear them out", Renamon approached from the end of the alley. "They did save your life".

"Fine..."

The alley was directly adjacent to Ruki's house, and she led them to the back yard. She sat on the breeze way.

"There was something I wanted to ask", he began, "and since you have more experience, I didn't know who else to ask..."

"If there's a point here, would you get to it and stop wasting my time..."

"Ruki, you're home already?", she was interrupted by the arrival of her grandmother. Renamon grabbed Guilmon, hustling him behind the wall, They'd been in the yard, playing, getting to know one another better.

"You brought home a friend?" It was a rare occasion when Ruki ever brought anyone home with her.

"Good afternoon", Takato greeted.

"Why don't you come inside? Have something? We don't have any sweets, but we have rice cookies, if you like them, and tea".

"Don't worry about that, Gran, he won't be staying that long".

"I see. Come and visit us again whenever you like"

"Sure thing"

"Uhhhh... Ruki-chan... Do you know why Renamon came to the Material World?"

"Why?"

"Could she become data again?"

"Digimon were originally data, so of course she will"

"That... that would be so sad"

Ruki shot an involuntary glance at Renamon, who was standing at the end of the breeze way.

"If it happens, it happens. There isn't a f'kin thing you or I can do about it, so why worry about it? Just enjoy Guilmon for now, at least until he goes back to his own world. Or what's more likely, some digimon kicks Guilmon's ass and loads his data when your babysitter isn't around"

"Thanks for your help", Takato said as she led him to the front gate. "Anyway, have a good afternoon".

"Bye-bye Renamon", Guilmon waved to her.

"Hold up!", Ruki called after Takato.

"Yes?"

"You ever call me 'Ruki-chan' again, I'll kick your ass!", she emphasized her point by throwing a karate-style kick at him.

"What's with her?", Takato asked no one in particular.

That wasn't very helpful, and she didn't say anything Jen hadn't told him already. He really wasn't expecting much different, but at least had to get a second opinion.

The sun set while they were on their way back home. The street lights came on, and traffic thinned.

Hypnos

"Sir!"

"That's not a Wild One", Yamaki said.

"We can't tell what kind of data this is"

"Launch Tracer", Yamaki ordered.

"Tracer away... we have a visual. On screen".

"What is that thing?", Yamaki asked.

Whatever it was, it looked like a rough hemisphere, white, slightly shimmering, but nothing like a digital field. It could also materialize itself, but looked like it shared none of the attributes of Wild Ones.

0xFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

"I wonder why..."

"What is it, Takato?"

"Why did you come to me? I've always loved digimon – the card games, the video games. I always thought about how cool it would be to play with a real, live digimon. It's like my dream came true. What I wished became reality, like magic..."

"Magic? Guilmon not know, but If Takato happy, Guilmon is happy"

"I don't think it's that simple. After all, lots of other kids probably wished the same thing, but where are their partners?"

"What fun stuff'll happen tomorrow? I hope Calumon comes to play again".

"Guilmon!"

The same thing that happened earlier today was happening again, but this time, far more severe. Guilmon began to "phase out", as he walked past a construction site.

"What's wrong, Takato? Something bad is happening to Guilmon"

"Guilmon!"

"Something bad, Takato... Guilmon is... going away..."

"That can't be happening! You can't go away! You can't!", he grabbed onto the digimon. "If Guilmon goes away, I'll..."

"Guilmon isn't going anywhere..."

Takato fell to the street, as Guilmon "phased out", all that was left was a small patch of red sparks.

"Ta...ka...to"

"GUILLLL-MONNNN!", he screamed out to the now vacant street.

"So... he was never really here? That's all? But Guilmon was... he was my friend".

That's when he heard a chiming from his digivice. It was the direction finder, and its red arrow pointed directly at the construction site.

"He's still here!"

"Hi, hi, hi, hi..."

"I'm a friend and classmate of Jen, I need to speak with him urgently", Takato had gotten Jen's little sister on his cell phone.

"JEN! IT'S YOUR FRIEND!", she called out.

"We were just getting ready for supper", Jen objected.

"I wouldn't ask if it wasn't an emergency! Guilmon: he's gone missing!"

"He did what?"

"Like I said, he just sort of phased out, I have him on the DF, but he just disappeared. I need you!"

"OK, OK, just hold on, where are you? I'll get there ASAP"

"Have to go", he announced.

"Now?!", his father objected.

"Emergency", he didn't wait around to be grilled over skipping out on meal time. He could talk his way out of a grounding later. Maybe he should have taken Takato's concerns more seriously.

Ruki's House

Ruki looked in on her grandmother:

(It's not like that. You know I'm too old for that... hohohoho, smile)

"Oh God! She's type fucking again!", she kept that thought to herself.

"Yes Ruki, if you want a computer, why not ask your mom?"

"It's not that..."

She was interrupted by the insistent ringing of the doorbell.

"Maybe that's her right now? See who's at the door?"

Ruki opened the front door, not to her mother, but to Takato and his "babysitters": Jenyra Lee and Terriermon. She stepped outside, closing the door behind her as she didn't want her grandmother inviting them inside where she might not get rid of them so easily.

"If it isn't the Bopsey Twins; what the fuck do you two want this time?"

They explained what happened to Guilmon. "This could concern Renamon as well", Jen concluded.

"What makes you think I give a shit?"

Renamon phased into view: "Ruki, you owe Takato and Guilmon your life"

"When Galgomon tried to blow my head off!"

"A debt of honour is a debt of honour regardless..."

"You're never gonna let me live that down, are you?"

"Never", Renamon agreed.

With a heavy sigh: "Very well, where did it happen?"

Hypnos

Yamaki was connecting a portable hard drive to a USB port connected to Hypnos' mainframe.

"What are we doing?", one of his techs asked.

"That anomaly, it's just like a Wild One in that it disturbs the order of the 'Net. It shouldn't even exist", he explained as he began the upload.

"Unauthorized programs are against regulations", she reminded.

"Those regulations were created by old minds that never understood. Now, we have a crisis: two worlds are intersecting. How can we maintain the order of the Digital World if we're hamstrung with rules from politicians who could never have anticipated something like this? How much time would we waste while they dither?"

West Shinjuku

Takato led them to the construction site where Guilmon disappeared. It was an entrance to that new flood diversion tunnel he'd heard of in class.

"It was here", he explained.

At first, no one saw anything out of the ordinary.

"Ruki", Renamon called out.

She held out her paws, and her fingers were "phasing out". Jen noticed that whatever it was had well defined borders. The phenomenon cut straight across Renamon's hands.

"Renamon!", Ruki called out as she saw for herself.

"Terriermon?", Jen asked.

He jumped up on to the barrier, and stuck out an ear.

"Jen!"

Terriermon was experiencing the same thing

"There's something here after all", he said. "Terriermon, wait for me somewhere else. Renamon, you should avoid this area as well"

The anthrovixen just stood there, as she didn't take orders from him.

"You can go", Ruki gave her her leave, and only then did she depart.

"I'll wait across the street", Terriermon said, as he jumped from the barrier.

"We just have to avoid this place", Ruki was saying to Jenyra. "I'm going"

"But Guilmon is gone"

"Who gives a rat's ass? After all, digimon are only digimon". Now that Renamon wasn't here to keep her reminded of her debt of honour, she was free to welch on it. Jen was afraid something like this would happen.

"Stop it!", Takato called out. "Digimon are... digimon are friends. Our friends!"

Jen consulted the direction finder function of his digivice: "No sense wasting time arguing, let's go get Guilmon", he knew better than to expect any help from Ruki.

He and Takato began climbing over the gate.

"This doesn't have anything to do with me", Ruki told herself.

Hypnos

"This could damage the 'Net", the tech was advising her boss.

"All we're doing is pruning the dead branches", Yamaki explained. "If there's any damage, we can fix it later. Execute my program, Yuggoth"

She did as ordered, and the Yuggoth welcome screen appeared on her console.

West Shinjuku

Takato and Jen discovered that the roll-away door that let in the heavy equipment was locked. However, a smaller side entrance for the workers was not. They stood in the partially finished tunnel, glad to see that the lights had not been turned off. They hoped that didn't mean security was on duty.

They heard the door open.

"Ruki-chan", Takato started, "errrr... Ruki... glad you decided to help after all".

"A Tamer never runs from a fight, despite what some people think".

"Alright, then, let's go!", Jen announced, as he led the way.

The Matsuda Bakery

It was well after dinner time, and Takato had not yet shown up. At first, neither were concerned. It wasn't unusual for kids to lose track of time. Takato's mother even pointed out that all too many kids just played on computers all day.

"Ummmm...", Takato's father announced, "I think I'll go out for a walk for a change"

"I just remembered some items I forgot to pick up", she agreed.

The Flood Diversion Tunnel

"Awesome", Takato announced.

"How far does this go?", Ruki asked.

"Our teacher said it will go all the way to the next district when it's finished", Takato explained.

"If you think I'm walking all that way, you're nuts", Ruki complained.

"This may be our only chance to see it", Jen said, "it'll be filled with water most of the time..."

"Oh joy!", Ruki replied with sarcasm, "Now I can finally say my life is complete!"

"Does she have to do that all the time?", Takato thought to himself.

"There!", Jen announced.

Whatever it was, it looked like a rough, white hemisphere. It looked a good deal more solid, and more localized, than a digital field. It didn't fill the whole tunnel. They'd never seen anything like it, as they cautiously approached.

"Guilmon must be in there!", Takato announced, as they stood outside. Its surface was covered in prisms that constantly shifted position, giving it a shimmering appearance.

"Guilmon! Guilmon!", he called out, but no answer came back.

"How can you be so sure? What are you going to do?", Ruki cautioned. For the first time, she sounded concerned.

"Guilmon... Guilmon... I'll save you!", Takato answered. A white light appeared from the screen of his digivice as soon as he said it.

Next, Ruki's and Jen's digivices also glowed.

"What's happening?", she asked.

"What links us to our digimon, our digivices", Jen replied. They aimed their digivices at the unknown phenomenon,

"Yes!", Jen exclaimed, "it opened!"

"Guilmon!", Takato led the way.

Hypnos

"Sir: Yuggoth has located and locked onto the anomaly", his tech reported.

"Excellent", he replied. It was working as he designed it, so far. "Eliminate all foreign elements", he ordered.

The Flood Diversion Tunnel

"Wait!", Jen called out. Takato ignored him. Jen followed.

Ruki thought they were being reckless: "I hate this", she said to herself as she was the last one inside.

"What is this?!", Ruki exclaimed, "It makes no sense!"

There was no gravity here, as they tumbled, weightless, through the rough whiteness that surrounded them.

"What a fucked up place!", Jen agreed.

"Guilmon! Are you in here?! Answer me!", Takato called out.

Then they saw him. Guilmon was bound, head to foot, with what looked like blue-light gray ropes that faded into the surrounding whiteness. He seemed to be unconscious.

Takato began clawing his way through the strange space to reach him.

"Yes!", Jen called out as he followed.

"This is stupid", Ruki complained.

"Guilmon! Guilmon! It's me!", Takato called to rouse the crimson dino.

"Ta-ka-to", he was coming around, "let's play", he said.

"Hang in there, Guilmon! You're a digimon! You're strong!", he encouraged while trying to figure out how to free him from those cables.

There came the sound of a muffled explosion: "Hell was that?!", Jen called out...

Hypnos

"Sir!", the tech called out, "a large volume of new data has just entered the zone".

"Doesn't matter", Yamaki replied, "we're deleting everything..."

"Shouldn't we investigate..."

"Launch another Yuggoth!", he ordered.

"Yes, sir"

The Flood Diversion Tunnel

There was another explosion, this one seemed much closer, there was a flash of light, and the whole space rocked from the shock wave.

"There!", Ruki called out.

Whatever it was, it seemed to have a beneficial side effect: the blue cables that bound Guilmon were dissolving. There was one question, though, would this dissolution take Guilmon with it?

"Ruki!"

"Jen!"

They made a "sling shot" and propelled Takato towards Guilmon.

"TA-KA-TO!"

"GUILLLL-MONNNNN!"

Guilmon broke free of the bindings just as the first dissolution was reaching him.

"Guilmon!"

"Takato!"

It looked like he was out of danger. Guilmon, himself, began to glow a bright red as Takato gave him a big hug. Next, this red glow projected a red path leading outside. There was another explosion.

Jen discovered that gravity returned as he set foot on the red path of light: "Get the fuck out of here before it takes us with it!" The entire space seemed to be breaking up.

"Don't have to tell me", Ruki said.

Takato and Guilmon stepped onto the path. They made it out just ahead of the disappearance of that strange phenomenon.

Chou Park

"Thanks so much", Takato said, "I couldn't've rescued Guilmon without your help"

"Guilmon thanks too"

"Moumentai"

"You didn't do anything", Renamon reminded.

"I did exactly as much as you".

"Bullshit", Ruki was complaining, "all this for a digimon"

("Takato!")

("Takato, where are you!")

"My parents", he said. Ruki left without a further comment; Reanmon "teleported" away.

"See you at school tomorrow?", Takato asked

"Sure thing", Jen replied

"Coming...", Takato called out.

Jen and Terriermon took off.

"Good night, Guilmon"

"'Night", he said as he headed off for his shed.

Yamaki never learned how close he came to being a murderer.